Automated media capturing system

• US 5,805,156 A
• Filed: 02/10/1997
• Issued: 09/08/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Christine Meoli Medico Family Trust, John J. Medico Jr
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Butler, James M., Richmond, Michael S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phu K.
• Application Number:
  US08/797,859
• Time in Patent Office: 575 Days
• Field of Search: 345/326, 345/327, 345/328, 345/329, 345/333
• US Class Current: 715/723
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A capture device permits selecting portions of a media stream encoded with associated data based on specified event data. The associated data corresponds to the content within the media stream, and the event data includes words and phrases of media desired by a user. The capture device contains a media processing unit, a delay device, and a control device. The media processing unit includes a decoder that is configured to receive media streams and extract the associated data from the media stream. The delay device, configured as a circular buffer, stores a predetermined length of the media stream. The control device receives the event data, compares the associated data with the event data, and generates a trigger event when the associated data matches the event data.

Claims

1. An apparatus for selecting portions of a stream of media signals, the stream of media signals having content data encoded with associated data, the apparatus comprising:

a media processing unit for receiving the stream of media signals and decoding the media signals to recover the encoded associated data as the stream of media signals is received;

a delay device for receiving and reuseably storing up to a predetermined length of the stream of media signals received at any one point in time, and outputting the stored predetermined length of the stream of media signals whenever an output enable is received; and

a control device, responsive to the media processing unit and an external source, for receiving event data and the associated data, and generating the output enable whenever a predetermined relationship between the associated data and the event data is detected.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the stream of media signals is comprised of a plurality of audio signals, video signals and information signals.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media processing unit further comprises:

a decoder configured to receive the stream of media signals having encoded associated data and extract, decode and output associated data from the stream of media signals as the stream of media signals is received;

an audio processing unit for digitizing and compressing any analog audio signals included in the plurality of audio signals; and

a video processing unit for digitizing and compressing any analog video signals included in the plurality of video signals.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the associated data corresponds to certain content of the media signals.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control device further generates a trigger event for the external source whenever a predetermined relationship between the associated data and the event data is detected.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the delay device is comprised of a plurality of reuseable storage locations configured to store up to the predetermined length of the stream of media signals as the stream of media signals is received, and once the reuseable storage locations are all in use, the delay device begins to overwrite to the reuseable storage locations in use.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the delay device is comprised of a circular buffer.

8. An automated media capturing system, the system comprising:

a plurality of media sources generating a corresponding plurality of media signals;

a master encoder for encoding each of the plurality of media signals with associated data corresponding to content data of the media signals, and consolidating the plurality of media signals into a stream of media signals having content data encoded with associated data; and

a plurality of capture devices for receiving, selecting and outputting different portions of the stream of media signals, in accordance with event data provided to the particular capture devices, including decoding the stream of media signals to recover the encoded associated data, and detecting for pre-determined relationship between the associated data and the event data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein each capture device comprises:

a media processing unit for receiving the stream of media signals and decoding the encoded associated data as the stream of media signals is received;

a delay device for receiving and reuseably storing up to a predetermined length of the stream of media signals received at any point in time, and outputting the stored predetermined length of the stream of media signals whenever an output enable is received; and

a control device, responsive to the media processing unit and an external source, for receiving the associated data and event data, and generating the output enable whenever a predetermined relationship between the associated data and the event data is detected.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the delay device is comprised of a plurality of reuseable storage locations configured to store up to the predetermined length of the stream of media signals as the stream of media signals is received, and once the reuseable storage locations are all in use, the delay device begins to overwrite to the reuseable storage locations in use.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the delay device is comprised of a circular buffer.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the control device further generates a trigger event whenever a predetermined relationship between the associated data and the event data is detected.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the master encoder receives the plurality of media signals and encodes an associated data corresponding to certain content data of the media signals.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising a plurality of client computer systems correspondingly hosting the plurality of capture devices, for generating the event data for the correspondingly hosted capture devices, and receiving the correspondingly selected portions of the stream of media signals, and an interactive network operatively coupling the master encoder and the plurality of client computer systems.

15. A system for selecting a portion of a stream of media signals, the stream of media signals having content data encoded with associated data, the system comprising:

a plurality of media sources generating a corresponding plurality of media signals having content data;

a master encoder for receiving the plurality of media signals having content data and encoding each of the plurality of media signals with corresponding associated data, and consolidating the plurality of media signals having content data encoded with associated data into a stream of media signals having content data encoded with associated data; and

a capture device for receiving, decoding and extracting associated data from the stream of media signals having content data encoded with associated data as the stream of media signals is received, and selecting portions of the received stream of media signals corresponding to a predetermined relationship between the associated data and event data provided to the capture device, whenever the predetermined relationship is detected.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the capture device comprises:

a media processing unit for receiving the stream of media signals and decoding the encoded associated data as the stream of media signals is received;

a delay device for receiving and reuseably storing up to a predetermined length of the stream of media signals received at any point in time, and outputting the stored predetermined length of the stream of media signals if an output enable is received; and

a control device for receiving the event data and the associated data, and generating the output enable whenever a predetermined relationship between the associated data and the event data is detected.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the control device further generates a trigger event for the external source whenever a predetermined relationship between the associated data and the event data is detected.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising a plurality of system clients, interconnected to the capture device and to each other by an interactive network.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the interactive network is comprised of a commercially available cable television network.

20. A method of selecting portions of a stream of media signals, the stream of media signals having content data encoded with associated data, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the stream of media signals having content data encoded with associated data;

processing the stream of media signals to decode and extract associated data from the stream of media signals having content data encoded with associated data as the stream of media signals is received;

reuseably storing up to a predetermined length of the stream of media signals in a delay device;

comparing the extracted associated data with event data; and

generating an output enable for the delay device when a predetermined relationship between the extracted associated data and the event data is detected.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

generating the event data by a system client; and

transferring the selected portion of the stream of media signals to the system client when the output enable is generated.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising generating a trigger event for the system client whenever a predetermined relationship between the associated data and the event data is detected.

23. A system for selecting a portion of a stream of media signals, the stream of media signals having content data encoded with associated data, the system comprising:

a media source for generating the stream of media signals having content data encoded with associated data;

a capture device, responsive to the media source and an external source, for receiving the stream of media signals, and decoding the stream of media signals to extract the encoded associated data as the stream of media signals is received, and outputting a select portion of the stream of media signals when a relationship between the extracted associated data and event data is detected; and

an interactive network having a plurality of remotely located clients, each coupled to the capture device, for generating the event data, and for receiving independent selected portions of the stream of media signals corresponding to the event data.