EP1224804A4 - Method and apparatus for performing digital-to-digital video insertion - Google Patents
Method and apparatus for performing digital-to-digital video insertionInfo
- Publication number
- EP1224804A4 EP1224804A4 EP00975371A EP00975371A EP1224804A4 EP 1224804 A4 EP1224804 A4 EP 1224804A4 EP 00975371 A EP00975371 A EP 00975371A EP 00975371 A EP00975371 A EP 00975371A EP 1224804 A4 EP1224804 A4 EP 1224804A4
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- video stream
- compressed video
- profile
- compressed
- video
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
Links
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- 238000003780 insertion Methods 0.000 title abstract description 35
- 230000037431 insertion Effects 0.000 title abstract description 35
- 239000000872 buffer Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 25
- 230000003139 buffering effect Effects 0.000 claims description 4
- 230000000977 initiatory effect Effects 0.000 claims 1
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 8
- 230000007704 transition Effects 0.000 description 7
- 238000013139 quantization Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000000969 carrier Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000006835 compression Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000007906 compression Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000003247 decreasing effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000002452 interceptive effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 1
Classifications
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/234—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs
- H04N21/23418—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N19/00—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals
- H04N19/10—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding
- H04N19/134—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the element, parameter or criterion affecting or controlling the adaptive coding
- H04N19/146—Data rate or code amount at the encoder output
- H04N19/15—Data rate or code amount at the encoder output by monitoring actual compressed data size at the memory before deciding storage at the transmission buffer
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- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N19/00—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals
- H04N19/10—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding
- H04N19/134—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the element, parameter or criterion affecting or controlling the adaptive coding
- H04N19/146—Data rate or code amount at the encoder output
- H04N19/152—Data rate or code amount at the encoder output by measuring the fullness of the transmission buffer
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- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N19/00—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals
- H04N19/10—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding
- H04N19/169—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the coding unit, i.e. the structural portion or semantic portion of the video signal being the object or the subject of the adaptive coding
- H04N19/17—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the coding unit, i.e. the structural portion or semantic portion of the video signal being the object or the subject of the adaptive coding the unit being an image region, e.g. an object
- H04N19/172—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the coding unit, i.e. the structural portion or semantic portion of the video signal being the object or the subject of the adaptive coding the unit being an image region, e.g. an object the region being a picture, frame or field
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N19/00—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals
- H04N19/10—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding
- H04N19/169—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the coding unit, i.e. the structural portion or semantic portion of the video signal being the object or the subject of the adaptive coding
- H04N19/17—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the coding unit, i.e. the structural portion or semantic portion of the video signal being the object or the subject of the adaptive coding the unit being an image region, e.g. an object
- H04N19/174—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the coding unit, i.e. the structural portion or semantic portion of the video signal being the object or the subject of the adaptive coding the unit being an image region, e.g. an object the region being a slice, e.g. a line of blocks or a group of blocks
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- H04N19/00—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals
- H04N19/10—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding
- H04N19/189—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the adaptation method, adaptation tool or adaptation type used for the adaptive coding
- H04N19/192—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the adaptation method, adaptation tool or adaptation type used for the adaptive coding the adaptation method, adaptation tool or adaptation type being iterative or recursive
- H04N19/194—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the adaptation method, adaptation tool or adaptation type used for the adaptive coding the adaptation method, adaptation tool or adaptation type being iterative or recursive involving only two passes
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N19/00—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals
- H04N19/10—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding
- H04N19/189—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the adaptation method, adaptation tool or adaptation type used for the adaptive coding
- H04N19/196—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the adaptation method, adaptation tool or adaptation type used for the adaptive coding being specially adapted for the computation of encoding parameters, e.g. by averaging previously computed encoding parameters
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N19/00—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals
- H04N19/60—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using transform coding
- H04N19/625—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using transform coding using discrete cosine transform [DCT]
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- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/234—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs
- H04N21/23424—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
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- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/44—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs
- H04N21/44016—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
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- H—ELECTRICITY
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- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
- H04N21/81—Monomedia components thereof
- H04N21/812—Monomedia components thereof involving advertisement data
Definitions
- the invention relates generally to digital video processing and more specifically to a method and apparatus for inserting a compressed digital advertisement video into a compressed digital program video.
