Patent ID: 12192260

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of example embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.

The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the implementations to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the implementations. Further, one or more features or components of one embodiment may be incorporated into or combined with another embodiment (or one or more features of another embodiment). Additionally, in the flowcharts and descriptions of operations provided below, it is understood that one or more operations may be omitted, one or more operations may be added, one or more operations may be performed simultaneously (at least in part), and the order of one or more operations may be switched.

It will be apparent that systems and/or methods, described herein, may be implemented in different forms of hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The actual specialized control hardware or software code used to implement these systems and/or methods is not limiting of the implementations. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and/or methods were described herein without reference to specific software code. It is understood that software and hardware may be designed to implement the systems and/or methods based on the description herein.

Even though particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of possible implementations. In fact, many of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification. Although each dependent claim listed below may directly depend on only one claim, the disclosure of possible implementations includes each dependent claim in combination with every other claim in the claim set.

The proposed features discussed below may be used separately or combined in any order. Further, the embodiments may be implemented by processing circuitry (e.g., one or more processors or one or more integrated circuits). In one example, the one or more processors execute a program that is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the articles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or more items, and may be used interchangeably with “one or more.” Where only one item is intended, the term “one” or similar language is used. Also, as used herein, the terms “has,” “have,” “having,” “include,” “including,” or the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise. Furthermore, expressions such as “at least one of [A] and [B]” or “at least one of [A] or [B]” are to be understood as including only A, only B, or both A and B.

According to embodiments, immersive media-capable presentation devices may refer to devices equipped with sufficient resources and capabilities to access, interpret, and present immersive media. Such devices are heterogeneous in terms of the quantities and formats of the media that they may support, and the amount and types of network resources required to distribute such media at scale. “At scale” may refer to the distribution of media by service providers that achieve distribution equivalent to that of legacy video and audio media over networks, e.g., Netflix, Hulu, Comcast subscriptions, and Spectrum subscriptions.

According to embodiments, client devices that serve as endpoints for distribution of immersive media over a network are all very diverse. The distribution of any media over networks may employ media delivery systems and architectures that reformat the media from an input or network “ingest” media format to a distribution media format where that distribution media format is not only suitable to be ingested by the targeted client device and its applications but is also conducive to being “streamed” over the network. Thus, there may be two processes that are performed upon the ingested media by the network: 1) converting the media from a format A into a format B that is suitable to be ingested by the target client, i.e., based upon the client's capabilities to ingest certain media formats, and 2) preparing the media to be streamed.

In embodiments, streaming media broadly refer to the fragmenting and or packetizing of the media so that it can be delivered over the network in consecutive smaller-sized chunks logically organized and sequenced according to either or both the media's temporal or spatial structure. Transforming (sometimes referred to as “transcoding”) of media from a Format A to a Format B may be a process that is performed, usually by the network or by the service provider, prior to distributing the media to the client device. Such transcoding may be comprised of converting the media from a Format A to a Format B based upon prior knowledge that Format B is a preferred format, or the only format, that can be ingested by the target client device, or is better suited for distribution over a constrained resource such as a commercial network. In many cases, but not all, both transforming the media and preparing the media to be streamed are necessary before the media can be received and processed by the target client device from the network.

Converting (or transforming) the media and preparing the media for streaming are part of a process which are acted upon the ingested media by the network prior to distributing the media to the client device. The result of the process (i.e., converting and preparing for streaming) is a media format referred to as a distribution media format, or simply, the distribution format. These operations should be performed only once, if performed at all for a given media data object, if the network has access to information to indicate that the client will need the transformed and or streamed media object for multiple occasions that otherwise would trigger the transformation and streaming of such media multiple times. That is, the processing and transfer of data for transformation and streaming of media is generally regarded as a source of latency with the requirement for expending potentially significant amount of network and or compute resources. Hence, a network design that does not have access to information to indicate when a client potentially already has a particular media data object stored in its cache or stored locally with respect to the client, will perform sub-optimally to a network that does have access to such information.

A scene graph may be general data structure commonly used by vector-based graphics editing applications and modern computer games, which arranges the logical and often (but not necessarily) spatial representation of a graphical scene, or it may be a collection of nodes and vertices in a graph structure.

A scene, in the context of computer graphics, may be a collection of objects (e.g., 3D assets—may also be known as media assets, media objects, objects, and assets). The objects include essential elements of the media data, object attributes, and other metadata that comprise the visual, acoustic, and physics-based characteristics describing a particular setting that is bounded either by space or time with respect to the interactions of the objects within that setting.

A node may be a fundamental element of the scene graph comprised of information related to the logical or spatial or temporal representation of visual, audio, haptic, olfactory, gustatory, or related processing information; each node shall have at most one output edge, zero or more input edges, and at least one edge (either input or output) connected to it.

A base layer may be a nominal representation of a media asset, usually formulated to minimize the compute resources or time needed to render the asset, or the time to transmit the asset over a network.

An enhancement layer may be a set of information that when applied to the base layer representation of an asset, augments the base layer to include features or capabilities that are not supported in the base layer.

An attribute may be metadata associated with a node used to describe a particular characteristic or feature of that node either in a canonical or more complex form (e.g. in terms of another node).

A container may be a serialized format to store and exchange information to represent all natural, all synthetic, or a mixture of synthetic and natural scenes including a scene graph and all of the media resources that are required for rendering of the scene

Serialization may be the process of translating data structures or object state into a format that can be stored (for example, in a file or memory buffer) or transmitted (for example, across a network connection link) and reconstructed later (possibly in a different computer environment). When the resulting series of bits is reread according to the serialization format, it can be used to create a semantically identical clone of the original object.

Renderer may be a (typically software-based) application or process, based on a selective mixture of disciplines related to: acoustic physics, light physics, visual perception, audio perception, mathematics, and software development, that, given an input scene graph and asset container, emits a typically visual and/or audio signal suitable for presentation on a targeted device or conforming to the desired properties as specified by attributes of a render target node in the scene graph. For visual-based media assets, a renderer may emit a visual signal suitable for a targeted display, or for storage as an intermediate asset (e.g. repackaged into another container i.e. used in a series of rendering processes in a graphics pipeline); for audio-based media assets, a renderer may emit an audio signal for presentation in a multi-channel loudspeaker and/or binauralized headphones, or for repackaging into another (output) container. Popular examples of renderers include the real-time rendering features of the game engines Unity and Unreal Engine.

Scripting language may be an interpreted programming language that can be executed by a renderer at runtime to process dynamic input and variable state changes made to the scene graph nodes, which affect rendering and evaluation of spatial and temporal object topology (including physical forces, constraints, inverse kinematics, deformation, collisions), and energy propagation and transport (light, sound).

A shader may be a type of computer program that was originally used for shading (the production of appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color within an image) but which now performs a variety of specialized functions in various fields of computer graphics special effects or does video post-processing unrelated to shading, or even functions unrelated to graphics at all.

Path Tracing is a computer graphics method of rendering three-dimensional scenes such that the illumination of the scene is faithful to reality.

Timed media may include media and/or media objects that may be ordered by time; e.g., with a start and end time according to a particular clock. Untimed media may include media and/or media objects that may be organized by spatial, logical, or temporal relationships; e.g., as in an interactive experience that is realized according to the actions taken by the user(s).

A neural network model (NN Model) may be a collection of parameters and tensors (e.g., matrices) that define weights (i.e., numerical values) used in well-defined mathematical operations applied to the visual signal to arrive at an improved visual output which may include the interpolation of new views for the visual signal that were not explicitly provided by the original signal.

The number of immersive media-capable devices that have been introduced into the consumer market, including head-mounted displays, augmented-reality glasses, hand-held controllers, multi-view displays, haptic gloves, and game consoles has exploded in the last decade. In addition, holographic displays and other forms of volumetric displays are poised to emerge into the consumer market within the next three to five years. However, despite the immediate or imminent availability of these devices, a coherent end-to-end ecosystem for the distribution of immersive media over commercial networks has failed to materialize for several reasons.

One of the reasons that a coherent end-to-end ecosystem for distribution of immersive media over commercial networks has not been realized is that the client devices that serve as endpoints for such a distribution network for immersive displays are all very diverse. Some client devices support certain immersive media formats while others do not. Some can create an immersive experience from legacy raster-based formats, while others cannot. Unlike a network designed only for distribution of legacy media, a network that must support a diversity of display clients' needs a significant amount of information pertaining to the specifics of each of the client's capabilities, and the formats of the media to be distributed, before such network can employ an adaptation process to translate the media into a format suitable for each target display and corresponding application. Such a network, at a minimum, would need access to information describing the characteristics of each target display and the complexity of the ingested media for the network to ascertain how to meaningfully adapt an input media source to a format suitable for the target display and application.

