CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of the U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/276,442, filed November 5, 2021, the contents of which are hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

FIELD

[0002] Embodiments of the present disclosure relates generally to media coding techniques, and more particularly, to an improved design for streaming based on main stream representations (MSRs) and external stream representations (ESRs).

BACKGROUND

[0003] Media streaming applications are typically based on the internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) transport methods, and typically rely on a file format such as the international organization for standardization base media file format (ISOBMFF). One such streaming system is dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH). In DASH, there may be multiple representations for video and/or audio data of multimedia content, different representations may correspond to different coding characteristics (e.g., different profiles or levels of a video coding standard, different bitrates, different spatial resolutions, etc.). Moreover, extended dependent random access point (EDRAP) pictures based video coding and streaming are proposed. Therefore, it is worth studying on streaming based on MSRs and ESRs.

SUMMARY

[0004] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for media processing.

[0005] In a first aspect, a method for media processing is proposed. The method comprises: performing a conversion between a media file of a media and a media presentation of the media, wherein the media presentation comprises an MSR and an ESR associated with the MSR, a concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard. [0006] Based on the method in accordance with the first aspect of the present disclosure, a file obtained by concatenating a segment in the ESR, it’s corresponding segment in the MSR and all subsequent segments in the MSR conforms to a file format standard. Compared with the conventional solution where such a file is not required to conform to a file format standard, the proposed method can advantageously support the EDRAP -based random accessing technology more efficiently.

[0007] In a second aspect, an apparatus for processing media data is proposed. The apparatus for processing media data comprises a processor and a non-transitory memory with instructions thereon. The instructions, upon execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method in accordance with the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0008] In a third aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is proposed. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores instructions that cause a processor to perform a method in accordance with the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0009] In a fourth aspect, another non-transitory computer-readable recording medium is proposed. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium stores a media file of a media which is generated by a method performed by a media processing apparatus. The method comprises: performing a conversion between the media file and a media presentation of the media, wherein the media presentation comprises an MSR and an ESR associated with the MSR, a concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[0010] In a fifth aspect, a method for storing a media file of a media is proposed. The method comprises: performing a conversion between the media file and a media presentation of the media; and storing the media file in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, wherein the media presentation comprises an MSR and an ESR associated with the MSR, a concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[0011] In a sixth aspect, another non-transitory computer-readable recording medium is proposed. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium stores a media presentation of a media which is generated by a method performed by a media processing apparatus. The method comprises: performing a conversion between a media file of the media and the media presentation, wherein the media presentation comprises an MSR and an ESR associated with the MSR, a concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[0012] In a seventh aspect, a method for storing a media presentation of a media is proposed. The method comprises: performing a conversion between a media file of the media and the media presentation; and storing the media presentation in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, wherein the media presentation comprises an MSR and an ESR associated with the MSR, a concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[0013] This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Through the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the above and other objectives, features, and advantages of example embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent. In the example embodiments of the present disclosure, the same reference numerals usually refer to the same components.

[0015] Fig. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example video coding system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] Fig. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an example video encoder in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] Fig. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example video decoder in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0018] Fig. 4 is a diagram for illustrating the concept of random access points (RAPs);

[0019] Fig. 5 is another diagram for illustrating the concept of RAPs;

[0020] Fig. 6 is a diagram for illustrating the concept of dependent random access points (DRAPs); [0021] Fig. 7 is another diagram for illustrating the concept of DRAPs;

[0022] Fig. 8 is a diagram for illustrating the concept of extended dependent random access points (EDRAPs);

[0023] Fig. 9 is another diagram for illustrating the concept of EDRAPs;

[0024] Fig. 10 is a diagram for illustrating EDRAP based video streaming;

[0025] Fig. 11 is another diagram for illustrating EDRAP based video streaming;

[0026] Fig. 12 illustrates a flowchart of a method for media processing in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0027] Fig. 13 illustrates a block diagram of a computing device in which various embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented.

[0028] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals usually refer to the same or similar elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0030] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0031] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an example embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described. [0032] It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0033] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and/or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/ or combinations thereof.

Example Environment

[0034] Fig. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates an example video coding system 100 that may utilize the techniques of this disclosure. As shown, the video coding system 100 may include a source device 110 and a destination device 120. The source device 110 can be also referred to as a video encoding device, and the destination device 120 can be also referred to as a video decoding device. In operation, the source device 110 can be configured to generate encoded video data and the destination device 120 can be configured to decode the encoded video data generated by the source device 110. The source device 110 may include a video source 112, a video encoder 114, and an input/output (I/O) interface 116.

[0035] The video source 112 may include a source such as a video capture device. Examples of the video capture device include, but are not limited to, an interface to receive video data from a video content provider, a computer graphics system for generating video data, and/or a combination thereof.

[0036] The video data may comprise one or more pictures. The video encoder 114 encodes the video data from the video source 112 to generate a bitstream. The bitstream may include a sequence of bits that form a coded representation of the video data. The bitstream may include coded pictures and associated data. The coded picture is a coded representation of a picture. The associated data may include sequence parameter sets, picture parameter sets, and other syntax structures. The I/O interface 116 may include a modulator/demodulator and/or a transmitter. The encoded video data may be transmitted directly to destination device 120 via the I/O interface 116 through the network 130A. The encoded video data may also be stored onto a storage medium/server 130B for access by destination device 120.

[0037] The destination device 120 may include an I/O interface 126, a video decoder 124, and a display device 122. The I/O interface 126 may include a receiver and/or a modem. The I/O interface 126 may acquire encoded video data from the source device 110 or the storage medium/server 130B. The video decoder 124 may decode the encoded video data. The display device 122 may display the decoded video data to a user. The display device 122 may be integrated with the destination device 120, or may be external to the destination device 120 which is configured to interface with an external display device.

[0038] The video encoder 114 and the video decoder 124 may operate according to a video compression standard, such as the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard and other current and/or further standards.

