Patent ID: 9578342
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: H04N

Claim:
1. A method of performing rate control in a media server that includes a scalable video encoder, the media server being communicably coupleable to at least one user device over at least one network, comprising: receiving, at the media server, a source video sequence over the at least one network; generating a scalable video bitstream from the source video sequence that includes a plurality of video frames, the scalable video bitstream including a base layer and an enhancement layer, the base layer including a first number of the plurality of video frames encoded as reference video frames, the enhancement layer including a second number of the plurality of video frames encoded as non-reference, predictive video frames, the base layer and the enhancement layer each having an associated target bit rate, the base layer having an associated current bit usage; determining a target bit rate range defined by a maximum bit rate and a minimum bit rate, the minimum bit rate corresponding to the target bit rate of the base layer, a difference between the maximum bit rate and the minimum bit rate corresponding to the target bit rate of the enhancement layer; determining, based at least on the current bit usage of the base layer, whether the first number of the plurality of video frames in the base layer can be increased to improve a temporal video quality of the base layer at a predetermined spatial video quality level; having determined that the first number of the plurality of video frames in the base layer can be increased: transmitting, over the at least one network, the scalable video bitstream including the base layer and the enhancement layer to the at least one user device while meeting the target bit rate range.