US20090122859A1 - Picture transmission method, picture transmission method program, storage medium which stores picture transmission method program, and picture transmission apparatus - Google Patents
Picture transmission method, picture transmission method program, storage medium which stores picture transmission method program, and picture transmission apparatus Download PDFInfo
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- US20090122859A1 US20090122859A1 US12/350,993 US35099309A US2009122859A1 US 20090122859 A1 US20090122859 A1 US 20090122859A1 US 35099309 A US35099309 A US 35099309A US 2009122859 A1 US2009122859 A1 US 2009122859A1
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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
- H04N19/30—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using hierarchical techniques, e.g. scalability
- H04N19/33—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using hierarchical techniques, e.g. scalability in the spatial domain
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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
- H04N19/164—Feedback from the receiver or from the transmission channel
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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
- H04N19/167—Position within a video image, e.g. region of interest [ROI]
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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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- 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
- H04N19/30—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using hierarchical techniques, e.g. scalability
- H04N19/37—Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using hierarchical techniques, e.g. scalability with arrangements for assigning different transmission priorities to video input data or to video coded data
Definitions
- FIG. 3 is a flowchart of steps performed by the transmitting side in the moving picture distribution system of FIG. 1 ;
- the user operates the input device 22 to designate that part on the screen of the display device 21 .
- the position information DP about the designated part is reported to the transmitting side 3 ( FIG. 2 ).
- the report causes the transmitting side 3 to locate the partial picture region AR 1 .
- the video data DV 1 constituting the region AR 1 are output by the region extraction device 7 to the high-resolution encoding device 10 .
- the encoding device 10 compresses the video data DV 1 on the user-designated region at a lower data compression rate than the general view video data DV for the moving picture stream.
- the moving picture stream from the lower-rate compression is sent to and decoded by the receiving side 4 .
- the high-resolution moving pictures substitute for part of the general view constituted by the video data DV.
- step SP 4 is reached in which a timer is set on the region extraction device 7 .
- step SP 5 the timer starts counting.
- step SP 6 the position information DP is used as a basis for extracting video data DV 1 representing a partial picture region AR 1 .
- step SP 7 the extracted video data DV 1 are encoded by the high-resolution picture encoding device 10 .
- step SP 8 general view video data DV corresponding to a whole picture are fed to the general view encoding device 8 .
- step SP 9 the video data DV are encoded. After transmitting two sets of moving picture stream to the receiving side 4 , the transmitting side 3 goes back to step SP 2 to process another picture.
- the transmitting side 33 allows network reception devices 13 A and 13 B to acquire position information DPA and DPB respectively from the receiving sides. Given the two sets of position information, the region extraction device 37 establishes partial picture regions correspondingly and outputs video data DV 1 A and DV 1 B representing the established picture regions.
- the general view encoding device and high-resolution picture encoding device are furnished separately.
- the two encoding devices may be designed to share part of their components.
- general view video data are transmitted at a high data compression rate while a specific region of each picture defined as per the position information acquired from a transmission destination is transmitted at high resolution, i.e., at a reduced data compression rate.
Abstract
A picture transmission method is disclosed which involves encoding moving picture data and transmitting the encoded data. The picture transmission method includes the steps of encoding firstly the moving picture data into a moving picture stream for transmission at a predetermined data transfer rate, and encoding secondly, based on position information acquired from a transmission destination, a part of the moving picture data which constitutes a partial picture region for transmission at a higher resolution than the first encoding step.
Description
- This application is a continuation of and is based upon and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 for U.S. Ser. No. 10/133,420, filed Apr. 29, 2002, the entire contents of this application is incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Ser. No. 10/133,420 claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-133770, filed respectively on May 1, 2001.
