JP3518708B2 - Distributed video processing system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a distributed video processing system, and more particularly to a video delivery server device for delivering video data and a video playback client device for receiving and displaying the video data delivered from the server device. The present invention relates to a distributed drawing processing system composed of

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of a distributed moving image processing system, a moving image delivery server device (hereinafter abbreviated as server device) that stores moving image data is used for a plurality of moving image playback client devices (hereinafter abbreviated as client device). There is a video on demand system that delivers data according to time constraints. Here, a time constraint of moving image data related to the present invention will be described.

In general, in moving image data, a time for reproducing the moving image frame (one unit of a still image forming a moving image) or other partial data is determined. By guaranteeing the time of each moving picture data part and reproducing all the data without omission, firstly, each moving picture frame is reproduced so as to be smoothly continuous, and secondly, included in the moving picture data. It becomes possible to reproduce the voice and the image to be reproduced in synchronization.

On the other hand, if the playback time is not guaranteed or some moving image data is thinned out, the playback timing of the audio and image is deviated, and the image is disturbed or interrupted, which deteriorates the quality of the played moving image. I will end up.

That is, the quality of the reproduced moving image is the guarantee of the reproduction time of the moving image data (hereinafter referred to as the guarantee of time constraint).
It varies depending on the guarantee level of the amount of moving image data to be reproduced (hereinafter referred to as guarantee of data integrity). The higher the guarantees of both are, the higher the quality of the reproduced video is.

In order to realize high-quality moving image reproduction in the video-on-demand system, it is necessary for the server device to deliver the moving image data to the client device without omission while guaranteeing the time constraint.

However, when moving image data is delivered to a plurality of client devices, the amount of data to be processed becomes enormous, so that the server device side falls into an overloaded state, and time constraints and data of the moving image data It is difficult to guarantee both integrity at the same time. Therefore, it is an important issue for the video-on-demand system how to maintain the guarantee of both parties and how many client devices can deliver the moving image data.

In order to solve this problem, "about QoS guarantee and negotiation mechanism of packet audio / video system" (Information Processing Society of Japan Study Group "System software and operating system multimedia communication and distributed processing", 1994.5.19) , Pp.67-72), the number of moving image frames per unit time is negotiated and determined between the server device and the client device, and when the server device cannot guarantee the time constraint, the delivery of moving image frame data is thinned out. That is, a technology has been proposed in which the time constraint guarantee of moving image data is preferentially handled by reducing the degree of guarantee of data integrity.

[0009]

However, in the conventional technique proposed in the above document, when the server device cannot guarantee the time constraint, the moving image data is thinned to reduce the degree of guarantee of data integrity. Therefore, the time constraint of the moving image data to be delivered can be guaranteed, but there is a problem that the data integrity guarantee is reduced due to the reduction in the amount of reproduced data due to thinning.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a distributed moving image delivery system that enables moving image reproduction satisfying the moving image data delivery priority condition required by a client device.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the distributed video processing system of the present invention provides a video playback client device with a time constraint and data integrity of video data for a video delivery server device. Which is given priority to guarantee
The delivery priority information instructing means for instructing a delivery priority information for indicating the provided Luke, also, the video delivery server, the delivery of <br/> video data based on the delivery preference information from the video reproduction client device the stream delivery control means to run
The stream delivery control means is equipped with a time-based
Prior to guaranteeing the priority of
Stream data time that represents the time when the data should be played
And the stream delivery process of the relevant video data is being executed.
The delivery process execution time that represents the time
It is characterized in that a means for controlling delivery and non-delivery of moving image data is provided.

[0012] Here, the delivery priority information indicates, for example, whether the moving image data is delivered with time priority or data priority.

In the distributed moving image processing system of the present invention, a user who uses the client device sets delivery priority information of moving image data in the client device.

This delivery priority information is, for example, priority information indicating which of the time constraint guarantee of moving image data and the integrity guarantee of moving image data is given priority.

The client device transfers the delivery priority information to the server device when receiving the delivery service of the moving image data.

On the other hand, the server device delivers the moving image data instructed by the client device while inspecting the delivery time of the moving image data by the reproduction time management of the moving image data. At this time, the moving image is delivered according to the delivery priority information. Execute the data delivery process.

