Patent Application
20070019741
1. Technical Field
The invention relates to information storage and presentation. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for coding information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Video coding techniques are well known. For example, the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) has established various video coding standards, e.g. MPE2 and MPEG4. MPEG4 is a robust standard that supports large presentation formats and complex audio encoding, which traits are beneficial, for example in a home theater environment. Such standards are widely accepted because they provide faithful reproduction of source material for such critical applications as home theater presentations, but they have shortcomings for other applications. For example, such standards are not well suited for inexpensive, hand held video players, where the presentation format and form factor of the device do not require the fidelity of these standards, nor do they justify the expense attendant with implementing such standards.
It would be advantageous to provide a method and apparatus for coding information that is specifically adapted for smaller presentation formats, such as in a hand held video player.
The invention provides a method and apparatus for coding information that is specifically adapted for smaller presentation formats, such as in a hand held video player. The invention addresses, inter alia, reducing the complexity of video decoding, implementation of an MP3 decoder using fixed point arithmetic, fast YcbCr to RGB conversion, encapsulation of a video stream and an MP3 audio stream into an AVI file, storing menu navigation and DVD subpicture information on a memory card, synchronization of audio and video streams, encryption of keys that are used for decryption of multimedia data, and very user interface (UI) adaptations for a hand held video player that implements the improved coding invention herein disclosed.
The invention herein is an apparatus and method for coding information that is particularly well suited for, but not limited to, such devices as hand held video players. The disclosure herein first discusses an exemplary player.
The Video Player
An exemplary handheld video player, the ZVUE!™ player sold by HandHeld Entertainment of San Francisco, Calif., in which the preferred embodiment of the invention, referred to as HHE™ video encoding, may be practiced is first discussed.
Controls
The player has fifteen buttons:
The player also includes various ports, such as a USB port 25, an expansion port 26; and includes connections for line out 27, earphones 28, and power 29.
There are a number of player states. The player processes button push/release events, and some other hardware events. The player response to an event depends on its state.
The Basics
Menu Navigation
The NAV-* keys control the selection of a menu item. On [NAV-OK] transition is made to menu item selected. In general, [MENU] takes the user to the previous menu. If the user is in a FAT file hierarchy it takes the user to the previous directory. If the selected item is playable, such as an HHE Video or a directory full of MP3 audio, then the [PLAY] button plays it from the start.
Volume and Brightness Control
Volume control range: −73 . . . +6 dB
Volume control granularity: 1 dB
Volume level display timeout: 5 seconds
Volume level display: horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen
After Power Off/Power On, the audio level is to previous the value unless it is off, in which case it is set to low volume. The Brightness is set to brightest.
Pressing the audio level control button in any player state results in current level being displayed in the bottom of the screen. Subsequent pressures on volume buttons change audio level by 1 dB. After volume control buttons are untouched for two seconds, the volume level bar disappears.
Brightness Control
DIM and BRIGHT move the player up and down through at least five brightness settings.
No visual indicator is on screen except for actual screen brightness change. At the dimmest setting, the display is Off. This is useful for conserving batteries when only audio is desired. In this case, software should do less video work. At Display Off, any brightness input is displayed.
Note: If display is off while audio is playing, the volume indicator appears on the screen when the Volume rocker button is pressed for the sake of consistency, and user convenience.
Menu or Navigation buttons that present a UI turn the screen on. The screen goes off again when in the normal playback mode.
Visual Feedback
Graphic thermometer sliders are superimposed on moving video to give feedback for volume and brightness. Compressed bitmaps are included for UI elements, icons, and menu screens. The format for icons include a transparent color.
A simple animation language may also be provided. For example, this could be an HHE format AVI, an Animated GIF (subject to IP check), or a FLASH animation.
Audible Feedback
There is a characteristic ZVUE! startup sound. Audible button feedback has two styles. Click for commands executed. A thud sounds for buttons pressed out of context.
Ports
USB
The player responds to a connected USB port by displaying a USB connection icon and is unresponsive to buttons aside from power, which can be used to turn it on or off.
SD Card
Upon insertion, called button [CARD] the player goes to the state “Media Insertion” and starts playing.
States
Off
The initial state for the player is “OFF”, that is everything is down. The only way to get from this state is by pressing the [POWER] button or by inserting a media card [CARD]. ps ZVUE! Welcome Screen
After a momentary two-second display of the ZVUE! welcome graphic and distinctive ZVUE! startup sound, the player returns to the next expected operation.
