Cross-Reference to Related Applications

[0001] This patent application claims priority and benefit: (I) from US 62/672,889, filed on May 17, 2018; and (II) from US 62/675,778, filed on May 24, 2018; and (III) from US 62/777,159, filed on December 9, 2018; and (IV) from US 62/800,504, filed on February 3, 2019; all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Field

[0002] The present invention relates to video communications generally and more particularly to a system for hierarchal video transmission and reception.

Background

[0003] In some applications such as, for example, home AV (Audio-Video) systems, two- piece TV, VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality) and MR (Mixed Reality), there may be a need to wirelessly transmit raw video. In many cases, the video may be generated in an uncompressed manner (e.g. by a GPU overlaying graphics over movies) such that the input to the wireless system at one end may consist of pixels and the output of the system at the other end may be a reproduction of the input pixels.

[0004] These wireless systems should generally provide for relatively high quality where the output pixels are as similar as possible to the input pixels. The systems should additionally provide for relatively low latency where the total delay of the transmission is low and for relatively high robustness to temporal degradations in the capacity of the wireless channel. They are generally configured to include a video encoder and a wireless transmitter. The video encoder may be based on a known compression standard such as, for example, H.264 or H.265. An advantage of using compression schemes based on known compression standards is that there is a relatively large offering of commercially available designs which may be purchased as hardware and/or software and may be integrated into new or existing systems. This may facilitate the development of "standard-compression" based systems. The wireless transmitter may additionally include a modem which may be based on a known communication standard such as, for example, Wi-Fi. [0005] In the wireless systems, tradeoffs are generally required between quality, latency, and robustness. To improve the tradeoff between quality, latency and robustness, methods of Joint- Source-Channel-Coding (JSCC) where introduced. Consequently, the systems may utilize the wireless spectrum efficiently.

Summary

[0006] There is provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a wireless video transmission system which may include a coarse compression module which may compress a video frame and to generate coarse data of the video frame, a coarse decompression module which may generate coarse frame information from the coarse data, distortions extractor which may generate coarse distortions from the coarse frame information and from the video frame, a refinement data encoder which may generate refinement data from the coarse frame distortions based on information derived from the coarse frame information, and a data combining and modulation module which may combine and transmit the coarse data and the refinement data.

[0007] In some embodiments, the refinement data encoder may generate quantized transform coefficients from the coarse data. Optionally, the quantized transform coefficients may include quantized DCT coefficients. The refinement data encoder may additionally detect block energy in the quantized transform coefficients and may additionally estimate a probability density of the quantization error in the quantized transform coefficients.

[0008] In some embodiments, the refinement data encoder may generate and reorder transform coefficients from the coarse distortions. The refinement data encoder may additionally apply a gain to the reordered transform coefficients, wherein the gain is derived from the coarse data. Optionally, the reordered transform coefficients may include quantized DCT coefficients.

[0009] In some embodiments, the refinement data encoder may entropy encode the reordered transfer coefficients. Optionally, the entropy coding codebook used for the entropy encoding may be based on the probability density of the quantization error. The refinement data encoder may additionally compand the reordered transfer coefficients. The refinement data encoder may additionally perform a linear transform on the reordered transfer coefficients.

[0010] In some embodiments, the coarse compression module may divide the video frame into a plurality of blocks. [0011] There is provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method of wireless video transmission which may include compressing a video frame to generate coarse data of the video frame, decompressing the coarse data to generate coarse frame information from the coarse data, generating coarse distortions from the coarse frame information and from the video frame, generating refinement data from the coarse distortions based on information derived from the coarse frame information, and combining and transmitting the coarse data and the refinement data.

[0012] In some embodiments, the method may include generating quantized transform coefficients from the coarse data. Optionally, the quantized transform coefficients may include quantized DCT coefficients. The method may additionally include detecting block energy in the quantized transform coefficients. The method may additionally include estimating a probability density in the quantized transform coefficients.

[0013] In some embodiments, the method may include generating and reordering transform coefficients from the coarse distortions. The method may additionally include applying a gain to the reordered transfer coefficients. Optionally, the reordered transform coefficients may include quantized DCT coefficients. The method may additionally include entropy encoding the reordered transfer coefficients. The method may additionally include companding the reordered transfer coefficients. The method may additionally include performing a linear transform on the reordered transfer coefficients.

