Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-30
2001-05-15
Tran, Thai (Department: 2615)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06233389
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the time shifting of television broadcast signals. More particularly, the invention relates to the real time capture, storage, and display of television broadcast signals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) has changed the lives of television (TV) viewers throughout the world. The VCR has offered viewers the flexibility to time-shift TV programs to match their lifestyles.
The viewer stores TV programs onto magnetic tape using the VCR. The VCR gives the viewer the ability to play, rewind, fast forward and pause the stored program material. These functions enable the viewer to pause the program playback whenever he desires, fast forward through unwanted program material or commercials, and to replay favorite scenes. However, a VCR cannot both capture and play back information at the same time.
One approach to solving this problem is to use several VCRs. For example, if two video tape recorders are available, it might be possible to Ping-Pong between the two. In this case, the first recorder is started at the beginning of the program of interest. If the viewer wishes to rewind the broadcast, the second recorder begins recording, while the first recorder is halted, rewound to the appropriate place, and playback initiated. However, at least a third video tape recorder is required if the viewer wishes to fast forward to some point in time after the initial rewind was requested. In this case, the third recorder starts recording the broadcast stream while the second is halted and rewound to the appropriate position. Continuing this exercise, one can quickly see that the equipment becomes unwieldy, unreliable, expensive, and hard to operate, while never supporting all desired functions. In addition, tapes are of finite length, and may potentially end at inconvenient times, drastically lowering the value of the solution.
The use of digital computer systems to solve this problem has been suggested. U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,551 issued to Logan et al., on Dec. 6, 1994, teaches a method for concurrent video recording and playback. It presents a microprocessor controlled broadcast and playback device. Said device compresses and stores video data onto a hard disk. However, this approach is difficult to implement because the processor requirements for keeping up with the high video rates makes the device expensive and problematic. The microprocessor must be extremely fast to keep up with the incoming and outgoing video data.
It would be advantageous to provide a multimedia time warping system that gives the user the ability to simultaneously record and play back TV broadcast programs. It would further be advantageous to provide a multimedia time warping system that utilizes an approach that decouples the microprocessor from the high video data rates, thereby reducing the microprocessor and system requirements which are at a premium.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides a multimedia time warping system. The invention utilizes an easily manipulated, low cost multimedia storage and display system that allows the user to view a television broadcast program with the option of instantly reviewing previous scenes within the program. In addition, the invention allows the user to store selected television broadcast programs while the user is simultaneously watching or reviewing another program.
A preferred embodiment of the invention accepts television (TV) input streams in a multitude of forms, for example, analog forms such as National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) or PAL broadcast, and digital forms such as Digital Satellite System (DSS), Digital Broadcast Services (DBS), or Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC). Analog TV streams are converted to an Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) formatted stream for internal transfer and manipulation, while pre-formatted MPEG streams are extracted from the digital TV signal and presented in a similar format to encoded analog streams.
The invention parses the resulting MPEG stream and separates it into its video and audio components. It then stores the components into temporary buffers. Events are recorded that indicate the type of component that has been found, where it is located, and when it occurred. The program logic is notified that an event has occurred and the data is extracted from the buffers.
The parser and event buffer decouple the CPU from having to parse the MPEG stream and from the real time nature of the data streams. This decoupling allows for slower CPU and bus speeds which translate to lower system costs. The video and audio components are stored on a storage device. When the program is requested for display, the video and audio components are extracted from the storage device and reassembled into an MPEG stream. The MPEG stream is sent to a decoder. The decoder converts the MPEG stream into TV output signals and delivers the TV output signals to a TV receiver.
User control commands are accepted and sent through the system. These commands affect the flow of said MPEG stream and allow the user to view stored programs with at least the following functions: reverse, fast forward, play, pause, index, fast/slow reverse play, and fast/slow play.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description in combination with the accompanying drawings, illustrating, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
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ASTARTE DVDirector™ Beta Testing Program.
Barton James M.
Chow Ching Tong
Goodman Andrew Martin
Kao Jean Swey
McInnis Roderick James
Glenn Michael A.
TiVo Inc.
Tran Thai
Wong Kirk
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