Powering On
On “POWER pushed” event, the ZVUE! Welcome Screen is temporarily displayed. If media is present, this is followed by the Media menu. Else, this is followed by the Player Menu.
Media Insertion
The ZVUE! Welcome Screen is temporarily displayed. On “Card inserted” event, the player checks the card type. The system goes to Firmware Update Approval if it is an update card; it goes to Application Approval from the card if there is an application; and it goes to Media Menu Temporary if it is a media card.
Media Menu Temporary
The Media Menu is displayed, offering a chance to navigate to other options. After a Timeout of six seconds, the media starts playing unless other media menu controls were used. If buttons are pressed, the Timeout changes to “After 3 minutes, go OFF.”
Player Menu
The user is asked to insert a card, or to choose an item from the menu. The menu is:
Timeout: 60 seconds transition to OFF.
Media Menu
Check the media type. In the case that a writable SD or MMC card is found to contain both HHE media and other formats, go to state “Media Choice Menu”.
Timeout: 60 seconds transition to OFF.
Media menu is a short animation (may be empty), followed by a menu background picture with menu items displayed. The first menu item is active. All menu items point to video chapters. After a period of inactivity, the menu animation restarts. The [menu] button from media menu starts Player Menu (see above).
If the media contains more than one track, the first one is selected and this is visually apparent. Pressing [Play] starts that media playing. The [REV] and [FF] buttons change the selected feature. Navigation buttons allow moving around the UI.
PlayingHHE
When HHE AVI media cards are present, the play function is started. This is the state in which the user spends the most time and to which the user is most attentive.
Power
Goes to “Off.” If the media is longer than five minutes, the position it was playing at is stored.
MENU goes to the “MediaMenu”
PLAY goes to “PlayingHHE-Pause”
FF, Fast Forward feature of “PlayingHHE” state
REV, Skip back feature of “PlayingHHE” state
NAV-LEFT, Previous Video “Chapter”
NAV-RIGHT, Next Video “Chapter”
NAV-UP, Slow Motion feature enabled or disabled.
NAV-OK, Sound continues, but Playing menu on screen. Goes to state “PlayingHHE-MENU”
The NAV-DOWN button enables the AB REPEAT feature, and can be called the AB Repeat button during playback.
The following is the AB/REpeat state table. These states are sub-states of PlayingHHE.
This state is reached when the [PLAY] key is pressed when in state PlayingHHE.
The user is viewing a still frame from the video.
Sound is off. Video is playing approximately twice normal speed.
A jpg viewer is also provided for displaying digital photos. It is possible to combine content HHE downloads with other MP3 and JPEG content. Only in that case is this navigation state necessary. It is basically a FAT file system navigator.
Displays a list of things on the card. Tiny icons are used in the left column to describe several types of object. Icons are similar to the tiniest icons in windows (see
Displays options as available on the card.
Upon selected Video [NAV-OK] (takes user to the media menu for that content.)
Upon selected JPEG [NAV-OK] takes user to the Slide Show viewer starting with that picture.
Upon selected Music [NAV-OK] starts music playing at that file. Navigates folders of MP3 files-see the discussion of state “MP3 Player.”
Slide Show Menu
Software prepares two play lists. The Audio Playlist, and the Photo Playlist. If a play list file is on the card it may use that to determine the order of audio and video files. Otherwise, both play lists are in breadth-first recursive order through the folders with the files sorted in the most natural order possible.
[play] takes user to state Slide Show Playing.
Slide Show Playing
The [REV.] [play] [FF] buttons affect the music playback.
The direction keys effect the photo selection.
[Right] and [Left] go to previous and next picture.
[MENU] brings up the “slideshow menu.”
[NAV-OK] brings up the “slide menu.”
Slide Menu
Displays the current slide. If possible it displays the whole slide, then zooms in slightly.
The [REV] [PLAY] [FF] buttons affect the music playback.
Operation of the four direction keys affects the photo position, panning the photo in the chosen direction until the edge is reached where it stops, making a thud sound.
[menu] zooms out more. If totally zoomed out, it offers “Slide Show Playing” options.
[NAV-OK] zooms in more. If totally zoomed in, it offers “Slide Menu Detail.”
Timeout: go to next slide in the sequence after adjustable time determined in settings.
Slide Menu Detail
Offers the following choices by text or icon.