[0014] In some embodiments, the method may include dividing the video frame into a plurality of blocks.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0015] The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. The invention, however, both as to organization and method of operation, together with objects, features, and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0016] Figure 1 schematically illustrates an exemplary two-layer video compression and transmission system for transmitting video over a communication channel, according to an embodiment of the present invention; [0017] Figure 2 schematically illustrates an exemplary system for reception and reconstruction of video from a signal received over a communication channel, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 schematically illustrates an exemplary refinement coding module, which may be used in the video compression and transmission system of Figure 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 4 schematically illustrates an exemplary refinement decoding module, which may be used in the system for reception and reconstruction of video of Figure 2, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 5A schematically illustrates an exemplary refinement coding module, which may be used in the video compression and transmission system of Figure 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 5B schematically illustrates three exemplary graphs denoted (a), (b) and (c), representing probability density functions of three DCT taps, respectively, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 6 schematically illustrates an exemplary refinement decoding module, which may be used in the system for reception and reconstruction of video of Figure 2, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 7 schematically illustrates an exemplary DCT taps processor, which may be used with the refinement coding module of Figure 5, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

[0024] Figure 8 schematically illustrates several different types of compander functions, which may be used with the DCT taps processor of Figure 7, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. Detailed Description of the Present Invention

[0026] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the present invention.

[0027] Applicants have realized that wireless video transmission systems which combine use of JSCC with known compression block techniques including compression standards such as, for example, H.265, may suffer from bandwidth overhead. For example, consider a system which may combine H.265 data with“analog” refinement data. The system may employ "coarse" bins and "fine" bins where the coarse bins are used for sending H.265 data (including interframe prediction) and the fine bins are used for sending the data for memoryless refinement of the received image. The analog refinement may have video-content-dependent power, and may suffer from additive noise and therefore, it may be desired to apply a video-content- dependent gain to bring the transmitted power to the highest level available by the hardware capabilities and the radio regulation. A drawback using content-dependent gain is that the gain should be conveyed to the receiver, and the message which describes that gain, creates a bandwidth overhead. Video-content-dependent gain may be applied to single blocks (that is, each block will have a different gain), or to group of blocks (that is, each group will have different gain, but all the blocks in the group will have the same gain).

[0028] Applicants have realized that bandwidth overhead in video transmission systems combining use of known compression block techniques (e.g. H.264 or H.265) with JSCC may be reduced, optionally eliminated, by utilizing information associated with the coarse data to generate control data for the refinement encoder, where the refinement encoder generates refinement data which may be transmitted to a video receiver for memoryless refinement of a video image. The transmission side may include a refinement encoder which may be adapted to perform a two-dimensional DCT transform on coarse distortions which may be in the form of error frames (in the pixel domain) or in the form of quantization errors of DCT taps generated from the coarse data to generate DCT taps for each block. The refinement encoder may additionally calculate the block energy to apply a gain to the coarse distortions DCT taps based on the power of the coarse DCT taps. Alternatively, the refinement encoder may estimate a probability density for the coarse DCT taps which may then be used to entropy encode the coarse distortions DCT taps. A compander may be used to apply non-linear gain to the DCT taps of the refinement encoder.

[0029] The receiving side may include a refinement decoder which may decode the received refinement data based on the received coarse DCT taps. Similarly to the refinement encoder in the transmission side, the refinement decoder may calculate the block energy to apply a gain to the received refinement DCT taps based on the power of the coarse DCT taps. Alternatively, the refinement decoder may estimate a probability density for the coarse DCT taps which may then be used to entropy decode the received refinement DCT taps. As the received coarse data is substantially the same as the transmitted coarse data except for a small bit error rate associated with the packet error rate, the same gain applied by the refinement encoder may be applied by the refinement decoder, thereby eliminating the need to send the gain information to the receiver and reducing bandwidth overhead. Alternatively, the same probability density function may be used for the entropy decoding, thereby eliminating the need to send the probability density function information to the receiver and reducing bandwidth overhead.

