Encoding and decoding of video including a plurality of toggleable overlays

A system for encoding one or more video streams, the system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a plurality of image frames;
• determining one or more overlay image frames, each overlay image frame comprising a plurality of separately toggleable overlays, each toggleable overlay being associated with an identifier, wherein the overlay image frame has a same size as an image frame of the plurality of image frames;
• for each image frame among at least some of the plurality of image frames:
• associating the image frame with an overlay image frame of the one or more overlay image frames;
• adding metadata to a header of image frame, wherein the metadata comprises, for each toggleable overlay of the plurality of toggleable overlays:
• position data identifying a position of the toggleable overlay in the overlay image frame, size data identifying a size of the toggleable overlay in the overlay image frame, and identification data corresponding to the identifier of the toggleable overlay;
• encoding the one or more video stream, wherein the encoding comprises:
• encoding the plurality of image frames into a first plurality of encoded image frames using a first group of picture (GOP) structure;
• encoding the one or more overlay image frames.

A method of decoding a video stream, comprising the steps of:

• receiving one or more encoded overlay image frames, each encoded overlay image frame comprising a plurality of separately toggleable overlays, each toggleable overlay being associated with an identifier;
• receiving a plurality of encoded image frames in a first encoded video stream;
• receiving first metadata indicating identifiers of one or more of the plurality of toggleable overlays to be visible in the decoded video stream;
• decoding the plurality of encoded image frames into a first plurality of image frames using a GOP structure;
• decoding the one or more encoded overlay image frames into one or more overlay image frames, wherein each overlay image frame has a same size as an image frame of the first plurality of image frames;
• upon determining that an image frame of the first plurality of image frames is associated with an overlay frame of the one or more overlay image frames:
• extracting second metadata from the header of the image frame, the second metadata comprises, for each toggleable overlay of the plurality of toggleable overlays:
• position data identifying a position of the toggleable overlay in the overlay frame, size data identifying a size of the toggleable overlay in the overlay frame, and identification data corresponding to an identifier of the toggleable overlay;
• upon the first metadata comprising an identifier of a toggleable overlay of the plurality of overlays, determining an image frame with overlays by including image data from the image frame and image data from overlay frame corresponding to the toggleable overlay using the position data and size data from the second metadata, and including the image frame with overlays in the decoded video stream.

A system decoding a video stream, the system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
• receiving one or more encoded overlay image frames, each encoded overlay image frame comprising a plurality of separately toggleable overlays, each toggleable overlay being associated with an identifier;
• receiving a plurality of encoded image frames in a first encoded video stream;
• receiving first metadata indicating identifiers of one or more of the plurality of toggleable overlays to be visible in the decoded video stream;
• decoding the plurality of encoded image frames into a first plurality of image frames using a GOP structure;
• decoding the one or more encoded overlay image frames into one or more overlay image frames, wherein each overlay image frame has a same size as an image frame of the first plurality of image frames;
• upon determining that an image frame of the first plurality of image frames is associated with an overlay frame of the one or more overlay image frames:
• extracting second metadata from the header of the image frame, the second metadata comprises, for each toggleable overlay of the plurality of toggleable overlays:
• position data identifying a position of the toggleable overlay in the overlay frame, size data identifying a size of the toggleable overlay in the overlay frame, and identification data corresponding to an identifier of the toggleable overlay;
• upon the first metadata comprising an identifier of a toggleable overlay of the plurality of overlays, determining an image frame with overlays by including image data from the image frame and image data from overlay frame corresponding to the toggleable overlay using the position data and size data from the second metadata, and including the image frame with overlays in the decoded video stream.