- The present invention relates to a picture transmission method, a picture transmission method program, a storage medium which stores the picture transmission method program, and a picture transmission apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to techniques for distributing a moving picture stream over a network. According to the invention, picture data as a whole are first transmitted when compressed at a high compression rate. Based on position information acquired from a given transmission destination, part of the picture data representing a partial picture region is transmitted at a higher resolution than the remaining regions. That is, a user-designated partial region of each picture is compressed at a reduced data compression rate for a moving picture streaming service, so that users may watch desired portions of the streaming moving pictures reproduced at a higher resolution.
- Conventionally, moving picture streams are distributed over a network such as the Internet using a real-time compression and transmission system such as MPEG4 (Moving Picture Experts Group Phase 4).
- MPEG4 represents techniques for efficiently compressing moving picture data through the effective use of correlations between continuous pictures. Where moving picture data streams are distributed using MPEG4, the data compression rate is varied depending on the current amount of encoded data so that the data may be transmitted at a bit rate commensurate with the capacity of communication lines being used.
- With such a real-time compression and transmission system in use, higher data compression rates necessarily increase the amount of the data dropped from the original moving picture data and a transmission destination may not be able to reproduce clear pictures (i.e. pictures of high qualities). On the other hand, reduced data compression rates eventually make it impossible to transmit moving picture data over communication lines that have limited capacities.
- One proposed solution (ROI) to the above problem involves reducing the data compression rate for only a specific region of each moving picture. In other words, only that part of each picture which users are presumably desirous of watching at higher quality is transmitted at higher resolution while the remaining portions which users do not need in detailed picture, such as background, are left to have lower quality. The conventional solution is supposed efficiently to transmit moving picture data over communication lines subject to limited capacities.
- One disadvantage of the solution above is that the specific region of each picture selected for the high-resolution transmission may differ from the one that is desired by a user. Different users have different preferences. In a football game broadcast, for example, some users may look for a detailed picture of a particular player on defense side while other users may prefer watching a high-resolution image of another player on offence side.
- Transmitting picture portions that are not desired by a user at high resolution may be wasteful. Under the conventional scheme, a number of users may miss high-quality images of their preference.
- As outlined above, if only a fixed region of each picture is compressed at a reduced data compression rate for higher-quality distribution over the network by a moving picture streaming service, some users are satisfied but others are not. The conventional method has failed to address the diverse user preferences where pictures are transmitted on a partial-region enhanced-quality basis.
- The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides a picture transmission method, a picture transmission method program, a storage medium which stores the picture transmission method program, and a picture transmission apparatus for adequately addressing user preferences so that a user-designated specific region of each picture is compressed at a lower data compression rate for higher-resolution distribution through a moving picture streaming service.
- According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a picture transmission method for encoding moving picture data and transmitting the encoded data, the method comprising the steps of:
- encoding firstly said moving picture data into a moving picture stream for transmission at a predetermined data transfer rate; and
- encoding secondly, based on position information acquired from a transmission destination, a part of said moving picture data which constitutes a partial picture region for transmission at a higher resolution than said first encoding step.
- According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a picture transmission method program for encoding moving picture data and transmitting the encoded data, the program comprising the steps of:
- encoding firstly said moving picture data into a moving picture stream for transmission at a predetermined data transfer rate; and
- encoding secondly, based on position information acquired from a transmission destination, a part of said moving picture data which constitutes a partial picture region for transmission at a higher resolution than said first encoding step.
- According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium which stores a picture transmission method program for encoding moving picture data and transmitting the encoded data, the program comprising the steps of:
- encoding firstly said moving picture data into a moving picture stream for transmission at a predetermined data transfer rate; and
- encoding secondly, based on position information acquired from a transmission destination, a part of said moving picture data which constitutes a partial picture region for transmission at a higher resolution than said first encoding step.
- According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a picture transmission apparatus for encoding moving picture data and transmitting the encoded data, the apparatus comprising:
- first encoding means for encoding said moving picture data into a moving picture stream for transmission at a predetermined data transfer rate; and
- second encoding means which, based on position information acquired from a transmission destination, encodes a part of said moving picture data which constitutes a partial picture region for transmission at a higher resolution than said first encoding means.
- Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following description and appended drawings.
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FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a moving picture distribution system practiced as a first embodiment of the present invention; -
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing relations between the overall view of a picture and a specific region of that picture having a higher resolution than the rest of the picture as displayed by the system ofFIG. 1 ; -
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of steps performed by the transmitting side in the moving picture distribution system ofFIG. 1 ; and -
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a moving picture distribution system practiced as a second embodiment of the present invention. - Preferred embodiments of this invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
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FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a movingpicture distribution system 1 practiced as the first embodiment of this invention. In the movingpicture distribution system 1, a transmittingside 3 transmits a moving picture stream over anetwork 2 such as the Internet for reception by a receivingside 4. - On the transmitting
side 3, acamera 5 takes pictures of a desired object and outputs video data DV constituting moving pictures. Aframe memory 6 holds the video data DV temporarily before output. - A
region extraction device 7 forwards the video data DV unmodified from theframe memory 6 to a generalview encoding device 8. Theregion extraction device 7 may then be notified of position information DP, as shown inFIG. 2 , from anetwork reception device 13 regarding the video data DV destined for the generalview encoding device 8. In that case, theregion extraction device 7 establishes a partial picture region AR1 based on the position information DP and outputs video data DV1 constituting the partial region AR1 to a high-resolutionpicture encoding device 10. - The position information DP is information which denotes the display position selected by a user on the receiving
side 4 within the general view constituted by the video data DV. When thus designated, the position information DP is transmitted from the receivingside 4 in response to the user's operation. Given the position information DP, theregion extraction device 7 establishes the partial region AR1 extending in the horizontal and perpendicular directions from a position designated by the position information DP as a center point of a picture portion, before outputting the video data DV1 constituting the partial region AR1 to the high-resolutionpicture encoding device 10. - When notified of the position information DP from the
network reception device 13, theregion extraction device 7 keeps outputting to the high-resolutionpicture encoding device 10 the video data DV1 about the partial region AR1 for a predetermined period of time measured by an internal timer. When the predetermined time period has elapsed, theregion extraction device 7 stops sending the video data DV1 to the high-resolutionpicture encoding device 10. - Based illustratively on MPEG4, the general
view encoding device 8 compresses the video data DV from theregion extraction device 7 at a relatively high data compression rate prior to output. The output data from the generalview encoding device 8 are placed by anetwork transmission device 11 onto thenetwork 2. In this manner, the transmittingside 3 distributes all video data DV obtained from thecamera 5 over thenetwork 2 after having the data compressed at a relatively high data compression rate. - Using the same predictive coding scheme as the general
view encoding device 8, the high-resolutionpicture encoding device 10 compresses the partial region video data DV1 from theregion extraction device 7 prior to output. During the compression process, the high-resolutionpicture encoding device 10 compresses the video data DV1 at a lower data compression rate than the generalview encoding device 8 for output. That is, the high-resolutionpicture encoding device 10 outputs encoded moving picture data at a higher resolution than the generalview encoding device 8 outputting its moving picture stream. - A
network transmission device 12 places the output data from the high-resolutionpicture encoding device 10 onto thenetwork 2. Based on the position information DP, the transmittingside 3 transmits the selected part of the video data DV from thecamera 5 at a higher resolution than the rest of the video data DV. - The
