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|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Jun 24, 2008
|Filing date
|Dec 30, 2003
|Priority date
|Dec 30, 2003
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Shipeng Li, Lujun Yuan, Qi Chen, Feng Wu
|Original Assignee
|Microsoft Corporation
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (9), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (38), Classifications (58), Legal Events (4)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
The described subject matter relates to video data encoding. More particularly, the subject matter relates to video transcoders for adjusting the bit rate of encoded video data.
Efficient and reliable delivery of video data is becoming increasingly important as the Internet continues to grow in popularity. Video is very appealing because it offers a much richer user experience than static images and text. It is more interesting, for example, to watch a video clip of a winning touchdown or a Presidential speech than it is to read about the event in stark print. Unfortunately, video data can require significantly more memory, processor usage, and bandwidth than other data types commonly delivered over the Internet. As an example, one second of uncompressed video data may consume one or more Megabytes of data. Delivering such large amounts of data over error-prone networks, such as the Internet and wireless networks, presents difficult challenges in terms of efficiency, reliability, and network capacity.
After video is encoded according to a video coding format, the encoded video may be transmitted to a client that employs a decoder to decode and present the video. A decoder can decode the sequence of frames by performing operations that are substantially the inverse of the encoding operations. Prior to video transmission, it may be desirable to reduce the bit rate of the encoded video depending on various conditions, such as available network bandwidth, channel capacity, CPU utilization, and client buffer state. By reducing the bit rate in response to changes in such conditions, the encoder can facilitate higher transmission performance and/or higher quality video presentation at the client.
One approach to reducing the bit rate at the encoder is to employ a cascaded decoder-encoder.
Implementations of systems, methods, data structures, and computer program products described herein address the above, and other, problems and drawbacks by providing a scalable video transcoder that encodes video data frames at a desired bit rate. The transcoder maintains the underlying format of the input video, but merely changes the bit rate of the output video. The video transcoder can be scaled in complexity to achieve associated encoding goals including bit rate adjustment by selectively accumulating drift error, selectively compensating with drift error, skipping selected frames, and/or entering/exiting open-loop mode.
An implementation of a method for transcoding input video data includes accumulating transcoding error associated with transcoding the input video into output video data encoded at a target bit rate, motion-compensating the accumulated transcoding error, error-compensating the input video data with motion-compensated accumulated transcoding error, and selectively disabling one or more of the accumulating and error-compensating operations based on one or more conditions related to transcoding the input video data.
An exemplary system for transcoding input video data includes an accumulating module accumulating transcoding error associated with transcoding the input video into the output video data, a motion compensation module compensating the accumulated transcoding error with motion estimation data, an error-compensating module compensating the input video data with motion-compensated accumulated transcoding error, a re-quantization module controlling a re-quantization level to achieve the target bit rate, and a compensation switching module operable to disable the error-compensating module in response to the motion-compensated accumulated transcoding error being less than a threshold value.
Another implementation of a system for transcoding video data includes input video data encoded at an initial bit rate and means for transcoding the input video data to generate corresponding output video data encoded at a target bit rate, wherein the means for transcoding includes a re-quantization module having a look-up table including a plurality of dynamically selectable quantization parameters corresponding to associated bit rates.
An implementation of a computer-readable medium includes computer-executable instructions for performing a method including accumulating transcoding error associated with transcoding input video having an associated initial bit rate into output video data having an associated target bit rate, motion-compensating accumulated transcoding error, error-compensating the input video data with motion-compensated accumulated transcoding error, and selectively disabling one or more of the accumulating and the error-compensating operations in response to detecting one or more conditions related to transcoding the input video data.
This disclosure describes a video transcoder and associated operations that may be used in motion-compensation-based video coding systems to adjust the encoding of video data based on one or more system conditions or to achieve selected encoding objectives. The transcoder is described in the context of delivering video data over a network, such as the Internet or a wireless network. However, the transcoder and associated operations have general applicability to a wide variety of environments.
Various data transmission conditions, such as bandwidth fluctuation, CPU utilization, and client buffer state, can cause major problems encountered in transmitting video data over the Internet or wireless channels. Adjusting the bit rate of transmitted data to adapt to such conditions without imposing substantial complexity on the encoder can also pose a challenge. The video transcoding scheme described below can facilitate adjustment of video bit rate in response to changes in these conditions with a scalable transcoder, while providing high coding efficiency and performance.
Exemplary System Architecture
The content producer/provider 102 may be implemented in many ways, including as one or more server computers configured to store, process, and/or distribute video data. The content producer/provider 102 has a video storage 108 to store digital video files 110 and a distribution server 112 to encode and/or transcode the video data and distribute it over the network 104. The video data files 110 are stored in an encoded format, such as the Motion Picture Experts Group-2 (MPEG-2) format.
To assist in illustrating various concepts discussed herein, the MPEG-2 format is briefly described. MPEG-2 video is composed of groups of pictures (GOPs). Each GOP includes a sequence of three types of video frames: intra coded frames (I-frames), predicted frames (P-frames), and bidirectional frames (B-frames). I-frames use discrete cosine transform (DCT) encoding to compress a single frame without reference to any other frame in the sequence. P-frames are encoded as differences from the last I or P-frame and use motion prediction to predict values of each new pixel. B-frames are encoded as differences from the last and/or next I or P frame, and also employ motion prediction.
An MPEG-2 frame is composed of macroblocks. A macroblock is a fundamental unit of motion compensation. Each macroblock consists of a 16�16 array of pixels and has associated motion vector(s). A motion vector represents the horizontal and vertical displacement from the macroblock being encoded to the matching macroblock-sized area in the reference picture. MPEG-2 is therefore referred to as a motion-compensation-based video coding scheme. Other motion-compensation-based video coding formats include MPEG-1, MPEG-4, H.261, H.263 and H.264.
With regard to providing MPEG-2 video data, the distribution server 112 employs a central processing unit (CPU) 114, an operating system 116 (e.g., Windows NT, Unix, etc.), random access memory (RAM) 118, and a video transcoder 120. The distribution server 112 responds to requests for video data 110, or portions thereof, by transcoding and transmitting the requested video data 110 over the network. Typically, the video data 110 is transcoded and transmitted on a frame-by-frame basis.
The video transcoder 120 encodes the video data 110 according to the video data 110 format at a selected, or target, bit rate prior to transmitting video data over the network 104. The target bit rate may differ from the bit rate of the original video data 110. The target bit rate may be set in response to one or more video transmission conditions, such as, but not limited to, network 104 bandwidth, channel capacity on the network 104, and CPU 114 utilization.
Thus, the transcoder 120 performs a selected video format-to-selected video format transcoding of the video data 110 wherein the bit rate may be changed during transcoding. In an implementation using MPEG-2 format video data 110, the transcoder 120 receives MPEG-2 video data 110 at an original bit rate and generates MPEG-2 video data at a target bit rate. Other video formats, such as, but not limited to, MPEG-4, H.261, H.263, H.264, and 'WMV' (WINDOWS Media Format) may be applied to the transcoder 120 and transmitted at an adjusted bit rate.
In addition to encoding video data at a target bit rate, the transcoder 120 may drop (i.e., not transmit) certain selected portions of the video data 110. For example, the video transcoder 120 may not transmit B-frames if the CPU 114 utilization is too high. By dropping a portion of the video data 110, the quality of the video at the client 106 may be reduced slightly, but this may be more desirable than the consequences of failing entirely to encode the video data 110 rapidly enough.
To facilitate adaptation to transmission conditions, the transcoder 120 may be scalable in complexity. For example, various portions of the encoding process of the transcoder 120 may be dynamically included in and/or excluded from the transcoder 120 to achieve desired encoding goals.