[0030] Reference is made to Figure 1, which schematically illustrates an exemplary two- layer video compression and transmission system 100 for transmitting video over a communication channel 150, according to an embodiment of the present invention. System 100 may include a coarse compression module 102, a coarse decompression module 104, a coarse distortions extractor module 106, a refinement coding module 108, a data combining and modulation module 110.

[0031] Coarse compression module 102 may receive pixels of an original video frame 10 and may generate a compressed description of the video which may be denoted as coarse data 12. Coarse compression module 102 may use inter-frame prediction in performing the data compression to generate coarse data 12. Inter frame prediction may include use of a forward inter-frame predictor to generate P-frames and optionally also a bi-directional inter-frame predictor to generate B-frames. In order to reduce latency, coarse compression module 102 may wholly or partially avoid generating B-frames (bidirectionally predicted frames). Coarse decompression module 104 may parse and decode the coarse data 12 to generate a coarse frame 14.

[0032] Coarse distortions extractor module 106 may receive original frame 10 and may apply coarse frame information 14 to generate coarse distortions 16. To generate the coarse distortions, coarse distortions extractor 106 may perform pixel subtraction optionally followed by addition of a fixed offset and optional limiting to generate an error frame. For example, a first pixel in a first line in original frame 10 may have RGB values of 98, 61 and 80, and in coarse frame 14 the same pixel may have the values of 100, 60 and 80. The coarse distortions extractor module 106 may add an offset of 128 to the difference, and may additionally limit the result from the bottom by 0 and from the top by 255. As a result, the first pixel in the first line in error frame 16 may be min (255, max (0, 128+98-100,128+61-60,128+80-80)) =126,129,128.

[0033] Alternatively, the coarse distractions extractor may operate in the DCT domain, and subtract the DCT taps of the original frame from the DCT taps of the Coarse frame to generate quantization errors of the DCT taps.

[0034] Refinement coding block module 108 may compress coarse distortions 16 and may generate a refinement data description (refinement data 18). Refinement coding block module 108 may adapt its coding parameters according to the content of the coarse data. For example, it may perform two dimensional DCT and may send only a subset of the DCT taps, for example, the first N taps. It may additionally select the value of N based on the coarse description of that block according to a pre-defmed algorithm for selecting N. Since the coarse data is transmitted as well, the receiver may select the same value of N for decoding the refinement data, according to a pre-defined algorithm for selecting N, which is equivalent to the pre-defined algorithm in the encoder. This may eliminate the need to specifically encode and send the value of N.

[0035] Data combining and modulation module 110 may combine coarse data 12 and refinement data 18, and transmit them over a communication channel 150. Data combining and modulation module 110 may modulate the signal using OFDM, with a portion of the bins (“digital bins”) allocated for the coarse data and a portion of the bins (“fine bins”) allocated to the refinement data. Alternatively, a different modulation and coding scheme may be used for the digital bins and the fine bins, and the fine bins may include properties similar to analog transmission. Alternatively, the same modulation and modulation scheme may be used for the coarse data and the fine data.

[0036] Reference is made to Figure 2, which schematically illustrates an exemplary system 200 for reception and reconstruction of video from a signal received over a communication channel 250, according to an embodiment of the present invention. System 200 may include a demodulation and data splitting module 202, a coarse decompression module 204, a refinement decoding module 206, and a frame combiner module 208. System 200 may be used to receive a video signal transmitted by transmission system 100 over channel 150, in which case channel 150 and channel 250 is a same channel. [0037] Demodulation and data splitter module 202 may demodulate the received signal and may split the signal into coarse data 20 and received refinement data 22. Coarse data 20 may be substantially identical to coarse data 12 sent by transmission system 100, and may include a small bit error rate compared to coarse data 12 associated with, for example, packet errors.

[0038] Coarse decompression module 204 may decode the video and may generate coarse frame information 24. Coarse decompression module 204 may optionally be a standard video decoder such as, for example, a MPEG decoder, a H.264 decoder, or a H.265 decoder, among other standard video decoders.

