Multimedia Stream Decomposition Using Control Information
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current video conferencing systems are inflexible, as they do not support the ability to provide different composite multimedia images to different participants, which can lead to inefficient server performance and high costs, limiting functionalities such as recording specific participants while disregarding others.
Innovation Solution
A multimedia conferencing system that decomposes and recomposes composite multimedia streams using static and dynamic control information, allowing for flexible processing and manipulation of video conferencing streams, including spatial segmentation, video transforms, and indexing of active participants, without overburdening the media server.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the server provides different composite multimedia images to different participants, then functionality and flexibility are improved, but server cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an ancillary server as an intermediary component that handles the complex decomposition and processing of composite multimedia streams. This ancillary server acts as a mediator between the main video conferencing server and the participants, enabling flexible stream processing without overburdening the main server. The ancillary server receives the composite stream, decomposes it into individual participant streams, and redistributes them according to specific requirements, thus providing adaptability while maintaining server simplicity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the server performs real-time decomposition and processing of composite streams, then functionality is improved, but server processing burden increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the video stream processing function into separate components. The main server continues to handle conference management and composite stream generation, while the ancillary server handles the decomposition and selective processing of individual streams. This segmentation allows the main server to maintain high productivity by not being burdened with complex real-time decomposition tasks, while still providing enhanced functionality through the ancillary processing capabilities.
3Adaptability or versatility
If separate processing of individual participant streams is enabled, then recording and monitoring capabilities are improved, but storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by allowing different processing treatments for different participant streams based on specific requirements. Instead of uniformly processing all streams, the system can selectively decompose and process only those streams that need to be recorded or monitored. This enables targeted recording capabilities while minimizing storage overhead by avoiding unnecessary processing and storage of streams that don't require separate handling.
Data Source
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AI summary
A multimedia conferencing system is presented that can modify the composite multimedia stream into separate multimedia streams. Two or more video conference participants send multimedia streams, capturing and encoding the conference at the participant's location, to a multimedia server. The multimedia server includes a multipoint control unit that creates a composite multimedia display, which includes video regions corresponding to at least two of the multimedia streams from the participants. A composite multimedia stream describes the composite multimedia display. The ancillary server receives the composite multimedia stream from the multipoint control unit together with static and dynamic control information, which describes the format and layout of the composite multimedia display and the composite multimedia stream. Using the dynamic and static control information, the ancillary server decomposes the composite multimedia stream into two or more constituent streams. The two or more constituent streams may then be separately processed.