Immersive Video Pause Frame Quality Equalization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current 360° immersive video delivery systems face challenges in managing bandwidth efficiently, particularly when pausing video streams, as they often result in mixed quality tiles, leading to suboptimal viewing experiences due to bandwidth constraints and the need for high-quality video across the entire field of vision.
Innovation Solution
A client-based system that generates a replacement video frame with uniformly high-quality tiles based on user gaze vector information, ensuring that tiles outside the viewport are upgraded to match the quality of those in the viewport, and utilizes pause time to download higher quality frames, optimizing bandwidth usage and reducing latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If video compression is used to reduce bandwidth consumption, then bandwidth efficiency is improved, but video quality in non-viewport areas deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by delivering high-quality video data only for the viewport region (where the user is looking) and lower-quality compressed data for non-viewport areas. This is achieved through techniques like viewport-based encoding, where the encoder identifies the current viewport and allocates higher bitrate and better compression parameters specifically to that region, while using more aggressive compression for the rest of the 360-degree video content.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the 360-degree video content into different quality regions based on the viewport. The video is divided into viewport tiles and non-viewport tiles, with separate encoding and quality levels applied to each segment. This allows the system to manage bandwidth by treating different spatial regions differently, ensuring high quality where needed while conserving bandwidth in peripheral areas.
2Manufacturing precision
If high-quality video is delivered across the entire 360° field of vision, then video quality is improved, but bandwidth consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by delivering high-quality video data only for the viewport region (where the user is looking) and lower-quality compressed data for non-viewport areas. This is achieved through techniques like viewport-based encoding, where the encoder identifies the current viewport and allocates higher bitrate and better compression parameters specifically to that region, while using more aggressive compression for the rest of the 360-degree video content.
3Loss of energy
If mixed quality tiles are used during pause to save bandwidth, then bandwidth efficiency is improved, but viewing experience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-loading or buffering high-quality video data during pause periods. Instead of delivering mixed-quality tiles during pause, the system uses the pause time to download and buffer high-quality frames that will be needed when playback resumes. This ensures that when the user resumes viewing, high-quality video is immediately available without requiring complex real-time quality switching.
4Reliability
If uniform high-quality tiles are generated during pause, then viewing experience is improved, but bandwidth usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-loading or buffering high-quality video data during pause periods. Instead of delivering mixed-quality tiles during pause, the system uses the pause time to download and buffer high-quality frames that will be needed when playback resumes. This ensures that when the user resumes viewing, high-quality video is immediately available without requiring complex real-time quality switching.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for providing quality control in immersive video during pausing of a video streaming session. In one embodiment, a paused video frame may comprise a plurality of mixed quality video tiles depending on user gaze vector information. Under pause control, the video quality of all tiles of the paused video frame is equalized such that it is of same value for all the video tiles, which may be the video quality of the tiles presented in a viewport of the client device. The paused video frame having the same quality tiles throughout is used as a replacement video frame, which is presented to the client device player for decoding and displaying instead of the mixed quality video frame while the streaming session is paused.