That is, if the time priority is designated by the delivery priority information, the video data is delivered with the time priority by performing processing such as thinning out a part of the video data.

If the data priority is instructed, the moving image data is not thinned and is delivered in time order.

As a result, it becomes possible for the client device side to reproduce a moving image of a quality that the user of the client device satisfies.

The distributed moving image processing system of the present invention
As described above, in the stream delivery control means,
Delivering while guaranteeing priority on time constraints of video data
The time that the video data should be played .
Stream data time and stream distribution of the video data
By providing a means to control delivery and non-delivery of video data based on the difference from the delivery process execution time, which represents the time when the sending process is executed, the amount of video data that is thinned out is reduced and the deterioration of quality is reduced. be able to.

The parameters for the difference in this case are
There is a method of setting with an absolute time interval or a method of setting with a ratio with respect to an arbitrary time interval.

When the absolute time interval is set, it is useful in a usage mode in which the last reproduction time is emphasized.

Further, when the ratio is set with respect to an arbitrary time interval, it is useful when the final reproduction time has a margin.

[0024]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a distributed moving image processing system to which the present invention is applied. Basically, a moving image delivery server device 101 for delivering moving image data.
And a video playback client device 102 that receives and displays video data delivered from the server device 101 (hereinafter,
Client device). Specifically, a plurality of client devices 102 are installed and connected to one server device 101.

In the following, moving image data is called a stream. Further, according to the name, in order to show the reproduction definition time and the data string separately for each video data portion,
The reproduction time is called stream data time, and the data string is called stream data.

Configuration of Client Device 101 The client device 101 comprises the request control mechanism 10
9, a delivery priority information instruction mechanism 110, a stream control mechanism 111, and a stream display decoder 112.

The request control mechanism 109 is a control mechanism for transferring a request related to moving image delivery such as start of delivery of stream data to the server device 101, and the delivery priority information instruction mechanism 110 delivers the stream data from the server device 101. At this time, it is an instruction mechanism for instructing how important each of the time constraint guarantee and the data integrity guarantee of the stream data is to be processed.

The stream control mechanism 111 is a control mechanism for receiving the stream data from the server device 101 and supplying the stream data to the stream display decoder 112. The stream display decoder 112 decodes the stream data and produces a moving image on the screen of the display device. This is a processing mechanism for reproducing and displaying.

Configuration of Server Unit 101 The server unit 101 comprises the request dispatcher 10
3, a stream time management mechanism 104, a stream data delivery control mechanism 105, and a stream management mechanism 106.

The request dispatcher 103 is a processing mechanism for reading the moving picture delivery request transferred from the client device 102 from the receiving buffer, interpreting it, and calling the corresponding actual processing part. It is a processing mechanism for checking the time constraint condition according to the data time and the delivery processing execution time to the client device 102.

The stream data delivery control mechanism 105
The stream management mechanism 106 is a processing mechanism for delivering the stream data to the client device 102, and the stream management mechanism 106 is a processing mechanism for managing the stream.

Reference numeral 107 denotes each client device 10.
2 is client device management information for managing delivery streams and the like, and 108 is stream information regarding each stream, the details of which will be described later.

Next, the flow of delivery processing will be described in order to show the relationship between the respective parts.

First, the client apparatus 102 requests the server apparatus 101 to deliver stream data by adding the delivery priority information, using the request control mechanism 109 and the delivery priority information instruction mechanism 110. In response to the delivery request from the client device 102, the delivery process in the server device 101 starts.

In the server device 101, first, the request dispatcher 103 operates as the client device 10
After interpreting the delivery request transferred from 1, the stream management mechanism 106 is called.

The stream management mechanism 106 sets the stream to be delivered for each client device 102,
Management of an information group indicating the correspondence between the client device 101 and stream data, such as management of the activation state of the delivery process, management of the position of stream data during delivery, and stream data time, that is, client management information 107 and stream information 108. To do.

The stream management mechanism 106 periodically activates the stream data delivery control mechanism 105 at arbitrary time intervals. Stream data delivery control mechanism 1 started
05 performs delivery processing of stream data for the time interval according to the delivery priority information instructed from the client device 102 via the stream time management mechanism 104.

