Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
1996-09-05
2001-03-06
Garber, Wendy (Department: 2715)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C348S705000, C348S578000, C348S722000, C340S870030, C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06198873
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an editing system and a video signal output system. More particularly, the invention relates to an editing system and a video signal output system comprising a server using disk drives.
Broadcasting stations and like institutions employ special effect processors that temporarily mix two or more kinds of video signals for video output involving special effects.
Illustratively, the special effect processor provides such special visual effects as fade-in/fade-out, mix, dissolve, wipe and page turn. For fade-in/fade-out, a first video signal is replaced progressively by a second video signal for video output, the first video signal being faded out even as the second video signal is faded in. Mix and dissolve basically involve mixing the first and the second video signals over a certain period of time for output at the point in time of switchover between the two signals. Page turn is one of the nonlinear effects brought about upon switchover between the two video signals.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, a special effect processor
100
of the above kind has two input terminals
101
and
102
. The input terminal
101
receives a signal X which is a first video signal; the input terminal
102
admits a signal Y, a second video signal. The special effect processor
100
adds various special effects to the input signals and outputs a processed video signal from an output terminal
103
.
Where the special effect processor
100
is to add such special effects as fade-in/fade-out, mix, dissolve, wipe and page turn to its input signal, it is necessary that the first and the second video signals upon switchover therebetween be input simultaneously to the special effect processor
100
for a predetermined period of time.
That in turn requires that two of the video signals output by external storage devices such as VTR's and disk recording and reproducing devices be input parallelly to the special effect processor
100
at least near the point in time of video signal switchover. Conventionally, at least two signal lines are derived from external storage devices so as to supply necessary video signals to the special effect processor.
The applicant of the present invention already proposed a video signal server (abbreviated to the server hereunder) using a disk storage medium. As depicted in
FIG. 2
, the server has one or a plurality of input terminals
111
receiving video signals. The input video signals are stored on a disk inside the server
110
. The video signals for the scenes requested by users are read from the disk, converted to a necessary transmission format, and sent to the respective users over transmission lines
112
.
The server
110
may include a plurality of disks to increase storage capacity and to enhance write speed. Using high-speed read-out techniques, the server
110
offers more output channels than the number of recording and reproducing devices that may be configured.
The server
110
is required to provide a plurality of users simultaneously with the video signals meeting their respective needs. The greater the number of users that the server
110
is capable of simultaneously supplying video signals to, the more valuable the server
110
is considered.
When a user is to edit video signals using the special effect processor
100
of
FIG. 1
, the user needs to be assigned two channels, i.e., two output ports for the reasons mentioned above. That means a decrease in the number of users who may be supplied simultaneously with their necessary video signals.
Thus when the server
110
is used as part of the special effect processor
100
in the broadcasting station, all users (including an editor and a producer) must be assigned two ports each. This effectively halves the number of users who may be fed simultaneously with the video signals they require. The result is a failure to utilize efficiently the output ports of the server
110
.
If the number of users receiving video signals simultaneously is not to be reduced, it is necessary to double the number of available output ports. The requirement entails a need to enlarge the server as a whole; it also means higher costs of the server.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an editing system and a video signal output system using the same whereby a special effect processor is assigned only one output port of the server.
An editing system according to the present invention is comprised of: a video signal reproducing device for reproducing video signals for a plurality of scenes from a storage medium and outputting the video signals for the scenes consecutively through an output port; a field/frame memory for storing either a field or a frame represented by the video signals coming from the output port; a special effect processor having two input terminals, one of the two input terminals being supplied with the video signals from the output port, the other input terminal being fed with output video signals from the field/frame memory; and a controller for controlling the writing and reading of data to and from the field/frame memory as well as the retaining of data in the field/frame memory; and the controller performs the control operations thereof in such a manner that the field/frame memory continuously supplies the special effect processor with the video signals representing either the last field or the last frame of any one of the scenes for a predetermined period.
The video signal reproducing device of the editing system according to the present invention, has a plurality of disks as the storage medium and reproduces the video signals representing the scenes from at least one of the plurality of disks.
In the editing system according to the present invention, the predetermined period corresponds to the period during which the special effect is continuously provided by the special effect processor.
The special effects provided by the editing system according to the present invention, consist of fade-in/fade-out, mix, dissolve, wipe and page turn.
The video signal reproducing device of the editing system according to the present invention reproduces the video signals representing the scenes in accordance with an editing list.
The controller of the editing system according to the present invention controls the field/frame memory in accordance with an editing list.
Further, an editing system according to the present invention is comprised of: a video signal reproducing device for reproducing video signals for a first plurality of scenes from a storage medium and outputting the video signals for the first plurality of scenes consecutively through a first output port, the video signal reproducing device further reproducing video signals for a second plurality of scenes from the storage medium and outputting the video signals for the second plurality of scenes consecutively through a second output port; a first field/frame memory for storing either a field or a frame represented by the video signals coming from the first output port; a second field/frame memory for storing either a field or a frame represented by the video signals coming from the second output port; a first special effect processor having two input terminals, one of the two input terminals being supplied with the video signals from the first output port, the other input terminal being fed with output video signals from the first field/frame memory; a second special effect processor having two input terminals, one of the two input terminals being supplied with the video signals from the second output port, the other input terminal being fed with output video signals from the second field/frame memory; a first controller for controlling the writing and reading of data to and from the first field/frame memory as well as the retaining of data in the first field/frame memory; and a second controller for controlling the writing and reading of data to and from the second field/frame memory as well as the retaining of data in the second field/fram
Boccio Vincent F.
Frommer William S.
Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP.
Garber Wendy
Kessler Gordon
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