Patent ID: 8824546

Claim:
A method of controlling bitrate in video coding of a sequence of images, including a series of coded frames, Inter frames separated by Intra frames, the method comprising: (a) measuring frame complexity in the sequence of images; (b) for each Inter frame, (i) calculating a target buffer level of a video buffering device in relation to a distance between the Inter frame and a next Intra frame; (ii) calculating a target frame size in relation to the measured frame complexity, a current buffer level of the video buffering device and the calculated target buffer level, comprising: provided the current buffer level exceeds the calculated target buffer level; more aggressively reducing, as each Inter frame gets closer to the next Intra frame, the calculated target frame size; further reducing the calculated target frame size in such a manner that the larger is a maximum size limit of the video buffering device compared to the calculated target buffer level, the smaller is the further reducing of the target frame size; and (c) using the calculated target frame size of the Inter frame to control bitrate in video coding of the sequence of images.