Abstract: A method to insert or splice new pictures into an existing video stream is provided where the video stream is compressed according to the MPEG-2 video compression standard. The method assures that the new pictures will fit into the encoded stream in the space allotted without running over or under their given bit allocation. The method comprises of steps by which a number of new pictures may be encoded to a precise bit target given the number of free bits in the buffer at the start and end of the splicing, while preventing buffer overruns and under runs.

Abstract: Method, system and computer program product are provided for adaptively encoding in hardware, software or a combination thereof a series of still or partially still pictures using motion video encoding. A pre-encode statistics measurement unit is employed to derive statistics on each frame of the sequence of video frames to be encoded. The statistics are determinative of whether the frame comprises a still frame. If so, at least one controllable parameter to be used to encode the still frame is modified, and an encoding engine employs the at least one controllable parameter to encode the still frame so that pulsation artifacts are prevented between still frames of the series of still frames. Partial still picture encoding to prevent pulsation artifacts on a macroblock level is also addressed.

Abstract: A method for compensating for reduced picture quality when combining a multi-chip encoding chipset into a single integrated semiconductor IC. The method includes additional functions provided on the single IC to compensate for the negative effects on picture quality produced as a result of rounding 8 bit luminance pixel data to 5 bits, where the luminance data values are supplied as input to the search function. The additional functions are collectively referred to as motion biasing and are applied to influence the choice of a "best match" motion type, which is well known in the art. The biasing is performed by the addition of a weight factor to a total difference result that is calculated by the search function. The biasing is applied only for the purpose of influencing the choice of a reference frame that is not necessarily the frame which produces an optimal motion vector, but rather will result in using fewer bits to encode macroblocks.

Abstract: Method, system and computer program product are provided for adaptively encoding in hardware, software or a combination thereof a sequence of video frames in real-time. A first encoding subsystem analyzes the sequence of video frames to derive information on at least one characteristic thereof, such as motion statistics, non-motion statistics, scene change statistics, or scene fade statistics. The gathered information may be either an intraframe characteristic or an interframe characteristic. A control processor is coupled to the first encoding subsystem to automatically analyze the gathered information in real time and dynamically produce a set of control parameters. A second encoding subsystem, coupled to the control processor, then encodes each frame of the sequence of video frames employing the corresponding set of control parameters.

Abstract: A checkpoint retry system for recovery from an error condition in a multiprocessor type central processing unit which may have a store-in or a store-through cache system. At detection of a checkpoint instruction, the system initiates action to save the content of the program status word, the floating point registers, the access registers and the general purpose registers until the store operations are completed for the checkpointed sequence. For processors which have a store-in cache, modified cache data is saved in a store buffer until the checkpointed instructions are completed and then written to a cache which is accessible to other processors in the system. For processors which utilize store-through cache, the modified data for the checkpointed instructions is also stored in the store buffer prior to storage in the system memory.