When there are no MP3's the player behaves as above, except with no music.
MP3 Player
Menu structure shows one directory of the FAT file system. Only folders with usable content are shown.
Overview of the HHe Codec Multimedia Format
The HHe Compression/Decompression (“Codec”) multimedia format is a format for holding highly compressed digital video, audio, graphics, and navigation data.
A file which conforms to the HHe format normally carries the extension “.hhe.” It is a complex file comprised of one or more different sub-files. The sub-file types which are supported by the Hhe format are:
One or more of the sub-file types listed above may be present in a HHe file. The only requirement is that there must some auditory or visual content present (an avi or bmp sub-file).
The format of each sub-file depends on its function. For detailed specifications of the file format, please refer to the discussion herein entitled “HHe file format specification.”
HHe Compression Technology
The HHe format supports full-motion video and can display up to 24-bits of color per pixel on a full-color screen. HHe compresses video content at variable bit rates up to 100:1, and it decompresses the same content at real-time speeds using minimal system resources on low-cost, low-power processors, such as the Motorola Dragonball™ i.MXL (manufactured by Motorola, Inc. of Schaumburg, IL), which is used in the ZVUE! video player.
The HHe video compression technology is a proprietary algorithm that was developed specifically to produce superior compression performance yet maintain reasonable complexity in decompression. The compression scheme employs motion estimation followed by transform coding, as shown in the block diagram of
The HHe format supports audio compression at various quality levels from low bitrate mono through near CD quality stereo. The HHe format uses the popular MP3 audio compression standard as the default audio format. The HHe format also supports additional audio formats such as WMA and AAC.
Security Features of the HHe Format
The security and integrity of compressed content is extremely high with the HHe format due to the encryption scheme and other features employed.
Multimedia encoded in the HHe format is protected from unauthorized copying using a highly secure encryption scheme. The encryption algorithm, based on the Blowfish algorithm, is a symmetric private key algorithm using 128-bit keys. Blowfish is a symmetric block cipher that can be used as a drop-in replacement for DES or IDEA. It takes a variable-length key, from 32 bits to 448 bits, making it ideal for both domestic and exportable use. Blowfish was designed in 1993 by Bruce Schneier as a fast, free alternative to existing encryption algorithms. Since then it has been analyzed considerably, and it is slowly gaining acceptance as a strong encryption algorithm. Blowfish is unpatented and license-free, and is available free for all uses. The original Blowfish paper was presented at the First Fast Software Encryption workshop in Cambridge, UK (proceedings published by Springer-Verlag, Lecture Notes in Computer Science #809, 1994) and the April 1994 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal.
Eight different keys have been generated using a particularly strong random number generator, scrambled, and stored at various offsets within the ZVUE! internal memory. Different keys are used to encrypt prerecorded content, downloaded content, and code updates.
Content Protection for Prerecorded Content
Content Protection for Downloadable Content
Timeout of Prerecorded or Downloaded Content
The player has a real-time clock which can be set through the user interface. The real-time clock can be used to reject content which has a limited lifetime. For example, promotional content can be downloaded for free and played back for a limited time period; when it has expired the promotional content no longer can be played unless the user purchases it.
HHE Audio/Video Synchronization
HHE Audio/Video (AV) synchronization is implemented as follows:
Specifically the procedure which takes place at each video interrupt is:
ZVUE! File Formats
The file format for storing ZVUE! media comes from the way the navigation system, the graphics system, and the decoding engines are designed. It is assumed that media containing video/audio streams is organized in chapters, associated with navigation scripts and can optionally carry a custom decoding engine.
The media should be FAT16-formatted, and the content organized in files. All data are stored in the root folder, other folders are ignored if present.
Files on the media are:
File types that are not supported but can be added later:
This is a plain text ASCII file in either Windows (CR/LF) or UNIX (CR) format:
Some keys may not be defined. The default semantics are applied in this case (see Table 1 below).
Type=ZVUE!_Video
Notifies the boot loader that this card stores video content. If Application tag is present, the boot loader loads it to memory and runs there. If not, the boot loader loads application from the flash.
Type=MP3
Notifies the boot loader that this card stores mp3 tracks. If Application tag is present, the boot loader loads it to memory and runs there. If not, the boot loader loads application from the flash. The application runs as a standard MP3 player.
Type=Photo
Notifies the boot loader that this card stores JPEG images. If Application tag is present, the boot loader loads it to memory and runs there. If not, the boot loader loads application from the flash. The application runs in slide-show mode.
