Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of decoding audiovisual data allowing to process, on the basis of an improved syntactic language, distincts elements of a scene as objects for which individual animations, particular interactions user/elements, and specific relations between said elements and the defined animations and/or interactions can be provided, said description being organized in a hierarchical tree also comprising transversal connections provided both for embedding bidimensional and/or tridimensional objects in each other and optionally controlling the rendering of scenes from various view points, while maintaining a control of all related actions both in the embedded objects and/or scenes and in the original ones.

Abstract: A technique wherein the number and position of a quantization parameter node is determined in response to the quantization parameters and a preselected error. The size of scene graph and the corresponding amount of memory required to store the scene graph can be reduced by selective placement of quantization parameter nodes in a scene graph. The scene graph is traversed depth first to establish an order and then traversed in reverse. At each node, a calculation relating to (1) the relative cost of inserting a quantization parameter node and (2) the relative savings that result from insertion of a quantization node is performed. Quantization parameter nodes are selectively placed in response to a result of these calculations. The maximum degree of acceptable error value is chosen for each quantization type. This error value limits the number of quantization parameter nodes that can be placed in a scene graph.

Abstract: A technique wherein the number and position of a quantization parameter node is determined in response to the quantization parameters and a preselected error. The size of scene graph and the corresponding amount of memory required to store the scene graph can be reduced by selective placement of quantization parameter nodes in a scene graph. The scene graph is traversed depth first to establish an order and then traversed in reverse. At each node, a calculation relating to (1) the relative cost of inserting a quantization parameter node and (2) the relative savings that result from insertion of a quantization node is performed. Quantization parameter nodes are selectively placed in response to a result of these calculations. The maximum degree of acceptable error value is chosen for each quantization type. This error value limits the number of quantization parameter nodes that can be placed in a scene graph.

Abstract: A technique wherein the number and position of a quantization parameter node is determined in response to the quantization parameters and a preselected error. The size of scene graph and the corresponding amount of memory required to store the scene graph can be reduced by selective placement of quantization parameter nodes in a scene graph. The scene graph is traversed depth first to establish an order and then traversed in reverse. At each node, a calculation relating to (1) the relative cost of inserting a quantization parameter node and (2) the relative savings that result from insertion of a quantization node is performed. Quantization parameter nodes are selectively placed in response to a result of these calculations. The maximum degree of acceptable error value is chosen for each quantization type. This error value limits the number of quantization parameter nodes that can be placed in a scene graph.

Abstract: A technique wherein the number and position of a quantization parameter node is determined in response to the quantization parameters and a preselected error. The size of scene graph and the corresponding amount of memory required to store the scene graph can be reduced by selective placement of quantization parameter nodes in a scene graph. The scene graph is traversed depth first to establish an order and then traversed in reverse. At each node, a calculation relating to (1) the relative cost of inserting a quantization parameter node and (2) the relative savings that result from insertion of a quantization node is performed. Quantization parameter nodes are selectively placed in response to a result of these calculations. The maximum degree of acceptable error value is chosen for each quantization type. This error value limits the number of quantization parameter nodes that can be placed in a scene graph.

Abstract: A technique wherein the number and position of a quantization parameter node is determined in response to the quantization parameters and a preselected error. The size of scene graph and the corresponding amount of memory required to store the scene graph can be reduced by selective placement of quantization parameter nodes in a scene graph. The scene graph is traversed depth first to establish an order and then traversed in reverse. At each node, a calculation relating to (1) the relative cost of inserting a quantization parameter node and (2) the relative savings that result from insertion of a quantization node is performed. Quantization parameter nodes are selectively placed in response to a result of these calculations. The maximum degree of acceptable error value is chosen for each quantization type. This error value limits the number of quantization parameter nodes that can be placed in a scene graph.