A network supporting such heterogeneous client devices should leverage the fact that some of the assets that are adapted from an input media format to a specific target format may be reused across a set of similar display targets. That is, some assets, once converted to a format suitable for a target display may be reused across several such displays that have similar adaptation requirements. Therefore, such a network that employs a caching mechanism to store adapted assets into an area that is relatively immutable would be more efficient.

Immersive media may be organized into “scenes” that are described by scene graphs, which are also known as scene descriptions. The scope of scene graphs may be to describe visual, audio, and other forms of immersive assets that comprise a particular setting that is part of a presentation, for example, the actors and events taking place in a particular location in a building that is part of a presentation, e.g., movie. A list of all scenes that comprise a single presentation may be formulated into a manifest of scenes.

A benefit of a “scene” based approach is that for content that is prepared in advance of having to distribute such content, a “bill of materials” can be created that identifies all of the assets that will be used for the entire presentation, and how often each asset is used across the various scenes within the presentation. A network having the knowledge of the existence of cached resources that can be used to satisfy the asset requirements for a particular presentation. Similarly, a client device that is presenting a series of scenes may wish to have knowledge about the frequency of any given asset to be used across multiple scenes. For example, if a media asset (also known as media object, asset, or object) is referenced multiple times across multiple scenes that are or will be processed by the client device, then the client device should avoid discarding the asset from its caching resources until the last scene that requires that particular asset has been presented by the client.

For legacy presentation devices, the distribution format may be equivalent or sufficiently equivalent to the “presentation format” ultimately used by the client presentation device to create the presentation. That is, a presentation media format is a media format whose properties (resolution, framerate, bit-depth, colour gamut, etc, . . . ) are closely tuned to the capabilities of the client presentation device. Some examples of distribution vs. presentation formats include: a High-Definition (HD) video signal (1920 pixel columns x 1080 pixel rows) distributed by a network to an Ultra-high-definition (UHD) client device with resolution (3840 pixel columns x 2160 pixel rows). The UHD client may apply a process called “super-resolution” to the HD distribution format to increase the resolution of the video signal from HD to UHD. Thus, the final signal format that is presented by the client device is the “presentation format” which, in this example, is a UHD signal, whereas the HD signal comprises the distribution format. In this example, the HD signal distribution format is very similar to the UHD signal presentation format because both signals are in a rectilinear video format, and the process to convert the HD format to a UHD format is a relatively straightforward and easy process to perform on most legacy client devices.

However, in some embodiments, the preferred presentation format for the targeted client device may be significantly different from the ingest format received by the network. Nevertheless, the client device may have access to sufficient compute, storage, and bandwidth resources to transform the media from the ingest format into the necessary presentation format suitable for presentation by the client device. The network may bypass the reformatting the ingested media, e.g., “transcoding” the media, from a first format A to a second format B because the client has access to sufficient resources to perform all media transforms without the network having to do so aprioi. The network may still fragment and package the ingest media so that the media may be streamed to the client.

In some embodiments, however, the ingested media received by the network is significantly different from the client's preferred presentation format, and the client device does not have access to sufficient compute, storage, and or bandwidth resources to convert the media to the preferred presentation format. In the absence of access to resources, the network may assist the client by performing some or all of the transformation from the ingest format into a format that is either equivalent or nearly equivalent to the client device's preferred presentation format on behalf of the client. In some embodiments, such assistance provided by the network on behalf of the client is commonly referred to as “split rendering.”

Embodiments of the present disclosure as described herein enable determining whether the network should transform some or all of the ingest media from a first format (e.g., format A) to a second format (e.g., format B) to facilitate a client device's ability to produce a presentation of the media in a potentially third format C. the determination may be made by a processor or server of the media streaming network or may be made by the client device. To assist the determination, it may be useful to determine which media assets, within the context of a presentation, are used more than once within the presentation, and design a process and/or the network to make those media assets be readily available for the network to employ. Relying on the information from such an analysis, a network may then be designed such that the client device (also referred to as the “client”) may be requested to retain a copy of one or more media assets that may be used more than once, in its local cache.

However, if the client device stores a copy of the media assets in its local cache, the network may not have any control for the management of the client device's local cache, and as a result, the client device may encounter a situation in which it must delete resources (even reusable resources) from its local cache. To facilitate a design whereby the network is optimized so as to minimize the need to perform transformations from a first format to a second format for media assets that are used multiple times, or to facilitate the network from having to re-stream media assets to the client that are used multiple times, a network may manage its own cache, separate from any cache maintained by the client, so that the network is ensured that at least one redundant copy of each reusable asset is accessible, both for the client and the network.

In an embodiment, the network may first query the client device to obtain feedback to ensure that the media asset in question is still available in the client's local cache. If the client device's reply indicates that it no longer has a copy of the media asset in question, then the network may signal to the client that the client should access a copy of the media asset in its distribution format from the redundant cache. In some embodiments, the query to the client device may be omitted, and the network may signal to the client that the client should access a copy of the distribution format for the asset from the redundant cache.

FIG.1Ais an exemplary illustration of a media distribution streaming system100to distribute media from a network cloud, edge device, or server104to a client device108. according to embodiments. As shown inFIG.1A, media, including immersive media comprising one or more scenes and one or more media objects, in a first format A (hereafter “ingest media Format A”) is received from a content provider. The processing may be performed or executed by a network cloud or edge device (hereafter “network device104”) and distributed to a client, for example client device108. In some embodiments, the same processing may be performed a prioi in a manual process or by a client device. The network device104may ingest media in a first format101, generate and/or create distribution media102in a second format (hereafter “distribution media creation102”), and distribute media in the second format103, for example using a distribution module. The client device108may include a rendering module106and a presentation module107.

According to an aspect, the network device104may receive ingested media from a content provider or the like. The media streaming network may obtain the ingested media that is stored in an ingest media Format A. Distribution media may be created and/or generated using any necessary transformations or conditioning of the ingested media to create a potentially alternative representation of the media. That is, a distribution format for media objects in the ingest media may be created. As mentioned, the distribution format is a media format that may be distributed to the client by formats the media into a distribution Format B. The distribution Format B is a format that is prepared to be streamed to the client device108. Distribution media creation102may include an optimization reuse logic to perform a decision-making process to determine if a particular media object has already been streamed to the client device108. Further operations associated with distribution media creation102and the optimization reuse logic will be described in detailed with reference toFIG.1B.

Media Formats A and B may or may not be representations following the same syntax of a particular media format specification, however the Format B is likely to be conditioned into a scheme that facilitates the distribution of the media over a network protocol. The network protocol may be, e.g., a connection-oriented protocol (TCP) or a connectionless protocol (UDP). The distribution module streams the stream-able media (i.e., media Format B) from the network device104to the client device108via a network connection105.

The client device108may receive the distribution media and may render media for the presentation using rendering module106. The rendering module106may have access to some rendering capabilities which may be rudimentary or likewise, sophisticated, depending on the client device108that is being targeted. The rendering module106may create presentation media in presentation format C. The presentation format C may or may not be represented according to a third format specification. Therefore, the presentation format C may be the same or different from media formats A and/or B. The rendering module106outputs the presentation format C to the presentation module107, which may present the presentation media in a display (or the like) of the client device108.

Embodiments of the present disclosure facilitate a decision-making process that is employed by a network to compute a sequence order in which to package and stream assets from a network to a client. In this case, all assets that are utilized across the set of one or more scenes that comprise a presentation, are analyzed by a media complexity analyzer to determine the complexity associated with each asset throughout all scenes that comprise the presentation. The order in which assets for a particular scene are packaged and streamed to a client may therefore be based on the complexity by which each asset is used across the set of scenes that comprise a presentation.

Embodiments address the need for a mechanism or process that analyzes an immersive media scene to obtain sufficient information that may be used to support a decision making process that, when employed by a network or a client, provides an indication as to whether the transformation of a media object from a Format A to a Format B should be performed either entirely by the network, entirely by the client, or via a mixture of both (along with an indication of which assets should be transformed by the client or network). Such an immersive media data complexity analyzer may be employed by either a client or a network in an automated context, or by manually by, e.g., a human operating the system or device.

