The present invention relates to an encoding apparatus and an encoding method capable of reducing the overhead on a macroblock basis. A number of reference image decision unit 19 determines that the number of fields of the reference image in encoding is one on the basis of the bit rate of the coded data. If the number of fields of the reference image is determined to be one, a slice header generating unit 13 selects, from among pictures input to an image sorting buffer 12, one of the pictures as the reference image. The present invention is applicable to, for example, encoding apparatuses that perform video coding based on the AVC standard.

The present invention relates to an encoding apparatus and an encoding method capable of reducing the overhead on a macroblock basis. A number of reference image decision unit 19 determines that the number of fields of the reference image in encoding is one on the basis of the bit rate of the coded data. If the number of fields of the reference image is determined to be one, a slice header generating unit 13 selects, from among pictures input to an image sorting buffer 12, one of the pictures as the reference image. The present invention is applicable to, for example, encoding apparatuses that perform video coding based on the AVC standard.

A multimedia file and methods of generating, distributing and using the multimedia file are described. Multimedia files in accordance with embodiments of the present invention can contain multiple video tracks, multiple audio tracks, multiple subtitle tracks, a complete index that can be used to locate each data chunk in each of these tracks and an abridged index that can enable the location of a subset of the data chunks in each track, data that can be used to generate a menu interface to access the contents of the file and ‘meta data’ concerning the contents of the file. Multimedia files in accordance with several embodiments of the present invention also include references to video tracks, audio tracks, subtitle tracks and ‘meta data’ external to the file. One embodiment of a multimedia file in accordance with the present invention includes a series of encoded video frames, a first index that includes information indicative of the location within the file and characteristics of each encoded video frame and a separate second index that includes information indicative of the location within the file of a subset of the encoded video frames.

A multimedia file and methods of generating, distributing and using the multimedia file are described. Multimedia files in accordance with embodiments of the present invention can contain multiple video tracks, multiple audio tracks, multiple subtitle tracks, a complete index that can be used to locate each data chunk in each of these tracks and an abridged index that can enable the location of a subset of the data chunks in each track, data that can be used to generate a menu interface to access the contents of the file and ‘meta data’ concerning the contents of the file. Multimedia files in accordance with several embodiments of the present invention also include references to video tracks, audio tracks, subtitle tracks and ‘meta data’ external to the file. One embodiment of a multimedia file in accordance with the present invention includes a series of encoded video frames, a first index that includes information indicative of the location within the file and characteristics of each encoded video frame and a separate second index that includes information indicative of the location within the file of a subset of the encoded video frames.

Presented herein are systems, methods, and apparatus for real-time high definition television encoding. In one embodiment, there is presented a method for encoding video data. The method comprises receiving an estimates of amounts of data for encoding earlier pictures; providing target rates based on the estimates of data for encoding the earlier pictures; receiving measures indicative of the actual data for encoding the earlier pictures; and providing at least one target rate for encoding at least one later picture based on the target rates for encoding the earlier pictures and the measures indicative of the actual data for encoding the earlier pictures.

Presented herein are systems, methods, and apparatus for real-time high definition television encoding. In one embodiment, there is presented a method for encoding video data. The method comprises receiving an estimates of amounts of data for encoding earlier pictures; providing target rates based on the estimates of data for encoding the earlier pictures; receiving measures indicative of the actual data for encoding the earlier pictures; and providing at least one target rate for encoding at least one later picture based on the target rates for encoding the earlier pictures and the measures indicative of the actual data for encoding the earlier pictures.

A method and apparatus for encoding surveillance video where one or more regions of interest are identified and the encoding parameter values associated with those regions are specified in accordance with intermediate outputs of a video analytics process. Such an analytics-modulated video compression approach allows the coding process to adapt dynamically based on the content of the surveillance images. In this manner, the fidelity of the region of interest is increased relative to that of a background region such that the coding efficiency is improved, including instances when no target objects appear in the scene. Better compression results can be achieved by assigning different coding priority levels to different types of detected objects.

A method and apparatus for encoding surveillance video where one or more regions of interest are identified and the encoding parameter values associated with those regions are specified in accordance with intermediate outputs of a video analytics process. Such an analytics-modulated video compression approach allows the coding process to adapt dynamically based on the content of the surveillance images. In this manner, the fidelity of the region of interest is increased relative to that of a background region such that the coding efficiency is improved, including instances when no target objects appear in the scene. Better compression results can be achieved by assigning different coding priority levels to different types of detected objects.

Encoding and decoding using advanced motion estimation may include encoding a video stream including a plurality of frames by generating a first encoded frame based on a first frame from the plurality of frames, generating a first reconstructed frame based on the first encoded frame, generating reference frame index information based on the first reconstructed frame, generating an encoded reference frame based on the first reconstructed frame, generating a second reconstructed reference frame based on the encoded reference frame, and generating a second encoded frame based on a second frame from the plurality of frames, the reference frame index information, and the second reconstructed reference frame.

A Local illumination compensation system for video encoding and decoding uses memory for storing illumination compensation parameters and does not require access to reconstructed pixels of neighboring blocks. A set of illumination compensation parameters is stored in a dedicated buffer, which is of limited size, and which is decoupled from the coding unit level storage of information. The buffer contains a set of illumination compensation parameters, which may be, for example, computed (or determined in some other manner) on the fly or determined beforehand (for example for example obtained from the video signal or from a device).