The client device 10 that has received the stream data transferred from the stream delivery control mechanism 105.
The second stream control mechanism 111 supplies the received stream data to the stream display decoder 112. The stream display decoder 112 decodes the input stream data and reproduces and displays it as a moving image on a display device screen (not shown).

By the above procedure, the delivery process is periodically executed at arbitrary time intervals to realize the stream delivery time continuous process.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between stream data delivered from the server device 102 and stream data time in the distributed moving image processing system of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, 201 is the original stream when the time constraint and data integrity are surely guaranteed, 202 is the time-priority stream when delivered in the time-priority mode,
Reference numeral 203 is an example of a data priority stream when delivered in the data priority mode. 206 is a time axis for indicating the stream data time. 204 is a time parameter t that fluctuates on the time axis 206, t0 (204a),
t1 (204b), t2 (204c), t3 (204
d), t4 (204e), t5 (204f), t6 (2
04g), t7 (204h), t8 (204i), t9
(204j) and t10 (204k) are time parameters t
The specific value of (204) is shown.

Reference numeral 205 denotes stream data d for an arbitrary time interval, which is d0 (205a), d1 (20).
5b), d2 (205c), d3 (205d), d4
(205e), d5 (205f), d6 (205g),
d7 (205h) is a specific value of stream data for an arbitrary time interval. In this case, the arbitrary time interval is 1
Seconds.

The relationship between the stream data and the stream data time is that, for example, in the original stream 201, the stream data delivered in the time interval from time t0 (204a) to time t1 (204b) is d0 (205a). Shows.

In the time-priority stream 202, the stream data delivered at the time interval from time t0 (204a) to time t2 (204c) is d0 (205).
a) and d1 (205b) at time t2
It is indicated by diagonal lines that there is no stream data delivered from the time (204c) to the time t3 (204d).

The original stream 201 is a stream that surely guarantees time constraints and data integrity, and has a time ti.
The stream data di is always delivered to (i = 0, 1, ...). In the case of the time-priority stream 202, the stream data di is delivered at the time ti, but the delivery may be thinned out as illustrated from the time t2 to the time t3. Guaranteed, but not data integrity.

In the case of the data priority stream 203, d
Although all stream data from 0 (205a) to d7 (205h) is always delivered, it is undetermined at what time each stream data is delivered, and the integrity of the delivered stream data is guaranteed. , Time constraints are not guaranteed. In FIG. 2, there is a blank time between d2 and d3, and it is shown that the delivery is delayed by a predetermined time due to the relationship between d3 and the processing load of the server apparatus 101 that are continuous with d2.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram for realizing the distributed moving image processing system of FIG.
Processing device 301a for realizing the function 1 and processing device 30 for realizing the function of the client device 102
1b are provided.

These processing devices 301a and 301b are
A device that includes a processor and a main memory.

Configuration on the Server Unit The processing unit 301a on the server unit side is provided with an operating system (hereinafter abbreviated as OS) 308a, a timer control unit 309, and a timer 310 in addition to the server unit 101 shown in FIG. Has been. Furthermore, an auxiliary storage device 303 for storing stream data and the like, and a network adapter 304a for connecting the processing device 301a to the network device 308 are provided.

In this case, the processing device 301a, the auxiliary storage device 303 and the network adapter 304a are connected to the bus 3
02a.

Further, the timer control unit 309 provides the server device 101 with an O for providing a time-related processing function.
It is an internal software mechanism of S308a, and it is assumed that at least a function of knowing a time at an arbitrary time and a function of notifying an application program of an operation timing at an arbitrary time interval are provided.

With the above hardware configuration, the server device 1
01, the operating system 308a operates.
The client management information 107 and the stream information 108 shown in FIG. 1 are transferred from the auxiliary storage device 303 to the main storage device (not shown) in the processing device 301a as necessary by the stream management mechanism 108 (FIG. 1) in the server device 101. No.) and can be referenced from the stream time management mechanism 104 and the stream delivery control mechanism 105.

Configuration on Client Device Side The processor 301b on the client device side is provided with an operating system 308b. further,
The processing device 301b is replaced with a network device 308 such as a LAN.
A network adapter 304b for connecting to the computer, an input device 305 such as a keyboard or a mouse, a display device 306 for displaying a moving image, and a stream display decoder 1
12 are provided.

