IMAGINE NOT HAVING TO CHOOSE BETWEEN QUALITY AND QUANTITY.

The Imagine ICE Video Platform is the industry’s best digital video expansion solution, giving service providers up to 50% more streams on existing infrastructure without compromising video quality.

With our next-generation video processing and edge multiplexing technology, system operators also gain unprecedented control with end-to-end Video Layer Quality of Service (Video Layer QoS). Imagine’s unique suite of products gives digital broadcast, VOD, and SDV system operators a chance to leap ahead of competitors in the race to provide premium video services.

Extending VBR across all digital video systems

Until now, system operators have had no choice but to use inefficient constant bit rate (CBR) technology to deliver advanced video services such as VOD, SDV, and IPTV. The reason is that conventional Variable Bit Rate and Statistical Multiplexing (VBR/StatMux) systems, while making far better use of available bandwidth, cannot support consumer-initiated video traffic. At least not without enormous costs, excessive rack space, a painfully slow user experience, and an inability to support centralized encryption.

To overcome these hurdles—and thereby deliver the video quality and bandwidth efficiency benefits of VBR/StatMux to VOD, SDV, and other PersonalizedTV services—a radically different technological and architectural approach is required. It must be based on consumer-generated StatMux dynamics rather than traditional methods, in which the content provider or system operator determines in advance which digital signals will be delivered. The broadcast-oriented technique of performing both the video processing and multiplexing functions in tight sequence, every time a multiplex is created, simply does not support a PersonalizedTV environment in which consumers determine the streams flowing down the last mile.

Our technology features multiple breakthroughs in engineering and design, including the first complete separation of video processing and multiplexing. Under this division of labor, alternative Interchangeable Compressed Elements (ICE) are prepared in advance and indexed by quality measurement criteria. Then, the optimal ICE elements can be instantly selected on-the-fly for in response to consumer demand.

This separation of coding and multiplexing offers enormous cost benefits. With approximately 98 percent of the workload being performed only once per video asset, the relatively easy 2 percent recurring workload can be delegated to the statistical multiplexing device. In this manner, the Imagine solution can scale commensurately with the number of streams being demanded by subscribers, a perfect fit for the dynamics of consumer-initiated video content.

The notion of moving the StatMux function to the network edge, facilitated by the separation of coding and multiplexing, also has important implications for system operators’ ongoing architectural and service evolution. An Edge StatMux is ideally positioned not only for end-to-end VBR but also for delivering increasingly personalized services, such as addressable ad insertion and SDV Unicast. Separation of the coding and multiplexing functions allows unprecedented stream count density to occur, since the StatMux device is doing much less work on a recurring basis.

The Imagine ICE Video Platform also features the industry’s first accurate objective video quality measurement subsystem. Imagine’s ICE-Q® video quality measurement algorithms are built into the video pre-processing engine, and accurately emulate the human visual perceptual system to ensure the highest video quality at any bit rate. By analyzing frames of compressed video, as well as macroblocks within these frames, the subsystem can determine which video elements can be coded at lower bit rates without impacting perceived quality.

Providing the first end-to-end Video Layer QoS

Imagine’s Video Layer QoS pre-calibrates and maintains consistent video quality across digital video applications including digital broadcast, SDV, and VOD. Interchangeable Compressed Elements are created and indexed according to Imagine ICE-Q algorithms, the industry’s first accurate, objective quality measurement subsystem. Each small section of compressed video is processed and analyzed at multiple bit rates. Source video is replaced when the Imagine ICE-Q algorithms determine that an expert eye could not discern the difference, ensuring the highest video quality at any given bit rate.

This technology represents another first: the ability to establish end-to-end video quality levels, from the point of content origin to the set-top through the various splicing, multiplexing and encryption stages. This Video Layer QoS, which is independent of traditional transport or network layer QoS, provides an unprecedented level of control, allowing content providers and system operators to calibrate and prioritize video quality. It’s finally possible to ensure super HD quality for key content categories such as PPV programming, or even for individual programs such as the Super Bowl or World Cup.

The Imagine ICE Video Platform provides the most streams and the best video quality today, while also offering a scalable solution for future services. Leveraging off-the-shelf carrier-grade hardware, we will be able to scale features via software upgrades to apply our core technology to addressable ad insertion, network personal video recorders, personalized audio, IPTV, wireless video, and more.