Method for bitrate signaling and bitstream format enabling such method

An audio and/or video signal processing device for processing a bitstream;

• wherein the bitstream comprises a sequence of encoded frames;
• wherein the frames of the sequence of encoded frames comprise a varying number of bits;
• wherein the frames of the sequence of encoded frames correspond to excerpts of an audio and/or video signal, wherein the excerpts have a constant temporal length;
• wherein at least two frames of the sequence of encoded frames comprise a wait_frames parameter;
• wherein the wait_frames parameter of a frame is indicative of a number of frames and/or a time interval that the corresponding frame is to be delayed in a buffer of the audio and/or video signal processing device prior to processing of the frame by the audio and/or video signal processing device;
• wherein the audio and/or video signal processing device is configured to
• determine a total number of bits STot for N frames of a subsequence of frames from the bitstream;
• determine a corrected number N′ of frames based on the number N of frames and based on a difference between the wait_frames parameters of a first frame and a second frame of the subsequence;
• wherein the first frame corresponds to the frame at a beginning of the subsequence;
• and wherein the second frame corresponds to the frame at an end of the subsequence;
• determine a lower bitrate bound brmin and an upper bitrate bound brmax of a bitrate br of the bitstream based on the total number of bits STot, based on the corrected number N′ of frames and based on a frame rate fframe of the bitstream;
• determine an estimate brest of a bitrate br of the bitstream from the lower bitrate bound and an upper bitrate bound;
• store frames of the sequence of encoded frames in the buffer of the audio and/or video signal processing device;
• process the frames of the sequence of encoded frames, wherein processing the frames of the sequence of encoded frames comprises inserting the encoded frames into a multiplexed bitstream or decoding the sequence of encoded frames;
• and
• output the multiplexed bitstream or the decoded frames from the audio and/or video signal processing device;
• wherein one or more of determining a total number of bits, determining a corrected number N′ of frames, determining a lower bitrate bound brmin and an upper bitrate bound brmax, determining the estimate of the bitrate, storing frames of the sequence, processing the frames of the sequence, and outputting the multiplexed bitstream or the decoded frames is implemented, at least in part, by one or more hardware elements of the audio and/or video signal processing device.

An audio and/or video signal processing device for processing an audio and/or video signal to generate a bitstream having a bitrate br;

• wherein the audio and/or video signal processing device is configured to:
• receive the audio and/or video signal;
• encode the audio and/or video signal to generate a sequence of encoded frames;
• wherein the frames of the sequence of encoded frames correspond to excerpts of the audio and/or video signal, wherein the excerpts have a constant temporal length;
• wherein the frames of the sequence of encoding frames comprise a varying number of bits;
• assemble the sequence of encoded frames into the bitstream having the bitrate br;
• and
• output the bitstream having the bitrate br from the audio and/or video signal processing device;
• wherein at least two frames of the sequence of encoded frames include a wait_frames parameter;
• wherein the wait_frames parameter of a frame is indicative of a number of frames and/or a time interval that the corresponding frame is to be delayed by a multiplexing device and/or by a decoding device prior to processing of the frame by the multiplexing device and/or by the decoding device;
• wherein at least two frames of the sequence of encoded frames include a bitrate code parameter;
• wherein the bitrate code parameter takes on different bitrate code values;
• wherein the bitrate code values of the inserted bitrate code parameters depend on the bitrate br of the bitstream;
• wherein an estimate brest of the bitrate br of the bitstream is representable in a floating point representation comprising a mantissa fbrCorr and an exponent k;
• wherein the precision of an initial estimate of the bitrate br is determined by a multiplexing device and/or a decoding device based on the wait_frames parameters comprised within the bitstream;
• wherein the initial estimate defines a lower bound brmin and an upper bound brmax of the bitrate br;
• wherein the exponent k of the estimate brest determined based on the lower bitrate bound brmin and/or based on the upper bitrate bound brmax of the bitrate br;
• and wherein the mantissa fbrCorr is determined by the multiplexing device and/or the decoding device based on the bitrate code parameter;
• and
• wherein one or more of receiving the audio and/or video signal, encoding the audio and/or video signal, assembling the sequence of encoded frames, and outputting the bitstream is implemented, at least in part, by one or more hardware elements of the audio and/or video signal processing device.

A method, performed by an audio and/or video signal processing device, for processing a bitstream;

• wherein the bitstream comprises a sequence of encoded frames;
• wherein the frames of the sequence of encoded frames comprise a varying number of bits;
• wherein the frames of the sequence of encoded frames correspond to excerpts of an audio and/or video signal;
• wherein at least one frame of the sequence of encoded frames comprises a bitrate code parameter;
• the method comprising
• providing a lower bitrate bound brmin and an upper bitrate bound brmax of a bitrate br of the bitstream;
• determining an exponent k based on the lower bitrate bound brmin and/or based on the upper bitrate bound brmax of the bitrate br;
• determining a mantissa fbrCorr based on the bitrate code parameter of one or more frames of the sequence of encoded frames;
• determining an estimate brest of the bitrate br of the bitstream in a floating point representation comprising the mantissa fbrcorr and the exponent k;
• storing frames of the sequence of encoded frames in a buffer of the audio and/or video signal processing device;
• processing the frames of the sequence of encoded frames, wherein processing the frames of the sequence of encoded frames comprises inserting the encoded frames into a multiplexed bitstream or decoding the sequence of encoded frames;
• and
• outputting, from the audio and/or video signal processing device, the multiplexed bitstream or the decoded frames;
• wherein one or more of providing a lower bitrate bound brmin and an upper bitrate bound brmax, determining the exponent k, determining the mantissa fbrCorr, determining an estimate of the bitrate, storing frames of the sequence of encoded frames, processing the frames of the sequence of encoded frames, and outputting the multiplexed bitstream or the decoded frames, is implemented, at least in part, by one or more hardware elements of the audio and/or video signal processing device.