These devices are connected to the processing device 301b by a bus 302b.

Although the display device 306 includes a display storage device and a control device for transferring the contents of the storage device to the display screen, they are not shown in FIG.

Further, the processing devices 301a and 301b are
They are connected by a logical communication path 311 for inter-program communication. This communication path 311 is, for example, TCP / I.
A communication path using a protocol such as P.

In the above hardware configuration, by connecting the network adapters 304a and 304b of the server apparatus 101 and the client apparatus 102 to the network apparatus 308 such as LAN, the server apparatus 101 and the client apparatus 102 are organically connected on the network. The network device 308 is connected and the moving image data is a LAN or the like.
Through the server device 101 to the client device 102
Transferred to.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of the client management information 107 and the stream information 106.

Client management information 1 shown in FIG. 4 (a)
07 is information for managing associated stream data and the like for each client device 102, which is registered for each client device 102 connected to the server device 101 and includes a stream management mechanism 106 and a stream time management mechanism. 104, the stream data delivery control mechanism 105 refers to / updates.

The client management information 107 includes a client identifier 401, a delivery stream identifier 402,
The delivery priority information 403, the current delivery time 404, the stream pointer 405, the delivery status flag 406, and the delivery reference time 410 are included.

The client identifier 401 is the stream information 108 managed by the client management information 107.
Is an identifier indicating which client device is the information.

The delivery stream identifier 402 is an identifier indicating the stream to be delivered to the corresponding client device 102, and the identifier of the stream designated for delivery from the corresponding client device 102 is set.

The delivery priority information 403 is information for indicating the time constraint and the degree of guarantee of data integrity, and is set based on the value designated by the corresponding client device 102.

The current delivery time 404 is the time when the delivery process was last executed for the corresponding client device 102.

The stream pointer 405 indicates the position of stream data to be delivered. The delivery status flag 406 is
This is information indicating whether or not the delivery process should be executed (delivery activated state). The delivery start instruction from the client device 102 indicates “True”, and the delivery stop instruction indicates “Fal”.
set to “se”.

Stream information 108 shown in FIG. 4B.
Is information for managing each stream, which is provided for each stream in the server apparatus 101, and is referred to / updated by the stream management mechanism 106, the stream time management mechanism 104, and the stream data delivery control mechanism 105.

The stream information 108 is composed of information including a stream identifier 407, stream data time 408, and stream data 409.

The stream identifier 407 is an identifier for indicating which stream the stream information 108 is, and the delivery stream identifier 402 described above.
The client device 102 and the stream are associated with each other by the matching relationship with.

The stream data time 408 is information indicating the time of the stream data, the stream data 40.
Reference numeral 9 is the substance of the stream.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific structure of the delivery priority information 403. In this case, the time priority and the data priority are two.
An example is shown in which a mode value that can take a value of a type is set, and at any time, the value is either the time priority 501a or the data priority 501b.

Time priority 501a is a mode for delivering stream data as the time priority stream 202 shown in FIG. 2, and data priority 501b is stream data shown in FIG.
Of the data prioritized stream 203 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a concrete example of the stream data time 408 and the stream data 409 in the stream information 108. 601 is the concrete value of the stream data time 408, and 602 is the stream data 409.
Is a specific value of.

Times t0 (601a) and t1 (601
b), t2 (601c), ..., Tn (601n) are values corresponding to the time parameter t (204) in FIG.

Further, d0 (602a), d1 (602
b), d2 (602c), ..., dn (602n) are values corresponding to the moving image data for an arbitrary time interval in FIG.
The example of the stream shown here indicates that the stream data at the stream time ti is di (i = 0 to n).

Processing of Client Apparatus 102 Next, the processing of the client apparatus 102 for starting stream delivery will be described with reference to the delivery control start processing flow chart of FIG.

The processing shown in FIG. 7 is executed by the request control mechanism 109 and the delivery priority information designating mechanism 110.

First, in step 701, the value of the delivery priority information 403 is designated.

The designated value is the delivery priority information 403 shown in FIG.
In the case of the configuration as shown in FIG.
It is either data priority 501b.

Next, in step 702, the delivery stream is designated by the delivery stream identifier 402.

Next, in step 703, the start of delivery of the stream specified in step 702 is instructed.

