Method and an apparatus for controlling the rate of a video sequence; a video encoding device

An apparatus for controlling the rate for encoding a video sequence, wherein the video sequence comprises a plurality of Group Of Pictures, wherein each Group of Picture comprises at least and I-frame and an Inter-frame, the apparatus comprises a processing unit being adapted to perform the following steps for the encoding of each Inter-frame in the Group of Picture:

• Determining a desired frame rate based on an available bandwidth of a channel which is used for transmitting the video sequence and on available computational resources for the encoding process;
• Determining a target buffer level based on the desired frame rate and the position of the Inter-frame with respect to the I-frame;
• and
• Determining a target bit rate based on the target buffer level and the available channel bandwidth, wherein the target bit rate is used for controlling the rate for encoding the video sequence.

A video encoding device for controlling the rate for encoding a video sequence, wherein the video sequence comprises a plurality of Group Of Pictures, wherein each Group of Picture comprises at least and I-frame and an Inter-frame, the encoding device comprises a processing unit being adapted to perform the following steps for the encoding of each Inter-frame in the Group of Picture:

• Determining a desired frame rate based on an available bandwidth of a channel which is used for transmitting the video sequence and on available computational resources for the encoding process;
• Determining a target buffer level based on the desired frame rate and the complexity and the position of the Inter-frame with respect to the I-frame;
• and
• Determining a target bit rate based on the target buffer level and the available channel bandwidth, wherein the target bit rate is used for controlling the rate for encoding the video sequence.