[0039] Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a video encoder 200, which may be an example of the video encoder 114 in the system 100 illustrated in Fig. 1, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0040] The video encoder 200 may be configured to implement any or all of the techniques of this disclosure. In the example of Fig. 2, the video encoder 200 includes a plurality of functional components. The techniques described in this disclosure may be shared among the various components of the video encoder 200. In some examples, a processor may be configured to perform any or all of the techniques described in this disclosure.

[0041] In some embodiments, the video encoder 200 may include a partition unit 201, a predication unit 202 which may include a mode select unit 203, a motion estimation unit 204, a motion compensation unit 205 and an intra-prediction unit 206, a residual generation unit 207, a transform unit 208, a quantization unit 209, an inverse quantization unit 210, an inverse transform unit 211, a reconstruction unit 212, a buffer 213, and an entropy encoding unit 214.

[0042] In other examples, the video encoder 200 may include more, fewer, or different functional components. In an example, the predication unit 202 may include an intra block copy (IBC) unit. The IBC unit may perform predication in an IBC mode in which at least one reference picture is a picture where the current video block is located. [0043] Furthermore, although some components, such as the motion estimation unit 204 and the motion compensation unit 205, may be integrated, but are represented in the example of Fig. 2 separately for purposes of explanation.

[0044] The partition unit 201 may partition a picture into one or more video blocks. The video encoder 200 and the video decoder 300 may support various video block sizes.

[0045] The mode select unit 203 may select one of the coding modes, intra or inter, e.g., based on error results, and provide the resulting intra-coded or inter-coded block to a residual generation unit 207 to generate residual block data and to a reconstruction unit 212 to reconstruct the encoded block for use as a reference picture. In some examples, the mode select unit 203 may select a combination of intra and inter predication (CIIP) mode in which the predication is based on an inter predication signal and an intra predication signal. The mode select unit 203 may also select a resolution for a motion vector (e.g., a sub-pixel or integer pixel precision) for the block in the case of inter-predication.

[0046] To perform inter prediction on a current video block, the motion estimation unit 204 may generate motion information for the current video block by comparing one or more reference frames from buffer 213 to the current video block. The motion compensation unit 205 may determine a predicted video block for the current video block based on the motion information and decoded samples of pictures from the buffer 213 other than the picture associated with the current video block.

[0047] The motion estimation unit 204 and the motion compensation unit 205 may perform different operations for a current video block, for example, depending on whether the current video block is in an I-slice, a P-slice, or a B-slice. As used herein, an “I-slice” may refer to a portion of a picture composed of macroblocks, all of which are based upon macroblocks within the same picture. Further, as used herein, in some aspects, “P-slices” and “B-slices” may refer to portions of a picture composed of macroblocks that are not dependent on macroblocks in the same picture.

[0048] In some examples, the motion estimation unit 204 may perform uni-directional prediction for the current video block, and the motion estimation unit 204 may search reference pictures of list 0 or list 1 for a reference video block for the current video block. The motion estimation unit 204 may then generate a reference index that indicates the reference picture in list 0 or list 1 that contains the reference video block and a motion vector that indicates a spatial displacement between the current video block and the reference video block. The motion estimation unit 204 may output the reference index, a prediction direction indicator, and the motion vector as the motion information of the current video block. The motion compensation unit 205 may generate the predicted video block of the current video block based on the reference video block indicated by the motion information of the current video block.

[0049] Alternatively, in other examples, the motion estimation unit 204 may perform bidirectional prediction for the current video block. The motion estimation unit 204 may search the reference pictures in list 0 for a reference video block for the current video block and may also search the reference pictures in list 1 for another reference video block for the current video block. The motion estimation unit 204 may then generate reference indexes that indicate the reference pictures in list 0 and list 1 containing the reference video blocks and motion vectors that indicate spatial displacements between the reference video blocks and the current video block. The motion estimation unit 204 may output the reference indexes and the motion vectors of the current video block as the motion information of the current video block. The motion compensation unit 205 may generate the predicted video block of the current video block based on the reference video blocks indicated by the motion information of the current video block.

[0050] In some examples, the motion estimation unit 204 may output a full set of motion information for decoding processing of a decoder. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the motion estimation unit 204 may signal the motion information of the current video block with reference to the motion information of another video block. For example, the motion estimation unit 204 may determine that the motion information of the current video block is sufficiently similar to the motion information of a neighboring video block.

[0051] In one example, the motion estimation unit 204 may indicate, in a syntax structure associated with the current video block, a value that indicates to the video decoder 300 that the current video block has the same motion information as the another video block.

[0052] In another example, the motion estimation unit 204 may identify, in a syntax structure associated with the current video block, another video block and a motion vector difference (MVD). The motion vector difference indicates a difference between the motion vector of the current video block and the motion vector of the indicated video block. The video decoder 300 may use the motion vector of the indicated video block and the motion vector difference to determine the motion vector of the current video block. [0053] As discussed above, video encoder 200 may predictively signal the motion vector. Two examples of predictive signaling techniques that may be implemented by video encoder 200 include advanced motion vector predication (AMVP) and merge mode signaling.

[0054] The intra prediction unit 206 may perform intra prediction on the current video block. When the intra prediction unit 206 performs intra prediction on the current video block, the intra prediction unit 206 may generate prediction data for the current video block based on decoded samples of other video blocks in the same picture. The prediction data for the current video block may include a predicted video block and various syntax elements.

[0055] The residual generation unit 207 may generate residual data for the current video block by subtracting (e.g., indicated by the minus sign) the predicted video block (s) of the current video block from the current video block. The residual data of the current video block may include residual video blocks that correspond to different sample components of the samples in the current video block.

[0056] In other examples, there may be no residual data for the current video block for the current video block, for example in a skip mode, and the residual generation unit 207 may not perform the subtracting operation.

[0057] The transform processing unit 208 may generate one or more transform coefficient video blocks for the current video block by applying one or more transforms to a residual video block associated with the current video block.

