Low bandwidth television

• US 20020080159A1
• Filed: 12/12/2001
• Published: 06/27/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Display Vectors LLC (Jeffrey M. Gross)
• Original Assignee: Vibe Solutions Group, Inc.
• Inventors: Turcotte, Kenneth A., Kaye, Daniel A., Montgomery, Joseph Paul, Mooneyham, Mark R., Moore, Michael Richard Young, Schaem, Stephan D., Hartford, Stephen A., Kell, Steven R.
• Granted Patent: US 6,941,517 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/704
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 11/02 with bandwidth reduction H04N11/04 , H04N11/24 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 11/042 Codec means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/25 with scene description coding, e.g. binary format for scenes [BIFS] compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/222 Studio circuitry; Studio devices; Studio equipment cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors, or control thereof H04N23/00

Abstract

The present invention is concerned with client-side production in a personal computer environment of low bandwidth images and audio. A series of low bandwidth still images along with a “script” and audio data is sent over a network in a client/server architecture or is read from a compact disk or other memory. A “director” module residing in a client personal computer uses the “script” to tell the computer how to execute a sequence of “moves” on the still images. These moves include cuts, dissolves, fades, wipes, focuses, flying planes and digital video effects such as push and pull. Moves within a still image occur in real time, and are relatively smooth and continuous as compared to prior art network video. Low bandwidth is achieved because most of the production is done at the client location without relying upon slow, bandwidth-limited downloading of conventional network video formats.

Claims

1. An image production system, comprising:

a computer having a display screen and a memory;

a director module residing in said memory; and

a script module, an image module, and an audio module;

wherein said director module uses instructions in said script module to create a series of moves to display a production sequence of images on said display screen including associated audio.

2. The production system of claim 1, wherein said director module is downloaded or uploaded on a one-time basis.

3. The production system of claim 2, wherein said director module is periodically updated.

4. The production system of claim 2, wherein said director module is downloaded from a network.

5. The production system of claim 4, wherein said network is the Internet.

6. The production system of claim 2, wherein said director module is uploaded from a disk through a drive on said computer.

7. The production system of claim 6, wherein said drive is an optical head and said disk is a CD-ROM.

8. The production system of claim 1, wherein said director module ensures continuity of said production sequence by inserting stock footage or loops.

9. The production system of claim 1, wherein said image module contains bit-mapped still images.

10. The production system of claim 9, wherein said image module further contains short video clips.

11. The production system of claim 1, wherein said audio module contains music and voiceovers.

12. The production system of claim 1, wherein said image module and said audio module are transmitted to said computer over a network.

13. The production system of claim 12, wherein said network is the Internet.

14. The production system of claim 1, wherein said image module and said audio module are read from a disk through a drive on said computer.

15. The production system of claim 14, wherein said drive is an optical head and said disk is a CD-ROM.

16. The production system of claim 1, wherein said move is a wipe.

17. The production system of claim 1, wherein said move is a focus or defocus.

18. The production system of claim 1, wherein said move is a fade.

19. The production system of claim 1, wherein said move is a dissolve.

20. The production system of claim 1, wherein said move is a translation of said images and said images are cropped so that only a portion of said images are visible as a new piece of said images move across said display screen.

21. The production system of claim 1, wherein said production sequence is initiated by sending only said script module and preliminary pieces of said image module and said audio module, and said director module continues to receive pieces of said image module and said audio module as said production sequence is playing.

22. A method of producing a low bandwidth television image, comprising the steps of:

receiving an image module, an audio module and a script module at a computer;

using a director module to generate sequences of images and audio from said image module and said audio module with instructions from said script module; and

displaying said sequences of images on a display screen of said computer.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said receiving step comprises receiving said image module, said audio module and said script module from a network.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said network is the Internet.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein said receiving step comprises receiving said image module, said audio module and said script module from a disk drive of said computer.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said drive is a CD-ROM drive.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of:

loading said director module on a one-time basis into said computer.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of:

periodically updating said director module.

29. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of:

adding stock material or looping said sequences with said director module to eliminate gaps in said sequences and to ensure continuity.

30. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of:

initiating said production sequence by sending only said script module and preliminary pieces of said image module and said audio module, with said director module continuing to receive pieces of said image module and said audio module as said production sequences are playing.

31. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for displaying low bandwidth television images, said program instructions performing the steps of:

receiving an image module, an audio module and a script module;

using a director module to generate sequences of images from said image module with instructions from said script module; and

displaying said sequences of images on a display screen of a computer.