network reception device 13 acquires the position information DP from the receivingside 4 and forwards the acquired information to theregion extraction device 7. Accordingly, theregion extraction device 7 in the movingpicture distribution system 1 transmits the general view video data DV at the higher data compression rate while feeding the video data DV1 representing the partial picture region designated by the receivingside 4 at the higher resolution. - On the receiving
side 4, anetwork reception device 15 receives the moving picture stream from thenetwork transmission device 11 and forwards what is received to downstream devices. A generalview decoding device 16 decodes the video data DV out of the moving picture stream coming from thenetwork reception device 15, before outputting the decoded video data DV. - Another
network reception device 17 on the receivingside 4 receives the moving picture stream coming from thenetwork transmission device 12 and forwards what is received to downstream devices. A high-resolutionpicture decoding device 18 decodes the video data DV1 out of the moving picture stream coming from thenetwork reception device 17, before outputting the decoded video data DV1. - A
picture composition device 19 substitutes the video data DV1 from the high-resolutionpicture decoding device 18 for part of the video data DV from the generalview decoding device 16 before outputting the composite video data to aframe memory 20. Theframe memory 20 temporarily retains the output data from thepicture composition device 19 before outputting the data to adisplay device 21. Thedisplay device 21 displays the data from theframe memory 20. - An
input device 22 is composed of two-dimensional coordinate inputting means such as a mouse. Theinput device 22, when operated by the user, moves a cursor on a display screen of thedisplay device 21. Theinput device 22, when further operated by the user, outputs coordinates DP of a specific display position on thedisplay device 21. The output coordinate information DP is sent by anetwork transmission device 24 over thenetwork 2 to the transmittingside 3. - In the moving
picture distribution system 1 of the above constitution (FIG. 1 ), the video data DV acquired by thecamera 5 are input to the generalview encoding device 8 for data compression into the moving picture stream. After the compression, the moving picture stream is transmitted over thenetwork 2 to the receivingside 4. On the receivingside 4, the generalview decoding device 16 decodes the original video data DV out of the received stream. Given the decoded video data DV, thedisplay device 21 displays moving pictures reflecting the data. - The moving
picture distribution system 1 thus allows moving pictures taken by thecamera 5 to be viewed on thedisplay device 21. Because the moving picture stream thus transmitted has been compressed by the generalview encoding device 8 at a high data compression rate, the stream lacks detailed information and has the correspondingly lower picture quality than the original video data DV when displayed. - If a user wants a specific part of the general view to be displayed in more detail, the user operates the
input device 22 to designate that part on the screen of thedisplay device 21. In turn, the position information DP about the designated part is reported to the transmitting side 3 (FIG. 2 ). The report causes the transmittingside 3 to locate the partial picture region AR1. The video data DV1 constituting the region AR1 are output by theregion extraction device 7 to the high-resolution encoding device 10. Theencoding device 10 compresses the video data DV1 on the user-designated region at a lower data compression rate than the general view video data DV for the moving picture stream. The moving picture stream from the lower-rate compression is sent to and decoded by the receivingside 4. The high-resolution moving pictures substitute for part of the general view constituted by the video data DV. - As described, the first embodiment permits users to view a desired partial region of the picture at higher resolution than the remaining regions. The feature is particularly useful in applications such as the moving picture streaming service wherein only a user-designated specific portion of each picture is distributed at the reduced data compression rate to the user in question. Thus different users can enjoy their preferred portions of the moving picture stream at the higher picture quality than the remaining picture portions.