- ad insertion is typically achieved by merging an analog advertisement video into an analog program video (which is also known as a "digital-into-analog" process). This insertion technique works by switching between (advertisement and program) video sources and broadcasting the multiplexed video to the viewer. If the advertisement is stored in a digital format, it is typically converted into an analog advertisement video prior to the ad insertion.
- Frame synchronization is typically a major concern in such an analog-based system, and other issues are not quite as critical. Since the video signal being broadcast is analog, the ad insertion equipment produces the multiplexed video in analog format regardless of whether the advertisement is stored in analog or digital format.
- Splicing in the compressed digital domain to achieve ad insertion generally cannot be accomplished with the same degree of freedom as in the analog domain or in the uncompressed digital domain.
- the profile (or characteristics, which typically include the bit rate) of a compressed video stream continually changes over time depending on the contents of the video, the parameter values used to encode the video, and other factors. Unless care is taken to ensure that the splicing is accomplished at the proper points within the compressed video stream and with matched encoding profiles for the compressed streams to be merged, various unsightly artifacts or other anomalies can result in the multiplexed output video.
- Such artifacts and anomalies may include, for example, severe macroblocking, dropped frames, macroblock panics, audio glitches, pop gargling noises, drop outs, and so on.
- the invention provides ad insertion techniques that overcome disadvantages normally associated with conventional ad insertion techniques and can be used to seamlessly merge compressed digital advertisement video into compressed digital program video.
- the techniques of the invention utilize program video "profiling" to ensure that the digitally encoded advertisement video (i.e., compressed advertisement video) has a profile that is similar to that of the compressed digital program video at approximately the time the compressed advertisement video is inserted into the compressed program video.
- the video decoder e.g., in the subscriber equipment
- the techniques of the invention can be advantageously applied in a digital information distribution system such as a video on demand system or a server-centric interactive program guide system.
- Such information distribution system may include service provider equipment, a data distribution network, and subscriber equipment that typically includes a video decoder and a display.
- An embodiment of the invention provides an ad insertion processor (which typically resides in the service provider equipment) capable of seamlessly inserting a second compressed (e.g., advertisement) video stream into a first compressed (e.g., program) video stream.
- the ad insertion processor includes a real time encoder (e.g., an MPEG encoder), a profiler, and a multiplexer, and typically further includes a buffer.
- the ad insertion processor is typically implemented with a number of real time encoders, buffers, profilers, and multiplexers.
- the profiler receives the compressed program video stream and provides a profile for this stream.
- the profile is typically in the form of a continuous information stream that includes bit rate information (e.g., a high and low bit rate value and a mean bit rate value) and may further include VBV (video buffering verifier) buffer information used for the compressed video stream.
- VBV video buffering verifier
- the profiling information for the compressed program video stream is used to facilitate the splicing of the compressed advertisement video stream into the compressed program video stream in a seamless manner.
- An advertisement video source provides a number of advertisement videos.
- the ad insertion source Upon receiving a control signal (e.g., a "pre-roll" signal that typically occurs six seconds before the advertisement is needed), the ad insertion source provides a selected advertisement video to the real time encoder.
- a control signal e.g., a "pre-roll” signal that typically occurs six seconds before the advertisement is needed
- the real time encoder receives and encodes the advertisement video in accordance with a particular encoding scheme to generate the compressed advertisement video stream.
- the real time encoder further controls the encoding of the advertisement video based at least in part on the profile of the compressed program video stream such that the profile of the compressed advertisement video stream approximately matches the profile of the compressed program video stream at the point in time the advertisement video is inserted into the program video.