[0058] After the transform processing unit 208 generates a transform coefficient video block associated with the current video block, the quantization unit 209 may quantize the transform coefficient video block associated with the current video block based on one or more quantization parameter (QP) values associated with the current video block.

[0059] The inverse quantization unit 210 and the inverse transform unit 211 may apply inverse quantization and inverse transforms to the transform coefficient video block, respectively, to reconstruct a residual video block from the transform coefficient video block. The reconstruction unit 212 may add the reconstructed residual video block to corresponding samples from one or more predicted video blocks generated by the predication unit 202 to produce a reconstructed video block associated with the current video block for storage in the buffer 213. [0060] After the reconstruction unit 212 reconstructs the video block, loop filtering operation may be performed to reduce video blocking artifacts in the video block.

[0061] The entropy encoding unit 214 may receive data from other functional components of the video encoder 200. When the entropy encoding unit 214 receives the data, the entropy encoding unit 214 may perform one or more entropy encoding operations to generate entropy encoded data and output a bitstream that includes the entropy encoded data.

[0062] Fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a video decoder 300, which may be an example of the video decoder 124 in the system 100 illustrated in Fig. 1, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0063] The video decoder 300 may be configured to perform any or all of the techniques of this disclosure. In the example of Fig. 3, the video decoder 300 includes a plurality of functional components. The techniques described in this disclosure may be shared among the various components of the video decoder 300. In some examples, a processor may be configured to perform any or all of the techniques described in this disclosure.

[0064] In the example of Fig. 3, the video decoder 300 includes an entropy decoding unit 301, a motion compensation unit 302, an intra prediction unit 303, an inverse quantization unit 304, an inverse transformation unit 305, and a reconstruction unit 306 and a buffer 307. The video decoder 300 may, in some examples, perform a decoding pass generally reciprocal to the encoding pass described with respect to video encoder 200.

[0065] The entropy decoding unit 301 may retrieve an encoded bitstream. The encoded bitstream may include entropy coded video data (e.g., encoded blocks of video data). The entropy decoding unit 301 may decode the entropy coded video data, and from the entropy decoded video data, the motion compensation unit 302 may determine motion information including motion vectors, motion vector precision, reference picture list indexes, and other motion information. The motion compensation unit 302 may, for example, determine such information by performing the AMVP and merge mode. AMVP is used, including derivation of several most probable candidates based on data from adjacent PBs and the reference picture. Motion information typically includes the horizontal and vertical motion vector displacement values, one or two reference picture indices, and, in the case of prediction regions in B slices, an identification of which reference picture list is associated with each index. As used herein, in some aspects, a “merge mode” may refer to deriving the motion information from spatially or temporally neighboring blocks. [0066] The motion compensation unit 302 may produce motion compensated blocks, possibly performing interpolation based on interpolation filters. Identifiers for interpolation filters to be used with sub-pixel precision may be included in the syntax elements.

[0067] The motion compensation unit 302 may use the interpolation filters as used by the video encoder 200 during encoding of the video block to calculate interpolated values for subinteger pixels of a reference block. The motion compensation unit 302 may determine the interpolation filters used by the video encoder 200 according to the received syntax information and use the interpolation filters to produce predictive blocks.

[0068] The motion compensation unit 302 may use at least part of the syntax information to determine sizes of blocks used to encode frame(s) and/or slice(s) of the encoded video sequence, partition information that describes how each macroblock of a picture of the encoded video sequence is partitioned, modes indicating how each partition is encoded, one or more reference frames (and reference frame lists) for each inter-encoded block, and other information to decode the encoded video sequence. As used herein, in some aspects, a “slice” may refer to a data structure that can be decoded independently from other slices of the same picture, in terms of entropy coding, signal prediction, and residual signal reconstruction. A slice can either be an entire picture or a region of a picture.

[0069] The intra prediction unit 303 may use intra prediction modes for example received in the bitstream to form a prediction block from spatially adjacent blocks. The inverse quantization unit 304 inverse quantizes, i.e., de-quantizes, the quantized video block coefficients provided in the bitstream and decoded by entropy decoding unit 301. The inverse transform unit 305 applies an inverse transform.

[0070] The reconstruction unit 306 may obtain the decoded blocks, e.g., by summing the residual blocks with the corresponding prediction blocks generated by the motion compensation unit 302 or intra-prediction unit 303. If desired, a deblocking filter may also be applied to filter the decoded blocks in order to remove blockiness artifacts. The decoded video blocks are then stored in the buffer 307, which provides reference blocks for subsequent motion compensation/intra predication and also produces decoded video for presentation on a display device.

[0071] Some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detailed hereinafter. It should be understood that section headings are used in the present document to facilitate ease of understanding and do not limit the embodiments disclosed in a section to only that section. Furthermore, while certain embodiments are described with reference to Versatile Video Coding or other specific video codecs, the disclosed techniques are applicable to other video coding technologies also. Furthermore, while some embodiments describe video coding steps in detail, it will be understood that corresponding steps decoding that undo the coding will be implemented by a decoder. Furthermore, the term video processing encompasses video coding or compression, video decoding or decompression and video transcoding in which video pixels are represented from one compressed format into another compressed format or at a different compressed bitrate.

1. Summary

This disclosure is related to video streaming. Specifically, it is related to the design of video streaming based on Main Stream Representations (MSRs) and External Stream Representations (ESRs). The ideas may be applied individually or in various combinations, for media streaming systems, e.g., based on the Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) standard or its extensions.

2. Background

2.1 Video coding standards

Video coding standards have evolved primarily through the development of the well-known ITU-T and ISO/IEC standards. The ITU-T produced H.261 and H.263, ISO/IEC produced MPEG-1 and MPEG-4 Visual, and the two organizations jointly produced the H.262/MPEG-2 Video and H.264/MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) and H.265/HEVC standards. Since H.262, the video coding standards are based on the hybrid video coding structure wherein temporal prediction plus transform coding are utilized. To explore the future video coding technologies beyond HEVC, the Joint Video Exploration Team (JVET) was founded by VCEG and MPEG jointly in 2015. Since then, many new methods have been adopted by JVET and put into the reference software named Joint Exploration Model (JEM). The JVET was later renamed to be the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET) when the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) project officially started. VVC is the new coding standard, targeting at 50% bitrate reduction as compared to HEVC, that has been finalized by the JVET at its 19th meeting ended on July 1, 2020.

The Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard (ITU-T H.266 | ISO/IEC 23090-3) and the associated Versatile Supplemental Enhancement Information (VSEI) standard (ITU-T H.274 | ISO/IEC 23002-7) have been designed for use in a maximally broad range of applications, including both the traditional uses such as television broadcast, video conferencing, or playback from storage media, and also newer and more advanced use cases such as adaptive bit rate streaming, video region extraction, composition and merging of content from multiple coded video bitstreams, multiview video, scalable layered coding, and viewport-adaptive 360° immersive media.

The Essential Video Coding (EVC) standard (ISO/IEC 23094-1) is another video coding standard that has recently been developed by MPEG.

2.2 File format standards

Media streaming applications are typically based on the IP, TCP, and HTTP transport methods, and typically rely on a file format such as the ISO base media file format (ISOBMFF). One such streaming system is dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH). For using a video format with ISOBMFF and DASH, a file format specification specific to the video format, such as the AVC file format and the HEVC file format, would be needed for encapsulation of the video content in ISOBMFF tracks and in DASH representations and segments. Important information about the video bitstreams, e.g., the profile, tier, and level, and many others, would need to be exposed as file format level metadata and/or DASH media presentation description (MPD) for content selection purposes, e.g., for selection of appropriate media segments both for initialization at the beginning of a streaming session and for stream adaptation during the streaming session.

Similarly, for using an image format with ISOBMFF, a file format specification specific to the image format, such as the AVC image file format and the HEVC image file format, would be needed. The VVC video file format, the file format for storage of VVC video content based on ISOBMFF, is currently being developed by MPEG.

The VVC image file format, the file format for storage of image content coded using VVC, based on ISOBMFF, is currently being developed by MPEG.

2.3 DASH

In Dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH), there may be multiple representations for video and/or audio data of multimedia content, different representations may correspond to different coding characteristics (e.g., different profiles or levels of a video coding standard, different bitrates, different spatial resolutions, etc.). The manifest of such representations may be defined in a Media Presentation Description (MPD) data structure. A media presentation may correspond to a structured collection of data that is accessible to DASH streaming client device. The DASH streaming client device may request and download media data information to present a streaming service to a user of the client device. A media presentation may be described in the MPD data structure, which may include updates of the MPD.

A media presentation may contain a sequence of one or more periods. Each period may extend until the start of the next Period, or until the end of the media presentation, in the case of the last period. Each period may contain one or more representations for the same media content. A representation may be one of a number of alternative encoded versions of audio, video, timed text, or other such data. The representations may differ by encoding types, e.g., by bitrate, resolution, and/or codec for video data and bitrate, language, and/or codec for audio data. The term representation may be used to refer to a section of encoded audio or video data corresponding to a particular period of the multimedia content and encoded in a particular way. Representations of a particular period may be assigned to a group indicated by an attribute in the MPD indicative of an adaptation set to which the representations belong. Representations in the same adaptation set are generally considered alternatives to each other, in that a client device can dynamically and seamlessly switch between these representations, e.g., to perform bandwidth adaptation. For example, each representation of video data for a particular period may be assigned to the same adaptation set, such that any of the representations may be selected for decoding to present media data, such as video data or audio data, of the multimedia content for the corresponding period. The media content within one period may be represented by either one representation from group 0, if present, or the combination of at most one representation from each non-zero group, in some examples. Timing data for each representation of a period may be expressed relative to the start time of the period.

A representation may include one or more segments. Each representation may include an initialization segment, or each segment of a representation may be self-initializing. When present, the initialization segment may contain initialization information for accessing the representation. In general, the initialization segment does not contain media data. A segment may be uniquely referenced by an identifier, such as a uniform resource locator (URL), uniform resource name (URN), or uniform resource identifier (URI). The MPD may provide the identifiers for each segment. In some examples, the MPD may also provide byte ranges in the form of a range attribute, which may correspond to the data for a segment within a file accessible by the URL, URN, or URI.

Different representations may be selected for substantially simultaneous retrieval for different types of media data. For example, a client device may select an audio representation, a video representation, and a timed text representation from which to retrieve segments. In some examples, the client device may select particular adaptation sets for performing bandwidth adaptation. That is, the client device may select an adaptation set including video representations, an adaptation set including audio representations, and/or an adaptation set including timed text. Alternatively, the client device may select adaptation sets for certain types of media (e.g., video), and directly select representations for other types of media (e.g., audio and/or timed text).

A typical DASH streaming procedure is shown by the following steps:

1) The client gets the MPD. 2) The client estimates the downlink bandwidth, and selects a video representation and an audio representation according to the estimated downlink bandwidth and the codec, decoding capability, display size, audio language setting, etc.

3) Unless the end of the media presentation is reached, the client requests media segments of the selected representations and presents the streaming content to the user.

4) The client keeps estimating the downlink bandwidth. When the bandwidth changes to a direction (e.g., becomes lower) significantly, the client selects a different video representation to match the newly estimated bandwidth, and go to step 3.

2.4 Extended dependent random access point (EDRAP) based video coding and streaming

Signalling of EDRAP pictures using an supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message was proposed in proposal in JVET-U0084 and was adopted into the VSEI specification at the 21st JVET meeting in January 2021. At the 133rd MPEG meeting in January 2021, the EDRAP sample group was agreed based on the proposal in the MPEG input document m56020. For support of EDRAP based video streaming, at the 134th MPEG meeting in April 2021, the MPEG input document m56675 proposed an external stream track (EST) design for the ISOBMFF.

The MPEG output document MDS21030_WG03_N0425, titled WD of ISO/IEC 23009-1 5th edition AMD2 EDRAP streaming and other extensions, includes the design of Main Stream Representation (MSR) and External Stream Representation (ESR) descriptors for support of EDRAP based streaming in DASH.

