Digital audio-video differential delay and channel analyzer
First Claim
1. An apparatus for assessing operation of a system under test, the system being operable to process at least one video signal and a plurality of audio signals corresponding to audio channels, the apparatus comprising:
- a source of an audio-video program signal in a digital format having successive samples of video data and accompanying audio data for plural audio channels, the source being coupleable to an input of the system under test;
an audio mark generator and a video marker generator, wherein the audio mark generator and the video marker generator respectively produce audio and video data for processing through the system under test;
wherein the audio mark generator and the video mark generator are operable upon initiation of a test cycle to insert data into the program signal at the input to the system under test, the data representing an audio mark for a selected one of the audio channels and a video marker having a predetermined timing relationship, said audio mark and said video marker being thereby applied as the input for processing by the system under text;
a detector coupleable to an output of the system under test, wherein the detector is operable to receive the program signal, and to sense a timing relationship of the data representing the audio mark for at least one of said audio channels versus the video marker, at the output of the system under test; and
, at least one of an audio and visual output coupled to the detector for presenting a sensed result of said timing relationship.
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Abstract
A testing device and method for a digital video processing system is coupleable to an input and output of the processing system, and inserts video and audio marking information into the input to test system operation. The test device inserts a video marker and an audio marker data code for a single audio channel, preferably in the same digital input frame. The device then monitors the same audio channel and also all the other audio channels at the output, while monitoring for the video marker. The device indicates the occurrence and timing of results that appear at the outputs, the relative timing of the output audio mark(s) versus the video mark, an alarm in the event that an output mark is not found or found on an unexpected channel, etc. The test device successively exercises the audio and video portions of the processing system while also providing numeric timing measurements that are useful for proper setup and operation.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An apparatus for assessing operation of a system under test, the system being operable to process at least one video signal and a plurality of audio signals corresponding to audio channels, the apparatus comprising:
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a source of an audio-video program signal in a digital format having successive samples of video data and accompanying audio data for plural audio channels, the source being coupleable to an input of the system under test;
an audio mark generator and a video marker generator, wherein the audio mark generator and the video marker generator respectively produce audio and video data for processing through the system under test;
wherein the audio mark generator and the video mark generator are operable upon initiation of a test cycle to insert data into the program signal at the input to the system under test, the data representing an audio mark for a selected one of the audio channels and a video marker having a predetermined timing relationship, said audio mark and said video marker being thereby applied as the input for processing by the system under text;
a detector coupleable to an output of the system under test, wherein the detector is operable to receive the program signal, and to sense a timing relationship of the data representing the audio mark for at least one of said audio channels versus the video marker, at the output of the system under test; and
,at least one of an audio and visual output coupled to the detector for presenting a sensed result of said timing relationship. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for testing a digital video processing system operable to process video samples and embedded audio samples, comprising the steps of:
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providing a digital signal in a format providing for a succession of digitized audio and video samples;
inserting into the digital signal a video marker and at least one audio marker, the video marker and the audio marker having a predetermined timing relationship and the audio marker being associated with a predetermined one of a plurality of audio channels;
processing the digital signal through a video processing device having an arbitrary effect on at least one of an audio and a video portion of the digital signal;
sensing for the video marker an the audio marker at an output of the video processing device;
timing a difference between appearance of the audio marker and the video marker at said output of the video processing device; and
,reading out said difference. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for testing a digital processing system operable to process audio signals for multiple channels, comprising the steps of:
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providing a digital signal in a format providing for digitized audio samples for said multiple channels;
inserting into the digital signal at least one audio marker so as to distinguish a subset of at least one of said multiple channels from at least one other of the multiple channels by virtue of said audio being inserted into the subset and not into said at least one other;
processing the digital signal through a signal processing device having an arbitrary effect on an audio portion of the digital signal; and
,sensing for the audio marker at an output of the signal processing device corresponding to the subset distinguished by said audio marker being inserted therein, and further comprising sensing for the audio marker on at least one other of the multiple channels so as to determine a mismatch in channel integrity through said signal processing device. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification