Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-05
2001-02-13
Tran, Thai (Department: 2715)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C386S349000, C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06188835
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to optical disk systems, and in particular to optical disk systems for playing back recorded presentations (e.g., viewing movies).
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical disks are recording media typically containing long strings of microscopic pits representing digitally encoded data. Each string of pits is called a “track”. The tracks are formed end to end in a spiral pattern around the center of one or both major surfaces of the disk. Reflected laser light is used to “read” the data encoded in the pits. Common types of optical disks available today include compact disks (CDs), laser video disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs). Various optical disk players are available which read data from optical disks.
The current DVD standard is a compromise format agreed upon by several major consumer electronic and entertainment companies. Under the current DVD standard, the capacity of a single side, single layer DVD with a diameter of 4.7 inches is 4.7 gigabytes, enough to store about 135 minutes of video data. This capacity is sufficient for about 95% of all full length movies. The current DVD standard also provides for up to eight different sound tracks in different languages, each with up to eight different audio channels to create a three-dimensional acoustic effect. In addition, up to 32 different sets of subtitles (i.e., translation text) may be stored on a DVD for display during playback.
Many users have favorite movie scenes, and like having the ability to view those scenes without having to view the entire movie. With a linear recording media like video tape, accessing a particular scene may involve determining the distance from the beginning of the tape to the start of the section of the tape where the scene is stored. The distance may be measure in inches, for example, and a counter having a visual display may be used to measure the length of tape passing between two rollers.
In order to view a particular favorite scene, a video tape system user may reset (i.e., “zero”) the counter at the beginning the tape, allow the tape to advance to the beginning of the scene, then write down (i.e., record) the value displayed by the counter. In order to view the scene at a later date, the user may again reset the counter at the beginning of the tape, advance the tape at an accelerated rate (e.g. “fast forward” the tape) until the displayed value matches the recorded value, then replay the favorite scene.
A user's written record of counter values (i.e., list of indices) corresponding to beginnings of favorite scenes is subject to loss. In addition, the user must manually access the sections of recording media containing the favorite scenes. It would thus be beneficial to have an optical disk system which embodies a method for storing indices corresponding to selected portions of recorded presentations. The desired system would store the locations of the beginnings of the selected portions of the presentations (e.g., indices to favorite scenes) for multiple optical disks (e.g., DVDs). Further, the locations of the beginnings of the selected portions of the presentations would be accessible by a control mechanism of the optical disk system. The control mechanism would automatically access and begin playback at the selected portion of a particular presentation. Such a system would allow a user to conveniently keep a record of and access selected portions of multiple presentations (e.g., favorite scenes in several different movies).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The problems outlined above are in large part solved by an optical disk system and method for storing index information indicating the beginnings of selected portions of presentations recorded upon an optical disk. One embodiment of the optical disk system includes a memory unit operably coupled to a disk drive unit and an input device. The disk drive unit retrieves identification data, encoded video data, and navigation data stored upon an optical disk (e.g., a DVD). The encoded video data may be, for example, a recorded presentation such as a movie.
The input device may include a keypad having multiple electrical pushbutton switches or “keys”. A user may cause the input device to produce the output signal by pressing one or more of the keys of the keypad. The occurrence of the output signal may indicate the beginning of a selected portion of the encoded video data (i.e., presentation). When the output signal is received from the input device, the current navigation data identifies the physical location of the beginning of the selected portion of the presentation on the optical disk. The current navigation data is stored within the memory unit. The stored navigation data is later retrieved and used to locate the encoded video data corresponding to the selected portion of the presentation. Retrieval of the stored navigation data corresponding to the selected portion of the presentation allows replay of only the selected portion of the presentation (e.g., a favorite movie scene).
The memory unit includes a non-volatile portion for storing the identification data and the current navigation data. The non-volatile portion of the memory unit may include, for example, flash memory or electrically erasable programmable random access memory (EEPROM) which maintains stored contents even in the absence of applied electrical power.
The data stored within the memory unit may include identification data and index information, wherein the index information includes a navigation data portion and a time index portion. The identification data may include a portion of a textual title of the optical disk. A value corresponding to the identification data may be stored within the non-volatile portion of the microprocessor memory unit in order to minimize storage requirements. The value may be, for example, an error detection code (e.g., checksum) computed from the identification data stored upon the optical disk.
The navigation data portion identifies the physical location of the beginning of the selected portion of the presentation on the optical disk as describe above. The time index may be a length of time from the beginning of the presentation in an ‘hour:minute:second’ format, wherein the hour entry is a pair of decimal digits between ‘00’ and ‘99’, and the minute and second entries are pairs of decimal digits between ‘00’ and ‘59’. The time index may be displayed upon a display screen of a display device in order to allow a user to select between several selected portions of the same presentation.
The optical disk system may also include a microprocessor coupled between the disk drive unit and the memory unit, and operably coupled to the input device. The microprocessor receives the identification data and the navigation data from the disk drive unit and the output signal produced by the input device. Operational modes of the microprocessor may include a “save index” mode and a “play index” mode. When the microprocessor is placed in the save index mode (e.g., via the input device), the microprocessor responds to the output signal by: (i) producing the index information, and (ii) storing the identification data and the index information within the non-volatile portion of the memory unit.
The microprocessor may include a timekeeping circuit which keeps track of a length of playback time from the beginning of a presentation. When the microprocessor is in the save index mode, the time index may correspond to the value stored within a register of the timekeeping circuit when the microprocessor receives the output signal. For example, after enabling the save index operating mode, pressing any key on the keypad of the input device may signal the beginning of a favorite scene of a movie. In response to the output signal, the microprocessor produces the index information and stores the identification data and the index information within the non-volatile portion of the memory unit.
When the microprocessor is in the play index mode, the microprocessor responds to the outpu
LSI Logic Corporation
Tran Thai
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