Figs. 4 and 5 are diagrams that illustrate the existing concept of random access points (RAPs). The application (e.g., adaptive streaming) determines the frequency of random access points (RAPs), e.g., RAP period Is or 2s. Conventionally RAPs are provided by coding of IRAP pictures, as shown in Fig. 4. Note that inter prediction references for the non-key pictures between RAP pictures are not shown, and from left to right is the output order. When random accessing from CRA6, the decoder receives and correctly decodes the pictures as shown in Fig.

5. Figs. 6 and 7 are diagrams that illustrate the concept of dependent random access points (DRAPs). The DRAP approach provides improved coding efficiency by allowing a DRAP picture (and subsequent pictures) to refer to the previous IRAP picture for inter prediction, as shown in Fig. 6. Note that inter prediction for the non-key pictures between RAP pictures are not shown, and from left to right is the output order. When random accessing from DRAP6, the decoder receives and correctly decodes the pictures as shown in Fig. 7.

Figs. 8 and 9 are diagrams that illustrate the concept of extended dependent random access points (EDRAPs). The EDRAP approach provides a bit more flexibility by allowing an EDRAP picture (and subsequent pictures) to refer to a few of the earlier RAP pictures (IRAP or EDRAP), e.g., as shown in Fig. 8. Note that inter prediction for the non-key pictures between RAP pictures are not shown, and from left to right is the output order. When random accessing from EDRAP6, the decoder receives and correctly decodes the pictures as shown in Fig. 9.

Figs. 10 and 11 are diagrams that illustrate EDRAP based video streaming. When random accessing from or switching to the segment starting at EDRAP6, the decoder receives and decodes the segments as shown in Fig. 11.

The design document in the MPEG output document MDS21030 WG03 N0425 is provided below.

2.4.1 Definitions extended dependent random access point (EDRAP) picture picture in a sample that is a member of an EDRAP or DRAP sample group in an ISOBMFF track external elementary stream elementary stream containing access units with external pictures external picture picture that is in the external elementary stream in an ESR and is needed for inter prediction reference in decoding of the elementary stream in the MSR when random accessing from certain EDRAP pictures in the MSR

External Stream Representation (ESR)

Representation containing an external elementary stream

Main Stream Representation (MSR)

Representation containing a video elementary stream

2.4.2 MSR and ESR descriptors

An Adaptation Set may have an EssentialProperty descriptor with @schemeIdUri equal to urn:mpeg:dash:msr:2021. This descriptor is referred to as the MSR descriptor. The presence of this EssentialProperty indicates that each Representation in this Adaptation Set is an MSR.

The following applies for MSRs:

- Each SAP in an MSR Representation in the Adaptation Set can be used for accessing the content in the Representation provided that the time-synced sample, when present in the track carried in the associated ESR, is made available to the client.

- Each EDRAP picture in an MSR shall be the first picture in a Segment (i.e., each EDRAP picture shall start a Segment).

An Adaptation Set may have an EssentialProperty descriptor with @schemeIdUri equal to urn:mpeg:dash:esr:2021. This descriptor is referred to as the ESR descriptor. The presence of this EssentialProperty indicates that each Representation in this Adaptation Set is an ESR. An ESR shall not be consumed or played back by itself without other video Representations.

Each MSR shall be associated with an MSR through the (existing) Representation-level attributes @associationld and @associationType in the MSR as follows: the @id of the associated ESR shall be referred to by a value contained in the attribute @associationld for which the corresponding value in the attribute @associationType is equal to 'aest' .

Optionally, for an MSR and an ESR associated with each other through the Representation attributes @associationld and @associationType in the MSR, the following constraints apply:

- For each Segment in the MSR that starts with an EDRAP picture, there shall be a Segment in the ESR having the same Segment start time derived from the MPD as the Segment in the MSR, wherein the Segment in the ESR carries the external pictures needed for decoding of that EDRAP picture and the subsequent pictures in decoding order in the bitstream carried in the MSR.

- For each Segment in the MSR that does not start with an EDRAP picture, there shall be no Segment in the ESR having the same Segment start time derived from the MPD as the Segment in the MSR.

3. Problems

The design in the MPEG output document MDS21030_WG03_N0425 has the following issues:

1) It is allowed for a Main Stream Representation (MSR) to not have an associated External Stream Representation (ESR).

2) The term EDRAP picture is defined as "a picture in a sample that is a member of an EDRAP or DRAP sample group in an ISOBMFF track". However, that makes the definition not applicable to Representations not based on the ISOBMFF, and it also makes the definition not applicable to other types of media than video.

3) There lacks a constraint that require the bitstream resulted from random accessing from an EDRAP sample in an MSR to be a conforming bitstream.

4. Detailed Solutions

To solve the above-described problem, methods as summarized below are disclosed. The solutions should be considered as examples to explain the general concepts and should not be interpreted in a narrow way. Furthermore, these solutions can be applied individually or combined in any manner.

1) To solve the first problem, it is specified that each Main Stream Representation (MSR) shall have an associated External Stream Representation (ESR).

2) To solve the second problem, one or more of the following items are specified: a. For each media sample with a particular presentation time in the ESR, there shall be a corresponding media sample with the same presentation time in the MSR. b. Each media sample in the MSR that has a corresponding ESR media sample is referred to as an EDRAP sample. c. The first byte position of each EDRAP sample in the MSR is the ISAU of a SAP, which enables playback of the media stream in the MSR provided that the corresponding ESR media sample is provided to the media decoder immediately before the EDRAP sample and the subsequent samples in the MSR.

3) To solve the third problem, the following is specified: The concatenation of any Segment in the ESR and the corresponding Segment and all subsequent Segments in the MSR shall result in a conforming bitstream.