The video transcoder 120 may be implemented in software, firmware, and/or hardware. The transcoder 120 is shown as a separate standalone module for discussion purposes, but may be constructed as part of the CPU 114 or incorporated into operating system 116 or other applications (not shown). Various exemplary implementations of the transcoder 120 and associated processes and operations are illustrated and described in further detail below with regard to
The client 106 is equipped with a CPU 128, a memory 130, and one or more media output devices 132. The memory 130 stores an operating system 134 (e.g., a WINDOWS-brand operating system) that executes on the CPU 128. The operating system 134 implements a client-side video decoder 136 to decode the layered video streams into the original video. In the event data is lost, the decoder 136 is capable of reconstructing the missing portions of the video from frames that are successfully transferred. Following decoding of each video frame, the client 106 plays the video frame via the media output devices 132. The client 106 may be embodied in many different ways, including a computer, a handheld entertainment device, a set-top box, a television, and so forth.
Exemplary Systems for Encoding Video Data at a Target Bit Rate
Decoding the input video data 206 involves first applying a variable length decoder (VLD) 208. The VLD 208 extracts certain information from the input MPEG-2 video including motion vectors 210 (shown in dotted lines) and headers 212 (shown in dotted lines). The VLD 208 outputs decoded video coefficients to a dequantization module (or inverse quantizer) 214.
The dequantization module 214 dequantizes the decoded coefficients by applying a dequantization function, Q1 −1, which uses a quantization parameter, q1, that corresponds to the initial bit rate of the input video data 206. The dequantization module 214 multiplies video data coefficients by corresponding values in a quantization matrix and a quantization scale factor. The dequantized video data is then input into an inverse discrete cosine transform (IDCT) module 216, which decompresses the video data according to an IDCT algorithm. Any methods of variable length decoding, video dequantizing and decompressing as may be known in the art can be applied by the VLC 208, the dequantization module 214 and IDCT module 216, respectively.
The output of the IDCT module 216 is combined with motion compensated video from a previously decoded macroblock or frame. The combination of the IDCT module 216 and the motion compensated video are the decoded video data 218 that are output from the decoder 202. The decoded video data 218 are fed back into a frame buffer 220, which stores the decoded video data 218. The frame buffer 220 outputs the decoded video data 218 to a motion compensation module 222. The motion compensation module 222 uses the motion vectors 210 and the decoded video data 218 to generate motion compensated macroblocks for the following frame.
The decoded video data 218 is input into the encoder 204. The encoder 204 fully re-encodes the decoded video data 218 by recompressing, re-quantizing, and variable length coding the decoded video data 218. As shown, the encoder 204 includes a difference module 224 that outputs the difference between the decoded video data 218 and motion compensated transcoded video data 226.
The output of the difference module 224 is input into a discrete cosine transform (DCT) module 228, which compresses the data using a DCT algorithm. The DCT module 228 outputs DCT coefficients to a quantization module 230 that quantizes the DCT coefficients with a quantization function, Q2, which applies a target quantization parameter, q2, that corresponds to the target bit rate. Quantization refers to assigning a number of bits to represent a unit of video data, such as a pixel, DCT coefficient, or video frame. More quantization levels available for assigning video values typically corresponds to higher bit rates. The quantization module 230 outputs quantized DCT coefficients at the desired quantization levels to a variable length coder (VLC) 232. The VLC 232 performs a variable length coding algorithm on the re-quantized data to generate transcoded output video 234 at a desired bit rate.
The quantized DCT coefficients from the quantization module 230 are also dequantized by dequantization module 236. The dequantization module 236 applies an inverse quantization function, Q2 −1, using the target quantization parameter, q2, to generate dequantized DCT coefficients. The dequantized DCT coefficients are input to an IDCT module 238 that performs an inverse DCT on the dequantized DCT coefficients. The output of the IDCT 238 is combined with the motion compensated transcoded video data 226 and then stored in a frame buffer 240. The output of the frame buffer 240 is input to a motion compensator module 242, which uses the motion vectors 210 to generate the motion compensated transcoded video data 226.
Although the cascaded decoder/encoder approach described in
The output video data 304 is also referred to as transcoded video data 304. The transcoded video data 304 does not differ from the input video data 302 in terms of video encoding format. Thus, for example, if the input video data 302 is MPEG-2 video, the transcoded video data 304 will be represented in the MPEG-2 format. The transcoded video data 304 may differ from the input video data 302 in terms of bit rate. The transcoded video data 304 may also differ from the input video data 302 in terms of frame composition. As discussed in further detail below, the transcoder 300 may selectively skip, or drop, certain frames.
A visual comparison of
One reason the transcoder 300 of
With specific regard to the transcoder 300, a variable length decoder (VLD) 306 receives the input video data 302 and applies variable length decoding to the input data. The variable length decoder 306 extracts header information 308 (shown with dotted lines) and motion vector information 310 (shown with dotted lines) from the input video data 302. The header information 308 and the motion vector information 310 are fed forward in the transcoder 300 for use by other processes/devices in the transcoder 300.
The output of the VLD 306 is input to a dequantization module 312, which dequantizes the video data according to a dequantization function, Q1 −1. The dequantization function, Q1 −1, applies quantization parameter q1, which corresponds to an initial bit rate of the input video data 302. As discussed, the initial bit rate of the input video data 302 is readily available by the transcoder 300. The output of the dequantization module 312 includes dequantized compression coefficients 314 (e.g., DCT coefficients) representative of the input video data 302.
As is discussed in further detail below, the dequantized compression coefficients 314 are fed forward and used to determine transcoding error information later in the transcoding process. The dequantized compression coefficients 314 are also summed with transcoding error compensation data 316 at an error compensation module 318. The error compensation module 318 outputs dequantized compression coefficients that have been adjusted or compensated with the transcoding error compensation data 316. The transcoding error compensation data 316 is also referred to herein as drift error, accumulated drift error, accumulated transcoding error, or accumulated error. The manner of generating the transcoding error compensation 316 is discussed further below.
The output of the error compensation module 318 is input into a quantization module 320, which quantizes the error compensated video data according to a quantization function, Q2. The quantization function, Q2, quantizes the error compensated video data based on a target quantization parameter, q2, which corresponds to a target bit rate. A rate control input 322 to the quantization module 320 controls the quantization parameter, q2, to achieve the target bit rate. The rate control input 322 is discussed in further detail with regard to
The re-quantized video data 324 is also referred to as 'transrated' video data 324. The term 'transrated' means that the video data that is output by the quantization module 320 may have a different bit rate than the initial bit rate of the input video data 302. Typically the bit rate of the transrated video data 324 is lower than the initial bit rate in order to adapt to certain system conditions, such as lower network bandwidth or channel capacity.
The transrated video data 324 is input to a variable length coder (VLC) 326, which variable length encodes the transrated video data 324. The output of the VLC 326 is the transcoded video data 304. The transrated video data 324 is input to another dequantization module 328, which dequantizes the transrated video data 324 using a dequantization function, Q2 −1. The dequantization function, Q2 −1, applies the inverse of the quantization module 320. Thus, the dequantization function, Q2 −1, dequantizes the transrated video data 324 using the target quantization (i.e., dequantization) parameter, q2.
The output of the dequantization module 328 is dequantized transrated video data 330. The dequantized transrated video data 330 is input into an error determination module 332. The error determination module 332 subtracts the dequantized transrated video data 330 from the initial dequantized compression coefficients 314. The output of the error determination module 332 represents transcoder error or drift error.
An inverse discrete cosine transform (IDCT) module 334 performs an IDCT function on the transcoder error data from the error determination module 332. The IDCT module 334 converts the transcoder error data from the frequency domain to the pixel domain. Thus, the output of the IDCT module 334 represents transcoder error data in the pixel domain. The pixel domain transcoder error data is summed with motion compensated error data by an accumulator 336.
The output of the accumulator 336 is stored in an error buffer 338. The error buffer 338 includes accumulated transcoder error or accumulated drift error. A motion compensator 340 applies the motion vectors 310 to the accumulated transcoder error from the error buffer 338. The motion compensated data from the motion compensator 340 is fed back into the accumulator 336. The motion compensated data is also input into a discrete cosine transform (DCT) module 342.
The DCT module 342 applies a DCT function to the motion compensated error data. The DCT module 342 converts the pixel domain error data back into the frequency domain. The output of the DCT module is the transcoding error compensation data 316 referred to above. As discussed above, the transcoding error compensation data 316 is added to the initial dequantized compression coefficients 314 by the summer 318. The summer 318 performs an important task of adjusting the input dequantized video data by the accumulated drift error in order to reduce or eliminate error due to drift that may arise during the transcoding process.
The dequantization module 312, the quantization module 320, the dequantization module 328, and the error determination module 332, may collectively be referred to as a re-quantization module. An exemplary re-quantization module is illustrated in
As discussed above, the transcoder 300 includes one or more switching modules or components that provide for complexity scalability of the transcoder 300. The switching modules provide for system condition adaptability and video frame-type adaptability. Exemplary switching components are described in detail below.
One implementation of the transcoder 300 includes skip B-frame switch(es) 344, an accumulate error switch 346, and a compensate switch 348. The switches 344, 346 and 348 provide for selective addition and/or removal of certain portions or loops in the transcoder 300. During operation, when system conditions change, it may be beneficial to disable and/or enable one or more of the portions of the transcoder to achieve desired system objectives using the switches, thereby disabling and/or enabling one or more of the error-compensating and error accumulating operations in the transcoding process.
With more specific regard to the compensate switch 348, the compensate switch 348 controls whether the dequantized input video data 314 will be compensated with the accumulated transcoding (or drift) error 316. The notation 'TH' represents a threshold value (e.g., Q2/2). If the accumulated drift error 316 is more than the threshold, the compensate switch 348 is closed and the accumulated drift error 316 is combined with the dequantized input video data 314 at the summer module 318; otherwise, error-compensation will not occur and the input video data 302 will simply go through a re-quantization process.
A particular implementation of the compensate switch involves a triple-threshold algorithm to control whether or not to update an 8�8 block in a frame with the accumulated errors. In this implementation, the threshold of each 8�8 block is dynamically selected along with the counter of a block that is not updated.
In the triple-threshold algorithm, an error metric, s, can be calculated that represents the accumulated error of pixels in a video block. In a particular implementation of the triple-threshold algorithm, the error metric is a sum of absolute error of the accumulated error of each 8�8 block as shown in equation (1):
where e(i, j) represents the accumulated error of each pixel in a block. In other implementations, the error metric can include other functions of the error, such as, but not limited to, the mean square error.
To further illustrate the triple-threshold approach, assume there are three thresholds: TH1, TH2, and TH3, where TH1>TH2>TH3. The larger the threshold, the less likelihood an 8�8 block will be compensated with the accumulated error.
In order to achieve a better trade-off between transcoding complexity and picture quality, the selection of the threshold is described with pseudo-code shown below, where every block has a unique counter variable block_counter. The larger block_counter, the less the selected threshold, then the more likelihood that blocks are compensated with the accumulated error. The parameter block_counter is set to zero when the block is an intra block (i.e., an 8�8 block coded without any prediction from other frames).
switch (block_counter)
case 0: TH = TH1; break;
case 1: TH = TH2; break;
default: TH = TH3; break;
for (i = 0;i <= 7;i++){
for (j = 0;j <= 7;i++){
s += abs(e(i,j));
if (Intra block)
block_counter = 0;
else if (Inter block in P picture)
if (s > TH)
//drifting error compensation;
if (block_counter > 0)
block_counter = block_counter − 1;
//no drifting error compensation;
block_counter = block_counter + 1;
When block_counter is 0, i.e., drifting error propagated from previous frames is zero or very small, the high threshold TH1 is selected. When block_counter is 1, the intermediate threshold TH2 is selected; otherwise the lower threshold TH3 is selected. If an inter block (i.e., an 8�8 block that is coded with prediction from another frame) in a P-frame is compensated with the accumulated errors and its block_counter is more than 0, block_counter decreases 1. If an inter block in a P-frame is not compensated with the accumulated errors, block_counter increases 1.
It will be appreciated that if the compensate switch 348 is opened, the transcoder 300 and the transcoding process is greatly simplified over the cascaded 11 transcoder 200 shown in
With regard to the skip B-frame switch(es) 344, the skip B-frame switch(es) 344 applies only to B-frames. In one implementation, if the TH value is set to a very high value and the server still is unable to handle real-time transcoding, the skip B-frame switch 344 will be opened. When the skip B-frame switch(es) are open, any B-frames in the input video data 302 will not be transcoded or transmitted. In one implementation, instead of transmitting a transcoded B-frame, the transcoder 300 will add some header information that notifies the decoder that the B-frame has been skipped. The VLD 306 can determine whether a frame is a B-frame and insert the information into the headers 308.
If the accumulate error switch 346 is opened, the transcoder 300 is an open-loop system. Thus, the accumulate error switch 346 can be opened to prevent accumulation and compensation of drift error, and thereby reduce required processing time during the transcoding process. In some extreme cases where the server still doesn't have enough cycles (even with switches 344 and 348 opened) for the transcoding process, the accumulate error switch 346 can be opened. When the accumulate error switch 346 is opened the drifting error for the current group of pictures (GOP) will not be accumulated. The transcoding process runs in open-loop mode where the entire motion compensation loop is eliminated. In the open-loop mode, the skip B-frame switch 344 can still be turned on to save extra computational cycles.
In one implementation, the skip B-frame switch(es) 344, the accumulate error switch 346, and the compensate switch 348 are all closed when P-frames from the input video data 302 are being transcoded. In this implementation, the accumulated drift error 316 will continue to be accumulated and used to compensate for drift due to transcoding.
It is to be understood that the term 'switch' as used herein is intended in the broadest meaning of the term. The term 'switch' is not to be limited to well-known mechanical or electromechanical switches. On the contrary, because the transcoder 300 can be readily implemented in any combination of hardware, software, or firmware, the term 'switch' includes any type of hardware switch, software switch, or firmware switch that causes an output state corresponding to an associated input condition.
By way of example, and not limitation, the switches described herein may be implemented with a software instruction, such as an 'if-then' statement, or a 'switch' statement, in the well-known 'C' programming language. As another example, any of the switches described herein may be implemented with a solid state device, such as a transistor, which allows for selection among multiple states in response to an input state. As yet another example, switches may be implemented with programmable memory devices, such as Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM). Those skilled in the art will recognize numerous other implementations of switches described herein that fall within the scope of the claims recited below.
The transcoder 400 can be easily obtained using the transcoder 300 (
The reader will appreciate that the transcoder 400 is a scaled version of the transcoder 300 by virtue of the compensate switch 348. The complexity of the transcoder 300 can be dynamically scaled in response to detected system conditions to achieve numerous desired coding objectives.
Without an error accumulation and compensation feedback loop (i.e., in open-loop mode), adjusting the bit rate of the encoded data can result in reduction of video quality due to drifting error. For example, a simple open-loop approach is to re-quantize DCT coefficients in the original video bit stream to achieve a desired lower bit rate without consideration of the P-frames; however, any changes in the P-frame not only would result in errors in the associated decoded frame but also would cause errors in subsequent frames, and may even accumulate into larger and larger errors in later frames. Such an accumulation of errors is often referred to as a "drift error" problem, which has been discussed herein.
In some cases, a limited amount of drift error may be acceptable. For example, when the server CPU is at or near maximum utilization and can not keep up with the necessary speed of transcoding, error accumulation and/or compensation may impose too great of a burden on the CPU and result in a large drop in quality. Allowing for a limited, or acceptable, amount of drift error may be beneficial when transcoding B-frames because B-frames are not used as a reference image during reconstruction. Thus, any drifting error associated with a B-frame is not propagated to other frames.
Exemplary Systems for Re-Quantizing Video Data
X 2 =Q −1(X 1 ,q m ,q 1) (2)
X 3 =Q(X 2 , q m ,q 2) (3)
Q( ) is the quantization function, Q−1 ( ) is the de-quantization function, and qm is the corresponding element in the MPEG-2 quantization matrix. An exemplary default intra block quantization matrix 700 and inter block quantization matrix 702 are illustrated in
Incorporating equation (2) with equation (3), X3 can be calculated with the following equation:
X 3 =Q(X 2 , q m , q 2)=Q(Q −1(X 1 , q m ,q 1), q m , q 2)=F 1(X 1 , q m ,q 1 ,q 2) (4)
F1( ) is the de-quantization and quantization process.
