Patent ID: 8340140

Claim:
A method for statistically multiplexing a plurality of programs, the method comprising: determining R channel , wherein R channel is a constant total bit rate for the plurality of programs; determining C l,Ff,picTYpe , wherein C l,Ff,picTYpe is a complexity for a picture in the plurality of programs, determining T l,Ff,picType , wherein T l,Ff,picType is a bit allocation for the picture in the plurality of programs, based on C l,Ff,picTYpe and R channel ; encoding the plurality of programs using a plurality of encoders, a combined encoder buffer, and T l,Ff,picType to form a plurality of variable bit rate (VBR) compressed bit streams; and multiplexing the plurality of VBR compressed bit streams to form a single constant bit rate (CBR) bit stream; determining W, wherein W is a size of a sliding window in seconds; determining T W , wherein T W is a nominal number of bits for the sliding window, based on W and R channel ; applying the sliding window to encode the plurality of programs at t n , wherein t n is a current instant; and sliding the sliding window along a time domain, wherein the sliding includes determining R, wherein R is a number of bits for the sliding window, initially set equal to T W for t n <W, after a picture is encoded from the plurality of programs, removing the picture from the sliding window and moving a new picture into the sliding window, and updating R to a value determined by an equation R = T W + ( T W - ∑ t n ′ ∈ { t n - W , t n } ⁢ ∑ l = 1 L ⁢ R l , n ′ ) , wherein R l,n′ is an actual number of bits generated for a picture of program index l at instant t n′ , and R l,n′ is summed over all L programs, wherein L is a total number of the plurality of programs, and over a period from t n −W to t n .