Patent ID: 6961377

Claim:
A transcoder system for achieving substantial improvement in the transcoding throughput speed of compressed digital video bitstreams comprising three frame types: I-frames P-frames and B-frames in a group-of-pictures/frames (GOP) progression, the system comprising: a picture reader decoder to ascertain the type of each frame prior to transcoding; a T 1 transcoder for processing B-frames and optionally the last P-frame of a GOP, at a first processing rate; a T 2 transcoder for processing I-frames and P-frames at a second processing rate, possibly excepting the last P-frame of a GOP; a picture decision block for separating all frames into; I-frames and P-frames, possibly excepting the last P-frame of a GOP for processing by said T 2 transcoder; and B-frames and optionally the last P-frame of a GOP for processing by said T 1 transcoder; and a remerge block for recombining the output of all frames from said T 1 transcoder and said T 2 transcoder into a reconstituted output bitstream, such that most of said output frames are processed by said T 1 transcoder, wherein said first processing rate of said T 1 transcoder is faster than said second processing rate of said T 2 transcoder thereby achieving substantial improvement in the transcoding throughput speed.