- the buffer may be utilized to buffer the compressed advertisement until it is needed by the multiplexer (e.g., to buffer six seconds of video).
- the buffer can provide the compressed advertisement video to the multiplexer upon receiving another control signal (e.g., a "roll" signal).
- the multiplexer receives the compressed advertisement and program video streams and inserts the compressed advertisement video stream into the compressed program video stream. This can be achieved by switching from the compressed program video stream to the compressed advertisement video stream, splicing the streams together, and providing the spliced stream as an output video stream.
- the multiplexer switches from the compressed program video to the compressed advertisement video, the switching appears seamless at a decoder.
- the profiler further collects information regarding the profile of the compressed advertisement video such that the encoding parameters for the advertisement can be adjusted to ensure that the profile of the compressed advertisement video is similar to that of the compressed program video at the time the program video was interrupted to insert the advertisement video. In this manner, the transition back to the compressed program video from the compressed advertisement video will also be seamless.
- the invention further provides other systems and methods that implement, process, and/or facilitate the ad insertion techniques described herein.
- FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a digital information distribution system capable of implementing various aspects of the invention
- FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of an ad insertion processor in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
- FIG. 3 is a more detailed block diagram of an embodiment of a portion of the ad insertion processor of FIG. 2, which can be used to splice an advertisement video into a program video;
- FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a video insertion process in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a digital information distribution system
- System 100 includes service provider equipment 102, a data distribution network 104, and subscriber equipment 106.
- service provider equipment 102 includes a digital program video source 108 (which may be implemented with a video server), a controller 1 10, an ad insertion processor 112, and a modulator 114 (which may be implemented as a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulator).
- Service provider equipment 102 couples to data distribution network 104, which may be a hybrid fiber-coax network.
- Subscriber equipment 106 also couples to network 104 and includes a video decoder 116 (e.g., an MPEG decoder) and a display device 118 (e.g., a television set).
- video decoder 116 e.g., an MPEG decoder
- display device 118 e.g., a television set.
- Digital program video source 108 provides a number of streams of compressed digital program video to ad insertion processor 112.
- compressed digital program video or “compressed video” includes the associated digital audio information, which may or may not be compressed.
- the compressed program video streams from source 108 may be MPEG-compliant streams. However, streams produced using other encoding schemes can also be processed in accordance with the techniques of the invention.
- Ad insertion processor 112 generates a number of compressed advertisement video streams, inserts the compressed advertisement video streams into the compressed program video streams, and provides one or more output video streams to modulator 114. Modulator 114 then modulates the output video streams onto one or more carriers, and the modulated signals are transmitted via data distribution network 104 to subscriber equipment 106. Subscriber equipment 106 demodulates the signal, decodes a selected video stream using video decoder 116, and provides the decoded video to display 118.
- Ad insertion processor 112 provides a seamless transition between the compressed program video that is distributed to the subscribers and the compressed advertisement video that is inserted into the compressed program video, and is described in further detail below. Controller 110 provides the control signals for the insertion of the compressed advertisement video into the compressed program video.
- FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of ad insertion processor
- ad insertion processor 112 includes an advertisement video source 200, a number of real time (one or more) encoders 202, a number (one or more) of buffers 204, and a processing unit 206.
- processing unit 206 includes a profiler, a splicer, and a multiplexer.
- Advertisement video source 200 provides the advertisements to be inserted into the program videos.
- Advertisement video source 200 may be implemented with a server coupled to a bulk storage device (e.g., a disk drive, magneto-optical drive, or some other storage device) used to store a large number of advertisements that can be selectively retrieved.
- the stored advertisements may be in a particular format and may conform to, for example, the CCIR-601 video standard.
- Advertisement video source 200 receives from controller 110 control information identifying when an advertisement should be inserted into the compressed program video stream, and uses the control information to initiate the processing (e.g., encoding) of the advertisement. At the designated times, the selected advertisements are streamed out of advertisement video source 200 to the assigned real time encoders 202 on a frame-by-frame or sub-frame (slice) basis.