According to embodiments, the process of adapting an input immersive media source to a specific end-point client device may be the same as, or similar to, the process of adapting the same input immersive media source to the specific application that is being executed on the specific client end-point device. Therefore, the problem of adapting an input media source to the characteristics of an end-point device are of the same complexity as the problem of adapting a specific input media source to the characteristics of a specific application.

FIG.1Bis a workflow of distribution media creation102, according to embodiments. More specifically, the workflow ofFIG.1Bincludes generation of reuse indicator(s) in a media streaming network that aids in the decision-making process to determine if a particular media object has already been streamed to the client device108.

At152, the distribution media creation process is started. At155, conditional logic may be performed to determine if a current media object has previously been streamed to the client device108. A list of unique assets may be accessed for the presentation to determine if the media object has been previously streamed to the client. If the current media object has been previously streamed, the process proceeds to operation160. At operation160, an indicator (later also referred to as a “proxy”) is created to identify that the client has already received the current media object, and should access a copy of the media object from a local cache or other cache. If it is determined that the media object has not been previously streamed, the process proceeds to operation165. At operation165, the media object may be prepared for transformation and/or distribution and the distribution format for the media object is created. Subsequently, the processing ends for the current media object.

FIG.2Ais an exemplary workflow for processing ingested media through a network. The workflow illustrated inFIG.2Adepicts a media transform decision making process200, according to embodiments. The media transform decision making process200is employed to determine if the network should transform the media prior to distributing the media to a client device. The media transform decision making process200may be processed through a manual or an automated process within the network.

Ingest media represented in Format A is provided by a content provider to the network. At205, the media is ingested by the media streaming network from the content provider. At210, attributes for the targeted client, if not already known, are acquired. The attributes describe the processing capabilities of the targeted client.

At215, it is determined if the network (or the client) should assist with the transformation of the ingested media. In some embodiments, at215, it may be specifically determined if any format conversions for any of the media assets contained within the ingested media (e.g., a conversion of a one or more media objects from Format A to Format B) are needed prior to the media being streamed to the targeted client. At215, the determination may be based on whether the media can be streamed in its original ingested Format A, or if it must be transformed into a different format B to facilitate the presentation of the media by the client. Such a decision (i.e., to determine if a transformation of the ingest media is needed prior to streaming the media to the client, or if the media should be streamed in its original ingest Format A directly to the client) may require access to information describing aspects or features of the ingest media.

If it is determined that the network (or client) should assist with the transformation of any of the media assets (YES at215), the process200proceeds to220.

At220, the ingested media is transformed to convert the media from a Format A into a Format B producing transformed media222. The transformed media222is output and at225, the input media undergoes a preparation process for streaming the media to a client. In this case, the transformed media222(i.e., the input media) is prepared to be streamed.

Streaming of immersive media, especially where such media is “scene-based” rather than “frame-based” may be relatively nascent. For example, streaming of frame-based media may be equivalent to streaming of frames of video, where each frame captures a full picture of the entire scene or a complete picture of the entire object to be presented by the client. The sequence of frames when reconstructed by the client from their compressed forms, and presented to the viewer, creates a video sequence that comprises the entire immersive presentation or a portion of the presentation. For frame-based streaming, the order in which the frames are streamed from the network to the client may be consistent with a predefined specification (e.g., such as ITU-T Recommendation H.264 Advanced Video Coding for Generic AudioVisual Services). However, scene-based streaming of media is unlike frame-based streaming because the scene may be comprised of individual assets that may be themselves independent of each other. A given scene-based asset may be used multiple times within a particular scene or across a series of scenes. The amount of time that a client, or any given renderer, needs to spend to reconstruct the particular asset may depend on a number of factors including, but not limited to: the size of the asset, the availability of compute resources to perform the rendering, and other attributes that describe the overall complexity of the asset. Clients that support scene-based streaming may require that some or all of the rendering for each of asset within a scene is completed before any of the presentation for the scene can begin. Hence the order in which assets are streamed from a network to the client may impact the overall performance of the system.

The transformations of media from Format A to another format (e.g., Format B) may be done either entirely by the network, entirely by the client, or jointly between both the network and the client. For split rendering, it becomes apparent that a lexicon of attributes that describe a media format may be needed so that both the client and network have complete information to characterize the work that must be done. Furthermore, a lexicon that provides attributes of a client's capabilities, e.g., in terms of available compute resources, available storage resources, and access to bandwidth, may likewise be needed. Even further, a mechanism to characterize the level of compute, storage, or bandwidth complexity of an ingest media format is needed so that the network and client may jointly, or singly, determine if or when the network may employ a split-rendering process for distributing the media to the client.

If it is determined that the network (or client) should not (or does not need to) assist with the transformation of any of the media assets (NO at215), the process200proceeds to225. At225, the media is prepared for streaming. In this case, the ingested data (i.e., the media in its original form) is prepared to be streamed.

Finally, once the media data is in a stream-able format, the media which has been prepared at225is streamed to the client at230. In some embodiments, (as described with reference toFIG.1B) if the transformation and or streaming of a particular media object that is or will be needed by the client to complete its presentation of the media may be avoided, then the network may skip transforming and/or streaming of the ingest media (i.e.,215-230), assuming that the client still has access or availability to the media object that it may need in order to complete the client's presentation of the media. With respect to the order in which scene-based assets are streamed from the network to the client to facilitate the client's ability to perform at its full potential, it may be desirable for a network to be equipped with sufficient information so that the network can determine such an order to improve the performance of the client. For example, such a network that has sufficient information to avoid repetitive transformation and/or streaming steps for assets that are used more than once, in a particular presentation, may perform more optimally than a network that is not designed this way. Likewise, a network that can “intelligently” sequence the delivery of assets to the client may facilitate the client's ability to perform at its full potential (i.e., to create an experience that may be more enjoyable to the end user).

FIG.2Billustrates an example media transform process250including determining media asset reuse, according to embodiments. Like the media transform decision making process200, the media transform process250with media asset reuse processes ingest media through a network to determine if the network should transform the media prior to distributing the media to a client.

Ingest media represented in Format A is provided by a content provider to the network. According to an embodiment, operations255-260and275-286are performed similar to205-210and215-230shown inFIG.2A. At255, the media is ingested by the network from the content provider. Then, at260, attributes for the targeted client, if not already known, are acquired. The attributes describe the processing capabilities of the targeted client.

If it is determined that the network has previously streamed a particular media object or current media object (YES at265), the process proceeds to270. At270, a proxy is created to substitute for the previously streamed media object to indicate that the client should use its local copy of the previously streamed object or the copy of the previously streamed object stored in the another cache.

If it is determined that the network has not previously streamed the media object (NO at265), the process proceeds to275. At275, it is determined if the network or the client should perform any format transformations for any of the media assets contained within the ingested media at255. For example, a transformation may include a conversion of a particular media object from a Format A to a Format B, prior to the media being streamed to the client. Operation275may be like those performed at215shown inFIG.2A.

If it is determined media assets should be transformed by the network (YES at275), the process proceeds to280. At280, the media object is transformed from Format A to Format B. The transformed media is then prepared to be streamed to client (286).

If it is determined media assets should not be transformed by the network (NO at275), the process proceeds to285. At285, the media object is then prepared to be streamed to client. Once the media is in a stream-able format, the media prepared at285is streamed to the client at286.

The stream-able format of media may be heterogeneous immersive media that is timed or untimed.FIG.3Aillustrates an example of a timed media representation300of a stream-able format of heterogeneous immersive media. The timed immersive media may include a set of N scenes. Timed media is media content that is ordered by time, e.g., with a start and end time according to a particular clock.FIG.4illustrates an example of an untimed media representation400of a stream-able format of heterogeneous immersive media. Untimed media is media content that is organized by spatial, logical, or temporal relationships (e.g., as in an interactive experience that is realized according to the actions taken by one or more users).

FIGS.3A-Brefer to a timed scene for timed media andFIGS.4A-Brefer to an untimed scene for untimed media. The timed and untimed scenes may correspond to various scene representations, or scene descriptions.FIGS.3B,3B,4A, and4Bboth employ a single exemplary encompassing media format that has been adapted from a source ingest media format to match the capabilities of a specific client endpoint. That is, the encompassing media format is a distribution format stream-able to a client device. The encompassing media format is robust enough in its structure to accommodate a large variety of media attributes where each may be layered based on the amount of salient information that each layer contributes to the presentation of the media.