By the delivery control start processing from the client device 102, the server device 101 starts stream data delivery.

Process of Server Device 101 Next, the process of the server device 101 for the delivery control start process of the client device 102 will be described.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of the delivery control start processing of the server device 101.
3 and the stream management mechanism 106.

First, in step 801, the client management information 107 of the client device is retrieved by comparing the identifier of the client device 102 that issued the request with the client device identifier 401.

The following steps are processing for setting the client management information 107.

At step 802, delivery priority information 403.
Is set to a value designated by the client device 102. This step 802 is a process for step 701 of FIG. 7.

Next, in step 803, which is the process corresponding to step 702 in FIG. 7, the delivery stream identifier 40
2 is set to the value designated by the client device 102.

Next, in step 804, the server device 1
In order to initialize the delivery control internal data 01, the current delivery time 404 is set to the head time of the associated stream in step 803, and the stream pointer 4
05 is set to the head position of the stream.

In step 805, which is the process corresponding to step 703, the delivery status flag 406 is set to "True", and the stream delivery to the client apparatus 102 is activated. After that, the client device 1
The stream delivery process is executed for 02.

Delivery Main Processing of Server Apparatus 101 FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the delivery main processing of the server apparatus 101. This delivery main processing is performed by the timer control unit 30.
It is started from 9 at an arbitrary time interval. The time interval is set in the timer control unit 309 in the initialization process of the server device 101.

Step 901 is a loop control process for causing each client device 102 connected to the server device 101 to execute the subsequent step of the delivery main process. Set to the internal variable "cid" of the process.

Next, in step 902, the client management information 107 in which the client identifier 401 matches cid is searched, and the information of the search result is stored as "stre".
am ”.

Next, in step 903, "str
The delivery status flag 406 in "eam" is checked to determine whether stream delivery to the client device 102 has been activated.

If the result of step 903 is False, it means that stream delivery to the client apparatus 102 is not activated, and step 901
Return to. If the result of step 903 is “True”, stream delivery to the client device 102 is activated, and thus the process proceeds to step 904.

At step 904, the internal variable "ci
1 for the client device 102 indicated by "d".
The stream delivery process indicated by 0 is called. Then, the process returns to step 901, the next client device 102 is selected, and the above process is repeated.

In the client device selection process of step 901, if there is no client device to be selected, the loop ends, and the delivery main process ends.

Stream Delivery Process of Server Unit 101 FIG. 10 is a flow chart of the stream delivery process called from the delivery main process of FIG. 9. The client selected in the delivery main process and the client management indicated by “stream” are shown. The process is executed for the information 107.

In step 1001, a variable "sendFlag" indicating whether or not to deliver the stream data to the client apparatus 102 is initialized to "True".

Next, in step 1002, the current time is acquired from the timer control unit 309 and set to the current delivery time 404 in the client management information 107.

In step 1003, if the stream delivery process is the first process to the client device 102, the current delivery time 404 is set to the delivery reference time 410.

Next, in step 1004, the delivery priority information 403 is checked to determine the priority type of the stream delivered to the client device 102.

If the result of step 1004 is that the stream is a "time priority stream", the flow advances to step 1005 to execute stream data delivery delay determination processing. However, when the stream is determined to be the “data priority stream”, the determination process is skipped and the process proceeds to step 1006.

At step 1005, the result of calculating the stream delivery relative time to the client device 102 (the time relative to the first stream data delivery) is calculated from the current delivery time 404 and the delivery reference time 410. , And the stream data time 408 of the stream data to be delivered. Based on the order relation of the comparison, it is determined whether or not the stream data should be delivered (when it is determined not to deliver, it is referred to as delivery delay determination), and the determination result is set to "sendFlag".

In step 1006, "send
If "Flag" is checked and the result is "True", the flow advances to step 1007 to deliver the stream data to the client. However, if the result is "False",
Step 1007 is skipped and the process proceeds to step 1008.

At step 1007, di (i = 0 to n) which is a part of the stream data 409 indicated by the stream pointer 405, and the stream data is 60.
2a, 602b, ..., 602n)
Deliver to the client device.

In step 1008, the stream pointer 405 is updated to point to the next stream data d (i + 1), and the process returns to the calling source.

