Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-06
2001-02-27
Nguyen, Huy (Department: 2615)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06195503
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image and sound recording/reproducing apparatus provided with functions for efficiently and accurately compressing and decompressing animations and still pictures, together with sounds (e.g., a subject's voice).
2. Description of Related Art
There are currently various methods for compressing and decompressing data. As one example, international standards have already been established for coding methods for still pictures and animations. As one coding system for still pictures, there is a Joint Photographic Coding Experts Group (JPEG) system (e.g., see newest MPEG textbook, ASCII, pp. 53 to 56), and as one coding system for animation, there is a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) system. In the MPEG system, there are MPEG1 (e.g., see newest MPEG textbook, ASCII, pp. 89 to 93) for storage media such as CD-ROM, and DAT, and MPEG2 (newest MPEG textbook, ASCII, pp. 129 to 131).
According to the aforesaid examples, in a case of compressing a still picture and a sound, when the still picture is compressed by the JPEG system, unlike the MPEG system, there are no particular regulations concerning a set compression process for any accompanying sound (i.e., previously, still pictures typically did not have sound data associated therewith), and therefore, sound may be individually processed with freedom of choice of a sound processing method to be applied. One approach applying a JPEG image compression/decompression process and an ADPCM sound compression/decompression process can be seen in the reference of “Development of Digital Camera DC-1
”, ITE Technical Report
Vol. 19, No. 45, pp. 15-20 (September 1995). Such approach is disadvantageous in that the ADPCM compression/decompression process is not widely distributed/available, thus making use inconvenient for users.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed toward allowing compressed data for a still picture and especially for sound (subjected to a separate process) to be compressed/decompressed by use of widely available/popular equipment such as a personal computer. More particularly, if image data is to be compressed/decompressed using the JPEG (for still images) or MPEG (for animations) systems, the present disclosure details that it has found advantageous to have sound data compressed/decompressed using the MPEG system.
More specifically, with the spread of the Internet or the like, software corresponding to the JPEG system and MPEG system (e.g., as means for compressing/decompressing image data) is typically installed within personal computers before delivery thereof, and/or is widely available for free/low-cost downloading from the Internet, i.e., the JPEG and MPEG systems for image compression/decompression are widely available and accepted in everyday use in personal computers or the like. For this reason, as a means for compressing/decompressing sound data, software corresponding to the MPEG system should be generally used as such software is widely/cheaply available and personal computer users typically are well-versed in its usage. Therefore, in the case of adding sound to compressed data for a still picture, if the sound data is compressed by the MPEG system in advance, such MPEG compressed sound data is able to be easily decompressed by a personal computer or the like without the need for any extra operation such as reconversion. The present invention has been achieved aiming at this point, and its object is to provide an image and sound recording/reproducing apparatus easy for the user of a personal computer or the like to take in image or sound compressed data, with ease and convenience of reproduction, editing operations and the like, being taken into consideration.
In order to solve the aforesaid problem, when compressing a sound with a still picture, an image and sound recording/reproducing apparatus comprises: compression means for compressing a still picture and a sound; multiplexing means for multiplexing compressed data for the still picture and the sound compressed by the compression means; recording means for recording the output from the multiplexing means; separation means for taking out the compressed data from the recording means to separate them into compressed data for the image and the sound respectively; decompression means for decompressing the compressed data for the image and the sound to be outputted from the separation means; and control means for controlling the compression means, the multiplexing means, the recording means, the separation means and the decompression means. When recording and reproducing a sound with a still picture, the still picture is compressed/decompressed by the JPEG system, and the sound is compressed/decompressed by the MPEG system to achieve the aforesaid object.
The foregoing and other objects, advantages, manner of operation, novel features and a better understanding of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and claims when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, all forming a part of the disclosure hereof this invention. While the foregoing and following written and illustrated disclosure focuses on disclosing embodiments of the invention which are considered preferred embodiments, it should be clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4858031 (1989-08-01), Fukuda
patent: 5057932 (1991-10-01), Lang
patent: 5231511 (1993-07-01), Kodama et al.
patent: 5596565 (1997-01-01), Yonemitsu et al.
patent: 5774623 (1998-06-01), Maeda et al.
Ikedo Hiroyasu
Otsubo Hiroyasu
Yamamoto Naoki
Antonelli Terry Stout & Kraus LLP
Hitachi , Ltd.
Nguyen Huy
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