Methods of transmitting and receiving compressed television signals
First Claim
1. A method of transmitting a compressed television signal, comprising the steps of:
- generating a stream of transport packets from the compressed television signal;
inserting position labels into the stream of transport packets at positions within said signal where the transmission of said signal can be resumed after an interruption; and
transmitting said stream of transport packets.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to the transmission of MPEG encoded television signals from a Video-On-Demand server (1) to a receiver (2) via a network (3). Non-linear playback functions such as ‘pause’ and ‘resume’ require a very accurate control of the bit stream, taking account of typical network aspects such as network latency and remultiplexing. In order to allow the receiver to flawlessly resume signal reproduction after a pause, position labels (p; 5, 6; 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b) are inserted into the bit stream at positions where the server can resume transmission of the signal after an interruption. Upon a pause request, the decoder initially continues the reproduction until such a position label is detected. The subsequent bits delivered by the network are ignored, i.e. they are thrown away. Upon a request to resume reproduction, the receiver requests the server to retransmit the signal starting at the detected position.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of transmitting a compressed television signal, comprising the steps of:
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generating a stream of transport packets from the compressed television signal;
inserting position labels into the stream of transport packets at positions within said signal where the transmission of said signal can be resumed after an interruption; and
transmitting said stream of transport packets. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of receiving a compressed television signal from a transmitter, characterized by the steps of:
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sending a request to the transmitter to interrupt transmission of the signal;
interrupting the reproduction of the signal upon detection of a position label inserted into said signal by the transmitter, and throwing away the received signal following said position label;
sending a request to the transmitter to resume transmission of the signal from the position defined by said position label; and
resuming the reproduction of the signal upon receipt thereof.
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7. A transmitter for transmitting a compressed television signal, comprising:
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means for generating a stream of transport packets from the compressed television signal;
by means for inserting position labels into the stream of transport packets at positions within said television signal where the transmission of said television signal can be interrupted and resumed; and
means for transmitting said stream of transport packets. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A receiver for receiving a compressed television signal, wherein the receiver comprises control means adapted to:
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send a request to a transmitter to interrupt transmission of the signal;
interrupt the reproduction of the signal upon detection of a position label inserted into the signal by the transmitter, and throw away the received signal following said position label;
send a request to the transmitter to resume transmission of the signal from the position defined by said position label; and
resume the reproduction of the signal upon receipt thereof.
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13. A compressed television signal, including a stream of transport packets having position labels inserted into the stream of transport packets at positions within said signal where the transmission of said signal can be resumed after an interruption.
Specification