Method and device for producing a substantially continuous composite video signal
First Claim
1. A method of combining RGB fields with a video signal to form a composite video signal comprising:
- providing a video signal preprogrammed in the video portion thereof with data, the data comprisinga listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data,a field count in every field of the video signal,information for assembling the RGB fields, andan index of which RGB field to combine with which fields in the video signal;
reading the listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data;
decoding the data into the information for assembling the RGB fields and the index of which RGB field to combine with which fields in the video signal;
storing the decoded data;
reading a field count of a current field of the video signal;
comparing the field count of the current field with the index of fields in the video signal to be combined with the RGB fields;
whenever the current field count matches a field in the index, assembling the corresponding RGB field in the index from the information for assembling RGB fields; and
combining the RGB field with the current field of the video signal by switching between the fields according to the information for assembling the RGB fields to form a composite video signal.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention relates to methods for forming a substantially continuous composite video signal. A method for forming a composite signal comprises providing a video signal preprogrammed with data, reading or decoding and storing the data, determining where to combine a video field assembled from the data with the video signal, and combining the video field with the video signal by switching between the two. A method for forming a substantially continuous video signal comprises providing a video signal preprogrammed with data, reading or decoding and storing the data, receiving input indicating a desired video signal segment, determining the gap before locating the desired video signal segment, and filling the gap with a video segment assembled from the data. In another aspect, this invention also relates to a device for carrying out the methods of the invention.
88 Citations
76 Claims
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1. A method of combining RGB fields with a video signal to form a composite video signal comprising:
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providing a video signal preprogrammed in the video portion thereof with data, the data comprising a listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data, a field count in every field of the video signal, information for assembling the RGB fields, and an index of which RGB field to combine with which fields in the video signal; reading the listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data; decoding the data into the information for assembling the RGB fields and the index of which RGB field to combine with which fields in the video signal; storing the decoded data; reading a field count of a current field of the video signal; comparing the field count of the current field with the index of fields in the video signal to be combined with the RGB fields; whenever the current field count matches a field in the index, assembling the corresponding RGB field in the index from the information for assembling RGB fields; and combining the RGB field with the current field of the video signal by switching between the fields according to the information for assembling the RGB fields to form a composite video signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of combining RGB fields with a video signal to form a substantially continuous video signal comprising:
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providing a video signal preprogrammed in the video portion thereof with data, the data comprising a listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data, a field count in every field of the video signal, information for assembling the RGB segments, and a directory of field counts in the video signal which define the beginning field of user selectable video signal segments; reading the listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data; decoding the remaining data into the information for assembling the RGB segments and the directory of field counts in the video signal which define the beginning field of user selectable video signal segments; storing the decoded data; receiving user input indicating a desired user selectable video signal segment; reading the field count of the current field of the video signal; comparing the field count of the current field with the field count from the directory of the beginning field of the desired user selectable video signal segment to determine the number of fields in the gap between the current field and the beginning field of the desired user selectable video signal segment; assembling the RGB segment necessary to fill the gap from the information for assembling RGB fields; and filling the gap with the assembled RGB segment to form a substantially continuous video signal. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of combining non-phase-modulated fields and digital audio with a video signal to form a composite video signal comprising:
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providing a video signal preprogrammed in the video portion thereof with data, the data comprising a listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data, a field count in every field of the video signal, information for generating digital audio programs, information for assembling the non-phase-modulated fields, a first index of which non-phase-modulated fields to combine with which fields in the video signal, and a second index of which digital audio programs to combine with which fields in the video signal; reading the listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data; reading the remaining data from the listed portions of each field of the video signal; decoding the remaining data into the information for assembling the non-phase-modulated fields, the information for generating the digital audio program and the indexes of which non-phase-modulated fields and which digital audio programs to combine with which fields in the video signal; storing the decoded data; reading a field count of a current field of the video signal; comparing the field count of the current field with the indexes of fields in the video signal to be combined with non-phase-modulated fields and digital audio programs; whenever the current field count matches a field in the first index, recovering the corresponding information for assembling non-phase-modulated fields, assembling the corresponding non-phase-modulated field, and overlaying the current field of the video signal with the assembled non-phase-modulated field by switching between the fields on a pixel by pixel basis according to the information for assembling the non-phase-modulated fields to form a composite video signal; and whenever the current field count matches a field in the second index, recovering the corresponding information for generating digital audio programs, generating the corresponding digital audio program, and adding the digital audio program to the audio portion of the video signal to form a composite video signal. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of combining non-phase-modulated fields and digital audio with a video signal to form a substantially continuous video signal comprising:
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providing a video signal preprogrammed with user selectable video signal segments and with data, the data comprising a field count in every field of the video signal, and a data segment comprising information for generating digital audio programs, information for assembling non-phase-modulated segments, a directory of field counts in the video signal which define the beginning field of each of the user selectable video signal segments, and an index of which digital audio program corresponds with which non-phase-modulated segment; reading the data in the data segment; decoding the data into the information for assembling the non-phase-modulated segment, the information for generating the digital audio programs, and the directory of field counts in the video signal which define the beginning field of each of the user selectable video signal segments; storing the decoded data; receiving user input indicating a desired user selectable video signal segment; reading the field count of the current field of the video signal; comparing the field count of the current field with the field count from the directory of the beginning field of the desired user selectable video signal segment to determine the number of fields in the gap between the current field and the beginning field of the desired user selectable video signal segment; locating the first field of the desired user selectable video signal segment from the directory of field counts; assembling the non-phase-modulated segment necessary to fill the gap by recovering the information for assembling non-phase-modulated segments; generating the corresponding digital audio program from the index of which digital audio program corresponds with which non-phase-modulated segment to accompany the assembled non-phase-modulated segment by recovering the information for generating digital audio programs; and filling the gap with the assembled non-phase-modulated segment and corresponding digital audio program to form a substantially continuous video signal. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method of combining RGB fields with a video signal to form a substantially continuous composite video signal comprising:
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providing a video signal preprogrammed in the video portion thereof with data, the data comprising a listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data, a field count in every field of the video signal, information for assembling the RGB fields, a directory of field counts in the video signal which define the beginning field of user selectable video signal segments, and an index of which RGB fields to combine with which fields in the video signal; reading the listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data; decoding the data into the information for assembling the RGB fields, the directory of field counts in the video signal which define the beginning field of user selectable video signal segments, and the index of which RGB fields to combine with which fields in the video signal; storing the decoded data; receiving user input indicating a desired user selectable signal segment; reading the field count of the current field of the video signal; comparing the field count of the current field with the field count from the directory of the beginning field of the desired user selectable video signal segment to determine the time necessary to locate the desired user selectable video signal segment; assembling any RGB fields necessary to fill the locating time from the information for assembling RGB fields; locating the desired user selectable video signal segment; filling the locating time with the assembled RGB fields to form a substantially continuous video signal; whenever the current field count matches a field in the index, assembling the corresponding RGB field in the directory from the information for assembling RGB fields; and combining the RGB field with the current field of the video signal by switching between the fields according to the information for assembling the RGB fields to form a substantially continuous composite video signal. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. A device for combining RGB fields with a video signal to form a substantially continuous video signal comprising:
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a video signal preprogrammed with user selectable video segments and with data, the data comprising a listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data, a field count in every field of the video signal, information for assembling RGB segments, and a directory of field counts in the video signal which define the beginning field of the user selectable video segments; a video storage medium having the preprogrammed video signal stored thereon; means for reading the video signal from the video storage medium; means for decoding the data; means for receiving user input indicating a desired user selectable video segment; means for locating the beginning field of the desired user selectable video segment; a microprocessor for comparing a field count of the current field with the field count of the beginning field of the desired user selectable video segment to determine the time necessary to locate the desired user selectable video segment, the microprocessor for actuating the locating means to locate the desired user selectable video segment; and a video processor for assembling the RGB segment necessary to fill the locating time from the information for assembling RGB segments to form a substantially continuous video signal. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A device for combining RGB fields with a video signal to form a composite video signal comprising:
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a video signal preprogrammed with data, the data comprising a listing of what portion of the video signal includes the data, a field count in every field of the video signal, information for assembling the RGB fields, and an index of which RGB fields to combine with which fields in the video signal; means for reading the data from the video signal; means for storing the data; a microprocessor for comparing a field count of current field with the index of fields in the video signal to be combined with RGB fields; a video processor for assembling the corresponding RGB field in the index from the information for assembling RGB fields; and a switch for combining the RGB field with the current field of the video signal on a pixel-by-pixel basis according to the information for assembling the RGB fields to form a composite video signal. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
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67. A device for combining non-phase-modulated fields with a video signal preprogrammed in the active video portion thereof with a data segment and with a field header in every field thereof;
- the data segment having items comprising information for assembling non-phase-modulated fields, tags indicating a length in fields of non-phase-modulated segments, a directory of field counts in the video signal which define the beginning field of video signal segments, and a script defining a default order in which non-phase-modulated segments and video signal segments are combined together to form a substantially continuous video signal;
the field header having a field count and having prompts as to which non-phase-modulated fields to combine with which fields in the video signal segment to form a substantially continuous composite video signal comprising;means for reading the data segment and the field header from the video signal; means for storing the items in the data segment; means for receiving user input indicating a desired non-phase-modulated segment or a desired video signal segment; means for locating the beginning field of the video signal segments; a video processor for assembling non-phase-modulated segments and non-phase-modulated fields from the information for assembling non-phase-modulated fields; means for switching between non-phase-modulated segments and video signal segments to form a substantially continuous video signal, the switching means also for switching between an non-phase-modulated field and a video signal segment field on a pixel-by-pixel basis according to the information for assembling non-phase-modulated fields to form a composite video signal; a microprocessor responsive to the tags, the current field count and the directory for selecting an non-phase-modulated segment of sufficient length to fill a gap between a current field count and the beginning field count of a desired video signal segment or a script defined video signal segment, and for controlling the video processor to assemble the non-phase-modulated segment and for controlling the switching means to fill the gap; the microprocessor also responsive to user input and in the absence of user input the script for controlling the switching means to sequentially combine non-phase-modulated segments and video signal segments to form a substantially continuous video signal, and for controlling the locating means to locate the beginning field of video signal segments desired by a user or defined by the script; and the microprocessor also responsive to the current field count and the prompts for controlling the video processor to assemble the non-phase-modulated field, and for controlling the switching means to simultaneously combine the non-phase-modulated field with the current field of the video signal. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76)
- the data segment having items comprising information for assembling non-phase-modulated fields, tags indicating a length in fields of non-phase-modulated segments, a directory of field counts in the video signal which define the beginning field of video signal segments, and a script defining a default order in which non-phase-modulated segments and video signal segments are combined together to form a substantially continuous video signal;
Specification