For accumulating the re-quantization error, a second de-quantization DCT coefficient 612 (represented as X4) is determined by a second dequantization module 614 according to equation (5):
X 4 =Q −1(X 3 ,q m ,q 2) (5)
Incorporating equations (4) and (5) results in:
X 4 =Q −1(F 1(X 1 ,q m ,q 1 ,q 2),q m ,q 2)=F 2(X 1 ,q m ,q 1 ,q 2) (6)
F2( ) represents the first de-quantization process 606, the quantization process 610 and second de-quantization process 614. A re-quantization error 616 (represented as X5) is calculated as follows:
X 5 =X 2 −X 4 =Q −1(X 1 ,q m ,q 1)−F 2(X 1 ,q m ,q 1 ,q 2)=F 3(X 1 ,q m , q 1 ,q 2) (7)
Traditional approaches involve calculating the output quantization level X3 and the re-quantization error X5 during the transcoding or transrating process. It will be appreciated that calculating the values X3 and X5 can be time-consuming and resource-intensive tasks for a processor. In an alternative implementation, the functions F1( ) and F3( ) can be simply implemented using a look-up table (LUT) 618 to determine X3 and X5. The LUT 618 takes input parameters X1, qm, q1, q2 and outputs scaled versions of X3 and X5. These scaled versions of X3 and X5 are referred to here as X3′ and X5′, respectively.
A particular implementation of the LUT 618 includes an intra re-quantization table 620 to re-quantize intra blocks and an inter re-quantization table 622 to re-quantize inter blocks. Thus, the intra re-quantization table 620 outputs values X3 and X5 that correspond to X1 levels in intra blocks; and the inter re-quantization table 622 outputs values X3 and X5 that correspond to X1 levels in inter blocks.
With regard to
In a particular implementation of the re-quantization module 600, the input decoded level X1 is in the range [1, 2047]. Considering all possible combinations of X1, qm, q1 and q2, the intra re-quantization table 620 consists of 31�16�19�2047 elements. Each element has 4 bytes with 2 byte for X3 and 2 bytes for X5. Therefore, the intra re-quantization table 620 would require about 77 M bytes. For inter blocks, the exemplary default inter quantization matrix 702 includes only value of 16, from which qm is selected. So the inter re-quantization table 622 requires about 4 M bytes.
The sizes of the intra re-quantization table 620 and inter re-quantization table 622 can be reduced significantly. While it is possible that X1 602 can range from [1, 2047], X1 602 is frequently located in a certain range, e.g., [1, 40]. When X1 602 is more than a predetermined switching value, the re-quantization process is not implemented by look-up table 618 so as to reduce the table sizes. The predetermined switching value may be chosen depending on the particular implementation. In one implementation, the predetermined switching value is set to 40.
In MPEG-2, the quantization matrix can be defined by a user and may differ from the default matrices 700 and 702 shown in
X3′ represents the results of F1( ) with fixed qm, =16, and X5′ represents the results of F3( ) with fixed qm, =16. As discussed above, X3′ and X5′ can be obtained by the look-up table 618. The multiply and shift operations of equations (8) and (9) can be implemented with weighting modules 624. By the above two improvements, the size of intra and inter matrix has been shown to be around 79K bytes. Furthermore, the intra quantization table 620 and the inter quantization table 622 do not need to be recalculated when the quantization matrices 700 and 702 are changed.
Referring again to
A calculation module 802 calculates the target number of bits B′ and the quantization parameter Q′ of each transcoded frame. In the implementation shown in
B′=αB. (10)
B represents the number of bits of the current frame in the input stream. The multiplier, α, is the ratio of the target transcoding bit rate R′ and the input average bit rate R. The quantization parameter Q′ can be calculated by the following equation (11):
Q′=f(B′, B, Q). (11)
Here Q is the average quantization parameter of the current frame in the input MPEG-2 VES. The relationship between coded bits and quantization parameter may have many different representations. When they are described as a reciprocal relationship, the formula (11) can be written as
If the quantization parameter is allowed to change in each macroblock, Q′is used as a preliminary, or temporary, quantization parameter. The actual target quantization parameter may be further refined by a control module 804. The control module 804 allocates the target bits B′ to each macroblock with a frame virtual buffer. The size of buffer is equal to the target bits B′. A difference module 706 determines the difference between the actual bits B″ and the target bits B′. The difference is fed back into the calculating module 802 in the next frame.
Another implementation of the calculating module 802 uses another approach. When the number of target bits B′ in a certain frame is calculated, it is useful to consider the differences between the number of target bits B′ and the actual number of bits B″ in previous frames. During operation, B′ is calculated using equation (10) only on the first frame of each group of pictures (GOP) or the beginning of a sequence. For subsequent frames, the calculating module 802 applies a different algorithm.
Assume there are N frames to be transcoded. The following formula is used to calculate the ratio
Here B″(i) and B(i) are the number of bits for frame i in the transcoded bit stream and the input bit stream (i.e., input video data), respectively. The target number of bits B′ (k) for frame k can be represented as follows:
B′(k)=α�B(k) (14)
Moreover, for different frame type, we can use a weight factor to modify the target bit number to get better frame quality, and then we can re-write the above equation as
B′(k)=w�α�B(k) (15)
The value w is the weighting factor for I, P, or B frame, respectively.
The control module 804 implements a macroblock level control scheme. The macroblock level control scheme ensures that the target number of bits B′ for each picture is met, and optimizes the quantization parameter for each macroblock based on R-D relationship which would produce a minimum average distortion with rate constraint.
For jth macroblock, the distortion dj and the bit number rj(qj) can be represents as follows.
Here, rj o and qj o are bit number and quantization parameter for the same macroblock in the input bit stream, and xj is the complexity of this macroblock. The complexity, xj, can be estimated by multiplying rj o and qj o. The quantization parameters in the transcoded bit stream can be calculated with the following optimization
Here, B′ is the target number of bits for this frame.
A Lagrangian method can be used to solve the above optimization problem.
By solving the above extremum, the quantization parameter for each macroblock can be represented as
The macroblock level rate control scheme implemented by the control module 804 is described as follows.
For macroblock j, the left target bit number is
where the sum item is the coded bits of previous j−1 macroblocks.
If ΔB≦0, qj=Qavg/j, i.e., we do not calculate the quantization parameter again. Instead, the average value of previous j−1 macroblocks is used; otherwise.
The difference of quantization parameters calculated in frame level and macroblock level is equal to Δqj=qj−Q′. If Δqj<−2, then Δqj=−2, else if Δqj>2, then Δqj=2. The final quantization parameter for macroblock j is Q′+Δqj.
Exemplary Operation for Encoding Video Data at a Target Bit Rate
A receiving operation 902 receives the initial video data encoded at an initial quantization level corresponding to an initial bit rate. Typically, the receiving operation 902 reads the initial video data from one or more files stored in memory from which the video data can be made available to clients, applications, or other users. As discussed above, the initial bit rate and initial quantization level of the initial video data is easily determined.
A dequantizing operation 904 dequantizes the initial video data using a quantization parameter corresponding to the initial bit rate. The output of the dequantizing operation 904 includes one or more discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients. The DCT coefficients are compression coefficients that represent the initial video data in the frequency domain.
A determining operation 906 determines transcoding error, or drift error, corresponding to the difference between initial video data and the transrated video data in the frequency domain. Due to the linearity of the DCT, DCT coefficients of the transrated video data can simply be subtracted from the DCT coefficients of the initial video data.
An accumulating operation 908 accumulates the determined transcoding error. The accumulating operation 908 adds the determined transcoding error from one frame with transcoding error(s) from previously transrated video frame in order to account for the drift error associated with reducing the bit rate of the video data. In one implementation of the accumulating operation 908, drift error is accumulated in the pixel domain, rather than the frequency domain, and stored in an error buffer.
A compensating operation 910 combines the initial video data with the accumulated drift error to compensate the video data with the drift error. The compensating operation converts the accumulated drift error from the pixel domain to the frequency domain and then sums the accumulated drift error (in the frequency domain) with the dequantized DCT coefficients from the dequantizing operation 904. The output of the compensating operation 910 includes error-compensated compression coefficients.