As shown inFIG.3A, the timed media representation300includes a timed scene manifest300A that includes a list of scene information301. The scene information301refer to a list of components302that separately describe processing information and types of media assets that make up the scene information301. For example, asset lists and other processing information. The list of components302may refer to proxy assets308corresponding to the type of asset (e.g., proxy visual and audio assets, as shown inFIG.3A). The components302refer to a list of unique assets that have not been previously used in other scenes. For example, a list of unique assets307for a (timed) scene 1 is shown inFIG.3A. The components302also refer to assets303that include a base layer304and attribute enhancement layers305. A base layer is a nominal representation of an asset that may be formulated to minimize the compute resources, the time needed to render the asset, and/or the time needed to transmit the asset over a network. In this exemplary embodiment, each of the base layers304refer to a numeric complexity metric that indicates that characterizes the effort that a client may need to expend in terms of time or resources to process the asset. Enhancement layers may be a set of information that when applied to the base layer representation of an asset, augment the base layer to include features or capabilities that may not supported in the base layer.

FIG.3Billustrates a timed media representation ordered by descending complexity3030. This timed media representation is the same representation shown inFIG.3A, however, the assets3033inFIG.3Bare ordered in the list by asset type and descending complexity metric values within each asset type. The timed scene manifest303A includes a list of scene information3031. The list of scene information3031refers to a list of components3032that separately describe processing information and types of media assets that comprise list of scene information3031. For example, asset lists and other processing information. The components3032may refer to proxy assets3038corresponding to the type of asset (e.g., proxy visual and audio assets, as shown inFIG.3B). The components3032refer to assets3033that further refer to base layers3034and attribute enhancement layers3035. Each of the base layers3034are ordered according to descending values for the corresponding complexity metrics. A list of unique assets3037that have not been previously used in other scenes is also provided.

As shown inFIG.4A, the untimed media and complexity representation400includes scene information401. The scene information401is not associated with a start and end time/duration (according to a clock, a timer, or the like). An untimed scene manifest (not depicted) may reference a Scene 1.0 for which there is no other scene that can branch to Scene 1.0. The scene information401refers to a list of components402that separately describe processing information and types of media assets that make up the scene information401. The components402refer to visual assets, audio assets, haptic assets, and timed assets (collectively referred to as assets403). The assets403further refer to a base layer404and attribute enhancement layers405and406. In this exemplary embodiment, each of the base layer404refer to a numeric complexity value that characterizes the effort that a client may need to expend in terms of time or resources to process the asset across the scene that comprise the presentation. The scene information401may also refer to other untimed scenes (i.e., referenced as untimed scenes 2.1-2.4 inFIG.4A) that are for an untimed media source and/or scene information407that are for a timed media scene (i.e., referenced as timed scene 3.0 inFIG.4A). In the example ofFIG.4A, the untimed immersive media contains a set of five scenes (including both timed and untimed). Lists of unique assets408identify unique assets associated with a particular scene that have not been previously used in higher order (e.g., parent) scenes. The list of unique assets408shown inFIG.4include unique assets for an untimed scene 2.3.

FIG.4Billustrates an untimed media and ordered complexity representation4040. An untimed scene manifest (not depicted) references a Scene 1.0 for which there is no other scene that can branch to Scene 1.0. Scene information4041is not associated with a start and end duration according to a clock. The scene information4041also refers to a list of components4042that separately describe processing information and types of media assets that make up scene information4041. The components4042refer to visual assets, audio assets, haptic assets, and timed assets (also collectively referred to as assets4043). The assets4043further refer to base layers4044and attribute enhancement layers4045and4046. In this exemplary embodiment, haptic assets4043are organized by increasing complexity metric values, while audio assets4043are organized by decreasing complexity metric values, or vice versa. Furthermore, scenes information4041refers to other untimed scenes information4041that are for untimed media. The scene information4041also refers to other timed scene information4047that is for timed media. A lists of unique assets4048identify unique assets associated with a particular scene that have not been previously used in higher order (e.g., parent) scenes.

The media that is streamed according to the encompassing media format is not limited to legacy visual and audio media. The encompassing media format may include any type of media information that is capable of producing a signal that interacts with machines to stimulate the human senses for sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. As shown inFIGS.3A-Band4A-B, the media that is streamed according to the encompassing media format may be timed or untimed media, or a mixture of both. The encompassing media format is stream-able by enabling a layered representation of media objects, using a base layer and enhancement layer architecture.

In some embodiments, the separate base layer and enhancement layers are computed by application of a multi-resolution or multi-tesselation analysis technique for media objects in each scene. This computation technique is not limited to raster-based visual formats.

In some embodiments, a progressive representation of a geometric object may be a multi-resolution representation of the object computed using a wavelet analysis technique.

In some embodiments, in the layered representation media format, the enhancement layers may apply different attributes to the base layer. For example, one or more of the enhancement layers may refine material properties of a surface of a visual object that is represented by the base layer.

In some embodiments, in the layered representation media format, the attributes may refine the texture of the surface of the object that is represented by the base layer by, e.g., changing the surface from a smooth to a porous texture, or from a matted surface to a glossy surface.

In some embodiments, in the layered representation media format, the surfaces of one or more visual objects in the scene may be altered from a lambertian surface to being a ray-traceable surface.

In some embodiments, in the layered representation media format, the network may distribute the base-layer representation to the client so that the client may create a nominal presentation of the scene while the client awaits the transmission of additional enhancement layers to refine the resolution or other characteristics of the base layer.

In embodiments, the resolution of the attributes or refining information in the enhancement layers are not explicitly coupled with the resolution of the object in the base layer. Further, the encompassing media format may support any type of information media that may be presented or actuated by a presentation device or machine, thereby enabling the support of heterogeneous media formats to heterogeneous client end-points. In some embodiments, the network that distributes the media format will first query the client end-point to determine the client's capabilities. Based on the query, if the client is not capable of meaningfully ingesting the media representation, then the network may remove the layers of attributes that are not supported by the client. In some embodiments, if the client is not capable of meaningfully ingesting the media representation, the network may adapt the media from its current format into a format that is suitable for the client end-point. For example, the network may adapt the media by converting a volumetric visual media asset into a 2D representation of the same visual asset using a network-based media processing protocol. In some embodiments, the network may adapt the media by employing a neural network (NN) process to reformat the media to an appropriate format or optionally synthesize views that are needed by the client end-point.

The manifest of scenes for a complete (or partially-complete) immersive experience (live streaming event, game, or playback of on-demand asset) is organized by scenes which contain a minimal amount of information required for rendering and ingesting in order to create a presentation. The manifest of scenes includes a list of individual scenes that are to be rendered for the entirety of the immersive experience requested by the client. Associated with each scene are one or more representations of the geometric objects within the scene corresponding to the stream-able versions of the scene geometry. One embodiment of a scene may refer to a low resolution version of the geometric objects for the scene. Another embodiment of the same scene may refer to an enhancement layer for the low-resolution representation of the scene to add additional detail, or increase tessellation, of the geometric objects of the same scene. As described above, each scene may have one or more enhancement layers to increase the detail of the geometric objects of the scene in a progressive manner. Each layer of the media objects that are referenced within a scene may be associated with a token (e.g., a uniform resource identifier (URI)) that points to the address of where the resource can be accessed within the network. Such resources are analogous to content delivery networks (CDN) where the content may be fetched by the client. The token for a representation of a geometric object may point to a location within the network or to a location within the client. That is, the client may signal to the network that its resources are available to the network for network-based media processing.

According to embodiments, a scene (timed or untimed) may correspond to a scene graph as a Multi-Plane Image (MPI) or as a Multi-Spherical Image (MSI). Both the MPI and MSI techniques are examples of technologies that aid in the creation of display-agnostic scene representations for natural content (i.e., images of the real world captured simultaneously from one or more cameras). Scene graph technologies, on the other hand, may be employed to represent both natural and computer-generated imagery in the form of synthetic representations. However, such representations are especially compute-intensive to create for cases where the content is captured as natural scenes by one or more cameras. Scene graph representations of naturally-captured content are both time and computation intensive to create, requiring complex analysis of natural images with techniques of photogrammetry or deep learning or both, in order to create synthetic representations that can subsequently be used to interpolate sufficient and adequate numbers of views to fill a target immersive client display's viewing frustum. As a result, such synthetic representations are impractical to consider as candidates for representing natural content because they cannot practically be created in real-time for consideration of use cases that require real-time distribution. As such, the best representations for computer generated imagery is to employ the use of a scene graph with synthetic models, because computer generated imagery is created using 3D modeling processes and tools, employing the use of a scene graph with synthetic models results in the best representations for computer generated imagery.

