Pulse or digital communications – Bandwidth reduction or expansion – Television or motion video signal
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-22
2001-04-17
Kelley, Chris (Department: 2713)
Pulse or digital communications
Bandwidth reduction or expansion
Television or motion video signal
Reexamination Certificate
active
06219381
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The entire contents of Japanese Patent Application No. 9-134903 filed on May 26, 1997 and Japanese Patent Application No. 9-147846 filed on Jun. 5, 1997 are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method in which the moving picture data encoded by compressing moving pictures using the interframe prediction are sent out and reproduced at a fixed rate, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus and method for realizing what is called a trick play such as rapid feed and reverse rapid feed.
The current mainstream of the technique for encoding moving pictures by a compression scheme using the interframe prediction includes the MPEG2 (Moving Picture Experts Group) international standards. Normally, in a moving picture processing system with MPEG2, as shown in
FIG. 1
, the moving picture data recorded in a video tape
1
or the like or the real-time moving picture data obtained by use of a video camera
3
or the like are encoded by a dedicated encoder system
5
and stored in an external memory as a moving picture file
7
. The moving picture file
7
thus stored is decoded by a dedicated decoder system
9
and reproduced for display on a TV
11
or the like. In this case, there are two techniques for sending the data from the moving picture file
7
to the decoder system
9
, a fixed rate and a variable rate. The following two conventional methods are used for realizing the trick play (rapid feed, reverse rapid feed, etc.) with a MPEG2 system.
In the first method, the moving picture data for trick play is prepared in tape or the like beforehand and encoded by an encoder to produce a MPEG2 trick play moving picture file. This method, however, poses the problem that considerable labor and time are required to produce the moving picture data for trick play in advance and to encode it to MPEG2 image data.
In the second method, a moving picture file for ordinary reproduction which is encoded by a MPEG2 encoder is used for trick play reproduction at the time of decoding. As shown in
FIG. 2
, for example, when decoding the moving picture file
13
for ordinary play, only the intraframe coded pictures (I-pictures) or only the intraframe coded picture and the interframe forward predictive pictures (P-pictures) are decoded out of the frame information sent out to a MPEG2 decoder system
15
and displayed on a TV
17
for realizing the rapid feed.
For realizing a normal rapid feed when data are sent out at a fixed rate by this method, however, a complex process is required for image data search and buffer management at the time of decoding. Also, some decoders based on MPEG2 currently in use have no such a special function and therefore this method is not usable in all cases.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus and method in which the normally-reproducible moving picture data encoded by compression using the interframe prediction are sent out and reproduced at a fixed rate, thereby producing the moving picture data capable of realizing a trick play properly.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there a video server system supplying video data to a client system through a network in response to a request from an end user, comprises a disk array for storing video data, and a video server including: means for reading the video data stored in the disk array; means for extracting the intraframe coded image data alone sequentially from the head of the video data thus read; means for reducing the information in the intraframe encoded image data extracted; padding means for inserting a padding code in each intraframe encoded image data in such a manner that the intraframe encoded image data in which the information is reduced satisfies a designated bit rate for reproduction; means for setting the designated bit rate for reproduction in the header of the moving picture data; and means for producing buffer control information and setting the information in each frame header of the video data in such a manner as to assure proper start of reproduction and proper random access in reproducing the video data containing the padding code.
According to a second aspect of the invention, an image processing method for a video server system supplying video data to a client system through a network in response to a request from an end user, comprising the steps of: extracting the information from the intraframe coded image data alone sequentially from the head of the video data; reducing the information in the intraframe coded image data extracted; inserting a padding coded in each intraframe coded image data in such a manner that the intraframe coded image data in which the information is reduced satisfies the designated bit rate for reproduction; and setting the designated bit rate for reproduction in the header of the moving picture data.
According to a third aspect of the invention, an image processing apparatus for sending out at a fixed rate the moving picture data encoded by compression using the interframe prediction, comprising: means for extracting only the intraframe coded image data sequentially from the head of the moving picture data; means for reducing the information in the intraframe coded image data extracted; padding means for inserting a padding code in each intraframe coded image data in such a manner that the intraframe coded image data in which the information is reduced satisfies the designated bit rate for reproduction; and reproduction rate setting means for setting a designated bit rate for reproduction in the header of the moving picture data.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinbefore.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5956088 (1999-09-01), Shen et al.
patent: 5956741 (1999-09-01), Jones
Sawada Takaaki
Takeuchi Yoichiro
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
Kelley Chris
Wong Allen
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