Type=Firmware
Notifies the boot loader that this card stores new media driver. The loader checks zveu.axf file from the card with encrypted checksum enctyption_key and then burns it to the flash. It also checks the version against current and notifies user if it is older.
AVI File
The video player uses standard Windows AVI format for streaming the videos. The file should contain one video stream, coded with HHE video encoder (FOURCC=HHE0), and/or one audio stream, coded with any MP3 driver (wFormatTag=0×0055). When using B-frames, they should be put into separate AVI chunks. Typically, it requires some post processing because the VFW drivers usually are not capable of producing it. The audio bitstream format complies with ISO CD 11172-3 document.
Navigation Script File
Navigation scripts specify the semantics of player buttons for the specific chapter, the AVI stream and subpictures to use and the actions to perform. The navigation script is a test file, with navigation commands represented on separate lines. Commands are case-sensitive.
Commands are: <key>=<value>. Spaces are allowed. If value contains spaces, it should be enclosed in double quiets (“”)
Command set:
A semicolon at first position starts line comment.
If it is the first chapter in a chain, previous should not be present.
If it is the last chapter in a chain, next should not be present.
Menu File
Menu file is a text file that specifies the menu appearance and functionality. Commands should start at the beginning of each line, command arguments follow on the same line, any number of white space characters (‘’, ‘\t’) can be used as a separator. Menu contains a background image (stored in AVI), a number of static bitmaps over the background and a number of menu items associated with video chapters. Command arguments are either filenames or numbers, filenames should be put in double quotes. All arguments are obligatory.
A semicolon at first position starts line comment.
Command set:
The AVI file is a container for any number of data streams of any kind. The main parts of AVI file are:
Therefore, the overall layout of data is as follows:
MPEG4 Complexity Reduction Solutions
To reduce the complexity of MPEG4 decoding the following four solutions have been introduced:
To speed-up the color conversion routine, a conversion table is used. The table index is calculated as a function of three colors in YUV format:
where Y, U, and V are 8-bit color components in YUV format; and BITS_Y, BITS_U, BITS_V are the numbers of significant bits for each color: Y, U, and V.
The number of indexes is (1<<(BITS_Y+BITS_U+BITS_V)). The conversion table cell represents color in RGB555 format that corresponds to color in YUV format. The size of the cell is two bytes (high-order bit is unused). Therefore, the size of the table is the number of indexes *2, that is:
(1<<(BITS—Y+BITS—U+_BITS—V+1)).
The number of significant bits for Y color component must be greater than number of significant bits for U and V components, because Y color component contains more useful information for human visual perception. Currently the following significant numbers are used:
The color conversion table is organized in the manner that can help to avoid cache misses during conversion of image in YUV 4:2:0 format. In YUV 4:2:0 format for each chrominance pixel there are four luminance pixels. A fact that index depends on Y component less than on U and V components makes data cache misses infrequent.
There can be other types of data chunks rather than video and audio. For example, if video color format is eight bits per pixel or less, then a special palette chunk can present. Note that two video chunks never go one by one. There is always one audio chunk between them (even of zero size). Each video chunk contains one compressed video frame exactly (see below on this, regarding b-frames). Each audio chunk contains either two or three audio packets (each packet is 1152 samples, when decompressed).
B-Frames
When compressing with b-frames, the invention breaks the rule that each video frame is stored in its own chunk. It stores several video frames in one chunk. The currently preferred embodiment of the invention inserts large amounts of empty (zero length) video chunks in the stream to isolate audio chunks. So the overall layout of data streams is as follows:
This actually wastes a lot of space because even an empty chunk contains a header and is contained in the index. This is a limitation of Video for Windows drivers. It is possible to eliminate this by applying a post-processing utility to an AVI file that isolates each video frame in its own chunk and drops all the empty chunks.
Fast Fixed-Point Implementation of MPEG-1 Layer 3 Decoding Algorithm
General Remarks on Operations With Fractional Values for Fixed Point Arithmetic
To represent data in fixed point operations, we use the following transformation:
u=Fix(ufloat)=(int)(ufloat*(2>>nBitsFraction)+0.5), (1.1)
where nBitsFraction is the number of bits for fractional part, value 0.5 is used for rounding.