FIG.5illustrates an example of a natural media synthesis process500, according to embodiments. The natural media synthesis process500converts an ingest format from a natural scene to a representation that can be used as an ingest format for a network that serves heterogeneous client endpoints. The left side of the dashed line510is the content capturing portion of the natural media synthesis process500. The right side of the dashed line510is the ingest format synthesis (for natural images) of the natural media synthesis process500.

As shown inFIG.5, a first camera501uses a single camera lens to capture a scene of, for example, a person (i.e., the actor shown inFIG.5). A second camera502captures a scene with five diverging fields of view by mounting five camera lenses around a ring-shaped object. The arrangement of the second camera502shown inFIG.5is an exemplary arrangement commonly used to capture omnidirectional content for VR applications. A third camera503captures a scene with seven converging fields of view by mounting seven camera lenses on the inner diameter portion of a sphere. The arrangement of the third camera503is an exemplary arrangement commonly used to capture light fields for light field or holographic immersive displays. Embodiments are not limited to configurations shown inFIG.5. The second camera502and the third camera503may include a plurality of camera lenses.

Natural image content509is output from the first camera501, the second camera502, and the third camera503and serve as input to a synthesizer504. The synthesizer504may employ a NN training505using a collection of training images506to produce a capture NN model508. The training images506may be pre-defined or stored from a previous synthesis processing. A NN model (for example, the capture NN model508) is a collection of parameters and tensors (e.g., matrices) that define weights (i.e., numerical values) used in well-defined mathematical operations applied to a visual signal to arrive at an improved visual output which may include the interpolation of new views for the visual signal that were not explicitly provided by the original signal.

In some embodiments, a photogrammetry process may be implemented in lieu of the NN training505. If the capture NN model508is created during the natural media synthesis process500, then the capture NN model508becomes one of the assets in the ingest format507for the natural media content. The ingest format507may be, for example, a MPI or a MSI. The ingest format507may also include media assets.

FIG.6illustrates an example of a synthetic media ingest creation process600, according to embodiments. The synthetic media ingest creation process600creates an ingest media format for synthetic media such as, e.g., computer-generated imagery.

As shown inFIG.6, a camera601may capture point clouds602of a scene. The camera601may be, for example, a LIDAR camera. A computer603employs, for example, common gateway interface (CGI) tools, 3D modelling tools, or another animation processes to create synthetic content (i.e., a representation of a synthetic scene that can be used as an ingest format for a network that serves heterogeneous client end-points). The computer603may create CGI assets604over a network. Additionally, sensors605A may be worn on an actor605in a scene. The sensors605A may be, for example, a motion capture suit with sensors attached. The sensors605A capture a digital recording of the motion of the actor605to produce animated motion data606(or MoCap Data). The data from the point clouds602, the CGI assets604, and the motion data606are provided as input to synthesizer607which creates the synthetic media ingest format608. In some embodiments, the synthesizer607may use a NN and training data to create a NN model to generate the synthetic media ingest format608.

Both natural and computer generated (i.e., synthetic) content may be stored in a container. The container may include a serialized format to store and exchange information to represent all natural, all synthetic, or a mixture of synthetic and natural scenes including a scene graph and all of the media resources that are required for rendering of the scene. The serialization process of the content includes translating data structures or an object state into a format that can be stored (e.g., in a file or a memory buffer) or transmitted (e.g., across a network connection link) and reconstructed later in a same or different computer environment. When the resulting series of bits is reread according to the serialization format, it can be used to create a semantically identical clone of the original object.

The dichotomy in optimal representations of both natural and computer generated (i.e., synthetic) content suggests that the optimal ingest format for naturally-captured content is different from the optimal ingest format for computer generated content or for natural content that is not essential for real-time distribution applications. Therefore, according to embodiments, the network targets to be robust enough to support multiple ingest formats for visually immersive media, whether they are created naturally through the use of, e.g., physical cameras or by a computer.

Technologies such as ORBX by OTOY, Universal Scene Description by Pixar, and Graphics Language Transmission Format 2.0 (glTF2.0) specification written by the Khronos 3D Group embody scene graphs as a format suitable for representing visual immersive media that is created using computer generated techniques, or naturally captured content for which deep learning or photogrammetry techniques are employed to create the corresponding synthetic representations of a natural scene (i.e., not essential for real-time distribution applications).

ORBX by OTOY is one of several scene graph technologies that is able to support any type of visual media, timed or untimed, including ray-traceable, legacy (frame-based), volumetric, and other types of synthetic or vector-based visual formats. ORBX is unique from other scene graphs because ORBX provides native support for freely available and/or open source formats for meshes, point clouds, and textures. ORBX is a scene graph that has been intentionally designed with the goal of facilitating interchange across multiple vendor technologies that operate on scene graphs. Moreover, ORBX provides a rich materials system, support for Open Shader Language, a robust camera system, and support for Lua Scripts. ORBX is also the basis of the Immersive Technologies Media Format published for license under royalty-free terms by the Immersive Digital Experiences Alliance (IDEA). In the context of real time distribution of media, the ability to create and distribute an ORBX representation of a natural scene is a function of the availability of compute resources to perform a complex analysis of the camera-captured data and synthesis of the same data into synthetic representations.

USD by Pixar is a scene graph that is popularly used in visual effects and professional content production. USD is integrated into the Nvidia's Omniverse platform which is a set of tools for developers for 3D model creation and rendering with Nvidia's graphic processing units (GPU). A subset of USD, published by Apple and Pixar, is referred to as USDZ which is supported by Apple's ARKit.

The glTF2.0 is a version of the Graphics Language Transmission Format specification written by the Khronos 3D Group. This format supports a simple scene graph format that is generally capable of supporting static (untimed) objects in scenes, including PNG and JPEG image formats. The glTF2.0 supports simple animations, including support for translate, rotate, and scale of basic shapes described using the glTF primitives (i.e., for geometric objects). The glTF2.0 does not support timed media, and hence does not support video nor audio media inputs.

These designs for scene representations of immersive visual media are provided for example only, and do not limit the disclosed subject matter in its ability to specify a process to adapt an input immersive media source into a format that is suitable to the specific characteristics of a client end-point device. Moreover, any or all of the above example media representations either employ or may employ deep learning techniques to train and create a NN model that enables or facilitates the selection of specific views to fill a particular display's viewing frustum based on the specific dimensions of the frustum. The views that are chosen for the particular display's viewing frustum may be interpolated from existing views that are explicitly provided in the scene representation, e.g., from the MSI or MPI techniques. The view may also be directly rendered from render engines based on specific virtual camera locations, filters, or descriptions of virtual cameras for these render engines.

The methods and devices of the present disclosure are robust enough to consider that there is a relatively small but well known set of immersive media ingest formats that are sufficiently capable of satisfying requirements for real-time or on-demand (e.g., non-real-time) distribution of media that is either captured naturally (e.g., with one or more cameras) or created using computer generated techniques.

Interpolation of views from an immersive media ingest format by use of either NN models or network-based rendering engines are further facilitated as advanced network technologies (e.g., 5G for mobile networks), and fiber optical cables are deployed for fixed networks. These advanced network technologies increase the capacity and capabilities of commercial networks because such advanced network infrastructures can support transport and delivery of increasingly larger amounts of visual information. Network infrastructure management technologies such as Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC), Software Defined Networks (SDN), and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) enable commercial network service providers to flexibly configure their network infrastructure to adapt to changes in demand for certain network resources, e.g., to respond to dynamic increases or decreases in demand for network throughputs, network speeds, roundtrip latency, and computational resources. Moreover, this inherent ability to adapt to dynamic network requirements likewise facilitates the ability of networks to adapt immersive media ingest formats to suitable distribution formats in order to support a variety of immersive media applications with potentially heterogeneous visual media formats for heterogeneous client end-points.

Immersive Media applications themselves may also have varying requirements for network resources including gaming applications which require significantly lower network latencies to respond to real-time updates in the state of the game, telepresence applications which have symmetric throughput requirements for both the uplink and downlink portions of the network, and passive viewing applications that may have increased demand for downlink resources depending on the type of client end-point display that is consuming the data. In general, any consumer-facing application may be supported by a variety of client end-points with various onboard-client capabilities for storage, compute, and power, and likewise various requirements for particular media representations.

Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure enable a sufficiently equipped network, i.e., a network that employs some or all of the characteristics of a modern network, to simultaneously support a plurality of legacy and immersive media-capable devices according to features that are specified within the device. As such, the immersive media distribution methods and processes described herein provide flexibility to leverage media ingest formats that are practical for both real-time and on demand use cases for the distribution of media, flexibility to support both natural and computer generated content for both legacy and immersive-media capable client end-points, and support for both timed and untimed media. The methods and processes also dynamically adapt a source media ingest format to a suitable distribution format based on the features and capabilities of the client end-point, as well as based on the requirements of the application. This ensure that the distribution format is streamable over IP-based networks and enables the network to simultaneously serve a plurality of heterogeneous client end-points that may include both legacy and immersive media-capable devices. Further, embodiments provide an exemplary media representation framework that facilitates the organization of distribution media along scene boundaries.

An end-to-end implementation of the heterogeneous immersive media distribution according to embodiments of the present disclosure, providing the aforementioned improvements, are achieved according to the processing and components described in the detailed description ofFIGS.7-16, further detailed below.

The techniques for representing and streaming heterogeneous immersive media, described above, may be implemented in both sources and destinations as computer software using computer-readable instructions and physically stored in one or more non-transitory computer-readable media or by a specifically configured one or more hardware processors.FIG.7shows a computer system700suitable for implementing certain embodiments of the disclosed subject matter.

The computer software may be coded using any suitable machine code or computer language, that may be subject to assembly, compilation, linking, or like mechanisms to create code comprising instructions that may be executed directly, or through interpretation, micro-code execution, and the like, by computer central processing units (CPUs), Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), and the like.

The instructions may be executed on various types of computers or components thereof, including, for example, personal computers, tablet computers, servers, smartphones, gaming devices, internet of things devices, and the like.

The components shown inFIG.7for computer system700are exemplary in nature and are not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the computer software implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Neither should the configuration of components be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplary embodiment of a computer system700.

Computer system700may include certain human interface input devices. Such a human interface input device may be responsive to input by one or more human users through, for example, tactile input (such as keystrokes, swipes, data glove movements), audio input (such as voice, clapping), visual input (such as gestures), olfactory input. The human interface devices may also be used to capture certain media not necessarily directly related to conscious input by a human, such as audio (such as speech, music, ambient sound), images (such as scanned images, photographic images obtained from a still image camera), video (such as two-dimensional video, three-dimensional video including stereoscopic video).

Input human interface devices may include one or more of (only one of each depicted): keyboard701, trackpad702, mouse703, screen709, which may be for example a touch-screen, data-glove, joystick704, microphone705, camera706, and scanner707.

Computer system700may also include certain human interface output devices. Such human interface output devices may be stimulating the senses of one or more human users through, for example, tactile output, sound, light, and smell/taste. Such human interface output devices may include tactile output devices (for example tactile feedback by the screen709, data-glove, or joystick704, but there may also be tactile feedback devices that do not serve as input devices), audio output devices (such as: speakers708, headphones), visual output devices (such as screens709to include CRT screens, LCD screens, plasma screens, OLED screens, each with or without touch-screen input capability, each with or without tactile feedback capability-some of which may be capable to output two-dimensional visual output or more than three-dimensional output through means such as stereographic output; virtual-reality glasses, holographic displays and smoke tanks), and printers.

Computer system700may also include human accessible storage devices and their associated media such as optical media including CD/DVD ROM/RW711with CD/DVD or the like media710, thumb-drive712, removable hard drive or solid-state drive713, legacy magnetic media such as tape and floppy disc, specialized ROM/ASIC/PLD based devices such as security dongles, and the like.

Those skilled in the art should also understand that term “computer-readable media” as used in connection with the presently disclosed subject matter does not encompass transmission media, carrier waves, or other transitory signals.

Computer system700may also include an interface715to one or more communication networks714. Networks714may, for example, be wireless, wireline, optical. Networks714may further be local, wide-area, metropolitan, vehicular and industrial, real-time, delay-tolerant, and so on. Examples of networks714include local area networks such as Ethernet, wireless LANs, cellular networks to include GSM, 3G, 4G, 5G, LTE, and the like, TV wireline or wireless wide-area digital networks to include cable TV, satellite TV, and terrestrial broadcast TV, vehicular and industrial to include CANBus, and so forth. Certain networks714commonly require external network interface adapters (e.g., graphics adapter725) that attached to certain general-purpose data ports or peripheral buses716(such as, for example, USB ports of the computer system700; others are commonly integrated into the core of the computer system700by attachment to a system bus748as described below (for example Ethernet interface into a PC computer system or cellular network interface into a smartphone computer system). Using any of these networks714, computer system700may communicate with other entities. Such communication may be uni-directional, receive only (for example, broadcast TV), uni-directional send-only (for example, CANbus to certain CANbus devices), or bi-directional, for example to other computer systems using local or wide area digital networks. Certain protocols and protocol stacks may be used on each of those networks and network interfaces, as described above.

The aforementioned human interface devices, human-accessible storage devices, and network interfaces may be attached to a core717of the computer system700.

The core717may include one or more Central Processing Units (CPU)718, Graphics Processing Units (GPU)719, specialized programmable processing units in the form of Field Programmable Gate Areas (FPGA)720, hardware accelerators721for certain tasks, and so forth. These devices, along with Read-only memory (ROM)723, Random-access memory (RAM)724, internal mass storage such as internal non-user accessible hard drives, SSDs, and the like722, may be connected through a system bus748. In some computer systems, the system bus748may be accessible in the form of one or more physical plugs to enable extensions by additional CPUs, GPU, and the like. The peripheral devices may be attached either directly to the core's system bus748, or through a peripheral bus716. Architectures for a peripheral bus include PCI, USB, and the like.

CPUs718, GPUs719, FPGAs720, and accelerators721may execute certain instructions that, in combination, may make up the aforementioned machine code (or computer code). That computer code may be stored in ROM723or RAM724. Transitional data may also be stored in RAM724, whereas permanent data may be stored, for example, in the internal mass storage722. Fast storage and retrieval to any of the memory devices may be enabled through the use of cache memory, which may be closely associated with one or more CPU718, GPU719, mass storage722, ROM723, RAM724and the like.

The computer-readable media may have computer code thereon for performing various computer-implemented operations. The media and computer code may be specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present disclosure, or they may be of the kind well known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts.

As an example, and not by way of limitation, a computer system having the architecture of computer system700, and specifically the core717may provide functionality as a result of processor(s) (including CPUs, GPUs, FPGA, accelerators, and the like) executing software embodied in one or more tangible, computer-readable media. Such computer-readable media may be media associated with user-accessible mass storage as introduced above, as well as certain storage of the core717that are of non-transitory nature, such as core-internal mass storage722or ROM723. The software implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure may be stored in such devices and executed by core717. A computer-readable medium may include one or more memory devices or chips, according to particular needs. The software may cause the core717and specifically the processors therein (including CPU, GPU, FPGA, and the like) to execute particular processes or particular parts of particular processes described herein, including defining data structures stored in RAM724and modifying such data structures according to the processes defined by the software. In addition or as an alternative, the computer system may provide functionality as a result of logic hardwired or otherwise embodied in a circuit (for example, accelerator721), which may operate in place of or together with software to execute particular processes or particular parts of particular processes described herein. Reference to software may encompass logic, and vice versa, where appropriate. Reference to a computer-readable media may encompass a circuit (such as an integrated circuit (IC)) storing software for execution, a circuit embodying logic for execution, or both, where appropriate. The present disclosure encompasses any suitable combination of hardware and software.

The number and arrangement of components shown inFIG.7are provided as an example. In practice, the input human interface devices may include additional components, fewer components, different components, or differently arranged components than those shown inFIG.7. Additionally, or alternatively, a set of components (e.g., one or more components) of the input human interface devices may perform one or more functions described as being performed by another set of components of the input human interface devices.

In embodiments, any one of the operations or processes ofFIGS.1-6andFIGS.8-15may be implemented by or using any one of the elements illustrated inFIG.7.

FIG.8illustrates an exemplary network media distribution system800that serves a plurality of heterogeneous client endpoints. That is, the system800supports a variety of legacy and heterogeneous immersive-media capable displays as client end-points. The system800may include a content acquisition module801, a content preparation module802, and a transmission module803.

