Abstract: Systems, methods and cartridges for carbonating or otherwise dissolving gas in a precursor liquid, such as water, to form a beverage. A gas source can be provided in a cartridge which is used to generate gas that is dissolved into the precursor liquid. A beverage medium, such as a powdered drink mix or liquid syrup, may be provided in the same, or a separate cartridge as the gas source and mixed with the precursor liquid to form a beverage. The use of one or more cartridges for the gas source and/or beverage medium may make for an easy to use and mess-free system for making sparkling beverages, e.g., in the consumer's home.

Abstract: Methods for reducing blocking artifacts at the boundary between adjacent blocks reconstructed from a frame of compressed video information are disclosed herein. The frame includes a prediction stage parameter and a residual error attribute with respect to at least one of the blocks. One method includes reconstructing the at least one block based on the prediction stage parameter and the residual error attribute, categorizing the at least one reconstructed block into one of a plurality of categories based on the prediction stage parameter and the residual error attribute, identifying a filter strength value for the category in which the at least one reconstructed block is categorized based on at least one of the prediction stage parameter or the residual error attribute associated with that category, and filtering the boundary adjacent to the at least one reconstructed block using the identified filter strength value.

Abstract: A method for decoding compressed video information is disclosed. The video information can include a plurality of frames each having a plurality of blocks. The method reading, from the video information, a segment map associating at least some of the plurality of blocks in a first frame of the plurality of frames with at least one segment identifier, reading, from the video information, a current block to be decoded by a decoder, reading, from the segment map, a segment identifier that is associated with the current block, reading, from the video information, at least one segment parameter associated with the segment identifier that is associated with the current block and decoding the current block using the at least one segment parameter associated with the segment identifier that is associated with the current block.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for digital video encoding prediction comprising creating a constructed reference frame using an encoder and compressing a series of source video frames using the constructed reference frame to obtain a bitstream including a compressed digital video signal for a subsequent decoding process. The constructed reference frame is omitted from the series of digital video frames during the subsequent viewing process.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for digital video encoding prediction comprising creating a constructed reference frame using an encoder and compressing a series of source video frames using the constructed reference frame to obtain a bitstream including a compressed digital video signal for a subsequent decoding process. The constructed reference frame is omitted from the series of digital video frames during the subsequent viewing process.

Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method for encoding a video signal having a plurality of frames including a current frame. The method includes identifying a first block within the current frame; determining at least one predictor token related to the first block; identifying a reference block within the plurality of frames; determining at least one prediction error token derived from a difference between the first block and the reference block; assigning the at least one predictor token to a first bitstream partition; assigning the at least one prediction error token to a second bitstream partition; and selecting a first encoding scheme for the first bitstream partition and a second encoding scheme for the second bitstream partition.

Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method for decoding a video signal having a plurality of frames including a current frame. Decoding the video signal includes generating an alternate reference frame, detecting an error in the current frame and reporting the detected error, receiving a recovery frame in response to reporting the detected error, wherein the recovery frame is encoded using the alternate reference frame; and decoding the recovery frame using the alternate reference frame. The alternate reference frame occurs prior to the current frame in the video signal and is other than a frame immediately prior to the current frame.

Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method of compressing video data having at least one frame having at least one block having an array of pixels. The method includes transforming the pixels of the at least one block into coefficients, creating a default transmission order of the coefficients, creating an optimal transmission order of the coefficients, comparing a coefficient position of at least one of the coefficients in the optimal transmission order with a coefficient position of the at least one of the coefficients in the default transmission order; determining an update value based on the comparison, and selectively encoding position information of the at least one of the coefficients in the optimal transmission order based on the update value.

Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method for decoding a video signal having a plurality of frames including a current frame. Decoding the video signal can include generating an alternate reference frame having a first quality level, determining a boost value indicative of a second quality level higher than the first quality level, determining whether to apply the boost value to the alternative reference frame, and selectively applying the boost value to the alternative reference frame if it is determined to apply the boost value to the alternative reference frame. The alternate reference frame can occur prior to the current frame in the video signal and other than a frame immediately prior to the current frame.

Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method for encoding a video signal having at least one frame with a plurality of blocks. The method includes determining, for a first block in the at least one frame, a motion vector that describes a spatial relationship between the first block and a second block within a previously encoded frame that is similar to the first block, determining a complexity value representative of a complexity of the second block; determining a length value representative of a length of the motion vector; selecting a filter from a plurality of filters based on at least one of the length value or the complexity value wherein the plurality of filters includes at least a bicubic filter and a bilinear filter; and applying the selected filter to at least a portion of the previously encoded frame to derive a predictor block.