The following values of nBitsFraction are used:
Then, in the case of 32.24 data representation,
x=(int)(xfloat*(2>>24)+0.5),
c=(int)(cfloat*(2>>24)+0.5),
y=(x*c)>>24.
Because we use 32-bit integer operations, it is necessary to avoid overflow in calculation of product x*c.
For this purpose, we represent data as a sum of high and low parts:
u=uLow+(uHigh<<12),
where
This expression can be rewritten as
y=xHigh*cHigh+((xLow*cHigh+cLow*xHigh)>>12)+((xLow*cLow)>>24)
To speed up the multiplication, we can remove small parts from this sum. In our implementation, we distinguish three different levels of precision, any of them can be chosen at compile time. The simplifications used for multiply operation in each mode are as follows:
For high precision
y=xHigh*cHigh+(xLow*cHigh+cLow*xHigh)>>12) (1.2)
For medium and low precision:
y=xHigh*cHigh+((xLow*cHigh)>>12) (1.3)
For 32.12 representation of constant coefficients,
c=(int)(cfloat*(1<<12)+0.5).
The simplified multiplication on constant coefficients in 32.24 representation can be implemented as
y=((x>>6)*c)>>6, (1.4)
in assumption that
|cfloat|<1
If
1.0<|cfloat|<2.0,
the multiplication is performed as
y=((x>>6)*c)>>5 (1.5)
where
c=(int)(cfloat*(1<<12)+0.5),
In a similar way, if
1.0<|cfloat|<(1<<q),
it is possible to use approximate multiplication in a form
y=((x>>6)*c)>>(6−q) (1.6)
Then
c=(int)(cfloat*(1<<(12−q))+0.5),
Computational Speedup of Inverse Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (IMDCT)
To speed-up IMDCT calculation, the simplified multiplication by transform coefficients is used.
Case IDMCT on 36 and 12 Points
The transform coefficients, with absolute values smaller than 1, are represented in 32.15 format. For multiplication by this coefficients, formula (1.4) is used. For coefficients with absolute values greater than 1, formula (1.6) is used.
Case IDMCT on 64 Points (Synthesis Function)
All transform coefficients have absolute value smaller than 1, and represented in 32.15 format. For this case, formula (1.4) is used.
Note: In high precision mode, the more precise formula (1.2) is used for all IDMCT functions.
Computational Speedup for Final Windowing Operation.
To generate one output sound sample in 16 bit PCM format, it is necessary to calculate convolution of samples from delay line with window coefficients. For float data representation, the convolution loop appears as
for(sum=0,j=0; j<16; j++)
sum
WindowTable[i+32*j]*line[(pos+j*64+i+(j&1)*32)&1023]; (3.1)
where WindowTable [512] is array of window coefficients, pos is a current position in the delay line, i is a number of output samples in block of 32 samples.
The speed up is achieved by calculation of output samples in following ways:
Scaled Tansposed Window Table is Used:
WindowTableST[n]=Fix(WindowTable[i+32*j])>>q;
where Fixo corresponds (1.1) with nBitsFraction=24, n=i+32*j, for each i=0 . . . 31 index j=0 . . . 15, which provides consecutive access to array elements. Because factors of a window with indexes j=7, 8 can have absolute value greater than 1, the value q is obey to the rule.
The convolution loop is a sequence of operators of the form
sum+=line[(r+g)&1023])*(*Pn_WindowTableST++))>>m;
where
To provide true multiplication result, we use m=6 for j=7, 8, else m=7.
Reduced Window Table for Low Precision Mode
In (3.1), some of the items with number j=0, 1, 2 and j=12, 13, 14, 15 are eliminated from calculation due to their small impact to the result (because of small window coefficients).
For High Precision
Sixteen groups of window table items for each index i are normalized and have an exponent value, which is constant value inside group. Then, the convolution loop is organized in sequence of the operators of the form
S[j]=line[(r+g)&1023])*(*Pn_WindowTableST++))>>7;
The final summation is made with shifts, which depend on values of exponents.
Although the invention is described herein with reference to the preferred embodiment, one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that other applications may be substituted for those set forth herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention should only be limited by the Claims included below.
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/574,159 filed Sep. 29, 2004, which claims priority from PCT Patent Application Serial No. PCT/US04/32296 filed Sep. 29, 2004, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/507,185 filed Sep. 29, 2003, all of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference thereto.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60507185 | Sep 2003 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10574159 | US | |
| Child | 11460210 | Jul 2006 | US |