The content acquisition module801captures or creates source media using, for example, embodiments described inFIG.6and/orFIG.5. The content preparation module802creates ingest formats which are then transmitted to a network media distribution system using the transmission module803. Gateways804may serve customer premise equipment to provide network access to various client end-points for the network. Set top boxes805may also serve as customer premise equipment to provide access to aggregated content by the network service provider. Radio demodulators806may serve as mobile network access points for mobile devices, e.g., as shown with mobile handset display813. In this particular embodiment of system800, Legacy 2D Televisions807are shown to be directly connected to one of the gateways804, Set Top Box805, or WiFi (router)808. A laptop 2D display809(i.e., a computer or laptop with a legacy 2D display) is illustrated as a client end-point connected to WiFi (router)808. A head mounted 2D (raster-based) display810is also connected to the WiFi (router)808. A lenticular light field display811is shown connected to one of the gateways804. The lenticular light field display811may include one or more GPUs811A, a storage device8111B, and a visual presentation component811C that creates multiple views using a ray-based lenticular optical technology. A holographic display812is shown connected to a set top box805. The holographic display812may include one or more CPUs812A, GPUs812B, a storage device812C, and a visualization component812D. The visualization component812D may be a Fresnel pattern, wave based holographic device/display. An augmented reality (AR) headset814is shown connected to the radio demodulator806. The AR headset814may include a GPU814A, a storage device814B, a battery814C, and a volumetric visual presentation component814D. A dense light field display815is shown as connected to a WiFi (router)808. The dense light field display815may include one or more GPUs815A, CPUs815B, storage device815C, an eye tracking device815D, camera815E, and a dense ray-based light field panel815F.

The number and arrangement of components shown inFIG.8are provided as an example. In practice, the system800may include additional components, fewer components, different components, or differently arranged components than those shown inFIG.8. Additionally, or alternatively, a set of components (e.g., one or more components) of the system800may perform one or more functions described as being performed by another set of components of the device or respective displays.

FIG.9illustrates an exemplary workflow of an immersive media distribution process900that is capable of serving legacy and heterogeneous immersive media-capable displays as previously depicted inFIG.8. The immersive media distribution process900, performed by a network, may provide adaptation information about the specific media represented in the media ingest format, e.g., prior to the network's process of adapting the media for consumption (as described with reference toFIG.10) by a specific immersive media client endpoint.

The immersive media distribution process900may be broken up into two parts: immersive media production on the left side of the dashed line912and immersive media network distribution on the right side of the dashed line912. The immersive media production and immersive media network distribution may be performed by the network or the client device.

Media content901is either created or acquired by the network (or client device) or from a content source, respectively. Methods for creating or acquiring data may correspond toFIG.5andFIG.6for natural and synthetic content, respectively. The created content901is then converted into an ingest format using a network ingest format creation process902. The network ingest creation process902may also correspond toFIG.5andFIG.6for natural and synthetic content, respectively. The ingest format may also be updated to store information regarding assets that are potentially reused across multiple scenes from, for example, a media complexity analyzer911(detailed later with reference toFIG.10andFIG.14A). The ingest format is transmitted to the network and stored in a ingest media storage903(i.e., a storage device). In some embodiments, the storage device may be in the immersive media content producer's network and accessed remotely for the immersive media network distribution920. Client and application specific information is optionally available in a remote storage device, client specific information904. In some embodiments, the client specific information904may exist remotely in an alternate cloud network and may be transmitted to the network.

A network orchestrator905is then performed. The network orchestration serves as the primary source and sink of information to execute major tasks of the network. The network orchestrator905may be implemented in unified format with other components of the network. The network orchestrator905may be a process that further employ a bi-directional message protocol with the client device to facilitate all processing and distribution of the media in accordance with the characteristics of the client device. Furthermore, the bi-directional protocol may be implemented across different delivery channels (e.g., a control plane channel and/or a data plane channel).

As shown inFIG.9, the network orchestrator905receives information about the features and attributes of a client device908. The network orchestrator905collects requirements regarding the application currently running on the client device908. This information may be obtained from the client specific information904. In some embodiments, the information may be obtained by directly querying the client device908. When the client device is directly queried, a bi-directional protocol is assumed to be present and operational so that the client device908may communicate directly to with the network orchestrator905.

The network orchestrator905may also initiates and communicates with a media adaptation and fragmentation module910(which is described inFIG.10). As ingest media is adapted and fragmented by the media adaptation and fragmentation module910, the media may be transferred to an intermedia storage device such as a media prepared for distribution909. If the network is designed to include a cache for assets that are used multiple times in the context of a presentation, then another intermedia storage device redundant cache for reused media assets912may be utilized to serve as a cache for such assets. As the distribution media is prepared and stored in media prepared for distribution909storage device, the network orchestrator905ensures that the client device908either receives the distribution media and descriptive information906either through a “push” request, or the client device908may initiate a “pull” request of the distribution media and descriptive information906from the stored media prepared for distribution909. The information may be “pushed” or “pulled” via a network interface908B of the client device908. The “pushed” or “pulled” distribution media and descriptive information906may be description information that corresponds to the distribution media.

In some embodiments, the network orchestrator905employs a bi-directional message interface to perform the “push” request or to initiate a “pull” request by the client device908. The client device908may optionally employ GPUs908C (or CPUs).

The distribution media format is then stored in storage device or storage cache908D included in the client device908. Finally, the client device908visually presents the media via a visualization component908A.

Throughout the process of streaming the immersive media to the client device908, the network orchestrator905monitors the status of the client's progress via a client progress and status feedback channel907. In some embodiments, the monitoring of the status may be performed through a bi-directional communication message interface.

FIG.10illustrates an example of a media adaptation process1000performed by, e.g., the media adaptation and fragmentation module910. By performing the media adaptation process1000, the ingested source media may be appropriately adapted to match the requirements of the client (e.g., the client device908).

As shown inFIG.10, the media adaptation process1000includes multiple components that facilitate the adaptation of the ingest media into an appropriate distribution format for the client device908. The components illustrated inFIG.10should be regarded as exemplary. In practice, the media adaptation process1000may include additional components, fewer components, different components, or differently arranged components than those shown inFIG.10. Additionally, or alternatively, a set of components (e.g., one or more components) of the media adaptation process1000may perform one or more functions described as being performed by another set of components.

InFIG.10, an adaptation module1001receives input a network status1005to track the current traffic load on the network. As mentioned, the adaptation module1001also receives information from the network orchestrator905. The information may include attributes and features descriptions of the client device908, application features and descriptions, the current status of the application, and a client NN model (if available) to aid in mapping the geometry of the client's frustum to the interpolation capabilities of the ingest immersive media. Such information may be obtained by means of a bi-directional message interface. The adaptation module1001ensures that the adapted output, as it is created, is stored into a storage device for storing client-adapted media1006.

A media complexity analyzer911may be an optional process that may be executed a prioi or as part of the network automated process for the distribution of the media. The media complexity analyzer911may store the ingest media format and assets in a storage device (1002). The ingest media format and assets may then be transmitted to the adaptation module1001from the storage device (1002).

The adaptation module1001may be controlled by a logic controller1001F. The adaptation module1001may also employ a renderer1001B or a processor1001C to adapt the specific ingest source media to a format that is suitable for the client. The processor1001C may be NN-based processor. The processor1001C uses NN Models1001A. Examples of such a processor1001C include the Deepview NN model generator as described in MPI and MSI. If the media is in a 2D format, but the client must have a 3D format, then the processor1001C may invoke a process to use highly correlated images from a 2D video signal to derive a volumetric representation of the scene depicted in the media.

The renderer1001B may be a software-based (or hardware-based) application or process, based on a selective mixture of disciplines related to: acoustic physics, light physics, visual perception, audio perception, mathematics, and software development, that, given an input scene graph and asset container, emits a (typically) visual and/or audio signal suitable for presentation on a targeted device or conforming to the desired properties as specified by attributes of a render target node in the scene graph. For visual-based media assets, a renderer may emit a visual signal suitable for a targeted display, or for storage as an intermediate asset (e.g. repackaged into another container and used in a series of rendering processes in a graphics pipeline). For audio-based media assets, a renderer may emit an audio signal for presentation in a multi-channel loudspeaker and/or bi-nauralized headphones, or for repackaging into another (output) container. Renderers include, for example, real-time rendering features of source and cross-platform game engines. A renderer may include scripting language (i.e., an interpreted programming language) that may be executed by the renderer at runtime to process dynamic input and variable state changes made to the scene graph nodes. The dynamic input and variable state changes may affect rendering and evaluation of spatial and temporal object topology (including physical forces, constraints, inverse kinematics, deformation, collisions), and energy propagation and transport (light, sound). Evaluation of the spatial and temporal object topology produces a result (e.g., similar to evaluation of a document object model for a webpage) that causes the output to move from an abstract to a concrete result.

