Television – Basic receiver with additional function – Instant replay or freeze frame
Patent
1994-08-30
1996-09-10
Kostak, Victor R.
Television
Basic receiver with additional function
Instant replay or freeze frame
348715, 348718, 358311, 358335, 360 141, 360 331, H04N 544, H04N 979, H04N 576
Patent
active
055554636
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to television receivers. When a sequence of moving images is viewed on the screen of a television receiver, the signals received are applied directly to the viewing means. In this way, the television viewer is constrained by the screening of the program received and if he wishes to intervene in this screening, he can merely change program. When using a video recorder it is possible to replay a snippet of the programme recorded on the magnetic tape or to jump over a snippet deemed to be of no interest. These functions are obtained by modification of the conditions of paying out of the magnetic tape past the magnetic heads. When it is not desired to employ a video recorder to obtain these functions, it is necessary to provide, inside the television set, means making it possible to defer over time the playing of the images constituting the signal received. Indeed, the replaying of a snippet assumes that its content is preserved for a certain time in the receiver and jumping over a snippet is conceivable only as the reducing of a deferred processing of the signals from the tuner or from the television peripheral socket. It is therefore seen that the television set must be equipped with a buffer memory capable of stocking a large number of images and with an addressing control allowing the simulation of a jump in time bearing upon a group of images and the imperceptible automatic recovery of the preexisting playing conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The subject of the invention is therefore a television receiver comprising means for obtaining a source signal representative of a sequence of moving images and display means allowing the viewing of the said sequence, characterized in that it includes internal means enabling the said source signal to be applied under deferment to the said display means; the said deferment undergoing a change of value on request and automatically resuming its initial value in order to satisfy a subsequent request; the said deferment being produced by a buffer memory having a capacity of several images.
The subject of the invention is also a device including means for the deferred transmission of a sequence of moving images via a buffer memory associated with write and read addressing means, the said deferment undergoing an abrupt change of value on request and automatically resuming its initial value in order to satisfy a subsequent request, the said buffer memory having a sufficient capacity to contain several images of the said sequence, characterized in that the said abrupt change of value is by choice positive or negative, so as to offer the possibility of repeating and that of skipping a portion of the said sequence.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood by means of the description below and the appended Figures, in which:
FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically the internal means of a television receiver according to the invention and their application to the function which allows the skipping of a group of images.
FIG. 2 represents the means of FIG. 1, applied to the replay function.
FIG. 3 is a diagram of a television receiver equipped with a buffer memory and with means for compressing/expanding the images to be loaded and extracted from the said memory.
FIG. 4 is a flow chart specifying the operating procedures for a system for managing the addresses of the buffer memory illustrated in the earlier Figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In FIG. 1 can be seen, under (a), a memory 1 capable of storing a sequence of moving images originating from a source S. This memory includes N areas assigned to the storing of the images A, B, C, . . . PQR and in order to better illustrate the cyclic operation, these areas are arranged as a closed loop. The signal S(t) to be written to the memory 1 includes a string of N images A, B, C, . . . , PQR, followed by another string A.sub.1 -R.sub.1. In order to portray the write function, an arm 2 has been represented which effects t
REFERENCES:
patent: 4891715 (1990-01-01), Levy
patent: 5134499 (1992-07-01), Sata et al.
patent: 5371551 (1994-12-01), Logan et al.
Symposium Record, Broadcast sessions; pp. 289-295, Jun. 17-22, 1989, D. J. Woodham, "A Solid State `Action Replay` Recorder".
IEEE Transactions On Communications, vol. Com-26, No. 5, pp. 594-600, May 5, 1978, Robert Johnston, et al., "A Digital Television Sequence Store".
Kostak Victor R.
Miller John W.
Thomson Consumer Electronics
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