Systems and methods for generating video test sequences based upon captured video data

• US 20080062265A1
• Filed: 08/25/2006
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Project Giants, LLC
• Original Assignee: Tektronix Incorporated (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: Ivers, Kevin T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,054,331 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/184
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/00 Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/004 for digital television systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/02 for colour television signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/04 for receivers

Abstract

A video test system is provided with a circular buffer to capture a video input sequence in response to a trigger, and a test generator output to generate a video test sequence based upon the captured video test sequence. The system may be implemented using a single instrument, or a combination of instruments, such as video waveform monitors and video signal generators. A method is also provided for generating video test sequences based upon captured video sequences.

Claims

1. A video test system for a generating video test sequence comprising:

a circular buffer having a video input, wherein the video input provides video sequence data to the circular buffer;

a trigger system connected to the circular buffer to provide a trigger signal to cause the circular buffer to capture at least a portion of the video sequence data; and

a test generator output in communication with the circular buffer to produce a video test sequence based upon the captured video sequence data.

2. The video test system as provided in claim 1, wherein the trigger system provides a trigger signal based upon a manual trigger, or an external trigger.

3. The video test system as provided in claim 1, wherein the trigger system provides a trigger signal based upon a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) error, a gamut error, or ancillary data identification.

4. The video test system as provided in claim 1, further comprising a format converter connected between the circular buffer and the test generator output to convert the captured video sequence data into a serial transmission format.

5. The video test system as provided in claim 1, further comprising a capture memory in communication with the circular buffer to provide storage of the captured video sequence data.

6. The video test system as provided in claim 5, wherein the capture memory communicates through a read/write interface to transfer the captured video sequence data to the circular buffer.

7. The video test system as provided in claim 5, further comprising a test processor connected between the capture memory and the circular buffer to provide format conversion between the captured video sequence provided by the circular buffer and a format suitable for storage on the capture memory, and to provide communication between the capture memory and the circular buffer.

8. A video test system comprising:

a video waveform monitor to capture a video sequence; and

a video signal generator in communication with the video waveform monitor to receive the video sequence and produce a test video sequence based upon the video sequence.

9. The video test system of claim 8, wherein communication is provided through a network interface.

10. The video test system of claim 8, wherein communication is provided using computer readable media.

11. The video test system of claim 8, wherein the video waveform monitor provides conversion of the video sequence into a format suitable for use by the video signal generator.

12. A method of generating a video test sequence comprising:

capturing a video sequence in a video test instrument; and

generating the video test sequence based upon the video sequence.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising converting the video test sequence from a raw video format into an analog video format or a serial digital video format.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising converting the video test sequence from a raw video format into a format suitable for network transmission or storage on computer-readable media.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising converting video data from the format suitable for network transmission or storage on computer-readable media back into the raw video format.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising converting video data from the format suitable for network transmission or storage on computer-readable media into a format suitable for generating a test video sequence using a video signal generator, wherein a generating the video test sequence based upon the video sequence is accomplished using a separate video test instrument.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the separate video test instrument is a video signal generator.

18. A method of obtaining video sequence data comprising:

capturing a video sequence in a circular buffer;

converting the video sequence into a standard format suitable for transmission over a computer network, or storage on computer-readable media.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the computer-readable media is a hard drive, a USB drive, a floppy or an optical disk.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the standard format is a binary file with a file header, a comma separated values (CSV) file, a spreadsheet-readable format or a bit-map format.