A re-quantizing operation 912 re-quantizes the error-compensated compression coefficients using a target quantization parameter corresponding to the target bit rate. The target quantization parameter can be dynamically controlled on a frame-by-frame, or a macroblock-by-macroblock basis. The output data from the re-quantizing operation 912 are transrated compression coefficients that can be used to determine the drift error in the determining operation 906.
A receiving operation 1002 receives MPEG-2 video data encoded at an initial bit rate. A determining operation 1004 determines whether the video data is B-frame video data. The determining operation 1004 may be implemented with a variable length encoder (VLD), such as the VLD described above, which can extract frame-type information from video header data. If the determining operation 1004 determines that the video data is B-frame video, the adapting operation 1000 branches 'NO' to another determining operation 1006. The determining operation 1006 determines whether the central processing unit (CPU) is being utilized to its maximum capacity and hence cannot transcode the video data in real-time. One implementation of the determining operation 1006 determines whether the CPU has enough clock cycles available to transcode the video data in real-time.
If the determining operation 1006 determines that the CPU utilization is maximized, the adapting operation 1000 branches 'YES' to a replacing operation. The replacing operation 1008 replaces the B-frame data with only header data that indicates to the decoder that the B-frame has been skipped. The replacing operation 1008 then only transmits the header data and not the B-frame video data. After the replacing operation, the adapting operation returns to the receiving operation without transcoding the B-frame data.
Referring to the determining operation 1004, if it is determined that the video data is not B-frame data, the adapting operation branches 'NO' to an accumulating operation 1010. The accumulating operation 1010 generates and accumulates errors due to transrating. One implementation of the accumulating operation 1010 subtracts transrated video coefficients from the received video coefficients and adds the difference to accumulated error from previously transrated video data.
After the accumulating operation 1010, another determining operation 1012 determines whether the video data is I-frame video data. If it is determined that the video data is I-frame video data, the adapting operation branches 'YES' to a transcoding operation 1014, without compensating the video data with the accumulated transrating error.
Likewise, with regard to the determining operation 1006, if the determining operation 1006 determines that the CPU does have sufficient capacity to transcode in real-time, the adapting operation 1000 branches 'NO' to the transcoding operation 1014, which transcodes (e.g., re-quantizes, variable length encodes) the B-frame data without compensating with the accumulated error.
Referring again to the determining operation 1012, if it is determined that the video data is not I-frame data, then the video data is P-frame data, and the adapting operation 1000 branches 'NO' to another determining operation 1016. The determining operation 1016 determines whether the accumulated error due to transrating is greater than a predetermined threshold. If the accumulated error is not greater than a predetermined threshold, the adapting operation branches 'NO' to the transcoding operation, which transcodes the P-frame data at quantization levels corresponding to the target bit rate.
If the determining operation 1016 is determines that the accumulated error is greater than the predetermined threshold, the adapting operation branches 'YES' to a compensating operation 1018. The compensating operation 1018 compensates the input video data with the accumulated error in order to limit drift error. After the video data has been compensated, the transcoding operation 1014 re-quantizes and variable length encodes the error compensated video data at a quantization level corresponding to the target bit rate. The adapting operation 1000 may then return to the receiving operation 1002 to continue the transcoding process, if more video data is to be transcoded.
Various modules and techniques may be described herein in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.
An implementation of these modules and techniques may be stored on or transmitted across some form of computer-readable media. Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may comprise "computer storage media" and "communications media."
"Computer storage media" includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by a computer.
"Communication media" typically embodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as carrier wave or other transport mechanism. Communication media also includes any information delivery media. The term "modulated data signal" means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable media.
Although some exemplary methods, devices and exemplary systems have been illustrated in the accompanying Drawings and described in the foregoing Detailed Description, it will be understood that the methods and systems are not limited to the exemplary embodiments disclosed, but are capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the spirit set forth and defined by the following claims.
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|U.S. Classification
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Dec 30, 2003
Owner name: MICROSOFT CORPORATION, WASHINGTON
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:LI, SHIPENG;YUAN, LUJUN;CHEN, QI;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:014874/0989
Effective date: 20031230
|Sep 20, 2011
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4
|Dec 9, 2014
Owner name: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC, WASHINGTON
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:MICROSOFT CORPORATION;REEL/FRAME:034541/0477
Effective date: 20141014
|Dec 9, 2015
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 8

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|36 Reviews
|Property type
When you book through the HomeAway checkout, your booking is backed by our Book with Confidence Guarantee™ offering comprehensive payment protection.Learn more
Beautifully remodeled two bedroom two bath luxury condo. New kitchen with granite counter tops and all new stainless steel appliances, new carpet and tile through out the condo, bathrooms with granite counter tops and newly tiled bath/showers, all new air conditioners. This condo is located in Maui Kamaole
A must see! This 2 bedroom 2 bath luxury condo, built in 2000, is located in Maui Kamaole complex: Kihei's newest first class resort property. Nestled in the center of the sunny south Maui coast, Maui Kamaole is located across the street from famed Maui Kamaole III Beach where you can enjoy swimming, snorkeling, watching the sunset, or just relaxing on the sandy beach. You are just minutes from the shops at Wailea, boasting world class shopping and award winning dining, and from the renowned golf courses of Makena and Wailea, home of the Senior Skins game.
We have furnished our condo with all the comforts of home, including two King sized beds and a very comfortable Queen sleeper sofa. There is also a Graco pack and play crib. There is a new 47 inch LCD T.V. DVD player and a Sony Playstation III as well as 40 inch smart LCD TV's in both bedrooms. You will find snorkel equipment, boogie boards, beach chairs, and beach umbrellas for your convenience.
The unit is spacious and luxurious with just about everything you will need for the beach or relaxing at home. The complex is spectacular with two sparkling pools, a sand bottom jacuzzi, tennis courts, BBQ grills and lush tropical vegetation. The perfect setting for the vacation of your dreams.
Mahalo, the vacation of a lifetime awaits!
Keywords: Condominium
My name is Brian Shackelford I am a real estate broker in Arizona and a realtor in Hawaii. Along with my wife Michele and our sons Max and Jake we would like to welcome you to our Island paradise. We have been coming to Maui since 2003 when we first fell in love with the Island.
Brian Shackelford purchased this condo in 2007
Maui Kamaole is a Beautiful property with lush tropical landscape, Swimming Pools, Tennis Courts . We own four condos in the complex and love the grounds and location.
Great Location!
Our experience at this condo was excellent. We plan on coming back next summer and renting the same one. Everything we needed was available to us from kitchen ware, beach equipment, shower necessities, travel books, Bose speakers, basically everything we needed was there. We definitely would recommend this condo to anyone. Brian checked up on us and gave us recommendations regarding excursions and restaurants, he was very nice and helpful. The condo was clean, big enough for 5 of us and had space for more in fact. There were board games, TVs in every room and the beach was walking distance. We loved our stay!!!
I'll keep this simple. The condo is absolutely fantastic, as is the equioment provided like snorkel sets and beach chairs. The condo was beautifully finished and appropriately outfitted and came with a lot of the extras you don't see in other VRBO rentals. The welcome basket that was left for our arrival was really appreciated after a long day traveling.
The owner could not have made it any easier to book a were great at answering any questions we had and the Maui Kamaole is a great complex in a perfect location.
I am already looking forward to our next visit to Maui and staying here again.
As a follow up after our fantastic Maui holiday and stay in your vacation rental.....in a few words.... fantastic, perfect, convenient!
The communication with the owner throughout including after the first two days, and the follow up was excellent, timely and precise plus the unit was exactly as promoted in size, condition, cleanliness and the items all offered both in the unit and available for use were excellent especially the sports gear & the chairs were something we actually used a lot. The check in was easy and the complex staff so nice & friendly, finding the suite and parking as well was well laid out with nice amenities like the pools and the BBQ stations were a great place to meet other residents and visitors. Loved the deck/lanai with the sun awning too and protected from the wind, wonderful garden view & sunsets, tv's in the living & bedrooms with cable, unit phone was very convenient, large bedrooms both with decks and wonderful bathrooms all so well presented just like a hotel and with all contact info at your fingertips if needed. The location was super convenient and in the warmer, sunny South Kihei! Our family of five, three kids in the 20's loved it!! Thanks again for making our holiday an excellent experience for the entire family and hope to be back soon!
