Method and apparatus to facilitate the efficient implementation of trick modes in a personal video recording system

• US 20040028386A1
• Filed: 08/09/2002
• Published: 02/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kellerman, Marcus, Walls, Frederick George, Erickson, David M., Stults, Joshua
• Granted Patent: US 7,826,718 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/95
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/20 Disc-shaped record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/005 Reproducing at a different information rate from the information rate of recording for television signals H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/783 Adaptations for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed for facilitating efficient operation of trick modes in a personal video recording (PVR) system. Stream-navigation data from a data stream is captured and pre-processed to generate a frame-correlated NAV table comprising one entry for each frame within the data stream, during recording of the data stream. The stream-navigation data comprises start code data, content rating data, and conditional access data that is embedded in the data stream. During playback of the data stream in a user-selected trick mode, the frame-correlated NAV table is used to generate command packets that are sent to a data decoder along with selected frames of the data stream. The selected frames are decoded based on information in the command packets and certain selected frames may be displayed as part of the trick mode.

Claims

1. In a personal video recording (PVR) system recording a data stream, a method to facilitate efficient operation of trick modes, said method comprising:

capturing stream navigation data from said data stream during said recording;

generating calculated navigation data from said stream navigation data during said recording; and

generating at least one frame-correlated navigation table with one entry for each frame of said data stream, from at least one of said stream navigation data and said calculated navigation data during said recording.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said data stream comprises an MPEG transport stream.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said stream navigation data comprises start code data, content rating data, and conditional access data.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating time stamp data such that said time stamp data correlates to said data stream; and

writing said time stamp data to said at least one frame-correlated navigation table for each frame of said data stream during said recording.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing said at least one frame-correlated navigation table within said PVR system such that said at least one frame-correlated navigation table may be accessed and used by said PVR system for trick modes during playback of said data stream.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said stream navigation data comprises start code data that is in compliance with an MPEG standard and wherein said start code data comprises sequence headers, presentation time stamps (PTS'"'"'s), and beginning of new picture data.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said trick modes comprise forward, fast forward at a selected rate, and rewind at a selected rate.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said data stream comprises a reference frame stream of I-frames, P-frames, and B-frames according to a standard GOP format.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said data stream comprises a progressive refresh stream of P-frames and B-frames according to a standard HITS format.

10. In a personal video recording (PVR) system for playing back a recorded data stream, a method to facilitate efficient operation of trick modes, said method comprising:

generating command packets based on, at least in part, a user-selected trick mode and at least one frame-correlated navigation table stored on said PVR system and wherein said at least one frame-correlated navigation table is generated, at least in part, based on said data stream;

selecting frames of said data stream based on said at least one frame-correlated navigation table and said user-selected trick mode to generate a set of selected frames; and

decoding said selected frames based on, at least in part, said command packets.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said data stream comprises an MPEG transport stream.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising decoding and displaying at least one of said selected frames during said user-selected trick mode based on at least one of said command packets.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein a one-to-one correspondence exists between each entry of said at least one frame-correlated navigation table and each of said frames of said data stream.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein said at least one frame-correlated navigation table is generated within said PVR system during recording of said data stream by capturing and processing stream-navigation data from said data stream and wherein said stream-navigation data comprises at least one of start code data, content rating data, and conditional access data.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said start code data is in compliance with an MPEG standard and comprises sequence headers, presentation time stamps (PTS'"'"'s), and beginning of new picture data.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein said at least one frame-correlated navigation table includes time stamp data generated by said PVR system during recording of said data stream and wherein said time stamp data is correlated to said data stream.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein said decoding comprises processing said command packets.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein said decoding comprises building at least one reference frame based on said selected frames and said command packets.

19. The method of claim 10 wherein said user-selected trick mode includes one of forward, fast forward at a selected rate, and rewind at a selected rate.

20. The method of claim 10 wherein said data stream comprises a reference frame stream of I-frames, P-frames, and B-frames according to a standard GOP format.

21. The method of claim 10 wherein said data stream comprises a progressive refresh stream of P-frames and B-frames according to a standard HITS format.

22. In a personal video recording (PVR) system for recording and playing back a data stream, apparatus to facilitate efficient operation of trick modes, said apparatus comprising:

an data transport processor that receives a data stream and extracts stream-navigation data from said data stream;

a host processor that process said stream-navigation data to generate at least one frame-correlated navigation table and said host processor generating command packets from, at least in part, said at least one frame-correlated navigation table; and

a data decoder receiving said command packets and certain frames of said data stream from said host processor based on, at least in part, said at least one frame-correlated navigation table.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said data stream comprises an MPEG transport stream.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said stream navigation data comprises start code data, content rating data, and conditional access data.

25. The apparatus of claim 22 further comprising a hard disk storing said data stream received from said data transport processor and said at least one frame-correlated navigation table received from said host processor.

26. The apparatus of claim 22 further comprising a stream data FIFO pipelining said data stream from said data transport processor to a hard disk within said PVR system under the command of said host processor.

27. The apparatus of claim 22 further comprising a start code FIFO pipelining start code data of said stream-navigation data from said data transport processor to said host processor.

28. The apparatus of claim 22 further comprising a content rating module receiving content rating data of said stream-navigation data from said data transport processor and sending said content rating data to said host processor.

29. The apparatus of claim 22 further comprising a conditional access module receiving conditional access data of said stream-navigation data from said data transport processor and sending said conditional access data to said host processor.

30. The data transport processor of claim 22 comprising a start code detection (SCD) module to extract start code data of said stream-navigation data from said data stream.

31. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said host processor generates time stamp data that is correlated to said data stream and wherein said host processor writes said time stamp data to said at least one frame-correlated navigation table during recording of said data stream.

32. The apparatus of claim 22 further comprising a parental control system receiving content rating data from said host processor based on, at least in part, said at least one frame-correlated navigation table.

33. The apparatus of claim 22 further comprising a display processor to receive certain decoded frames from said data decoder and processing said certain decoded frames for display.