The renderer1001B may be, for example, a modified version of the OTOY Octane renderer which would be modified to interact directly with the adaptation module1001. In some embodiments, the renderer1001B implements a computer graphics method (e.g., path tracing) of rendering three-dimensional scenes such that the illumination of the scene is faithful to reality. in some embodiments, the renderer1001B may employ a shader (i.e., a type of computer program that was originally used for shading (the production of appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color within an image), but which now performs a variety of specialized functions in various fields of computer graphics special effects, video post-processing unrelated to shading, and other functions unrelated to graphics).

The adaptation module1001may perform compression and decompression of the media content using a media compressor1001D and media decompressor1001E, respectively, depending on the need for compression and decompression based on the format of the ingest media and the format required by the client device908. The media compressor1001D may be a media encoder and the media decompressor1001E may be a media decoder. After performing the compression and decompression (if necessary), the adaptation module1001outputs client adapted media1006which is optimal for streaming or distribution to the client device908. The client adapted media1006may be stored in a storage device for storing the adapted media.

FIG.11Aillustrates an exemplary distribution format creation process1100. As shown inFIG.11A, the distribution format creation process1100includes a media adaptation module1101and an adapted media packaging module1103that packages media output from the media adaptation process1000and stored as the client adapted media1006. The media packaging module1103formats the adapted media from the client adapted media1006into a robust distribution format1104. The distribution format may be, for example, the exemplary formats shown inFIG.3AorFIG.4A. An information manifest1104A may provide the client device908with a list of scene data assets1104B. The list of scene data assets1104B may also include metadata describing the complexity by each asset is used across the set of scenes comprising the presentation. The list of scene data assets1104B depicts a list of visual assets, audio assets, and haptic assets, each with their corresponding metadata. In this exemplary embodiment, each of the assets in list of scene data assets1104B references metadata that contains a numeric complexity metric value that characterizes the amount of time and resources that a client will expend to process the asset across all scenes that comprise the presentation.

FIG.11Bdepicts a distribution format creation with ordered complexity process1110. The distribution format creation with ordered complexity process1110includes components similar to that ofFIG.11A. As such, repeated descriptions are emitted herein with reference toFIG.11B. The media packaging module11043is similar to the media packaging module1103. However, the media packaging module11043orders the assets in a list of scene data assets11044B based on complexity metric. For example, the visual assets in list of scene data assets11044B may be ordered by increasing complexity, while audio and haptic assets in list of scene data assets1104B may be ordered by decreasing complexity, or vice versa. As shown inFIG.11B, the assets in the distribution format11044are ordered first by asset type and then by the complexity by which the assets are used across the entire presentation, e.g., in either ascending or descending complexity values based on asset type (i.e., visual, haptic, audio, etc.). The information manifest11044A provides the client device908with the list of scene data assets11044B that it can expect to receive as well as optional metadata indicating the complexity by which all assets are used across the set of scenes comprising the entire presentation. The list of scene data assets11044B includes a list of visual assets, audio assets, and haptic assets, each with their corresponding metadata.

The media may further be packetized before steaming.FIG.12illustrates an exemplary packetizing process1200. The packetizing system1200includes, a packetizer1202. The packetizer1202may receive the list of scene data assets1104B (or11044B) as input media1201(as shown inFIG.12). In some embodiments, the client adapted media1006or the distribution format1104are input to the packetizer1202. The packetizer1202separates the input media1201into individual packets1203suitable for representation and streaming to the client device908on the network.

FIG.13is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of data and communication flow between components in accordance with embodiments. The sequence diagram ofFIG.13is of a network adapting a specific immersive media in an ingest format to a stream-able and suitable distribution format for a specific immersive media client end-point. The data and communication flow may be as follows.

The client device908initiates a media request1308to the network orchestrator905. In some embodiments, the request may be made to a network distribution interface of the client device. The media request1308includes information to identify the media that is requested by the client device908. The media request may be identified by, e.g., a uniform resource name (URN) or another standard nomenclature. The network orchestrator905then responds to the media request1308with profile requests1309. The profile requests1309request that the client provide information about currently available resources (including compute, storage, percent battery charged, and other information to characterize the current operating status of the client). The profile requests1309also request that the client provide one or more NN models that may be used by the network for NN inferencing to extract or interpolate the correct media views to match the features of the client's presentation system, if such NN models are available at the client end-point.

The client device908then follows with a response1310from client device908to network orchestrator905provided as a client token, application token, and one or more NN model tokens (if such NN model tokens are available at the client end-point). The network orchestrator905then provides the client device with a Session ID token1311. The network orchestrator905then requests ingest media1312from a ingest media server1303. The ingest media server1303may include, for example, the ingest media storage903or the ingest media format and assets the storage device1002. The request for ingest media1312may also include the URN or other standard name for the media identified in request1308. The ingest media server1303replies to the ingest media1312request with a response1313which includes an ingest media token. The network orchestrator905then provides the media token from the response1313in a call1314to the client device908. The network orchestrator905then initiates the adaptation process for the requested media in request1315by providing the adaptation and fragmentation module910with the ingest media token, client token, application token, and NN model tokens. The adaptation and fragmentation module910requests access to the ingest media by providing the ingest media server1303with the ingest media token at request1316to request access to the ingest media assets.

The ingest media server1303responds to the request1316with an ingest media access token in a response1317to the adaptation and fragmentation module910. The adaptation and fragmentation module910then requests that media adaptation process1000adapt the ingest media located at the ingest media access token for the client, application, and NN inference models corresponding to the session ID token created and transmitted at the response1313. A request1318from the adaptation and fragmentation module910to the media adaptation process1000is made. The request1318contains the required tokens and session ID. The media adaptation process1000provides the network orchestrator905with an adapted media access token and session ID in an update response1319. The network orchestrator905then provides the media packaging module11043with the adapted media access token and session ID in an interface call1320. The media packaging module11043provides a response1321to the network orchestrator905with the packaged media access token and session ID in the response1321. The media packaging module11043then provides, in response1322, the packaged assets, URNs, and the packaged media access token for the session ID to a packaged media server1307to be stored. Subsequently, the client device908executes a request1323to the packaged media server1307to initiate the streaming of media assets corresponding to the packaged media access token received in the response1321. Finally, the client device908executes other requests and provides status updates in message1324to the network orchestrator905.

FIG.14Aillustrates a workflow for the media complexity analyzer911shown inFIG.9. The media complexity analyzer911analyses metadata related to the uniqueness of an object of a scene included in the media data.

At operation1401, initialization may begin. At operation1402, media asset data is potentially read. At1403, it is determined whether the media asset data was successfully read. If media asset data is not read successfully, processing ends at1409. However, if the media asset data is read successfully, processing continues to1404. At1404a read or data retrieval is performed to obtain a complexity attribute from the media asset data. The data retrieved at1404is then parsed to access attributes that describe the media assets. Each attribute is provided as input to operation1405. At1405, the data from1404is examined to determine if it is one from a list of complexity attributes1410that have been identified a priori. Such Complexity Attributes1410may include the size of the object, which impacts the amount of storage needed to process the object; the number of polygons for the object which may be an indicator of the amount of processing needed by a GPU; fixed vs. floating point numerical representation which may be an indicator of the amount of processing needed by a GPU or a CPU; bit depth which also may be an indicator of the amount of processing needed by a GPU or CPU; single vs. double floating point numerical representation which may be an indicator of the size of the data values as they are being processed; the presence of a light distribution function which may indicate that the scene needs to undergo a process to model the physics of how light is distributed for the scene; the type of light distribution function which may indicate the complexity of the light distribution function for modeling the physics of light; transformation process required if any which may indicate the complexity of how the object needs to be placed (via rotation, translation, and scaling) into the scene. If the attribute is a complexity attribute, processing continues to1406, otherwise, processing moves to1407. At1406retrieves the value(s) for the complexity attribute, and stores such value(s) into the complexity summary area for the media asset. At1407whether there are more attributes to read from the media assets may be determined. If there are no more attributes to read, then processing continues to1408which writes the complexity summary for the object into an area identified for storing complexity data for the scene that encompasses the object.

While this disclosure has described several exemplary embodiments, there are alterations, permutations, and various substitute equivalents, which fall within the scope of the disclosure. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems and methods which, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and are thus within the spirit and scope thereof.