5. Embodiments

Below are some example embodiments for all the solution items and their subitems summarized above in Section 4. These embodiments can be applied to DASH. The changes are marked relative to the text of the design in clause 2.4. Most relevant parts that have been added or modified are underlined, and some of the deleted parts are shown in strike-through. There may be some other changes that are editorial in nature and thus not highlighted. Definitions extended dependent random access point (EDRAP) picture picture in a sample that is a member of an EDRAP or DRAP sample group in an ISOBMFF track external elementary stream elementary stream containing access units with external pictures external picture picture that is in the external elementary stream in an ESR and is needed for inter prediction reference in decoding of the elementary stream in the MSR when random accessing from certain EDRAP pictures in the MSR

External Stream Representation (ESR)

Representation containing an external elementary stream

Main Stream Representation (MSR)

Representation containing a video elementary stream

5.1.1 MSR and ESR descriptors

5.8.5.15.1 General

An Adaptation Set may have an EssentialProperty descriptor with @schemeIdUri equal to urn:mpeg:dash:msr:2021. This descriptor is referred to as the MSR descriptor. The presence of an MSR descriptor in an Adaptation Set indicates that each Representation in the Adaptation

Set is an MSR. An Adaptation Set may have an EssentialProperty descriptor with @schemeIdUri equal to urn:mpeg:dash:esr:2021. This descriptor is referred to as the ESR descriptor. The presence of an ESR descriptor in an Adaptation Set indicates that each Representation in the Adaptation Set is an ESR. An ESR shall only be consumed or played back together with its associated MSR.

Each ESR shall be associated with an MSR through the Representation-level attributes @associationld and @associationType in the MSR as follows: the @id of the associated ESR shall be referred to by a value contained in the attribute @associationld for which the corresponding value in the attribute @associationType is equal to 'aest' . Each MSR shall have an associated ESR.

For an MSR and an ESR associated with each other, the following applies:

- For each media sample with a particular presentation time in the ESR, there shall be a corresponding media sample with the same presentation time in the MSR.

- Each media sample in the MSR that has a corresponding ESR media sample is referred to as an EDRAP sample.

- The first byte position of each EDRAP sample in the MSR is the ISAU of a SAP, which enables playback of the media stream in the MSR provided that the corresponding ESR media sample is provided to the media decoder immediately before the EDRAP sample and the subsequent samples in the MSR.

- Each EDRAP sample in the MSR shall be the first sample in a Segment (i.e., each EDRAP sample shall start a Segment).

- For each Segment in the MSR that starts with an EDRAP sample, there shall be a Segment in the ESR having the same Segment start time as the MSR Segment.

The concatenation of any Segment in the ESR and the corresponding Segment and all subsequent Segments in the MSR shall result in a conforming bitstream. For each MSR Segment that does not start with an EDRAP sample, there shall be no corresponding Segment in the ESR having the same Segment start time as the MSR Segment.

5.8.5.15.2 Example content preparation and client operations

Below are example content preparation and client operations based on MSRs and their associated ESRs.

An example of content preparation operations is as follows:

1) A video content is encoded into one or more representations, each is of a particular spatial resolution, temporal resolution, and quality.

2) Each representation of the video content is represented by a pair of MSR and ESR associated with each other.

3) The MSRs of the video content are included in one Adaptation Set. The ESRs of the video content are included in another one Adaptation Set.

An example of client operations is as follows:

1) A client gets the MPD of the Media Presentation, parses the MPD. selects an MSR. and determines the starting presentation time from which the content is to be consumed.

2) The client requests Segments of the MSR. starting from the Segment containing the sample having presentation time equal to (or close enough to) the determined starting presentation time. a. If the first sample in the starting Segment is an EDRAP sample, the corresponding Segment (having the same Segment start time) in the associated ESR is also requested, preferably before requesting of the MSR Segments. Otherwise, no Segment of the associated ESR is requested. 3) When switching to a different MSR. the client requests Segments of the switch-to MSR. starting from the first Segment having Segment start time greater than that of the last requested Segment of the switch-from MSR. a. If the first sample in the starting Segment in the switch-to MSR is an EDRAP sample, the corresponding Segment in the associated ESR is also requested, preferably before requesting of the MSR Segments. Otherwise, no Segment of the associated ESR is requested.

4) When continuously operating at the same MSR (after decoding of the starting Segment after a seeking or stream switching operation), no Segment of the associated ESR needs to be requested, including when requesting any subsequent Segment starting with an EDRAP sample.

[0072] The embodiments of the present disclosure are related to an improved design for streaming based on MSRs and ESRs. As used herein, the term “media” may comprise audio, video, and/or the like.

[0073] Fig. 12 illustrates a flowchart of a method 1200 for media processing in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 1200 may be implemented at a client or a server. The term “client” used herein may refer to a piece of computer hardware or software that accesses a service made available by a server as part of the client-server model of computer networks. By way of example, the client may be a smartphone or a tablet. The term “server” used herein may refer to a device capable of computing, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network. The server may be a physical computing device or a virtual computing device.

[0074] As shown in Fig. 12, at 1202, a conversion between a media file of a media and a media presentation of the media is performed. A media file is a collection of data that establishes a bounded or unbounded presentation of media content in the context of a file format, e.g., the ISOBMFF. A media presentation is a collection of data that establishes a bounded or unbounded presentation of media content in the context of a streaming format, e.g., DASH. The media presentation comprises a main stream representation (MSR) and an external stream representation (ESR) associated with the MSR, a concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard. For example, the file format standard may be international organization for standardization base media file format (ISOBMFF). It should be understood that the file format standard may also be any other suitable file format standard. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

[0075] In view of the above, a file obtained by concatenating a segment in the ESR, it’s corresponding segment in the MSR and all subsequent segments in the MSR may conform to a file format standard. Compared with the conventional solution where such a file is not required to conform to a file format standard, the proposed method can advantageously support the EDRAP -based random accessing technology more efficiently.

