Method and apparatus for processing a video signal

Abstract

Method, apparatus and computer program product for processing a video signal, the video signal comprising a plurality of frames, wherein the frames of the video signal are received at a jitter buffer, and the frames are output from the jitter buffer at a variable output rate to account for jitter in the received frames. Variations in the output rate are controlled in dependence upon the visual information content of the video signal, the visual information content of the video signal being the portion of the video signal that is to be displayed when the video signal is played out.

1 . A computer-implemented comprising:
 analysing visual information content of a video signal, the visual information content of the video signal being a portion of the video signal that is to be displayed when the video signal is played out, the video signal comprising a plurality of frames;   determining, based, at least in part, on the analysis of the visual information content, a respective sensitivity of each frame of the plurality of frames to variations in a rate at which frames of the video signal are played out; and   marking each frame of the plurality of the frames with a mark indicating the respective determined sensitivity.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analysing the visual information content further comprises determining an appearance of the visual information content. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 analysing an audio signal corresponding to the video signal, wherein the determining a respective sensitivity of each frame of the plurality of frames is performed based, at least in part, upon the analysis of the audio signal. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 determining a perceived distortion that variations in the rate at which frames of the video signal are played out would introduce to the visual information content, wherein the determining a respective sensitivity of each of the frames is performed based, at least in part, upon the determined perceived distortion. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the determined sensitivity is higher for frames with more changed content between frames in the visual information content than other frames. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 transmitting the video signal sent over a communications network from a transmitting device to a receiving device effective to enable the receiving device to play out the frames of the video signal at a rate determined by the marks of the frames. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein marking each frame with the mark is performed at one of:
 the transmitting device; 
 the receiving device; or 
 a further device in the communications network. 
 
     
     
         8 . A device comprising:
 at least one processor; and   one or more computer-readable storage memories comprising processor-executable instructions which, responsive to execution by the at least one processor, are configured to perform operations comprising:
 analysing visual information content associated with a video signal, the visual information content of the video signal being the portion of the video signal that is to be displayed when the video signal is played out, the video signal comprising a plurality of frames; 
 determining, based, at least in part, upon the analysis of the visual information content, a respective sensitivity of each of the frames of the video signal to variations in the rate at which frames of the video signal are played out; and 
 marking each of the frames with a mark indicating the respective determined sensitivity. 
   
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein analyzing the visual information content further comprises determining an appearance of the visual information content. 
     
     
         10 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein analysing the visual information content associated with a video signal further comprises determining whether the visual information content depicts at least one person talking. 
     
     
         11 . The device of  claim 10 , wherein the determining a respective sensitivity further comprises analysing an audio signal associated with the video signal. 
     
     
         12 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein the marking each of the frames with a mark indicating the respective determined sensitivity further comprises marking each of the frames as part of an encoding process. 
     
     
         13 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein determining the respective sensitivity of each of the frames further comprises determining the respective sensitivity of a spatial region of each of the frames, wherein a frame comprises multiple spatial regions. 
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein the device comprises:
 a transmitting device associated with transmitting the video signal over a communication network;   a receiving device associated with receiving the video signal over the communications network; or   a further device in the communications network.   
     
     
         15 . One or more computer-readable storage memories comprising processor-executable instructions which, responsive to execution by at least one processor, are configured to perform operations comprising:
 analysing visual information content associated with a video signal, the visual information content of the video signal being the portion of the video signal that is to be displayed when the video signal is played out, the video signal comprising a plurality of frames;   determining, based, at least in part, upon the analysis of the visual information content, a respective sensitivity of each of the frames of the video signal to variations in the rate at which frames of the video signal are played out; and   marking each of the frames with a mark indicating the respective determined sensitivity.   
     
     
         16 . The one or more computer-readable storage memories of  claim 15 , wherein the processor-executable instructions are further configured to perform operations comprising:
 transmitting the video signal sent over a communications network from a transmitting device to a receiving device effective to enable the receiving device to play out the frames of the video signal at a rate determined by the marks of the frames.   
     
     
         17 . The one or more computer-readable storage memories of  claim 15 , wherein analysing the visual information content associated with a video signal further comprises determining whether the visual information content depicts at least one person talking. 
     
     
         18 . The one or more computer-readable storage memories of  claim 17 , wherein the processor-executable instructions are further configured to perform operations comprising:
 responsive to determining the visual information content depicts at least one person talking, analysing an audio signal corresponding to the video signal,   wherein the determined respective sensitivity of each frame of the plurality of frames is based, at least in part, upon the analysis of the audio signal.   
     
     
         19 . The one or more computer-readable storage memories of  claim 15 , wherein determining the respective sensitivity of each of the frames further comprises determining the respective sensitivity of a spatial region of each of the frames, wherein a frame comprises multiple spatial regions. 
     
     
         20 . The one or more computer-readable storage memories of  claim 16 , wherein the processor-executable instructions are further configured to perform operations comprising:
 determining a perceived distortion that variations in the rate at which frames of the video signal are played out would introduce to the visual information content,   wherein the determined respective sensitivity of each of the frames is based, at least in part, upon the determined perceived distortion.