Abstract: A technique wherein the number and position of a quantization parameter node is determined in response to the quantization parameters and a preselected error. The size of scene graph and the corresponding amount of memory required to store the scene graph can be reduced by selective placement of quantization parameter nodes in a scene graph. The scene graph is traversed depth first to establish an order and then traversed in reverse. At each node, a calculation relating to (1) the relative cost of inserting a quantization parameter node and (2) the relative savings that result from insertion of a quantization node is performed. Quantization parameter nodes are selectively placed in response to a result of these calculations. The maximum degree of acceptable error value is chosen for each quantization type. This error value limits the number of quantization parameter nodes that can be placed in a scene graph.

Abstract: A technique wherein the number and position of a quantization parameter node is determined in response to the quantization parameters and a preselected error. The size of scene graph and the corresponding amount of memory required to store the scene graph can be reduced by selective placement of quantization parameter nodes in a scene graph. The scene graph is traversed depth first to establish an order and then traversed in reverse. At each node, a calculation relating to (1) the relative cost of inserting a quantization parameter node and (2) the relative savings that result from insertion of a quantization node is performed. Quantization parameter nodes are selectively placed in response to a result of these calculations. The maximum degree of acceptable error value is chosen for each quantization type. This error value limits the number of quantization parameter nodes that can be placed in a scene graph.

Abstract: A technique wherein a data stream received by a viewer is responsive to input from other viewers. The data stream is sent from a server to a set of users who generate various responses to the media stream. The responses are analyzed and the analysis or other appropriate response is back to the users. In this way, the information displayed by a user is modified by how other users interact with the media stream. Additionally, the response of a particular user to a data stream may result in personalized information being sent to that user in real time. Various configurations are used to multicast or unicast a program to users and multicast or unicast additional information that is responsive to input from those users.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of decoding audiovisual data allowing to process, on the basis of an improved syntactic language, distincts elements of a scene as objects for which individual animations, particular interactions user/elements, and specific relations between said elements and the defined animations and/or interactions can be provided, said description being organized in a hierarchical tree also comprising transversal connections provided both for embedding bidimensional and/or tridimensional objects in each other and optionnally controlling the rendering of scenes from various view points, while maintaining a control of all related actions both in the embedded objects and/or scenes and in the original ones.

Abstract: The invention provides a technique for integrating a plurality of media streams, including a main program and a stream of customized information at a terminal so that a user gets a single playback. Prior to streaming a main program to a user, the main program is embedded with placeholders. These placeholders include a definition of a location for insertion of customized media content and a pointer to another server. As the user receives the main program and embedded placeholders, these pointers get directed from the user's terminal to streaming server, which responds by identifying appropriate media and streaming the media to the user's terminal. Software on the user's terminal (also known as a “player”) integrates the various data streams and synchronizes them to a main program. The user's terminal may receive many media streams from different streaming servers and integrate each stream into a single playback.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of decoding audio-visual data allowing to process, on the basis of an improved syntactic language, distinct elements of a scene as objects for which individual animations, particular interactions user/elements, and specific relations between the elements and the defined animations and/or interactions can be provided, the description being organized in a hierarchical tree also including transversal connections provided both for embedding bidimensional and/or tridimensional objects in each other and optionally controlling the rendering of scenes from various view points, while maintaining a control of all related actions both in the embedded objects and/or scenes and in the original ones.

Abstract: A method and system for encoding a video stream using a compact representation for rotations and normals. The method and system convert rotations and normals into normalized rotations and normals and then project the normalized versions onto a unit cube. Each rotation and normal is encoded according to on which face it was projected. In addition, motion can be compactly represented by movement across the unit cube.

Abstract: A method and system for encoding multimedia content using dynamic interfaces. By providing an extendable, programmatic interface to the content of a scene, a scene may be more efficiently encoded than a scene in which each characteristic of each object in the scene is explicitly specified in the video stream for each frame. Exemplary scene characteristics that can be encoded include quantizing values, animation parameters and update parameters.

Abstract: A method and system for uniformly encoding arrays of values in a video stream. Using a data type of an element to be encoded, a predictive value is quantized and encoded as part of a video stream. The resulting video stream efficiently encodes rotations, normals, and vectors.