Abstract: A method for decoding a stream of encoded video data is disclosed. The video stream includes partitions that have been compressed using lossless encoding. Each partition includes rows that have also been encoded using intra-frame or inter-frame encoding, for example. During the decoding process, two or more of the partitions are entropy decoded on two or more processors in parallel, except that partitions containing adjacent rows in the frame are decoded with an offset so that at least a portion of the output of the entropy decoding of one partition can be used as input in the entropy and intra/inter-frame decoding of the other.

Abstract: A method for decoding compressed video information is disclosed. The video information can include a plurality of frames each having a plurality of blocks. The method includes reading from the video information a segment map that associates blocks in the frame with four segment identifiers. Each segment identifier is associated with one or more segment parameters, such as quantization parameters, loop filter type, loop filter strength and sub-pixel interpolation filter. The blocks in each segment are then decoded using the associated segment parameters. Segment parameters can persist to following frames unless overwritten by a subsequent frame. A frame can also include a bit suppressing segmentation, in which case default parameters are used for all blocks in the frame.

Abstract: Methods for decoding frames of compressed video information are disclosed. Each frame includes a plurality of blocks having a prediction stage parameter and a residual error attribute. One method includes categorizing each of the blocks into categories based on at least one of the prediction stage parameter or the residual error attribute, determining a loop filter strength value to each of the categories, and filtering the boundary adjacent to at least one of the blocks using the loop filter strength assigned to the category in which that block is categorized.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for encoding a video signal having at least one frame with a plurality of blocks. The method includes assigning at least some of the plurality of blocks to a segment, determining at least one prediction element for the segment using a processor, applying the at least one prediction element to a first block and at least some of the other blocks in the segment and encoding the first block and the other blocks in the segment.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for digital video encoding prediction comprising creating a constructed reference frame using an encoder and compressing a series of source video frames using the constructed reference frame to obtain a bitstream including a compressed digital video signal for a subsequent decoding process. The constructed reference frame is omitted from the series of digital video frames during the subsequent viewing process.

Abstract: Decoding a stream of encoded video data involves partitions that have been compressed using lossless encoding. Each partition includes rows that have also been encoded using intra-frame or inter-frame encoding. During the decoding process, two or more of the partitions are entropy decoded on two or more processors in parallel, except that partitions containing adjacent rows in the frame are decoded with an offset so that at least a portion of the output of the entropy decoding of one partition can be used as input in the entropy and intra/inter-frame decoding of the other.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for encoding a video signal having at least one frame with a plurality of blocks having pixels. The method includes determining motion vectors for a first block in the at least one frame and at least some of the blocks that are neighbors to the first block, identifying neighboring blocks having motion vectors that are similar to the motion vector of the first block, assigning the first block and the identified neighboring blocks to a segment using a processor, applying a segment parameter to at least one block in the segment and encoding the at least one block using the segment parameter.

Abstract: A method for encoding and decoding a video signal having frames with blocks comprised of pixels. The method reduces the complexity of the video signal to be encoded by applying a filter scheme to the input data stream in an encoder and later reversing the filter scheme in a decoder. A number of filter schemes may be tested to determine the best filter scheme that most reduces the number of distinct color values per color plane. The best filter scheme is used to filter the data to be encoded. Filter information of the best filter scheme is included in the encoded data to enable the decoder to identify the best filter scheme in order to apply the best filter scheme in reverse to re-create the original data stream.

Abstract: A system and method for encoding and decoding a video image having a plurality of frames is disclosed. The method includes a previously reconstructed frame that is segmented to create an alternate reference frame used to encode a current frame. The segments of the previously reconstructed frame are assigned motion parameters, which are used to compile the alternate reference frame. The current frame is encoded and the segmentation parameters and motion parameters are transmitted in the bitstream. The segmentation parameters and motion parameters can be used by a decoder to recreate the alternate reference frame in order to decode the encoded current frame.

Abstract: A system and method for encoding a video is disclosed having a plurality of frames with spatially correspondent macroblocks. The method includes selecting a coding mode for each spatially correspondent macroblock, such as intra-frame coding or inter-frame coding. A weighting value is determined for each pixel in the macroblock based on the coding mode of the macroblock or other indication of the correlation of the pixel to spatially corresponding pixels in one or more other frames. A temporal filter uses the weighting values to filter noise from the plurality of frames and the resulting noise-reduced output is used in a predictive reference frame.