[0076] In some embodiments, the MSR may be associated with the ESR through a set of representation-level attributes in the MSR. In one example, the set of representation-level attributes may comprise an associationld attribute and an associationType attribute. By way of example, the @id of the associated ESR may be referred to by a value contained in the attribute @associationld for which the corresponding value in the attribute @associationType is equal to “aesf ’. It should be understood that the above examples are described merely for purpose of description. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

[0077] In some embodiments, a first descriptor in a data set in the media presentation may be determined during the conversion at 1202. A presence of the first descriptor indicates that a representation in the data set may be an MSR. The conversion may be performed based on the first descriptor. In one example, the first descriptor may be defined as a data structure with an attribute equal to a uniform resource name (URN) string. By way of example, the attribute may be a schemeldUri attribute, and the URN string may be “urn:mpeg:dash:msr:2022”. Additionally, the media presentation may comprise a media presentation description (MPD), and the data structure may be EssentialProperty in the MPD. In an additional or alternative example, the data set may be an adaptation set. It should be understood that the above examples are described merely for purpose of description. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

[0078] Additionally or alternatively, a second descriptor in a data set in the media presentation may be determined during the conversion at 1202. A presence of the second descriptor indicating that a representation in the data set may be an ESR. The conversion may be performed based on the second descriptor. In one example, the second descriptor may be defined as a data structure with an attribute equal to an URN string. By way of example, the attribute may be a schemeldUri attribute, and the URN string may be “urn:mpeg:dash:esr:2022”. Additionally, the media presentation comprises an MPD, and the data structure may be EssentialProperty in the MPD. In an additional or alternative example, the data set may be an adaptation set. It should be understood that the above examples are described merely for purpose of description. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

[0079] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer- readable recording medium is proposed. A media file of a media is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium. The media file of the media can be generated by a method performed by a media processing apparatus. According to the method, a conversion between the media file and a media presentation of the media is performed. The media presentation comprises an MSR and an ESR associated with the MSR. A concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[0080] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for storing a media presentation of a media is proposed. In the method, a conversion between a media file of a media and a media presentation of the media is performed, and the media file is stored in a non- transitory computer-readable recording medium. The media presentation comprises an MSR and an ESR associated with the MSR. A concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[0081] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer- readable recording medium is proposed. A media presentation of a media is stored in the non- transitory computer-readable recording medium. The media presentation of the media can be generated by a method performed by a media processing apparatus. According to the method, a conversion between a media file of the media and the media presentation is performed. The media presentation comprises an MSR and an ESR associated with the MSR. A concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[0082] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for storing a media presentation of a media is proposed. In the method, a conversion between a media file of a media and a media presentation of the media is performed, and media presentation is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium. The media presentation comprises an MSR and an ESR associated with the MSR. A concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[0083] Implementations of the present disclosure can be described in view of the following clauses, the features of which can be combined in any reasonable manner.

[0084] Clause 1. A method for media processing, comprising: performing a conversion between a media file of a media and a media presentation of the media, wherein the media presentation comprises a main stream representation (MSR) and an external stream representation (ESR) associated with the MSR, a concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[0085] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the file format standard is international organization for standardization base media file format (ISOBMFF).

[0086] Clause 3. The method of any of clauses 1-2, wherein the MSR is associated with the ESR through a set of representation-level attributes in the MSR.

[0087] Clause 4. The method of clause 3, wherein the set of representation-level attributes comprise an associationld attribute and an associationType attribute.

[0088] Clause 5. The method of any of clauses 1-4, wherein performing the conversion comprises: determining a first descriptor in a data set in the media presentation, a presence of the first descriptor indicating that a representation in the data set is an MSR; and performing the conversion based on the first descriptor.

[0089] Clause 6. The method of clause 5, wherein the first descriptor is defined as a data structure with an attribute equal to a uniform resource name (URN) string. [0090] Clause 7. The method of clause 6, wherein the media presentation comprises a media presentation description (MPD), and the data structure is EssentialProperty in the MPD.

[0091] Clause 8. The method of clause 7, wherein the attribute is a schemeldUri attribute, and the URN string is “urn:mpeg:dash:msr:2022”.

[0092] Clause 9. The method of any of clauses 1-4, wherein performing the conversion comprises: determining a second descriptor in a data set in the media presentation, a presence of the second descriptor indicating that a representation in the data set is an ESR; and performing the conversion based on the second descriptor.

[0093] Clause 10. The method clause 9, wherein the second descriptor is defined as a data structure with an attribute equal to an URN string.

[0094] Clause 11. The method of clause 10, wherein the media presentation comprises an MPD, and the data structure is EssentialProperty in the MPD.

[0095] Clause 12. The method of clause 11, wherein the attribute is a schemeldUri attribute, and the URN string is “urn:mpeg:dash:esr:2022”.

[0096] Clause 13. The method of any of clauses 1-12, wherein the conversion comprises packing the media file into the media presentation.

[0097] Clause 14. The method of any of clauses 1-12, wherein the conversion comprises unpacking the media file from the media presentation.

[0098] Clause 15. An apparatus for processing media data comprising a processor and a non- transitory memory with instructions thereon, wherein the instructions upon execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method in accordance with any of clauses 1-14.

[0099] Clause 16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that cause a processor to perform a method in accordance with any of clauses 1-14.

[00100] Clause 17. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a media file of a media which is generated by a method performed by a media processing apparatus, wherein the method comprises: performing a conversion between the media file and a media presentation of the media, wherein the media presentation comprises a main stream representation (MSR) and an external stream representation (ESR) associated with the MSR, a concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[00101] Clause 18. A method for storing a media file of a media, comprising: performing a conversion between the media file and a media presentation of the media; and storing the media file in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, wherein the media presentation comprises a main stream representation (MSR) and an external stream representation (ESR) associated with the MSR, a concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[00102] Clause 19. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a media presentation of a media which is generated by a method performed by a media processing apparatus, wherein the method comprises: performing a conversion between a media file of the media and the media presentation, wherein the media presentation comprises a main stream representation (MSR) and an external stream representation (ESR) associated with the MSR, a concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

[00103] Clause 20. A method for storing a media presentation of a media, comprising: performing a conversion between a media file of the media and the media presentation; and storing the media presentation in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, wherein the media presentation comprises a main stream representation (MSR) and an external stream representation (ESR) associated with the MSR, a concatenation of a first segment in the ESR, a second segment in the MSR corresponding to the first segment, and subsequent segments following the second segment in the MSR results in a file conforming to a file format standard.