Thank you Brian for the fabulous condo. It was perfect. It was the best equipped condo we have ever rented. The kitchen had absolutely everything, even a rice cooker. However, the lighted make up mirror in the master was a wonderful surprise.
The place was spotless and the gift basket was wonderful. Thank you. You can't go wrong with this rental.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at this unit. It had everything we needed. The beach gear was great as our daughters got a ton of use out of the boogie boards! The gift basket was a nice touch too. Maui Kamaole is a great complex and we wouldn't hesitate to stay here again!
We've stayed at Maui Kamaole three times--each has been wonderful, but Brian's condo (110405) was the best. Comfortable, well-stocked, clean...an all-around great place to hang in Maui. We particularly appreciated: the well-stocked kitchen (sweet ginger garlic flakes? Coooool!); the very nice store of beach equipment; the comfortable lanai; the three large flat-screens in the living room and bed rooms; convenient access to great beaches, eateries, Brian's responsiveness, etc. Would stay here again in a minute!
|Rate Period
|Weekend Night
Summer 2016
Apr 16 2016 - Aug 31 2016
1 night minimum stay
September 2016
Sep 1 2016 - Sep 30 2016
1 night minimum stay
Fall 2016
Oct 1 2016 - Dec 15 2016
1 night minimum stay
December 2016
Dec 16 2016 - Dec 23 2016
1 night minimum stay
January 2017
Jan 6 2017 - Jan 25 2017
1 night minimum stay
February 2017
Feb 9 2017 - Feb 28 2017
1 night minimum stay
March/April 2017
Mar 1 2017 - Apr 15 2017
1 night minimum stay
|Tax Rate
We accept E-Checks, U.S. Visa, Master Card, Discover thru VRBO.
Deposit is 50% and the balance is due 30 days prior to arrival.
$125 cleaning fee for stays less than 7 nights
Professionally Managed by CRH
Standard Cancellation Policy:
Booking date to 30 days prior to arrival = $150 FEE
15 - 29 days prior to arrival = 4 NIGHTS RENTAL
0 - 14 days prior to arrival = NO REFUND
Christmas Cancellation policy:
up to October 31st = $150 FEE
November 1st - 30th = 4 NIGHTS RENTAL
After November 30th and early departures = NO REFUND


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Hotels in Dundee near Dundee (DND)
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- Most bookedBest Western Invercarse Hotel
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A Traveller, May 2016, CA
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Hotels within 2 miles of Dundee (DND)
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"Stayed here for the night only, but it was a very comfortable hotel outside the main city centre."
H, Jun 2016, US
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"Shared bathroom = race to the shower and limited bars of soap/shampoo - not good. Great breakfast. Friendly Hostess."
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"Beautiful and comfortable room, clean and very well appointed. Excellent shower. Friendly and helpful staff. Fabulous breakfast."
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"Was an absolutely amazing room with everything we needed to relax, my husband and I had the most amazing relaxed night away from kids x"
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- Hampton By Hilton Dundee City CenterNo Guest Reviews yet
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Map of hotels near Dundee (DND)
- University of Dundee
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Ratings based on 320 Verified Reviews
They paid and stayed. We double-checked.
4.6 Room cleanliness
4.6 Service & staff
4.5 Room comfort
4.5 Hotel condition
Expedia Verified ReviewsThey paid and stayed. We double-checked.
by A verified traveler from l
Posted Jul 24, 2016
The "happy hour" was excellent!!! Great food and great drinks!!!! Breakfast was also great!!!
by A verified traveler from Indianapolis
Convenient location... Easy access to I69.Posted Jul 16, 2016
My 2 night stay was enjoyable. Rooms and lobby were nice and clean. Staff was polite and helpful. Felt the pool area and downstairs hall could have been better kept but overall my stay was good.
by Jonathan
Posted Apr 26, 2016 on Hotels
by A verified traveler from West Salem, Illinois
In Evansville for my cataract surgery.Posted Apr 23, 2016
Pros: location, hospitality, hot food, cleanliness
Cons: popcorn salt on popcorn
Location: convenient to medical facilities
This Drury Inn exceeded our hopes for a clean quiet place to stay after my cataract surgery. I walked in with my eye shield in place and spent just moments at the front desk before being in possession of the key cards for the two room suite. Indeed, the free food was a major attraction and I cleaned my plate every time. Food good? yes, no ? Yes ,good. !, being an old grouchy nit picker, only had one complaint. The complementary popcorn was salted by apparently table salt. Wrong. Please use popcorn salt on popcorn. Popcorn salt is finer than table salt. Now To me the managers of a hotel influence the entire experience of their guests. The manager at this hotel is doing a superb job. Plus, area managers here are performing at the top of the bell curve at this Evansville location.. We shall return when my other cataract is removed. I really sensed that this is a great place to work . as everyone was so polite and friendly. Consequently, my wife and I extend a sincere "thank You" to the Evansville Drury for an enjoyable stay.
by Brian from Bloomington
Great family hotelPosted Apr 22, 2016 on Hotels
Very nice stay. The staff was courteous and we really enjoyed our stay.
by Jim from Centralia IL
Room way too smallPosted Apr 22, 2016 on Hotels
The stay was great but the rooms were very small to small for four people I wouldn't stay there again! If they have bigger rooms it would be worth it.
by A verified traveler from Chicago, IL
Nice hotel in Evansville, INPosted Apr 21, 2016
Pros: Staff, room & bed, facilities, location
Location: Easy to find and convenient to highway; restaurants & shopping nearby
Location has good access to highway; friendly staff; nice rooms & beds, fast & easy check-in and check-out, plenty of parking
by A verified traveler
Posted Apr 18, 2016 on Hotels
by A verified traveler
MY HUSBAND LOVES THE ALL IN ONE CONCEPTPosted Apr 5, 2016
After staying at Driurys 10-20 times. I am really bored with the food. You would think they could change it up every few years. It is great to know you do not have to leave once you arrive and food and beverage is included
by Thomas from Milwaukee
College visit stayPosted Apr 2, 2016 on Hotels
Our 1st stay at a Drury Inn. Staff was genuinely friendly and welcoming. Comfortable bedding. Three complimentary beer, wine or cocktails per adult each night. We didn't sample the dinner buffet that included a baked potato bar and grilled chicken strips. Breakfast included scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, hot / cold cereals, etc. Pleasant stay for one night.


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You can reach any and all of our writers, Gina Ruiz, Shannon Muir or Fred Patten by using the contact form below. Requests for reviews or other questions can also be directed via the contact form.
2 thoughts on "Contact"
Hi Gina,
Checking in back with you to offer you the opportunity to review the SECOND book in the bilingual Captain Mama series – the first such series about women and mommies serving in our armed forces.
On the heels of the success of "Good Night Captain Mama" which you reviewed in 2013 and the four literary awards it won (see here: http://www.captainmama.com/index.php?page=honors-and-awards), this July 4th we will publish "Captain Mama's Surprise/La Sorpresa de Capitán Mamá" [with ISBN 9780997309003.]
Little Marco is headed out to the jet for a field trip with his entire 2nd grade class and with his sisters to meet his mom's aircrew and learn about the flying gas station! There's a glossary and a glosario of aviation terms and an engineering project in the back matter too.
Because you were in the first group of reviewers for the first book, Gina, we'd love to send you a review copy now that we've printed the first books ahead of the national pub date of 7/4. We can also send a sell sheet with distributor and other info if you'd like. I look forward to your reply!
Dear Editors,
I am writing to bring William Luvaas's new novel, Beneath The Coyote Hills, to your attention in hopes that you will review it at Amoxcalli. The novel is due out Sept. 15, 2016 from Spuyten Duyvil Press.