With the above, a series of delivery processing in the server device 101 is completed.

As described above, according to the moving image processing system of this embodiment, the delivery priority information 403 indicating the time constraint guarantee degree of moving image data and the integrity guarantee degree of moving image data is sent from the client apparatus 102 to the server apparatus 101. By instructing the server device 101, the video data delivery time is checked, and the video data delivery is executed according to the delivery priority information 403 and the video data delivery time information. Therefore, the user of the client device is satisfied. It is possible to deliver and reproduce moving image quality moving image data.

When the time priority is designated by the delivery priority information 403, when the stream relative delivery time is later than the stream data time, the delivery delay is determined, and the stream data is not delivered. It is possible to prevent the guarantee of time constraints from being lowered due to the integration.

In the delivery process of the above embodiment, in the case of the time-priority stream, when the stream relative delivery time lags behind the stream data time, it is judged as delivery delay, and the data is controlled not to be delivered. , Delivery delay determination can be flexibly processed by the following changes. The change in the delivery delay determination process will be described below.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another configuration of the delivery priority information 403 for realizing the delivery delay determination processing. The delivery priority information 1101 shown here is the delivery priority information 501 having the configuration shown in FIG. And the time delay allowance parameter 110
2 is added.

The time delay permissible parameter 1102 indicates that the server device 101 determines the delivery delay depending on how far the stream relative delivery time (the time relative to the first stream data delivery) is behind the stream data time. It is a parameter to indicate whether to distinguish,
Delivery priority information designation processing 701 of the client device 102
Specify with.

The parameter can be specified by specifying an absolute value for the difference between the stream relative delivery time and the stream data time, or the stream delivery time interval (that is,
There are two types of ratio designations for t (i + 1) -ti).

When the delivery priority information 403 is composed of the information 1101 as shown in FIG. 11, in the delivery delay determination processing of step 1005 of FIG. 10, the parameter 1102,
Stream delivery relative time, stream data time 408
, The delivery delay is discriminated and the discrimination result is
ndFlag ”.

With the above changes, the delivery delay determination in the server device can be controlled by the instruction of the client device 102. That is, the delivery delay time is the parameter 110.
Within the time designated by 2, the corresponding stream data can be delivered. That is, when the time-prioritized video data is delivered, if the difference (delivery delay time) is within the time specified by the parameter 1102, the stream data corresponding to the difference between the reproduction time of the video data and the delivery processing execution time. By delivering, the amount of moving image data to be thinned out can be reduced, and the deterioration in quality can be reduced.

In this case, when the difference is set in the absolute time interval, it is useful in a usage mode in which the last reproduction time is emphasized.

Further, when the ratio is set to the arbitrary time interval, it is useful when the final reproduction time has a margin.

On the other hand, in the above example, the designation of whether to use the time priority stream or the data priority stream was designated in the binary mode, but the stream type determination can be flexibly processed by the following changes. .

The stream type designation method for realizing the stream type discrimination processing will be described below.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a third configuration example of delivery priority information for realizing the stream type designation. The delivery priority information 1201 shown in the third configuration example is the time priority parameter 1202. , A data priority parameter 1203 and a time delay allowance parameter 1102.

The time priority parameter 1202 is a parameter indicating the weight for the time priority stream discrimination, and the data priority parameter 1203 is a parameter indicating the weight for the data priority stream discrimination. The time delay allowance parameter 1102 is the same as the time delay allowance parameter 1102 for the delivery delay determination process described in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a process called from step 1004 of FIG. 10 in order to realize the stream type determination process using the delivery priority information of FIG.

In step 1301, a predetermined weight is set by the current delivery time 404, delivery reference time 410, stream data time 408, time priority parameter 1202, data priority parameter 1203, and time delay allowance parameter 1102. The calculation is performed and the result is set as the stream type.

This weight calculation formula is, for example, a formula in which if the time priority parameter 1202 is large, the time priority is given, and if the data priority parameter 1203 is large, the data priority is given. In this case, the arithmetic expression itself may be settable from the client device 102.