- Each real time encoder 202 may be assigned to encode a particular advertisement video from advertisement video source 200 or any number of encoders (e.g. two) can be used to encode the advertisement videos where each advertisement video time- shares the available encoders.
- Real time encoders 202 then provide the compressed advertisement video streams to respective buffers 204, which buffer the compressed streams until they are needed.
- Processing unit 206 receives a number of compressed program video streams (e.g., from program video source 108). For each compressed program video stream to be inserted with advertisements, the profiler within processing unit 206 provides a profile for the compressed stream. Processing unit 206 further receives compressed advertisement video streams from buffers 204 and inserts the advertisements into the proper program videos.
- FIG. 3 is a more detailed block diagram of an embodiment of a portion of ad insertion processor 112, which is used to splice an advertisement video into a compressed program video stream.
- the compressed program video is provided to a profiler 310 and a multiplexer 312 within processing unit 206.
- Profiler 310 provides information regarding the profile of the compressed program video stream.
- This profile typically comprises information pertaining to various parameters associated with the compressed stream such as, for example, bit rate information, VBV (video buffering verifier) buffer information that is typically used for MPEG encoding, intra DC coefficient precision, group of pictures (GOP) prediction format, and so on.
- the bit rate information may include, for example, a high bit rate value, a low bit rate value, and a mean bit rate value for the compressed stream.
- the term "profile” includes the context represented by "levels" in MPEG standard and it is not bound to the defined profile & level definitions and combinations used in MPEG standard.
- a number of parameters are selected as representative of the program video stream encoding scheme and these parameters are continuously tracked by the profiler 310 for any instant parameter changes in the program bitstream.
- the profile information for the compressed program video is provided (i.e., fed back) to a real time encoder 202x assigned to encode the advertisement video to be inserted into that program video.
- real time encoder 202x encodes the advertisement video in accordance with a particular encoding scheme to generate the compressed advertisement video stream.
- Real time encoder 202x may be implemented as an MPEG-2 encoder that generates an MPEG-compliant stream.
- real time encoder 202 may be designed to encode the advertisement video using some other encoding scheme.
- real time encoder 202x implements the same encoding scheme used to generate the compressed program video stream.
- the encoding of the advertisement can begin a particular "pre-roll" time period (e.g., six seconds) prior to the time the advertisement is to be inserted into the compressed program video.
- the encoding start time can be indicated by a "pre-roll" signal that is received by controller 110 and which indicates that the advertisement will be needed in approximately that pre-roll time period (e.g., in six seconds). Controller 110 then notifies ad insertion processor 112 to produce the compressed advertisement video within that pre- roll time period.
- advertisement video source 200 can begin streaming frames or slices of the advertisement video to the assigned real time encoder 202x, which compresses the advertisement.
- the encoding is typically initiated a short time (e.g., the pre-roll time) prior to the time at which the compressed video stream will be needed. This allows the real time encoder a sufficient amount of time to adjust the encoding parameters and then encode the advertising content.
- a short time e.g., the pre-roll time
- the compressed advertisement video stream is then provided to an associated buffer 204x, which buffers the compressed advertisement video for that pre-roll time period (e.g., six seconds). If real time encoder 202x is capable of rapidly encoding video, buffer 204x may not be needed and, in that case, encoder 202x may be coupled directly to multiplexer 312 within processing unit 206.
- a "roll" signal by controller 110 informs that the advertisement is to be inserted into the program video in a particular roll time period (e.g., one second). If buffer 204x is not employed, encoder 202x can begin encoding the advertisement video at this time and directly provide the compressed advertisement video stream to multiplexer 312.
- multiplexer 312 switches from the compressed program video stream to the compressed advertisement video stream.
- Splicer 314 then splices the compressed advertisement video stream to the compressed program video stream to generate a compressed output video stream.