[0039] Refinement decoding module 206 may receive refinement data 22 and may generate reconstructed coarse distortions 26. Refinement decoding module 206 may adapt its decoding parameters according to the content of coarse data 20. For example, it may decode from coarse data 20 the value N of the number of transmitted DCT taps and may then reconstruct the DCT values by zeroing all the taps starting from tap N+l.

[0040] Frame combiner module 208 may combine the coarse frame information 24 with reconstructed coarse data 26, for example by summing the two frames together pixel by pixel, optionally reducing a fixed offset (e.g. 128 for 8 bits pixels) and optionally limit the result between two values, for example, 0 and 255. Frame combiner module 28 may then generate a reconstructed frame 28. Alternatively, frame combiner module may combine the coarse frame information 24 with the reconstructed coarse data which may include the quantization errors of the DCT taps to generate the reconstructed frame 28.

[0041] Reference is made to Figure, 3 which schematically illustrates an exemplary implementation of refinement coding module 108, which may be used in video compression and transmission system 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Refinement coding module 108 may include a quantized DCT taps extractor 302, a block energy detector module 304, an optional refinement DCT taps generator module 306, and a DCT taps processor 308.

[0042] In an exemplary mode of operation, original frame 10 may be divided into blocks, for example, block of 8x8 pixel or 4x4 pixels or 16x16 pixel blocks. Coarse compression module 102 may perform a certain transform, for example a two-dimensional DCT, on each block. Coarse compression module 102 may additionally reorder the DCT taps according to a certain predefined order, for example in a. zig-zag order, and may additionally quantize the DCT taps. The value of quantized DCT tap number j of color c of block number i may be denoted

DCTQ , c .

[0043] DCT tap extractor module 302 may extract from coarse data 12 the quantized DCT taps and may transfer this data as quantized DCT taps 13 to block energy detector module 304. Block energy detector module 304 may determine, for each block, a certain gain, represented by refinement block gain 15, which may be applied by DCT taps processor 308 to reordered DCT taps 17 to generate refinement data 18.

[0044] Refinement DCT taps Generator module 306 may perform a certain transform, for example a two-dimensional DCT, on each block of error frame in coarse distortions 16 if in the pixel domain. DCT & reordering module 306 may additionally reorder the DCT taps according to a certain predefined order, for example in a. zig-zag order, and may additionally quantize the DCT taps to generate reordered refinement DC taps 17. Alternatively, if coarse distortions include quantization errors of the DCT taps, DCT taps processor 308 may generate refinement data 18 which may be a linear transform of the reordered DC taps 17 following the processor applying a gain to the DCT taps or to the linear transform of the DCT taps based on the refinement block gain determined by block energy detector module 304.

[0045] In some embodiments, an exemplary mode of operation of block energy detector module 304 may be as follows:

[0046] a. Block energy detector 304 may first calculate for each block i the block energy Ei by, for example:

[0047] wherein M is the number of DCT taps per block, and it is assumed that the 2D DCT is performed separately over each of the 3 colors.

[0048] b. Block energy detector module 304 may then use a certain function, for example,

to generate refinement block gain Gi .

An example for such a function may be given by:

where the following are constants: Gmin , Gmax , Eref .

Another example of the function may be given by:

for some threshold T.

[0049] c. Alternatively or additionally, the frame may be divided into superblocks, with N blocks per superblock (e.g., N=240), and an additional refinement block gain G i may be applied, where the additional refinement block gain is substantially identical for all the blocks in the superblock.

[0050] In some embodiments, another exemplary mode of operation of block energy detector module 304 may be as follows:

[0051] a. Block energy detector module 304 may first calculate for each superblock, the superblock energy, denoted Esuperblock , by:

where M is the number of DCT taps per block, and it is assumed that the DCT is performed over 3 colors.

[0052] b. Block energy detector module 304 may then use a function, such as:

to generate the refinement block gain G’i

An example of such a function may be given by: where the following are constants: G ^, min , C max E’ref .

[0053] Reference is made to Figure 4, which schematically illustrates an exemplary implementation of refinement decoding module 206, which may be used in system 200 for reception and reconstruction of video, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Refinement decoding module 206 may include a quantized DCT taps extractor module 402, a block energy detector module 404, a DCT taps extractor 406, and an optional reordering & IDCT module 408.

