ACCELERATING CHANNEL CHANGE TIME WITH EXTERNAL PICTURE PROPERTY MARKINGS

摘要

In one embodiment, a method for accelerating channel change time is provided. The method comprises determining when a channel change occurs. A video stream of pictures is then determined. For example, the video stream may be for a channel that is tuned to by a user. Picture discardability information transmitted with the video stream of pictures is determined. For example, the picture discardability information may be transmitted in a data field outside of the video stream. The method then determines which pictures in the video stream are considered nondiscardable pictures and which ones are discardable pictures based on the picture discardability information transmitted with the video stream of pictures. A non- discardable picture stream may then be determined and transmitted to a video processing device. By sending the non-discardable picture stream, a faster channel change time may be provided because it is expected that the non-discardable pictures may be pictures that can be used to display a picture faster than if the regular video stream was transmitted.