Beneath The Coyote Hills explores the influence of choice and chance in our lives. Do we control our own destiny or is it dictated in part by mysterious forces beyond our control? Tommy Aristophanos is a luckless man, a homeless freegan, fiction writer, and epileptic, who is haunted by grotesque "spell visions" and by his abusive father who returns, quite literally, from the dead. When Tommy's fictional creation, wealthy and successful V.C. Hoffstatter, emerges from pages of the novel Tommy is writing to harass him–repossess his home and fire him from his job, leaving him homeless–plucky Tommy fights back. Volt believes that we author our own destiny, while Tommy's many reverses and his ailment teach him that we control far less than we imagine. He endures attacks by vigilante thugs, marauding coyotes, and by a criminal organ transplant ring in Kosovo that steals one of his kidneys. In the book's final narrative twist, we are left wondering who is the true Pygmalion–Tommy or Hoffstatter?
William Luvaas is the author of two previous novels, The Seductions of Natalie Bach and Going Under, and two story collections, A Working Man's Apocrypha and Ashes Rain Down: A Story Cycle, which was The Huffington Post's 2013 "Book of the Year." His honors include an NEA Fellowship in Fiction and first place in Glimmer Train's Fiction Open Contest. His stories, essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in dozens of publications.
For a review copy of the novel, please contact us at email@example.com and we will send an e-galley and the media kit. Many thanks for your time and consideration.
Todd Thilleman, Publisher
Spuyten Duyvil Press


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Treat yourself to a rejuvenating day at the spa while staying at The Westin St. Louis. Our Health Club & Spa is a full-service spa, featuring a wide selection of signature treatments including massage, body treatments, and facials. Whether you are preparing for your wedding or just want to relax, the Health Club & Spa offers an array of treatments. Or you can design your own package for the day.
Need a car? We've got you covered. Rest easy knowing our onsite Avis Car Rental location is open seven days a week, offering a wide variety of vehicles, flexible rental terms and competitive rates. Contact The Westin St. Louis Avis location directly at (314) 588-9452. Hours: Monday through Friday 7am-6pm; Saturday 8am-1pm; and Sunday 9am-1pm.
Westin didn't discover fresh air, but we're proud to offer it at this hotel. Learn more about Breathe Westin™
Weekends last longer at Westin with late checkout on Sunday. Availability may vary.
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By BOB WHITE
Court records show the felony criminal mischief case against a man accused of causing paint damage to an Elizabethtown Tea Party proponent's pickup truck has been dismissed.
On motion of Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Heather Paynter, the case was dismissed Monday without prejudice.
According to Elizabethtown police, surveillance video recorded retired military officer Thomas J. North using paint stripper to damage a truck near the Cherrywood Drive home of Jan and Kenneth Bunting.
By MARTY FINLEY
With the November election edging closer, a push for new faces in Hardin County government has grown more forceful.
Local and state candidates on Tuesday took advantage of an open forum during the Central Kentucky Tea Party Patriots' monthly meeting at Nolin RECC in Elizabethtown to espouse the Tea Party's call to action against out-of-control spending
Police this morning confirmed that a photo attached to Erik J. Buggeland's Facebook page is, in fact, the son of a couple found murdered Tuesday morning at their Shepherdsville Road home.
Buggeland, a 35-year-old who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, is being sought for questioning about the killings and has been entered into the National Crime Information Computer as an endangered missing person.
IF YOU GO: The 11th annual Vine Grove Bluegrass Festival is today through Saturday at Vine Grove Optimist Park. Tickets are available at Cecilian Bank locations and at the gate. Regular admission is $10 for today and $20 per day for Friday and Saturday. Advance three-day tickets are $40 at the gate. Children 12 and under are admitted free. For a complete listing of performances or to learn more go to www.vinegrovebluegrass.com, e-mail email@example.com or call (270) 877-5636.
By HOLLY TABOR
Kevin L. Anderson
Kevin L. Anderson, 49, of Guston, died Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010.
Survivors include his wife, Darla A. Anderson; two sons, Kent Anderson and Jake Anderson; and his stepfather, Jim Davidson.
The funeral is at 6 p.m. EDT Thursday at Bruington-Jenkins-Sturgeon Funeral Home in Brandenburg.
Visitation is from 3 to 9 p.m. EDT today, and after noon EDT Thursday at the funeral home. Mary Katherine Lucas Chaudoin
Kentucky State Police investigating the double homicide of a retired couple found dead Tuesday morning in their Elizabethtown home say they have no solid leads as to the whereabouts of one person of interest.
Kentucky State Police Post 4 spokesman Bruce Reeves said Wednesday afternoon that, despite pleas for help from the community and law enforcement nationwide, detectives have received no solid information on the location of Erik J. Buggeland.
ELIZABETHTOWN — Hardin County Animal Control is hosting its annual rabies vaccination clinic from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at 116 Nicholas St. in Elizabethtown.
The vaccination costs $5 per animal and will be administered by veterinarian Lewis C. Gore, who is licensed through the Kentucky Board of Veterinary Examiners.
For more information about the clinic or the shelter, contact Hardin County Animal Control at 270-769-3428.
Copyright © 2016
The News-Enterprise is your source for local news, sports, events and information in Elizabethtown, KY, Hardin County and the surrounding area.


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I stayed at the Lauze apartments in La Plagne 1800 during the second week of March. I was unsure what to expect having read some of the reviews but I was pleasantly surprised by the standard of accommodation. I stayed with 4 other guys, all prepared to slum it for a week of skiing. With 5 of us in an apartment it was always going to be a bit cosy. It was however remarkably spacious. There was a double bedroom, a twin, separate loo, separate shower and separate bathroom on the upper floor. The lower floor had a well equipped galley kitchen, dining area and 2 sofa singles beds. Plus, there was a separate loo, small lobby area and a balcony on the lower floor. The furnishings and decorations were all of a high standard and spotlessly clean. Some reporters have commented on the sofa beds being uncomfortable but I had no such difficulty (at 6'1'' and 100kg I tend to find faults in beds if they exist).
The apartments are grouped in blocks just a short distance from the main hotel reception. The free ski bus which can take you to the other villages stops about 50m away. I travelled to the resort from Geneva airport via Bens Bus. The service was efficient and cost about £75 return. The only problem is that they only operate a few buses each day so expect a long wait at the airport unless you coordinate your flight in advance. Bens Bus drops off right outside Lauze so it is very convenient.
Lauze is situated about 200m from the nearest chair lift, which takes you to Plagne Centre in just a couple of minutes. We rented a ski locker at the Sport 2000 shop at the bottom of the hill to save carrying our skis and boots back up the hill each day, it cost about 30 euro for the week for a 6 man locker. The skiing conditions were the best ever the week we were there and we covered all of the runs in La Plagne from this location, which is quite central to the whole area. If you are considering venturing to Les Arcs, then it may be worth staying a little closer to the Vanoise Express at Montchavin to avoid the bottleneck at Plagne Bellecote, or you need to set off early. The journey from Plagne 1800 to Montchavin takes about 1 hour at a gentle cruise.
Plagne 1800 is very, very quiet. There are a couple of bars The Mine (quite lively) and Bobsleigh (good happy hour après bar) but that is it. For a night out you need to take the bus up to Plagne Centre. However, after a hard day on the slopes there was enough to entertain 5 middle ages guys for a few nights.
For provisions there is a small Spar supermarket located under the hotel. It stocked a reasonable selection of stuff and even sold Marmite and PG Tip tea. You can get all you require for a week of self catering and it was open from 7.30am for fresh baguettes and croissants. There are a couple of restaurants in the village, but the only one we tried was the rustic pizza and pasta place (I can't remember the name) situated by the Spar shop. The food was great, really good value for French ski resort and the owner was very hospitable. We enjoyed large quantities of genepy (a drink akin to schnapps) on the house which made it all the more worth a visit.
Overall, I was very impressed with the Lauze apartments. The location is convenient to the slopes; it was well equipped and spotlessly clean. It was probably a little too basic for a trip with our partners but for a lad's crash pad, it was more than we required.
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- In the heart of "Paradiski" ski area Board payable when booking A renovated residence on the edge of the forest. ... more less
- Reservation Options:
- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Expedia, Booking.com, Travelocity, Hotels.com, Hotwire and Priceline so you can book your Pierre & Vacances Residence Plagne Lauze reservations with confidence. We help millions of travelers each month to find the perfect hotel for both vacation and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers.