[0054] In some embodiments, as previously discussed with reference to Figure 2, coarse data 20 may be substantially identical to coarse data 12 sent by transmission system 100, and may include a small bit error rate compared to coarse data 12 associated with the packet error rate. As such, quantized DCT taps extractor module 402 and block energy detector module 404 in refinement decoding module 206 may be substantially identical to quantized DCT taps extractor module 302 and block energy detector module 304 in refinement coding module 300 in Figure 3. Additionally, refinement block gain 25 calculated by block energy detector module 404 may be substantially identical to refinement block gain 15 calculated by block energy detector module 304 of Figure 3. It may be appreciated by the skilled person that since the quantized DCT taps extractor module and the energy block detector module are substantially identical to that in transmission system 100, and since the values of DCTQ i,c,j will be made available to refinement decoding module 206 in receiver system 200, there is no need to send the value of Gi and of G i over channel 150, thereby allowing for a reduction (saving) in bandwidth. That is, the values Gi and G i , which were calculated in refinement coding module 300 in Figure 3, may be regenerated in refinement decoding module 206, and there is no need to send them.

[0055] DCT taps extractor 406 may extract the DCT taps from the received refinement data 22 and may generate received reordered refinement DCT taps 27 from received refinement data 22 based on refinement block gain 25 computed by block energy detector module 404. Optional reordering & IDCT module 408 may reorder received reordered DCT taps 27 and may perform an inverse transform on the DCT taps to generate reconstructed coarse distortions 26 in the form of error frames if received reordered refinement DCT taps 27 is in the pixel domain. If received reordered refinement DCT taps 27 includes quantization errors of the DCT taps, reordering & IDCT module 408 may be obviated.

[0056] Reference is now made to Figure 5A, which schematically illustrates an exemplary refinement coding module 500 which may be used in video compression and transmission system 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Refinement coding module 500 may include a quantized DCT taps extractor 502, a refinement probability function estimator module 504, an optional refinement DCT taps generator module 506, and a DCT taps processor 508.

[0057] In an exemplary mode of operation, original frame 10 may be divided into blocks; for example, block of 8x8 pixels, or 4x4 pixel or 16x16 pixel blocks. Coarse compression module 102 may perform a certain transform, for example a two-dimensional DCT, on each block. Coarse compression module 102 may additionally reorder the DCT taps according to a certain predefined order, for example in a. zig-zag order, and may additionally quantize the DCT taps. The DCT taps may be denoted as a random variable x and its quantized value may be denoted as

Q(x)-

[0058] Quantized DCT taps extractor module 502 and DCT & reordering module 506 may be substantially similar to quantized DCT taps extractor module 302 and refinement DCT taps module 306, respectively, in Figure 3. Refinement probability density function estimator module 504 may estimate, for each Quantized DCT tap 13, the probability density function of the corresponding DCT tap of the error frame. DCT taps processor 508 may use refinement probability density function per DCT tap 30 to process reordered refinement DCT taps 17 and generate refinement data 18.

[0059] In some embodiments, DCT taps processor 508 may further quantize reordered DCT taps 17 using a quantizer which may include quantization cell size smaller than that in the quantizer used by coarse compression module 102. Following quantization, DCT taps processor 508 may use entropy encoding to compress the index of the quantization cell and generate a string of bits which may indicate the index of the fine quantization cell and where the string of bits may be optimized to reduce the average number of bits in the stream. [0060] Entropy encoders are generally optimized for a certain probability density of the source. To yield a good code book, the probability density of the source is estimated. However, as shown in Figure 5B, the conditional probability density function of a certain DCT tap may vary and may depend on its quantized value. Refinement Probability density function estimator module 504 may receive the quantized value at its input, and responsively, may estimate the conditional probability density function to generate refinement probability density function per DCT tap 30. DCT taps processor 508 may then use refinement probability density function per DCT tap 30 to select the proper entropy code-book which is best fitted to the probability density function.