- In such a moving picture bit streaming application, it is possible that a target which a user wishes to view in detail may move out of the user-designated partial region AR1 as time elapses, since the target is constantly moving in the moving picture. When that eventuality is taken into account, the position information DP may be reported from the receiving
side 4 together with time frame information. In that case, the transmittingside 3 transmits the high-resolution moving picture stream during that time frame and stops sending the stream once that time frame has elapsed. In this manner, the inventive movingpicture distribution system 1 effectively averts wasteful transmission of the video data that are no longer desired. -
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of steps performed by the transmittingside 3. Following the start of moving picture distribution in step SP1, the transmittingside 3 goes to step SP2. In step SP2, the transmittingside 3 causes thecamera 5 to capture moving pictures to be transmitted. In step SP3, a check is made to see if position information DP is acquired by thenetwork reception device 13. If the position information DP is judged acquired, that means a partial picture region needs to be extracted for higher-resolution transmission. - If in step SP3 the position information DP is judged acquired, step SP4 is reached in which a timer is set on the
region extraction device 7. In step SP5, the timer starts counting. In step SP6, the position information DP is used as a basis for extracting video data DV1 representing a partial picture region AR1. In step SP7, the extracted video data DV1 are encoded by the high-resolutionpicture encoding device 10. In step SP8, general view video data DV corresponding to a whole picture are fed to the generalview encoding device 8. In step SP9, the video data DV are encoded. After transmitting two sets of moving picture stream to the receivingside 4, the transmittingside 3 goes back to step SP2 to process another picture. - If in step SP3 the position information DP is not judged acquired, the transmitting
side 3 goes to step SP10. In step SP10, a check is made to see if a predetermined period of time has elapsed on the timer started in step SP5 since the start of a high-resolution moving picture stream. If in step SP10 the predetermined time period is not judged to have elapsed, then step SP5 is reached. In this case, too, the high-resolution moving picture stream is transmitted. - If in step SP10 the predetermined time period is judged to have elapsed, the transmitting
side 3 goes to step SP8. In step SP8, only the general view moving picture stream is output by the generalview encoding device 8 and the high-resolution moving picture stream is suppressed. - The first embodiment of the above-described constitution outputs general view video data at a high data compression rate while transmitting a partial picture region at a high resolution in accordance with position information acquired from a transmission destination. When a particular portion of each picture is thus designated by individual users for transmission at the reduced data compression rate (i.e., at high resolution) in the moving picture streaming service, user preferences are adequately addressed.
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FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a movingpicture distribution system 31 practiced as the second embodiment of this invention. The movingpicture distribution system 31 distributes moving pictures to a plurality of destinations. In the movingpicture distribution system 31 ofFIG. 4 , the component parts with their functionally identical or equivalent counterparts already indicated in the movingpicture distribution system 1 ofFIG. 1 are designated by like reference numerals, and their descriptions are omitted where redundant. - In the moving
picture distribution system 31, a transmittingside 33 causes a generalview encoding device 8 to transmit a moving picture stream commonly to receivingsides side 33 first directs video data DV from aframe memory 6 through aregion extraction device 37 to the generalview encoding device 8. Theencoding device 8 encodes the video data DV into a moving picture stream at a high data compression rate and transmits the encoded stream to the receivingsides network transmission device 11. - The transmitting
side 33 allowsnetwork reception devices region extraction device 37 establishes partial picture regions correspondingly and outputs video data DV1A and DV1B representing the established picture regions. - On the transmitting
side 33, the video data DV1A and DV1B are encoded respectively by high-resolutionpicture encoding devices relevant receiving sides - The receiving
sides view encoding device 8 and decode the video data DV therefrom. Furthermore, the receivingsides picture composition devices display devices display devices input devices side 33. - In transmitting moving pictures to a plurality of destinations, the second embodiment shown in
FIG. 4 sends to each destination the general view video data at the high data compression rate while feeding partial picture region data at the reduced data compression rate for high-resolution transmission based on the position information acquired from the destination in question. With any particular portion of each picture thus designated by users of different destinations for transmission at the reduced data compression rate in the moving picture streaming service, user preferences are adequately addressed. - The moving picture stream encoded at the high data compression rate is output commonly to a plurality of destinations. In turn, position information is acquired from each of the multiple destinations so that a desired partial region of each picture is designated accordingly for each destination. Video data representing the partial region are then encoded at high resolution before being transmitted to the respective destinations. This setup requires less transmission line occupancy than conventional arrangements wherein moving pictures are individually prepared and transmitted to a plurality of destinations. Reductions in line occupancy translate into higher levels of efficiency at which moving pictures are transmitted.