- the profiling information that characterizes the compressed program video is provided (i.e., fed back) to real time encoder 202x used to encode the advertisement video for this program video.
- the profile is then used to adjust the encoder parameters to ensure that the profile of the compressed advertisement video approximately matches the profile of the compressed program video at the point when multiplexer 312 switches stream and the compressed advertisement video is inserted into the compressed program video. Since the advertisement video has been compressed to ensure that the profile of the compressed advertisement video stream is similar to that of the compressed program video stream, the insertion of the advertisement into the program video appears seamless.
- Various encoding parameters for the advertisement video can be adjusted based on the profile of the compressed program video.
- the quantization step size used in the encoding process can be adjusted to achieve the desired profile.
- the quantization step size can be decreased if a higher bit rate is needed and can be increased if a lower bit rate is required.
- the VBV buffer information can also be used in the encoding process to ensure that the multiplexed output video stream will not cause buffer overflow or underflow at the decoder.
- the contents of the program video may be very different from that of the advertisement video and this may result in a difference in picture quality (as measured by the signal-to-noise ratio) for the same profile.
- the quality of the advertisement video can be matched to that of the program video. This matching of the picture quality of the two videos to be spliced can be achieved by adjusting the profile parameters.
- profiler 310 collects profile parameter information according to which the encoding parameters are adjusted.
- Profile parameters such as the instantaneous bit rate of the advertising video stream are adjusted so that the profile parameter values closely matches program video parameters at the time the program video was interrupted. This is particularly important at the time the advertising video ends and is transitioned back to program video.
- the use of the profile to continuously adjust the encoding parameters of the advertisement video ensures that the splicing of the program video back into the advertisement appears seamless.
- a number of advertisements may be inserted sequentially into the program video using the techniques described above.
- the advertisements may be encoded one after another using a number of real time encoders 202 that may be arranged in a cascade configuration.
- Each advertisement may be encoded based on the profile obtained for the program video into which the advertisement is to be inserted.
- Multiplexer 312 can switch from one encoded advertisement video stream to another until all advertisements have been inserted. At the end of the advertisements, multiplexer 312 switches back to the compressed program video stream.
- the profile of the compressed program video is used to adjust the encoder parameters for the advertisements and to ensure that the last advertisement to be encoded has a profile that approximately matches the profile of the compressed program video at the point in time the program video was paused to insert the first advertisement. In this manner, the advertisement videos can be seamlessly inserted into the program video.
- the first advertisement video may also be encoded with the same profile as the compressed program video to provide seamless transition.
- the advertisements may be encoded one after another using only one real time encoder 202. Again, the encoding of each advertisement can be controlled based on the profile of the compressed program video to ensure a seamless transition between the advertisements and the program video.
- the decoder within the subscriber equipment is able to properly decode the multiplexed output video stream without producing artifacts and anomalies on the video display. Since the profile of the inserted advertisement is similar to that of the program video, the decoding parameters and the decoder buffer are well behaved (e.g., no buffer overflow). Thus, the decoder can seamlessly transition from decoding the compressed program video stream to decoding the compressed advertisement video stream.
- the program video is received in compressed form and the advertisement video is encoded based on the profile of the compressed program video.
- the program video can also be received in uncompressed form.
- the program video can be encoded in the normal manner and the profile for the advertising video can be generated as described above.
- FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a video insertion process 400 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
- Video insertion process 400 can be used to insert a second compressed video stream (e.g., for an advertisement) into a first compressed video stream (for a program video).
- a second compressed video stream e.g., for an advertisement
- a profile for the stream is determined, at step 414.
- the profile can include the information described above.
- a second video is then received, at step 416, and encoded in accordance with a particular encoding scheme and further based on the profile of the first compressed video stream to generate the second compressed video stream, at step 418.
- the encoding of the second video is controlled continuously based at least in part on the profile of the first compressed video stream, at step 420.
