Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
1997-04-14
2001-05-29
Nguyen, Huy (Department: 2615)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06240241
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
In one aspect, this invention is related to means and method for facilitating management, storage, and retrieval of video programs on magnetic tape. In another aspect, this invention is related to maintaining current information about programs recorded on a magnetic tape and more particularly to maintaining current information about such a tape using a magnetic tape reader/recorder, and magnetic tape cassettes therefor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As fully explained in application Ser. No. 08/176,852, directories in text are provided for home recorded (HR) tapes and for pre-recorded (PR) tapes to facilitate selection and playing of programs recorded on a tape. An indexing VCR is provided to retrieve the directory from either on the tape (particularly for PR tapes) or from the RAM in the VCR (particularly for HR tapes).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A frame of the video program that is recorded on tape is selected to be displayed with the directory in text form for one or more of the recorded programs. This improves the appearance and usefulness of the directory by adding a picture to the textual matter.
The still video frame for the program is captured and stored in RAM during the recording of the program on HR tape. The VCR is alerted to the location or timing of the selected frame to be stored by a flag, such as a control packet in the VBI, during reception of the program. The packet may be included in the data of the EDS field and line or carried by any other line that may be identified by a pointer in one of the normally used lines, such as the EDS line, for example.
For PR tapes, the still video frame picture for each program having a still video frame picture is stored at the beginning of the tape. Where the PR tape is purchased and becomes part of the library or rented or borrowed and used on plural occasions, the directory with still frame video is stored in the RAM of the VCR to obviate the need to return to the beginning of the tape where the still video frame would typically be recorded.
The invention provides, in a magnetic tape cassette reader/recorder, a method and apparatus for maintaining a directory of recorded programs including a still video frame picture. The availability of the program directory can greatly facilitate operation of the tape cassette reader/recorder.
Different embodiments of the present invention are disclosed in the specification for storing the directory and still video frame picture. According to one embodiment of the present invention, directory information and still video frame pictures are recorded on the tape itself.
In one implementation of this embodiment, directory information is written on the video track of the tape in the vertical blanking intervals (VBI) of recorded video signals and the still video frame picture are stored at the beginning of the tape. Alternatively, the still video frame pictures are stored in RAM in the VCR.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, directory information of a tape is stored in a random access memory located in the VCR with the associated still video frames for the programs recorded on the tape also being stored in a portion of the same RAM or in a different random access memory. An identification (e.g. a volume label) is written on the tape whereby the corresponding directory information can be retrieved from the random access memory when the tape is loaded into the VCR. Further, the still video frame picture for a selected recorded program is retrieved from memory and displayed on the screen.
Index information are provided on the tape to facilitate searching of programs recorded thereon and positioning the tape to selected programs.
In another embodiment, a library containing the directories with still video frame picture of a plurality of selected tapes is stored in the VCR. The availability of the library facilitate searching of programs among the plurality of tapes.
In a preferred embodiment, a hybrid VCR system is capable of detecting the address and the tape identification number (TID) from either the control track or the VBI of a video tape and identifying the type of tape therefrom. A first type of tape is a home recorded tape (HR tape) in which the directory thereof is stored in a RAM and the TID and the address are stored in the control track in a first embodiment and in the VBI in a second embodiment. A second type of tape is a prerecorded tape (PR tape) from a publisher in which the directory is stored in the VBI and the addresses are stored in a similar manner to the HR tapes and the still video frame pictures are stored at the beginning of the tape.
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Christie Parker & Hale LLP
Index Systems, Inc.
Nguyen Huy
LandOfFree
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