System and method for television frame capture and display

• US 20040160532A1
• Filed: 02/19/2003
• Published: 08/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Sun, Shijun
• Granted Patent: US 7,139,033 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/559
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4184 providing storage capabilities, e.g. memory stick
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4221 Dedicated function buttons, e.g. for the control of an EPG, subtitles, aspect ratio, picture-in-picture or teletext
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42221 Transmission circuitry, e.g. infrared [IR] or radio frequency [RF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42646 for reading from or writing on a non-volatile solid state storage medium, e.g. DVD, CD-ROM
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42669 the medium being removable
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44029 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/4448 for frame-grabbing

Abstract

A system and method are provided for frame capture and redisplay in a stand-alone television. The method comprises: down-converting a television signal including a plurality of frames; selecting an accepted frame; capturing the selected frame; storing the captured frame; selecting a stored frame; and, displaying the selected frame. Some aspects of the method further comprise: storing auxiliary information with the stored frame, such as time, date, or channel. Then, displaying the frame includes displaying the frame with the auxiliary information. Other aspects of the method further comprise: accepting a remote capture and remote display signals from a television remote control. Down-converted frames are selected for storage, and stored frames are selected for display in response to the remote signals. In other aspects, stored frames are displayed as thumbnail displays. For example, a single thumbnail display, or a group of thumbnail displays can be presented overlying the down-converted television signal.

Claims

1. In a stand-alone television, a method for frame capture and redisplay, the method comprising:

down-converting a television signal including a plurality of frames;

selecting a down-converted frame;

capturing the selected frame;

storing the captured frame;

selecting a stored frame; and

,

displaying the selected frame.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

simultaneously with the down-converting of the television signal, displaying the television signal.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein capturing the selected frame includes digitizing the captured frame.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein storing the captured frame includes encoding the captured frame;

and,

wherein displaying the selected frame includes decoding the stored frame.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the captured frame includes storing the captured frame on a removable storage medium.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing auxiliary information with the stored frame selected from the group including time, date, and channel; and

,

wherein the displaying the frame includes displaying the frame with the auxiliary information.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accepting a remote capture signal; and

,

wherein selecting a down-converted frame includes selecting a frame in response to the remote capture signal.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accepting a remote display signal; and

,

wherein displaying the selected frame includes displaying a frame in response to the remote display signal.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the selected frame includes displaying stored frames as thumbnail displays.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein displaying stored frames as thumbnail displays includes presenting the thumbnail displays overlying the presentation of the down-converted television signal.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein displaying stored frames as thumbnail displays includes sequentially presenting the thumbnail displays.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein displaying the selected frame includes presenting a full resolution version of the selected thumbnail display.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein displaying stored frames as thumbnail displays includes simultaneously presenting a plurality thumbnail displays.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein displaying the selected frame includes presenting a full resolution version of the selected thumbnail display.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein storing the captured frame includes storing the captured frame at a plurality of resolutions;

and,

wherein displaying stored frames as thumbnail displays includes using frames stored at a lower resolution for the thumbnail displays.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein displaying the selected frame includes using frames stored at a full resolution.

17. The method of claim 4 wherein encoding the captured frame includes encoding the captured frame using a scalable coding technique.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein encoding the captured frame using a scalable coding technique includes encoding the frame using a Joint Photographic Experts Group 2000 (JPEG2000) protocol.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

selecting a stored frame to be write-protected;

selecting the stored frame to be write-enabled; and

,

erasing the write-enabled frame.

20. A stand-alone television system for frame capture and redisplay, the system comprising:

a television (TV) receiver having an input to accept television signals and an input to accept selection signals, the TV receiver having an output to supply down-converted television signals and an output to supply frames from the television signal selected in response to the selection signals;

a frame management unit (FMU) having an input connected to the TV receiver output to accept captured frames and an input to accept control signals, the FMU storing captured frames and supplying selected frames from storage at an output in response to the control signals;

a display having an input to accept presentation signals, an input connected to the TV receiver output to accept the down-converted television signals, and an input connected to the FMU output to accept the stored frames, the display presenting the down-converted television signals and stored frames in response to the presentation signals; and

,

a central processing unit (CPU) having an input to accept frame manipulation commands, an output connected to the TV receiver to supply selection signals, an output connected to the FMU to supply control signals, and an output connected to the display to supply presentation signals.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the FMU accepts captured frames and digitizes the frames prior to storage.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the FMU includes:

an encoder having an input to accept captured frames from the TV receiver, and input to accept encoding control signals, and an output to supply encoded frames;

a memory having an input to accept the encoded frames, an output to supply stored frames, and an input to accept storage control signals; and

,

a decoder having an input to accept stored frames from the memory, an input to accept decoding control signals, and an output to supply decoded frames to the display.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the FMU memory is a removable storage medium.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein the encoder accepts auxiliary information with the encoding control signals and encodes the captured frames with auxiliary information selected from the group including time, date, and channel;

and,

wherein the display presents the decoded frame with the auxiliary information.

25. The system of claim 22 further comprising:

an infrared (IR) receiver having an input to accept remote capture signals and an output connected to the CPU input to supply frame manipulation capture commands; and

,

wherein the CPU sends selection signals to the TV receiver, and encoding and storage control signals to the FMU in response to receiving the frame manipulation capture commands.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the IR receiver accepts remote display signals and supplies frame manipulation display commands;

and,

wherein the CPU sends storage and decoding control signals to the FMU, and presentation signals to the display in response to the frame manipulation display commands.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the decoder supplies down-sampled frames;

and,

wherein the display presents the down-sampled frames supplied from the decoder as thumbnail displays in response to presentation signals.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the display presents the thumbnail displays overlying the presentation of the down-converted television signal in response to presentation signals.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein the display presents a sequence of thumbnail displays in response to presentation signals.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the IR receiver accepts remote display/play signals to select a thumbnail display;

wherein the CPU supplies decoding control signals to the decoder and presentation signals to the display in response to the remote display/play signals;

wherein the decoder supplies a full-resolution frame in response to decoding control signals; and

,

wherein the display presents a full-resolution display of the frame supplied by the decoder.

31. The system of claim 27 wherein the CPU supplies decoding control signals to the decoder and presentation signals to the display;

wherein the decoder supplies a plurality of down-sampled frames to the display in response to the decoding control signals; and

,

wherein the display simultaneously presents a plurality of thumbnail displays in response to the presentation signals.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the IR receiver accepts remote display/play signals to select a thumbnail display;

wherein the CPU supplies decoding control signals to the decoder and presentation signals to the display in response to the remote display/play signals;

wherein the decoder supplies a full-resolution frame in response to decoding control signals; and

,

wherein the display presents a full-resolution display of the frame supplied by the decoder.

33. The system of claim 27 wherein the encoder supplies encoded frames to the memory at a plurality of resolutions;

wherein the decoder accepts low-resolution frames from memory; and

,

wherein the display presents thumbnail displays in response to the low-resolution frames supplied by the decoder.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the decoder accepts a full-resolution frame from memory;

and,

wherein the display presents full resolution displays in response to the full-resolution frames supplied by the decoder.

35. The system of claim 27 wherein the encoder supplies encoded frames to the memory encoded using a scalable protocol;

and,

wherein the decoder accepts frames from memory and scales the frame in response to decoding commands.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein the encoder and decoder use a Joint Photographic Experts Group 2000 (JPEG2000) protocol.

37. The system of claim 22 further the FMU memory write-protects, write-enables, and erases stored frames in response to storage control signals from the CPU.