Video compression and transmission techniques

Abstract

Embodiments feature families of rate allocation and rate control methods that utilize advanced processing of past and future frame/field picture statistics and are designed to operate with one or more coding passes. At least two method families include: a family of methods for a rate allocation with picture look-ahead; and a family of methods for average bit rate (ABR) control methods. At least two other methods for each method family are described. For the first family of methods, some methods may involve intra rate control. For the second family of methods, some methods may involve high complexity ABR control and/or low complexity ABR control. These and other embodiments can involve any of the following: spatial coding parameter adaptation, coding prediction, complexity processing, complexity estimation, complexity filtering, bit rate considerations, quality considerations, coding parameter allocation, and/or hierarchical prediction structures, among others.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method of coding a picture for video, the method comprising:
 estimating, with a pre-analyzer, a complexity of a current picture based upon analyzing a complexity of past pictures or future pictures;   determining, with the pre-analyzer, a level of correlation for the current picture with the past pictures or the future pictures; and   based upon the determination of the level of correlation, coding the current picture at a quality level that is higher than a quality level of the past pictures or the future pictures.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising coding, with a coder having motion-compensated prediction, the past pictures or future pictures at the quality level of the current picture, wherein the level of correlation comprises a level of temporal correlation. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising determining, with the pre-analyzer, a metric that indicates temporal correlation for the current picture with the past pictures or the future pictures. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the pre-analyzer is configured to determine a motion compensated Summed Absolute Difference (SAD) metric, a Mean Squared Error (MSE) metric, a distortion metric, a Summed Squared Error (SSE) metric, a Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) metric, or a Video Quality Index (VQI) metric. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising predicting the metric by performing motion estimation and compensation that uses pictures that are different from any of the pictures considered during the coding. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the coding comprises:
 varying reference pictures used for the coding;   varying temporal prediction distances to adjust to source statistics; and   varying motion-compensated prediction references.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein a type of prediction, a number of frames, and a position of the frames of the pre-analyzer differ from those of an encoder that performs the coding. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising using estimates generated from the pre-analyzer to determine rate allocation and rate control in the encoder. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the type of prediction, the number of frames, and the position of the frames of the pre-analyzer are fixed for a sequence of frames. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the type of prediction, the number of frames, and the position of the frames of the encoder are adjustable for the coding of the sequence of frames. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising translating correlated metrics from the pre-analyzer to estimates that are used during coding that are adaptively updated using past coding statistics or linear regression. 
     
     
         13 . A method of coding video, the method comprising:
 driving coding decisions using a pre-analyzer by performing spatiotemporal analysis with motion-compensated prediction that includes local illumination compensation; and   utilizing, with the pre-analyzer, a model configured to map, combine, and filter information associated with the coding decisions, wherein the information includes currently and previously-generated motion and spatial characteristics for use within a rate control module of an encoder.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 estimating, with the pre-analyzer, a complexity of a current picture based upon analyzing a complexity of past pictures or future pictures;   determining, with the pre-analyzer, a level of correlation for the current picture with the past pictures or the future pictures; and   based upon the determination of the level of correlation, coding the current picture at a quality level that is higher than a quality level of the past pictures or the future pictures.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising predicting a metric by performing motion estimation and compensation that uses pictures that are different from any pictures considered during coding. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising coding a picture, wherein the coding comprises:
 varying reference pictures used for the coding;   varying temporal prediction distances to adjust to source statistics; and   varying motion-compensated prediction references.