| 摘要 |
<p>The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for allocating bits in a statistical multiplexing system (stat mux). A statistical multiplexer (stat mux) (600) accommodates both compressed and uncompressed video programs using transcoding (640, 650) and encoding (620, 630), respectively. Hierarchical dynamic bit allocation is used, starting from a super GOP level (700, 702, 704, 800, 900), then to a super frame level (902; 904; 908; 909), and then to the regular (individual) frame level (910, 920, 930, 990; 912, 922, 932, 992; 916, 926, 936, 996; 918, 928, 938, 998). At each level, a target number of bits (T1, T2, TL-1, TL) is determined. A target number of bits for a super frame, which is a collection of frames across all channels at a given frame instance (t1, 2t1, 3t1...), is adaptive and is able to address any combination of picture types. Frames of the same picture type for a program are generally assigned the same (or similar) number of bits. Relative program quality can be controlled using a program priority weighting factor (w). Additionally, constraints on target bit rates and minimum and maximum bit rates are provided.</p> |
