Patent ID: 7505480

Claim:
An apparatus for providing compressed video data onto a network, the apparatus comprising: a bit rate converter having an input, a control input and an output, the input coupled to receive a first bitstream having a first bit rate; the bit rate converter being operable to dynamically adjust at least one quantization factor of the first bitstream to thereby convert the first bitstream into at least one of a plurality of different bitstreams having different bit rates, including a second bitstream having a second bit rate, different from the first bit rate, the second bitstream being provided at the output of the bit rate converter; a rate controller coupled to the control input of the bit rate converter and operable to control the bit rate converter by providing bit rate information regarding the second bit rate to the bit rate converter; wherein the bit rate converter is further operable to dynamically adjust the at least one quantization factor of the first bitstream using at least a portion of the bit rate information; and a transmitter coupled to receive the second bitstream having the second bit rate and to transmit the second bitstream onto the network.