- The embodiments above were shown acquiring from a transmission destination the center coordinates of a partial picture region desired by the user in order to establish the picture region to be transmitted at high resolution. However, this is not limitative of the invention. An alternative embodiment of the invention may be arranged directly to accept the user's command for establishing the partial picture region.
- The above embodiments were described as setting the partial picture region for high-resolution transmission in a uniquely defined fashion based on the position information acquired from the transmission destination. Alternatively, the position information acquired from the destination may be subjected to a peripheral feature extraction method or like process. When the nature or character of the target desired by the user is determined by such a method, the actual region for high-resolution transmission may be established accordingly. Other diverse techniques may also be resorted to in establishing the partial picture region to be transmitted at high resolution.
- The above-described embodiments of the invention were shown transmitting a desired partial picture region for a predetermined period of time once the region is established for high-resolution transmission in accordance with the position information acquired from the transmission destination. Alternatively, a motion tracking technique or like process may be used to track the target in motion. This allows the partial picture region for high-resolution transmission to shift in position or be enlarged or contracted in area while the target is moving.
- The embodiments above were shown stopping the high-resolution transmission immediately upon elapse of a predetermined period of time. However, this is not limitative of the invention. An alternative embodiment of the invention may be arranged to gradually end the high-resolution transmission by letting the reduced data compression rate return progressively to the high data compression rate for the general view transmission. This prevents an abrupt, awkward change of picture quality in the moving pictures being displayed on the receiving side.
- The above embodiments were described as having the region extraction device and the
frame memory 6 furnished separately. Alternatively, theframe memory 6 may be incorporated into the region extraction device. - In the above-described embodiments, the general view encoding device and high-resolution picture encoding device are furnished separately. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the two encoding devices may be designed to share part of their components.
- Whereas the embodiments above were shown adopting MPEG4 or like encoding methods for compressing general view video data for low-resolution general view transmission while encoding partial picture region data for high-resolution moving picture transmission, this is not limitative of the invention. Alternatively, many other data compression methods may be adopted for data compression and transmission.
- Although the transmitting and receiving sides of each embodiment of the invention above were described as implemented on a hardware basis, this is not limitative of the invention. Alternatively, part or all of the transmitting and receiving sides may be implemented by software.
- As described and according to the invention, general view video data are transmitted at a high data compression rate while a specific region of each picture defined as per the position information acquired from a transmission destination is transmitted at high resolution, i.e., at a reduced data compression rate. With any particular portion of each picture designated by individual users for high-resolution transmission at the reduced data compression rate in the moving picture streaming service, user preferences are adequately addressed.
- As many apparently different embodiments of this invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.
Claims (12)
1. A picture transmission method for encoding moving picture data and transmitting the encoded data, the method comprising the steps of:
encoding, based on selected position information transmitted from each of a plurality of user devices, a part of said moving picture data of a higher resolution than a moving picture stream; and
transmitting said moving picture data to said plurality of devices while transmitting said moving picture data corresponding to the respective selected position information of said encoding step, to each of said plurality of devices,
wherein the encoding step includes encoding the established partial picture regions for transmission at a higher resolution for a predetermined period of time, after which, encoding of the established partial picture regions at the higher resolution is halted after the selected position information has moved out of the partial picture region.
2. A method according to claim 1 , further including, when the predetermined period of time has elapsed, gradually changing transmission of the data corresponding to the established partial picture region from the high resolution to a predetermined data transfer rate.
3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the encoding for transmission at the higher resolution for a predetermined period of time includes using a timer and discontinuing the encoding step after the predetermined period of time has elapsed as determined using the timer.
4. A method according to claim 3 , further including gradually returning transmission of data for the established partial picture region from the high resolution to a predetermined data transfer rate.
