# US 12,225,209 B2 · Transmission apparatus, transmission method, and program > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,225,209 B2 - Document ID: US12225209B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/911,052 - Filed: 2021-03-24 - Published: 2023-04-06 - Granted: 2025-02-11 - Earliest claimed: 2020-03-31 - Assignees: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. - Applicants: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. - Inventors: Katsushi Otsuka - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12225209B2 ## CPC - H04N 19/105: Selection of the reference unit for prediction within a chosen coding or prediction mode, e.g. adaptive choice of position and number of pixels used for prediction - H04N 19/166: concerning the amount of transmission errors, e.g. bit error rate [BER] - H04N 19/159: Prediction type, e.g. intra-frame, inter-frame or bidirectional frame prediction - H04N 19/164: Feedback from the receiver or from the transmission channel - H04N 19/176: the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract Provided are a transmission apparatus, a transmission method, and a program that achieve transmission of image data having an appropriate referent with a small network load. An acquisition unit (26) sequentially acquires frame images drawn in a frame buffer. An encoding processing unit (28) sequentially encodes encoding units each corresponding to part or whole of one of the frame images and generates image data. A data transmitting unit (30) sequentially transmits the image data. A transmission failure probability estimating unit (38) estimates, after the transmission of the image data, a transmission failure probability that is a probability of failure of the transmission of the image data. A referent determining unit (42) determines, in reference to the transmission failure probability of the image data, one or a plurality of referents that serve as a referent of a given encoding unit from the encoding units related to the image data transmitted. The encoding processing unit (28) encodes the given encoding unit by referring to the one or the plurality of referents, thereby generating the image data. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A transmission apparatus comprising: circuitry configured to: sequentially acquire frame images drawn in a frame buffer; sequentially encode encoding units each corresponding to part or whole of one of the frame images and generate image data; sequentially transmit the image data; estimate, after the transmission of the image data, a transmission failure probability that is a probability of failure of the transmission of the image data; and determine, in reference to the transmission failure probability of the image data, one or a plurality of referents that serve as a referent of a given encoding unit, from among the encoding units related to the image data transmitted, wherein the circuitry encodes the given encoding unit by referring to the one or the plurality of referents, and thereby generates the image data, and the transmission failure probability is estimated using a number of response-waiting transactions, an effective bandwidth of a communication path for image data, and an elapsed time from a start of transmission of the image data to a current time. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to estimate the transmission failure probability in reference to the number of pieces of the image data transmitted for which a corresponding acknowledgment has not been received and a predetermined timeout time has not elapsed since the transmission. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a candidate holding circuitry configured to hold a plurality of pieces of candidate data corresponding to the encoding units related to the image data transmitted, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine the one or the plurality of referents from among the encoding units corresponding to the candidate data. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The transmission apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: a candidate managing circuitry configured to hold the candidate data in the candidate holding circuitry, wherein, when the number of the pieces of candidate data held in the candidate holding circuitry has reached an upper limit, the candidate managing circuitry holds new candidate data in the candidate holding circuitry and deletes one of the pieces of candidate data held in the candidate holding circuitry from the candidate holding circuitry. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The transmission apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the candidate managing circuitry deletes, from the candidate holding circuitry, the candidate data determined according to a ratio of the number of coding unit blocks subjected to intra prediction coding to the number of coding unit blocks included in one of the encoding units. ### Claim 6 (depends on 4) The transmission apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the candidate managing circuitry deletes, from the candidate holding circuitry, the candidate data determined according to whether or not each of the frame images including the encoding units is an image immediately after a scene change. ### Claim 7 (depends on 4) The transmission apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the candidate managing circuitry deletes, from the candidate holding circuitry, the candidate data determined according to an order in which the encoding units have been encoded. ### Claim 8 (depends on 4) The transmission apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the candidate managing circuitry deletes, from the candidate holding circuitry, the candidate data determined according to an order in which the encoding units have been referred to. ### Claim 9 (depends on 4) The transmission apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the candidate managing circuitry performs control such that a terminal that is a transmission destination of the image data holds the candidate data that is a copy of the candidate data held in the candidate holding circuitry. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The transmission apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the candidate managing circuitry transmits, every time the candidate data held in the candidate holding circuitry is changed, an update notification indicating the change to the terminal, thereby synchronizing the candidate data held in the terminal and the candidate data held in the candidate holding circuitry with each other. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine the one or the plurality of referents according to a degree of smallness of a data size of the image data generated by referring to one of the encoding units related to the image data transmitted and encoding the given encoding unit. ### Claim 12 A transmission method comprising: a sequentially acquiring frame images drawn in a frame buffer; a sequentially encoding encoding units each corresponding to part or whole of one of the frame images and generating image data; a sequentially transmitting the image data; a estimating, after the transmission of the image data, a transmission failure probability that is a probability of failure of the transmission of the image data; and a determining, in reference to the transmission failure probability of the image data, one or a plurality of referents that serve as a referent of a given encoding unit, from among the encoding units related to the image data transmitted, wherein, in the encoding, the given encoding unit is encoded by referring to the one or the plurality of referents, and the image data is thereby generated, and the transmission failure probability is estimated using a number of response-waiting transactions, an effective bandwidth of a communication path for image data, and an elapsed time from a start of transmission of the image data to a current time. ### Claim 13 A non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to, when programmed by circuitry, perform the following process: sequentially acquiring frame images drawn in a frame buffer; sequentially encoding encoding units each corresponding to part or whole of one of the frame images and generating image data; sequentially transmitting the image data; estimating, after the transmission of the image data, a transmission failure probability that is a probability of failure of the transmission of the image data; and determining, in reference to the transmission failure probability of the image data, one or a plurality of referents that serve as a referent of a given encoding unit, from among the encoding units related to the image data transmitted, wherein, in the encoding, the given encoding unit is encoded by referring to the one or the plurality of referents, and the image data is thereby generated, and the transmission failure probability is estimated using a number of response-waiting transactions, an effective bandwidth of a communication path for image data, and an elapsed time from a start of transmission of the image data to a current time. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 13, wherein the process further comprises: storing a plurality of pieces of candidate data corresponding to the encoding units related to the image data transmitted in a candidate holding circuitry; determining the one or the plurality of referents from among the encoding units corresponding to the candidate data; and deleting, in the candidate holding circuitry, candidate data from among the plurality of pieces of candidate data in reference to a value of frame score, and a value of frame score data is determined in reference to a value of a scene change flag, a value of reference count data, and a value of intra prediction coding ratio data. ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The transmission method according to claim 12, wherein the number of response-waiting transactions corresponds to a number of pieces of image data for which the corresponding acknowledgements have not been received and a predetermined timeout time has not elapsed since the transmission. ### Claim 16 (depends on 12) The transmission method according to claim 12, further comprising: storing a plurality of pieces of candidate data corresponding to the encoding units related to the image data transmitted in a candidate holding circuitry; determining the one or the plurality of referents from among the encoding units corresponding to the candidate data; and deleting, in the candidate holding circuitry, candidate data from among the plurality of pieces of candidate data in reference to a value of frame score data. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The transmission method according to claim 16, wherein a value of frame score data is determined in reference to a value of a scene change flag, a value of reference count data, and a value of intra prediction coding ratio data. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of response-waiting transactions corresponds to a number of pieces of image data for which the corresponding acknowledgements have not been received and a predetermined timeout time has not elapsed since the transmission. ### Claim 19 (depends on 3) The transmission apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the circuitry is further configured to delete, in the candidate holding circuitry, candidate data from among the plurality of pieces of candidate data in reference to a value of frame score data. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The transmission apparatus according to claim 19, wherein a value of frame score data is determined in reference to a value of a scene change flag, a value of reference count data, and a value of intra prediction coding ratio data.