- the encoding can be initiated prior to the time the second compressed video stream is needed, and the encoding can be adjusted such that the profiles for the first and second compressed video streams approximately match. If the profiles for the streams do not match (within the requisite degree), the encoding parameters are further adjusted back at step 420. Otherwise, if the profiles approximately match, the second compressed video stream can be spliced and multiplexed into the first compressed video stream, at step 426.
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Multimedia (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
- Marketing (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Computing Systems (AREA)
- Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Discrete Mathematics (AREA)
- Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)
- Compression Or Coding Systems Of Tv Signals (AREA)
- Time-Division Multiplex Systems (AREA)
Abstract
Description
Claims
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US16132099P | 1999-10-25 | 1999-10-25 | |
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PCT/US2000/029381 WO2001031918A1 (en) | 1999-10-25 | 2000-10-24 | Method and apparatus for performing digital-to-digital video insertion |
Publications (2)
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EP1224804A1 EP1224804A1 (en) | 2002-07-24 |
EP1224804A4 true EP1224804A4 (en) | 2005-11-16 |
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EP00975371A Withdrawn EP1224804A4 (en) | 1999-10-25 | 2000-10-24 | Method and apparatus for performing digital-to-digital video insertion |
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EP (1) | EP1224804A4 (en) |
AU (1) | AU1343401A (en) |
CA (1) | CA2388944C (en) |
WO (1) | WO2001031918A1 (en) |
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EP1391116A4 (en) * | 2001-05-16 | 2007-03-14 | Yahoo Inc | Flow control for multiple information sources |
Citations (3)
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EP0739138A2 (en) * | 1995-04-19 | 1996-10-23 | AT&T IPM Corp. | Method and apparatus for matching compressed video signals to a communications channel |
WO1999039506A1 (en) * | 1998-01-30 | 1999-08-05 | General Instrument Corporation | Apparatus and method for digital advertisement insertion in a bitstream |
EP0944249A1 (en) * | 1997-10-03 | 1999-09-22 | Sony Corporation | Encoded stream splicing device and method, and an encoded stream generating device and method |
Family Cites Families (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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US5534944A (en) * | 1994-07-15 | 1996-07-09 | Matsushita Electric Corporation Of America | Method of splicing MPEG encoded video |
US6038000A (en) * | 1997-05-28 | 2000-03-14 | Sarnoff Corporation | Information stream syntax for indicating the presence of a splice point |
US6067303A (en) * | 1997-02-25 | 2000-05-23 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method and apparatus for detecting and controlling data stream splicing in ATM networks |
US5982436A (en) * | 1997-03-28 | 1999-11-09 | Philips Electronics North America Corp. | Method for seamless splicing in a video encoder |
-
2000
- 2000-10-24 AU AU13434/01A patent/AU1343401A/en not_active Abandoned
- 2000-10-24 WO PCT/US2000/029381 patent/WO2001031918A1/en active Application Filing
- 2000-10-24 EP EP00975371A patent/EP1224804A4/en not_active Withdrawn
- 2000-10-24 CA CA2388944A patent/CA2388944C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
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EP0739138A2 (en) * | 1995-04-19 | 1996-10-23 | AT&T IPM Corp. | Method and apparatus for matching compressed video signals to a communications channel |
EP0944249A1 (en) * | 1997-10-03 | 1999-09-22 | Sony Corporation | Encoded stream splicing device and method, and an encoded stream generating device and method |
WO1999039506A1 (en) * | 1998-01-30 | 1999-08-05 | General Instrument Corporation | Apparatus and method for digital advertisement insertion in a bitstream |
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Title |
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Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
CA2388944C (en) | 2011-02-08 |
EP1224804A1 (en) | 2002-07-24 |
AU1343401A (en) | 2001-05-08 |
WO2001031918A1 (en) | 2001-05-03 |
CA2388944A1 (en) | 2001-05-03 |
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