Example Device

[00104] Fig. 13 illustrates a block diagram of a computing device 1300 in which various embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. The computing device 1300 may be implemented as or included in the source device 110 (or the video encoder 114 or 200) or the destination device 120 (or the video decoder 124 or 300). [00105] It would be appreciated that the computing device 1300 shown in Fig. 13 is merely for purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation to the functions and scopes of the embodiments of the present disclosure in any manner.

[00106] As shown in Fig. 13, the computing device 1300 includes a general -purpose computing device 1300. The computing device 1300 may at least comprise one or more processors or processing units 1310, a memory 1320, a storage unit 1330, one or more communication units 1340, one or more input devices 1350, and one or more output devices 1360.

[00107] In some embodiments, the computing device 1300 may be implemented as any user terminal or server terminal having the computing capability. The server terminal may be a server, a large-scale computing device or the like that is provided by a service provider. The user terminal may for example be any type of mobile terminal, fixed terminal, or portable terminal, including a mobile phone, station, unit, device, multimedia computer, multimedia tablet, Internet node, communicator, desktop computer, laptop computer, notebook computer, netbook computer, tablet computer, personal communication system (PCS) device, personal navigation device, personal digital assistant (PDA), audio/video player, digital camera/video camera, positioning device, television receiver, radio broadcast receiver, E-book device, gaming device, or any combination thereof, including the accessories and peripherals of these devices, or any combination thereof. It would be contemplated that the computing device 1300 can support any type of interface to a user (such as “wearable” circuitry and the like).

[00108] The processing unit 1310 may be a physical or virtual processor and can implement various processes based on programs stored in the memory 1320. In a multi -processor system, multiple processing units execute computer executable instructions in parallel so as to improve the parallel processing capability of the computing device 1300. The processing unit 1310 may also be referred to as a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a controller or a microcontroller.

[00109] The computing device 1300 typically includes various computer storage medium. Such medium can be any medium accessible by the computing device 1300, including, but not limited to, volatile and non-volatile medium, or detachable and non-detachable medium. The memory 1320 can be a volatile memory (for example, a register, cache, Random Access Memory (RAM)), a non-volatile memory (such as a Read-Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory), or any combination thereof. The storage unit 1330 may be any detachable or non-detachable medium and may include a machine-readable medium such as a memory, flash memory drive, magnetic disk or another other media, which can be used for storing information and/or data and can be accessed in the computing device 1300.

[00110] The computing device 1300 may further include additional detachable/non- detachable, volatile/non-volatile memory medium. Although not shown in Fig. 13, it is possible to provide a magnetic disk drive for reading from and/or writing into a detachable and nonvolatile magnetic disk and an optical disk drive for reading from and/or writing into a detachable non-volatile optical disk. In such cases, each drive may be connected to a bus (not shown) via one or more data medium interfaces.

[00111] The communication unit 1340 communicates with a further computing device via the communication medium. In addition, the functions of the components in the computing device 1300 can be implemented by a single computing cluster or multiple computing machines that can communicate via communication connections. Therefore, the computing device 1300 can operate in a networked environment using a logical connection with one or more other servers, networked personal computers (PCs) or further general network nodes.

[00112] The input device 1350 may be one or more of a variety of input devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, tracking ball, voice-input device, and the like. The output device 1360 may be one or more of a variety of output devices, such as a display, loudspeaker, printer, and the like. By means of the communication unit 1340, the computing device 1300 can further communicate with one or more external devices (not shown) such as the storage devices and display device, with one or more devices enabling the user to interact with the computing device 1300, or any devices (such as a network card, a modem and the like) enabling the computing device 1300 to communicate with one or more other computing devices, if required. Such communication can be performed via input/output (I/O) interfaces (not shown).

[00113] In some embodiments, instead of being integrated in a single device, some or all components of the computing device 1300 may also be arranged in cloud computing architecture. In the cloud computing architecture, the components may be provided remotely and work together to implement the functionalities described in the present disclosure. In some embodiments, cloud computing provides computing, software, data access and storage service, which will not require end users to be aware of the physical locations or configurations of the systems or hardware providing these services. In various embodiments, the cloud computing provides the services via a wide area network (such as Internet) using suitable protocols. For example, a cloud computing provider provides applications over the wide area network, which can be accessed through a web browser or any other computing components. The software or components of the cloud computing architecture and corresponding data may be stored on a server at a remote position. The computing resources in the cloud computing environment may be merged or distributed at locations in a remote data center. Cloud computing infrastructures may provide the services through a shared data center, though they behave as a single access point for the users. Therefore, the cloud computing architectures may be used to provide the components and functionalities described herein from a service provider at a remote location. Alternatively, they may be provided from a conventional server or installed directly or otherwise on a client device.

[00114] The computing device 1300 may be used to implement video encoding/decoding in embodiments of the present disclosure. The memory 1320 may include one or more video coding modules 1325 having one or more program instructions. These modules are accessible and executable by the processing unit 1310 to perform the functionalities of the various embodiments described herein.

[00115] In the example embodiments of performing video encoding, the input device 1350 may receive video data as an input 1370 to be encoded. The video data may be processed, for example, by the video coding module 1325, to generate an encoded bitstream. The encoded bitstream may be provided via the output device 1360 as an output 1380.

[00116] In the example embodiments of performing video decoding, the input device 1350 may receive an encoded bitstream as the input 1370. The encoded bitstream may be processed, for example, by the video coding module 1325, to generate decoded video data. The decoded video data may be provided via the output device 1360 as the output 1380.

[00117] While this disclosure has been particularly shown and described with references to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application as defined by the appended claims. Such variations are intended to be covered by the scope of this present application. As such, the foregoing description of embodiments of the present application is not intended to be limiting.