At step 1104, the stream type is judged according to the stream type of the calculation result. With the above changes, the stream type determination in the server device 101 can be controlled by an instruction from the client device 102.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0128]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By instructing the server device to deliver priority information indicating the time constraint guarantee degree of the video data and the video data integrity guarantee degree from the client device side, the server device side inspects the video data delivery time and performs the delivery. Since the delivery of the moving image data is performed according to the priority information and the delivery time information of the moving image data, the moving image data of the moving image quality satisfying the user of the client device can be delivered and reproduced.

[0129] Further, in the time-priority moving image data delivery,
By providing a means for controlling delivery and non-delivery of video data according to the difference between the reproduction time of the video data and the delivery processing execution time, the thinned-out video data is reduced,
It is possible to reduce the deterioration of quality.

When the difference is set at the absolute time interval, it is useful in a usage mode in which the last reproduction time is emphasized.

If the difference is set as a ratio with respect to an arbitrary time interval, it is useful when the final reproduction time has a margin.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a distributed video processing system to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between stream data delivered from a server device and stream data time.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram for realizing the distributed moving image processing system of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a data configuration diagram showing details of stream management information and stream information.

FIG. 5 is a data configuration diagram showing a specific example of delivery priority information.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific configuration example of stream data and stream data time in stream information.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a delivery control start process of the client device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a delivery control start process of the server device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a delivery main process of the server device.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a stream delivery process called from a delivery main process.

FIG. 11 is a data configuration diagram showing a second example of delivery priority information.

FIG. 12 is a data configuration diagram showing a third example of delivery priority information.

13 is a flowchart showing a stream type determination process using the delivery priority information of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 ... Video delivery server device, 102 ... Video playback client device, 103 ... Request dispatcher, 1
04 ... Stream time management mechanism, 105 ... Stream data delivery control mechanism, 106 ... Stream management mechanism, 10
7 ... Client management information, 108 ... Stream information,
109 ... Request control mechanism, 110 ... Delivery priority information instruction mechanism, 111 ... Stream control mechanism, 112 ... Stream display decoder.

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Masaaki Iwasaki 1099, Ozenji, Aso-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Inside Hitachi Systems Development Laboratory (56) References JP-A-7-152668 (JP, A) Yuichi Teranishi (External 3) Name), “Implementation of an Information Synchronous Mechanism for Wide-area Distributed Multimedia Systems”, Proc. Of the 49th National Conference of Information Processing Society of Japan (Late 1994) (3), Japan, Information Processing Gakuen, September 20, 1994, 6S-8, pp. 3-343 to 3-344 Naoya Seta (2 others), "Information Synchronization Mechanism Considering Continuous Media Transfer", Research Report of Information Processing Society of Japan, Japan Information Processing Society, January 26, 1995, Vol. 95, No. 13, 95-DPS-68, p. 25-30 Koji Hashimoto (2 others), “On QoS guarantee and negotiation mechanism of packet audio video system”, Research Report of Information Processing Society of Japan, Japan, Information Processing Society of Japan, May 19, 1994, Vol. 94, No. 39, 94-DPS-65, p. 67 −72 (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 7/10 H04N ^7/ 14-7/173 H04N ^7/ 20-7/22

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A distributed video processing system comprising a video delivery server device for delivering video data, and a video playback client device for receiving and displaying video data delivered from the video delivery server device, wherein the video is provided. The playback client device determines the time constraint and data integrity of the video data with respect to the video delivery server device.
Includes delivery priority information instructing means for instructing a delivery priority information for indicating to ensure with priority the fliers, the moving image distribution server device, the delivery of video data based on the delivery preference information from the video reproduction client device It includes a stream delivery control means to execute, the stream
The delivery control means guarantees the time constraint of the video data with priority.
While delivering, the video data is played back
Time of the stream data and the relevant video data
Delivery that represents the time when the stream delivery processing of the data is executed
The distribution of the relevant video data depends on the difference from the processing execution time.
Feed, distributed video processing system according to claim Rukoto comprises means to control the non-delivery. 2. Control of delivery and non-delivery of the moving image data
Distributed Video processing system of claim 1, wherein the parameters for the differential set in real time units, characterized in that it instructs the video distribution server device as a component of the delivery priority information determined. 3. Control of delivery and non-delivery of the moving image data
Stream distribution parameters for the difference determining
Feeding set as a percentage of the time interval, distributed video processing system of claim 1, wherein the instructing the video distribution server device as a component of the delivery priority information.