[0061] Reference is now made to Figure 5B, which schematically illustrates three exemplary graphs (a), (b) and (c) representing probability density functions 550, 552, and 554 of three DCT taps, respectively, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Graph (a) describes the probability density function 550 of a certain DCT tap. Also shown in the graph are the quantization points and quantization cell boundaries of a uniform quantizer with quantization cell size of D and quantization points at 0, +D, +2D, +3D, · · · . Graph _(b) probability density function 552 of a certain DCT tap whose quantization point is 0. Graph (c) describes the probability density function 554 of a certain DCT whose quantization point is

+2D. It may be appreciated that

is very different from

and consequently, it may be preferable to use different codebooks to compress X in each of the cases.

[0062] Reference is made to Figure 6, which schematically illustrates an exemplary refinement decoding module 600, which may be used in system 200 for reception and reconstruction of video, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Refinement decoding module 600 may include a quantized DCT taps extractor module 602, a refinement probability density function estimator module 604, a DCT taps extractor 606, and an optional reordering & IDCT module 608. [0063] In some embodiments, as previously discussed with reference to Figure 2, coarse data 20 may be substantially identical to coarse data 12 sent by transmission system 100, and may include a small bit error rate compared to coarse data 12 associated with the packet error rate. As such, quantized DCT taps extractor module 602 and refinement probability density function estimator module 604 in refinement decoding module 600 may be substantially identical to quantized DCT taps extractor module 502 and refinement probability density function estimator module 604 in refinement coding module 500 in Figure 5A. Additionally, refinement probability density function per DCT tap 32 determined by refinement probability density function estimator module 604 may be substantially identical to refinement probability density function per DCT tap 30 determined by refinement probability density function estimator module 504 of Figure 5A. It may be appreciated by the skilled person that, since refinement probability density function per DCT tap 37 estimated at refinement decoding block 600 is substantially identical to refinement probability density function per DCT tap 30 estimated at the refinement encoding block 500 of Figure 5A, there is no need for the transmitter to send the refinement probability density function per DCT tap to the receiver, which may allow for a reduction in bandwidth.

[0064] DCT taps extractor 606 may extract the DCT taps from the received refinement data and may generate received reordered refinement DCT taps 27 from received refinement data 22 based on refinement probability density function per DCT tap 37 determined by refinement probability density function estimator module 604. Optional reordering & IDCT module 608 may reorder received reordered DCT taps 27 and may perform an inverse transform on the DCT taps to generate reconstructed coarse distortions 26 in the form of error frames if received reordered refinement DCT taps 27 is in the pixel domain. If received reordered refinement DCT taps 27 includes quantization errors of the DCT taps, reordering & IDCT module 408 may be obviated.

[0065] Reference is made to Figure 7, which schematically illustrates an exemplary DCT taps processor 700, which may be used with refinement coding module 500 in video transmission system 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention. DCT taps processor 700 may include a compander selector per DCT tap module 702, a compander module 704, and a linear transform module 706. In some embodiments, DCT taps processor 700 may be the same as DCT taps processor 508 in Figure 5.

[0066] Compander module 704 may generate companded DCT taps 34 and may include use of a non-liner function to apply a gain to reordered refinement DCT taps 17. In some embodiments, a non-linear function which may be used in Compander 704 may be, for example, as in the following Equation (1) :

where Cl is a constant, X is the input, and C(X) is the output.

[0067] Another non-linear function which may be used, may be as in the following Equation

(2) :

for some constants Gl and G2 and T , and where X is the input, and C(X) is the output.

[0068] In wireless systems the transmission power is usually limited both by RF (radio frequency) regulations and by the capabilities of the power amplifier. To optimize transmission range and receiver SNR (signal- to-noise ratio), it is desired to optimize the values of Gl and

G2 and T in the above Equation (2), such that the signal may be transmitted with the highest gain, but without breaching RF regulations, or compressing and/or overloading the power amplifier. The optimal choice of the constants Gl and G2 and T generally depends on the probability density function of the input X. For example, if X is known to be zero-mean with low variance, then large values of Gl may be used (which may improve the receiver SNR). But if X is known to be zero-mean with high variance, then small values of Gl and G2 are generally used, to avoid breaching the RF regulations or compressing and/or overloading the power amplifier.

