Method of controlling switching between different bandwidth v ersions of video streams

摘要

A method of controlling a video streaming device, comprising a switching means for switching between alternative bandwidth versions of one of a plurality of video streams. The switching means employs a plurality of switching methods. Switching method selection is controlled by data encoded within selected frames of each of the alternative bandwidth versions of the video stream. The encoded data indicates which if any of the plurality of switching methods to select at and/or after said selected frames for the desired video stream switch. This enables the video streaming device to employ different switching methods for each frame, enabling the reduction both of prediction errors after switching and data storage requirements.