5. A picture transmission apparatus for encoding moving picture data and transmitting the encoded data, the apparatus comprising:
an encoding means which, based on selected position information transmitted from each of a plurality of user devices, encodes a part of said moving picture data of a higher resolution than a moving picture stream,
wherein said moving picture data is transmitted commonly to said plurality of devices while transmitting said moving picture data corresponding to the respective selected position information to each of said plurality of devices, and
wherein the encoding means includes encoding the established partial picture regions for transmission at a higher resolution for a predetermined period of time, after which, encoding of the established partial picture regions at the higher resolution is halted after the selected position information has moved out of the partial picture region.
6. An apparatus according to claim 5 , further including, when the predetermined period of time has elapsed, gradually changing transmission of the data corresponding to the established partial picture region from the high resolution to a predetermined data transfer rate.
7. An apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the encoding for transmission at the higher resolution for a predetermined period of time includes using a timer and discontinuing the encoding after the predetermined period of time has elapsed as determined using the timer.
8. An apparatus according to claim 7 , further including gradually returning transmission of data for the established partial picture region from the high resolution to a predetermined data transfer rate.
9. A picture transmission apparatus for encoding moving picture data and transmitting the encoded data, the apparatus comprising:
an encoding device which, based on selected position information transmitted from each of a plurality of user devices, encodes a part of said moving picture data of a higher resolution than a moving picture stream,
wherein the moving picture data is transmitted commonly to said plurality of devices while transmitting said moving picture data corresponding to the respective encoded selected position information to each of the plurality of devices, and
wherein the encoding device is configured to encode the established partial picture regions for transmission at a higher resolution for a predetermined period of time, after which, encoding of the established partial picture regions at the higher resolution is halted after the selected position information has moved out of the partial picture region.
10. An apparatus according to claim 9 , further including, when the predetermined period of time has elapsed, gradually changing transmission of the data corresponding to the established partial picture region from the high resolution to a predetermined data transfer rate.
11. An apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the encoding for transmission at the higher resolution for a predetermined period of time includes using a timer and discontinuing the encoding after the predetermined period of time has elapsed as determined using the timer.
12. An apparatus according to claim 11 , further including gradually returning transmission of data for the established partial picture region from the high resolution to a predetermined data transfer rate.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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US12/350,993 US20090122859A1 (en) | 2001-05-01 | 2009-01-09 | Picture transmission method, picture transmission method program, storage medium which stores picture transmission method program, and picture transmission apparatus |
Applications Claiming Priority (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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JP2001-133770 | 2001-05-01 | ||
JP2001133770A JP2002330440A (en) | 2001-05-01 | 2001-05-01 | Image transmission method, program for the image transmission method, recording medium for recording the program for the image transmission method, and image transmitter |
US10/133,420 US7529298B2 (en) | 2001-05-01 | 2002-04-29 | Picture transmission method, picture transmission method program, storage medium which stores picture transmission method program, and picture transmission apparatus |
US12/350,993 US20090122859A1 (en) | 2001-05-01 | 2009-01-09 | Picture transmission method, picture transmission method program, storage medium which stores picture transmission method program, and picture transmission apparatus |
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US10/133,420 Continuation US7529298B2 (en) | 2001-05-01 | 2002-04-29 | Picture transmission method, picture transmission method program, storage medium which stores picture transmission method program, and picture transmission apparatus |
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US20090122859A1 true US20090122859A1 (en) | 2009-05-14 |
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US12/350,993 Abandoned US20090122859A1 (en) | 2001-05-01 | 2009-01-09 | Picture transmission method, picture transmission method program, storage medium which stores picture transmission method program, and picture transmission apparatus |
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Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
EP1259080B1 (en) | 2006-09-13 |
JP2002330440A (en) | 2002-11-15 |
DE60214622D1 (en) | 2006-10-26 |
US20020168006A1 (en) | 2002-11-14 |
US7529298B2 (en) | 2009-05-05 |
EP1259080A2 (en) | 2002-11-20 |
DE60214622T2 (en) | 2007-09-13 |
EP1259080A3 (en) | 2003-11-26 |
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