Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-17
2001-12-25
Boccio, Vincent F. (Department: 2615)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C704S503000, C386S349000, C382S284000, C382S294000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06334023
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of The Invention
The subject invention relates to the recording of video images and sound, and more particularly, to the recording of these video images and sound for the purpose of editing the recording.
2. Description of The Related Art
Video recording for the recording of image and sound of scenes is generally known today. A camera converts image and sound into electric signals which are stored on a carrier such as a magnetic tape; a playback apparatus reads these signals from the carrier and generates a signal for application to a reproducing apparatus, such as a monitor or a television set, in order to be reproduced.
Conventional practice was to record these electric video signals in analog form. Nowadays digital recording is also known, for which compression techniques, such as DVC, can be used. In both cases, the recording may be regarded as a sequence or series of recorded images with associated sound, these images having been provided with a unique identification number.
In the field of image recording and reproduction, there is a need to be able to arrange the recorded images in a sequence which deviates from the recorded sequence. This is the case, for example, with an amateur film-maker who wishes to make a holiday film, but it also applies to a professional film-maker who can or wishes to use only a part of his/her recordings. Prior to the actual pasting, the user should view and judge the recorded sequence and decide which parts of this sequence he/she wishes to use for recording on a target carrier and in what order; this process will be referred hereinafter as “editing”.
Conventional editing is effected by simply playing the carrier with the recordings on a playback apparatus, viewing the reproduced images, and taking notes. Images are pasted in a conventional manner by playing back a carrier with recordings by means of a playback apparatus and by applying the electric signals generated by this playback apparatus to a recording apparatus to record them on another carrier. To paste a recording at a desired location, the user positions the recording head of the recording apparatus at the desired location with respect to the target carrier, positions the playback head of the playback apparatus at the beginning of the desired recording on the source carrier, and subsequently starts the playback apparatus and the recording apparatus at the same time. However, this is a rather intricate, time-consuming and inaccurate procedure.
Therefore, in order to achieve a greater ease of use, computer programs have been developed for the editing of recordings. The recordings are then read into a computer memory. Subsequently, the user views the images read into the computer memory on a monitor or television set for the purpose of editing and gives edit commands to the computer in accordance with his/her edit decisions. In response to the edit commands entered by the user, the computer then reads the images from the memory in the sequence determined by the user, the image signals being available on a signal output of this computer in order to be recorded on the target carrier.
It will be evident that these tasks can be performed not only by a dedicated computer, but also by a suitably programmed standard computer such as a PC. Hereinafter, such a computer will also be referred to as an editing computer.
The use of such a computer presents various problems.
First of all, the required amount of storage capacity is comparatively large. For example, the storage of video recordings having a length of 1 hour requires approximately 11 GB when the digital signals have been compressed in accordance with the DVC format. It is to be noted that hereinafter, it is assumed that the recordings have been compressed in accordance with the DVC format, but it will be evident that the invention is not limited thereto. The use of other compression techniques is also conceivable. Alternatively, the recordings may have been recorded in analog form, but in order to save storage capacity, it is preferred to use a compression technique, such as DVC, for reading into the computer memory.
Secondly, it takes much time to read these video recordings into the memory. Normally, the playback apparatus being used can play the source carrier only at the “normal” speed, which implies that the read-in of said video recordings then takes 1 hour. It is true that some playback equipment is capable of playing at two or even four times the “normal” speed, but this equipment is fairly expensive.
Thirdly, a comparatively high bit-rate is required for editing the images read into the memory. When the digital signals have been compressed in accordance with the DVC format, the bit-rate during read-out from the memory is approximately 25 Mbit/s. This also holds for the read-in of the recordings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide a solution for the afore-mentioned problems.
The present invention is based on the recognition of the fact that during editing, the user does not need images having the full resolution. It is sufficient to view low-resolution images, after which, the actual editing operation is performed upon full-resolution images.
On the basis of this, it would, in principle, be possible to derive low-resolution images from the original recordings of full-resolution images. Such a procedure is useful if the invention is used in conjunction with existing recordings. When the images are read into the memory of the editing computer, the original recordings are then played back, the computer thus receiving a sequence of full-resolution images. The computer has then been programmed to turn each full-resolution image received into a reduced-resolution image and to store this reduced-resolution image in the computer memory. This already yields the advantage that less storage capacity is required. During editing, these reduced-resolution images are used, which has the advantage that the bit-rate is comparatively low.
However, in accordance with the invention, dual recording is effected during the recording of the images: of each image to be recorded, a full-resolution version is recorded along with a version of strongly reduced resolution, the full-resolution image and the low-resolution image being provided with mutually corresponding identification numbers. During the read-in of images into the editing computer, the original low-resolution images are played back, which also has the advantage that the bit-rate during reading into the computer memory is comparatively low. Eventually, the edit commands selected by the user will be performed upon the original high-resolution images.
As already stated, a recording comprises a sequence of discrete images, the normal reproduction time for an individual image being fixed; this time is {fraction (1/25)} s when the PAL standard is used. The reproduction of a low-resolution image would then also require {fraction (1/25)} s. In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a multiplicity of N low-resolution images are combined to form a single combination image of normal resolution, in the form of a so-called mosaic image. In a manner comparable to that described hereinbefore, this combination can be effected by the editing computer during the read-in of the images into the computer memory, which already yields the advantage that viewing a recording takes less time. However, preferably, this combination is already effected during said dual recording, which has the advantage that during the read-in of the combination images into the memory of the editing computer, the combination images being read in by a standard playback apparatus, the required time has been reduced by a factor N. Indeed, now one combination image is read and loaded into the computer memory in {fraction (1/25)} s, this combination image corresponding to N original low-resolution images.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4888643 (1989-12-01), Kusakabe
patent: 5164831 (1992-11-01), Kuchta et al.
patent: 5325449 (1994-06-01), Burt et al.
patent: 5
Boccio Vincent F.
Goodman Edward W.
U.S. Philips Corporation
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