- Also Known As:
- Maeva Residence Plagne Lauze Hotel Macot-La-Plagne


text: Contemporary Tasmanian Cuisine Elegant Casual Dining Berries….February 29, 2016What could be more Tasmanian than summer berries… the first raspberries arriving in late spring, heralding the warmer weather. Then come the highly anticipated deep burgundy coloured cherries following hot on their heels at Christmas. A trip to the beach just wouldn't be the same without a big bag of cherries purchased on the way from the orchard to share ... Read MoreZucchini…December 18, 2015By mid summer zucchini almost becomes a forbidden word with people locking their car doors so 'friends' don't leave them a large green zeppelin that got away from them in the veggie patch. Then we go into overdrive making ratatouille, zucchini fritters, zucchini loaf and once the aubergine are ripe a yummy caponata to go with some grilled chops. But ... Read More


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Masonic Secrets. (Questions Encouraged)
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[quote:SikTh:MV85MTcyMDBfMTQyMDQyNDJfNEVEMTlDOQ==] [quote:Flaming Sword] This is the thing; I was pressed to join, pressure which still reverberates today I got sent to "the womb of baal" I escaped, but not before I was implnted with whatever morgellons will prove to be. On th eupside I live in an ex lodge, I didnt ind out till I lifted the carpets I am so sore, unable to do anything and still I get the "engaged" conversations from those within. I dont feel safe, and I am so weary that life has no meaning except to manage th epain I am in. Your thoughts? [/quote] You escaped? Where do you live Flaming Sword? The truth to the meaning of the life which we live is a morbid one - I can understand how you feel. Just remember, you are in a game and they want you to play by your rules. They can take your body and all things material things that belong to you what they want is your conscience. After all, everything you see and touch is the creation of the architect and his minions, the Freemasons. Live a spiritual life. Move somewhere peaceful, away from all these stresses, practice meditation and find yourself. When you do this you will have SO MUCH MORE than all the Freemason´s combined. [/quote]
Original Message
Hey guys,
Someone in my family is a Mason - therefor growing up I haven´t taken any Masonic conspiracies seriously. Now that I am older and look back at all the times I spent with this family member I am actually convinced that these people are up to no good.
My uncle has been a Freemason for many, many years now. He has been one since I can remember. His wealthy friend nominated him for initiation. My entire family noticed a major change in personality once he joined. He completely removed himself from his family and became very secretive. I do, however, remember times from my childhood, visiting his home. His house was filled with Masonic art, and being a curious soul I would always ask him about them - his answer was always something along the lines of "something you will never understand", or "you will never know". When I was a little older I visited his place again and, again, I was interested in the Masonic art he had in his home. I asked again what kind of art work it was, he´d grin and say "if I told you, I would have to kill you." I always took it as a joke, but that is something strange to say to an eight your old child.
My uncle is not a good man. At that young age I knew nothing of Freemasonry, as a matter of fact I had no idea what THAT was until I turned 18. My uncle has struck my grandmother sending her to hospital, he said that "that alcoholic whore was a disgrace to his name and didn´t want to be in anyway associated with her", he also publicly humiliated my mother at a dinner party by using similar words and throwing wine all over her face.
I still, occasionally, bump into him. Not much is said, though. He mainly just smirks, nods his head, and then walks away. I get more warmth from a stranger.
Now, I am nearing thirty and certainly have had a lot of time to think about my past. I have done a lot of research on Freemasonry and spoken to my grandfather on the topic. What he had to say was very interesting. I have a lot to tell you about the Mason world and would be glad to share it.
So, if any of you have ANY questions feel free to ask me, and if there are any real Mason´s here who try to defend their secret, I will do my best to prove them wrong.
Thank you.
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MWL stands for Modern Workplace Learning. This doesn't just about modernising training, but changing the very essence of what "learning" means in the organisation, and how L&D can. As far as this challenge goes –
"If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you!"
This Challenge consists of 12 Activities (some of which contain more than one task) as follows:
Note: All participants will receive a PDF copy of Jane Hart's Modern Workplace Learning book as part of the Challenge materials.
- This is not a traditional course, where I provide all the content and then test you on it! It is a social experience hosted in a private Yammer group. Each week you are invited to work on a practical activity and then share your thoughts and your work with the rest of the group.
- Nothing is compulsory, but you will find that the more you "work out loud" with the other participants, the more you will get out of the workshop. Even showing "raw" examples of your work is valuable for others to see, it doesn't have to be a perfect product. And of course, it is also helpful to comment on each others work as well as consider how their ideas might work within your own organization. However, if you would like a Challenge Completion Certificate you will need to complete a final activity.
- You will probably want to commit a couple of hours a week for this workshop, but once again it is up to you how much time you devote to it, and also when you do the work.
Participants come from all over the world and from all types of organisations where they work as L&D specialists as well as consultants. They therefore offer a wide mix of perspectives and ideas. Here is some feedback from the 1st Challenge that ran earlier in 2016.
"Jane Hart's L&D challenge takes you through all of the steps for implementing a shift in the role of L&D towards facilitating social and everyday learning, both at personal and organizational levels. I took part in most of the activities, which are relevant and interesting (and fun!) but there is no obligation to participate if something isn't relevant to your organization or if you don't have time that week. This takes away the guilt I often feel when I participate late or not at all during a course and so I never lost the motivation to continue working through it. I highly recommend it to everyone – beginners and experts alike." Carolyn Gregoire
"If you're in Learning & Development, you know that you need to change. Traditional Training won't cut it any more. You need to shape and support modern workplace learning – informal, social, beyond the course and LMS. Jane's Challenge takes this from an abstract, scary task and makes it possible. The interactions with other professionals are invaluable – you realise you're not alone and everyone's willing to help each other out with ideas and practical tips. You'll come through the challenge with a fresh set of insights for reinvigorating your approach to supporting your business. Highly Recommended." Stephen Walsh
"The Challenge is a unique learning experience. I would recommended it to anyone in L&D who would like to understand not only where the role of the L&D Practitioner is heading but who also wants to be involved in shaping the role too.
I enjoyed experiencing first-hand one of Jane Hart's modern approaches to learning – the Guided Social Learning Experience – which is the way in which The Challenge is structured. I think it is both an effective (and enjoyable) structure and I learned a huge amount by completing the weekly Challenge activities and by learning with others on Yammer.
I found Jane's MWL book (provided as a resource in the program) to be thought-provoking and an excellent read and one that I have continuously referred to. I also found the links to the articles, blog posts, tools etc. written and/or provided by Jane for the activities to be both current and of the best quality.
I will definitely miss receiving the weekly Challenge activity. They not only made me think but they also gave me the proverbial 'kick' to try out new activities and tools, and to develop new personal and organisational learning skills and habits." Justine Jardine
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Birth Control Health Center
Other Benefits of Birth Control Pills
It can ease endometriosis. In this condition, tissue normally inside the uterus grows outside of it. It causes painful, heavy periods. Taking birth control pills can help ease the symptoms by thinning out the uterine lining, and, in the case of extended-cycle pills, blocking your period from happening each month.
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It lowers your risk of some cancers. "Women that have taken the pill for 5 years or longer have a 50% reduction in the risk of developing ovarian cancer, and that benefit continues even after stopping the pill," says Ginger Gardner, MD, gynecologic cancer surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. "We're talking about a cancer for which there's not a good screening tool, and a cancer that's frequently diagnosed in an advanced stage, so to have this kind of risk reduction is important."
A recent analysis of 36 studies found that for every 5 years that a woman takes birth control pills, her risk of endometrial cancer decreases by nearly a quarter. The benefit continued even more than 30 years after the women stopped taking the pill.


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Seal performed at the exquisite Beiteddine Palace in Lebanon Thursday night and belted out all his biggest hits "Crazy", "Killer" and of course "Kiss from a Rose."
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Isn't that sweet?
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The talented bunch put on a fab show.
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You shouldn't have done that, Beyonce.
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She has the voice, looks and charisma of a superstar.
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