[0069] Compander selector per DCT taps module 702 receives, for each DCT tap, the refinement probability density as indicated by refinement probability density function per DCT tap 30, and uses it to select the type of compander 704 as indicated by compander type 33. That is, compander selector per DCT taps 702 may chose the values of Gl and G2 and T according to the refinement probability density. Linear transform module 706 may apply a linear transform to companded DCT taps 18 to generate refinement data 18. [0070] Reference is made to Figure 8, which schematically illustrates several different types of compander functions 800, which may be used with DCT taps processor 700, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Type 1 compander function 802 may be suitable for high power DCT taps; Type 2 compander 804 may be suitable for medium power DCT taps; and Type 3 compander 806 may be suitable for low power DCT taps.

[0071] Although portions of the discussion herein relate, for demonstrative purposes, to wired links and/or wired communications, some embodiments of the present invention are not limited in this regard, and may include one or more wired or wireless links, may utilize one or more components of wireless communication, may utilize one or more methods or protocols of wireless communication, or the like. Some embodiments may utilize wired communication and/or wireless communication.

[0072] The present invention may be implemented by using hardware units, software units, processors, CPUs, DSPs, integrated circuits, memory units, storage units, wireless communication modems or transmitters or receivers or transceivers, cellular transceivers, a power source, input units, output units, Operating System (OS), drivers, applications, and/or other suitable components.

[0073] The present invention may be implemented by using code or program code or machine-readable instructions or machine-readable code, which is stored on a non-transitory storage medium or non-transitory storage article (e.g., a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a physical memory unit, a physical storage unit), such that the program or code or instructions, when executed by a processor or a machine or a computer, cause such device to perform a method in accordance with the present invention.

[0074] Embodiments of the present invention may be utilized with a variety of devices or systems having a touch-screen or a touch-sensitive surface; for example, a smartphone, a cellular phone, a mobile phone, a smart-watch, a tablet, a handheld device, a portable electronic device, a portable gaming device, a portable audio/video player, an Augmented Reality (AR) device or headset or gear, a Virtual Reality (VR) device or headset or gear, a“kiosk” type device, a vending machine, an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM), a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a vehicular computer, a vehicular dashboard, a vehicular touch-screen, or the like.

[0075] The system(s) and/or device(s) of the present invention may optionally comprise, or may be implemented by utilizing suitable hardware components and/or software components; for example, processors, processor cores, Central Processing Units (CPUs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), circuits, Integrated Circuits (ICs), controllers, memory units, registers, accumulators, storage units, input units (e.g., touch-screen, keyboard, keypad, stylus, mouse, touchpad, joystick, trackball, microphones), output units (e.g., screen, touch-screen, monitor, display unit, audio speakers), microphone(s) and/or sensor(s), wired or wireless modems or transceivers or transmitters or receivers, GPS receiver or GPS element or other location-based or location-determining unit or system, network elements (e.g., routers, switches, hubs, antennas), and/or other suitable components and/or modules.

[0076] The system(s) and/or devices of the present invention may optionally be implemented by utilizing co-located components, remote components or modules,“cloud computing” servers or devices or storage, client/server architecture, peer-to-peer architecture, distributed architecture, and/or other suitable architectures or system topologies or network topologies.

[0077] In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, calculations, operations and/or determinations may be performed locally within a single device, or may be performed by or across multiple devices, or may be performed partially locally and partially remotely (e.g., at a remote server) by optionally utilizing a communication channel to exchange raw data and/or processed data and/or processing results.

[0078] Some embodiments may be implemented by using a special-purpose machine or a specific-purpose device that is not a generic computer, or by using a non-generic computer or a non-general computer or machine. Such system or device may utilize or may comprise one or more components or units or modules that are not part of a“generic computer” and that are not part of a“general purpose computer”, for example, cellular transceivers, cellular transmitter, cellular receiver, GPS unit, location-determining unit, accelerometer(s), gyroscope(s), device orientation detectors or sensors, device-positioning detectors or sensors, or the like.

[0079] Some embodiments may be implemented as, or by utilizing, an automated method or automated process, or a machine-implemented method or process, or as a semi -automated or partially-automated method or process, or as a set of steps or operations which may be executed or performed by a computer or machine or system or other device.

