Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-28
2004-05-25
Tran, Thai (Department: 2615)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C386S349000, C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06741795
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a digital video disc player for reproducing DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs) in which video signals, audio signals and sub-picture signals as encoded are written and outputting the digital signals, and to an apparatus for displaying images by receiving the digital signals from the digital video disc player.
2. Prior Art
In the recent years, digital television broadcasting systems and image storing mediums capable of making effective use of storage spaces with compression of the required bandwidth have been realized by making use of the digital compression encoding technique such as MPEG-2.
For example, in the field of the television broadcasting system, satellite transmitted digital television data has already been broadcast while terrestrial transmitted television data has been put in the planning stage. As the image storing medium, DVDs has come onto the market and have been expected as one of the effective image storing media for video products.
The currently available DVD players are provided with analog signal output ports for both images and sounds and sometimes also provided with digital PCM audio output ports. Also, the DVD players are connected to image reproduction systems functioning also as sound reproduction systems, such as televisions, by means of image signal transmission cables and a plurality of the audio signal transmission cables compatible with multiple audio channels.
FIG. 1
is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of a DVD player. In the same figure, the DVD player
101
is composed of a spindle motor
105
for turning a digital video disc
103
, a pickup head
107
, a head amplifier
109
equipped with an equalizer, a decoder/error correction circuit
111
, a content scrambling system
113
for copy protecting DVD contents, a program stream demultiplexer (referred simply as the PS demultiplexer hereinbelow)
115
, an audio stream decoder
117
, a MPEG-2 image stream decoder
119
, a sub-picture decoder
121
, a navigation manager
123
, a presentation engine
125
, a menu data generation circuit
127
, digital-analog converters
129
and
131
(called simply as D/A converter hereinbelow), a user interface
133
and an access control circuit
135
.
Next, the operation of the DVD player
101
will be briefly explained. Laser light is emitted from the pickup head
107
in order to irradiate the digital video disc
103
with a predetermined wavelength. The reflected light is converted to an electric signal which is then output to the head amplifier
109
. The head amplifier
109
serves to perform signal amplification, waveform shaping and digitization while the decoder/error correction circuit
111
serves to perform 8-16 decoding and error correction.
Next, the mutual authentication of the digital video disc
103
and the DVD player
101
is performed in order to confirm the authorization. When the authorization is successfully finished, the program stream PS as read from the digital video disc
103
is separated into sounds, videos, sub-pictures, navigation data in the form of packetized elementary streams (PES) by means of the PS demultiplexer
115
.
The sound PES is decoded compatible with sound compression encoding technology such as AAC, AC
3
, MPEG and so forth by means of the audio stream decoder
117
in order to output PCM audio signals.
The video PES is video decoded by means of the MPEG-2 image stream decoder
119
. The sub-picture PES is decoded by means of the sub-picture decoder
121
. The navigation data PES is received by the navigation manager
123
for use in the reproduction control of the digital video disc
103
.
The presentation engine
125
serves to synchronize sounds, videos and sub-pictures as decoded by the decoders
117
,
119
and
121
respectively, and output video and sound PCM signals by encoding them in order to be compatible with a television encoding technique such as NTSC, PAL and so forth after overlaying sub-pictures on videos. The D/A converter
129
serves to convert the sounds PCM signals into analog audio signals and output the analog audio signals to an external device. On the other hand, the D/A converter
131
serves to convert the video PCM signals into analog video signals and output the analog video signals to an external device.
The menu data generation circuit
127
serves to generate a menu image and voice guidance for providing and supplying interface to the presentation engine
125
for allowing users to interact with the DVD player. The user interface
133
is provided with a console panel, a wireless controller and so forth in order to transfer user's operation of the digital video player to the navigation manager
123
. The access control circuit
135
serves to select a title to be reproduced, a story of a multiple story title, fast-forwarding, pause, rewinding, and other specific manipulations to be performed.
The currently available the digital TV systems are sometimes provided with analog video input ports and analog audio input ports, but are not provided with a digital video input port.
FIG. 2
is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of a prior art digital TV system. In the same figure, the digital TV system
201
is provided with a BS antenna
203
, a BS digital tuner
205
, a decoder
207
, an 8PSK/QPSK error correction circuit
209
, a terrestrial antenna
211
, a terrestrial digital tuner
213
, an FFT error correction circuit
215
, a decoder
217
, a D/A converter
225
, a loudspeaker
227
, an NTSC encoder
229
, a D/A converter
231
and a CRT
233
.
The decoder
217
is provided with a TS processor
219
, an audio decoder
221
and an MPEG-2 decoder/video signal processor
223
.
Next, the operation of the digital TV system will be explained. Radio wave signals of 12 GHz as received by the BS antenna
203
is converted into intermediate frequencies, decoded and error corrected by means of the decoder
207
and the 8PSK/QPSK error correction circuit
209
, and transferred to the decoder
217
in the form of the transport stream.
The VHF-band frequency signal as received by the terrestrial antenna
211
is passed through the terrestrial digital tuner
213
for selecting a channel, decoded and error corrected by means of the FFT error correction circuit
215
, and transferred to the decoder
217
in the form of the transport stream.
The decoder
217
serves to select one of the transport streams as transferred from the 8PSK/QPSK error correction circuit
209
and the FFT error correction circuit
215
while sound, video and sub-picture streams are separated from the transport stream as selected by means of the TS processor
219
. The audio decoder
221
serves to decode the audio stream into the corresponding PCM audio signals. The PCM audio signals are converted into analog signals by means of the D/A converter
225
and amplified by means of an amplifier (not shown in the figure) in order to output sounds from the loudspeaker
227
.
The MPEG-2 decoder/video signal processor
223
serves to video decode the video stream, to sub-picture decode the sub-picture stream and to perform overlay of sub-pictures on the video image. The image signals obtained by overlaying sub-pictures on video images are converted into analog video signals through the NTSC encoder
229
and the D/A converter
231
in order to display moving pictures on the CRT
233
.
However, in the case of the digital TV systems of this kind, no digital input port is provided because the specification of the ports for outputting digital images and, in particular, the specification of copyright protection does not have been standardized.
Furthermore, in the recent years, the IEEE-1394 technology has drawn attention of engineers as a multi-purpose digital interface for use in multimedia communications. The IEEE-1394 is a versatile, high-speed, and low-cost serial interface, providing plug-and-play ease of use by automatically configuring necessary control information when connecting peripheral devices with a ca
Hisashi Yamada
Takehiko Okuyama
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
Onuaku Christopher
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
Tran Thai
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