[0080] Some embodiments may be implemented by using code or program code or machine- readable instructions or machine-readable code, which may be stored on a non-transitory storage medium or non-transitory storage article (e.g., a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a physical memory unit, a physical storage unit), such that the program or code or instructions, when executed by a processor or a machine or a computer, cause such processor or machine or computer to perform a method or process as described herein. Such code or instructions may be or may comprise, for example, one or more of: software, a software module, an application, a program, a subroutine, instructions, an instruction set, computing code, words, values, symbols, strings, variables, source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code; including (but not limited to) code or instructions in high-level programming language, low- level programming language, object-oriented programming language, visual programming language, compiled programming language, interpreted programming language, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, SQL, Ruby on Rails, Go, Cobol, Fortran, ActionScript, AJAX, XML, JSON, Lisp, Eiffel, Verilog, Hardware Description Language (HDL, BASIC, Visual BASIC, Matlab, Pascal, HTML, HTML5, CSS, Perl, Python, PHP, machine language, machine code, assembly language, or the like.

[0081] Discussions herein utilizing terms such as, for example,“processing”,“computing”, “calculating”, “determining”, “establishing”, “analyzing”, “checking”, “detecting”, “measuring”, or the like, may refer to operation(s) and/or process(es) of a processor, a computer, a computing platform, a computing system, or other electronic device or computing device, that may automatically and/or autonomously manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within registers and/or accumulators and/or memory units and/or storage units into other data or that may perform other suitable operations.

[0082] Some embodiments of the present invention may perform steps or operations such as, for example,“determining”,“identifying”,“comparing”, “checking”,“querying”,“searching”, “matching”, and/or“analyzing”, by utilizing, for example: a pre-defmed threshold value to which one or more parameter values may be compared; a comparison between (i) sensed or measured or calculated value(s), and (ii) pre-defined or dynamically-generated threshold value(s) and/or range values and/or upper limit value and/or lower limit value and/or maximum value and/or minimum value; a comparison or matching between sensed or measured or calculated data, and one or more values as stored in a look-up table or a legend table or a list of reference value(s) or a database of reference values or ranges; a comparison or matching or searching process which searches for matches and/or identical results and/or similar results and/or sufficiently-close results, among multiple values or limits that are stored in a database or look-up table; utilization of one or more equations, formula, weighted formula, and/or other calculation in order to determine similarity or a match between or among parameters or values; utilization of comparator units, lookup tables, threshold values, conditions, conditioning logic, Boolean operator(s) and/or other suitable components and/or operations.

[0083] The terms “plurality” and “a plurality”, as used herein, include, for example, “multiple” or“two or more”. For example,“a plurality of items” includes two or more items. [0084] References to“one embodiment”,“an embodiment”,“demonstrative embodiment”, “various embodiments”, “some embodiments”, and/or similar terms, may indicate that the embodiment(s) so described may optionally include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Repeated use of the phrase“in one embodiment” does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may. Repeated use of the phrase“in some embodiments” does not necessarily refer to the same set or group of embodiments, although it may.

[0085] As used herein, and unless otherwise specified, the utilization of ordinal adjectives such as“first”,“second”,“third”,“fourth”, and so forth, to describe an item or an object, merely indicates that different instances of such like items or objects are being referred to; and does not intend to imply as if the items or objects so described must be in a particular given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other ordering manner.

[0086] Some embodiments may comprise, or may be implemented by using, an“app” or application which may be downloaded or obtained from an“app store” or“applications store”, for free or for a fee, or which may be pre-installed on a computing device or electronic device, or which may be transported to and/or installed on such computing device or electronic device.

[0087] Functions, operations, components and/or features described herein with reference to one or more embodiments of the present invention, may be combined with, or may be utilized in combination with, one or more other functions, operations, components and/or features described herein with reference to one or more other embodiments of the present invention. The present invention may comprise any possible combinations, re-arrangements, assembly, re assembly, or other utilization of some or all of the modules or functions or components that are described herein, even if they are discussed in different locations or different chapters of the above discussion, or even if they are shown across different drawings or multiple drawings.

[0088] While certain features of the present invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, and equivalents may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the claims are intended to cover all such modifications, substitutions, changes, and equivalents.