Compressed picture data editing apparatus and method

• US 6,345,122 B1
• Filed: 01/14/1999
• Issued: 02/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Yamato, Atsushi, Tahara, Katsumi, Yasuda, Mikita, Negishi, Shinji
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Wenpeng
• Application Number:
  US09/231,055
• Time in Patent Office: 1,118 Days
• Field of Search: 382/232, 382/236, 348/584, 348/578, 348/571, 370/487, 370/486, 370/498, 725/32, 725/109, 725/119
• US Class Current: 382/232
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/20 Disc-shaped record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/90 Tape-like record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/032 on tapes G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/036 Insert-editing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23406 involving management of server-side video buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23611 Insertion of stuffing data into a multiplex stream, e.g. to obtain a constant bitrate synchronisation arrangements in time-division multiplex systems using bit stuffing for systems with different or fluctuating information rates H04J3/073
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

An editing apparatus and the like are provided for splicing two data streams of compressed picture data at an arbitrary splice point without breaking down the VBV buffer. The editing apparatus inserts between a main stream and a sub-stream compressed by the MPEG-2/Video Method an inserted stream of which a first picture is a black I picture and succeeding pictures are repeat P pictures of which all macro blocks are skipped macro blocks. In this inserted stream, a VBV delay of a picture to be transmitted next, after a last picture in the main stream, is written as a VBV delay of a first picture in the main stream into the picture header. Further, a stuffing byte of which the data amount is calculated based on the bit occupancy in the VBV buffer by the sub-stream at an arbitrary splice point is transmitted along with the last picture in the inserted stream.

Claims

1. A method for splicing a first elementary data stream containing first compressed picture data and a second elementary data stream containing a second compressed picture data to generate a spliced elementary data stream containing a spliced continuous compressed picture data, said spliced elementary data stream being generated by inserting an inserted elementary data stream between an arbitrary splice point of the first elementary data stream and an arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a virtual buffer for controlling an amount of code data which is generated;

detecting a bit occupancy in said virtual buffer at an arbitrary splice point of said first elementary data stream;

detecting a bit occupancy in said virtual buffer at an arbitrary splice point of said second elementary data stream; and

controlling said inserted elementary data stream so that a first bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in said virtual buffer equals the bit occupancy in said virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the first elementary data stream and a last bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in said virtual buffer equals the bit occupancy in said virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

generating the spliced elementary data stream by inserting the inserted elementary data stream between the arbitrary splice point of the first elementary data stream and the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the inserted elementary data stream comprises a predetermined compressed picture data and pseudo data.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the virtual buffer exhibits a predetermined size;

and further comprising the steps of;

determining if the bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in the virtual buffer exceeds the predetermined size of the virtual buffer; and

controlling the pseudo data to have a size larger than the data amount that the inserted elementary data stream exceeds the predetermined size of the virtual buffer.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes at least one intra-coded picture.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the at least one intra-coded picture is a black picture.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes at least one repeat picture following the intra-coded picture, the repeat picture repeatedly displaying a proceeding picture.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of inserting at least one repeat picture until the last bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in the virtual buffer exceeds the bit occupancy in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream;

and

inserting pseudo data into the spliced elementary data stream thereafter.

9. The method according to claim 3, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes a number of repeat pictures, the repeat picture repeatedly displaying a previously displayed picture.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising the step of inserting at least one repeat picture until the last bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in the virtual buffer exceeds the bit occupancy in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream;

and

inserting pseudo data into the spliced elementary data stream thereafter.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second elementary data streams and the inserted elementary data stream are coded data according to MPEG video format, respectively.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the inserted elementary data stream comprises a predetermined coded picture data coded by MPEG video format and a stuffing byte defined in MPEG video format.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

detecting the bit occupancy in the virtual buffer (VBV buffer) by the following equation;

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising the step of detecting a VBV delay (next_vbv_delay) of a picture to be inserted next, after a last picture in the first elementary data stream, by the following equation:

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the step of detecting the bit occupancy (first_picture_decode_size) in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream by the following equation:

16. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of detecting the bit occupancy (first picture_decode_size) in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream by the following equation:

17. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

detecting a VBV delay (next_vbv_delay) of a picture to be inserted next to a selected picture in the inserted elementary data stream by the following equation;

18. The method according to claim 11, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes at least one intra-coded picture.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the at least one intra-coded picture is a black picture.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes at least one repeat picture following the intra-coded picture, the repeat picture repeatedly displaying a previously displayed picture.

21. The method according to claim 20, further comprising the step of:

inserting at least one repeat picture until the last bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in the virtual buffer exceeds the bit occupancy in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream; and

inserting the pseudo data into the spliced elementary data stream thereafter.

22. The method according to claim 12, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes at least one of said repeat pictures, the repeat picture repeatedly displaying a previously displayed picture.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the controlling step inserts the number of repeat pictures until the last bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in the virtual buffer exceeds the bit occupancy in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream and then inserts a stuffing byte into the spliced elementary data stream.

24. The method according to claim 15, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes at least one repeat picture following at least one intra-coded picture, the repeat picture repeatedly displaying a proceeding picture.

25. Apparatus for splicing a first elementary data stream containing a first compressed picture data and a second elementary data stream containing a second compressed picture data to generate a spliced elementary data stream containing a spliced continuous compressed picture data, said spliced elementary data stream being generated by inserting an inserted elementary data stream between an arbitrary splice point of the first elementary data stream and an arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream, said apparatus comprising:

a first detector for detecting a bit occupancy in a virtual buffer at an arbitrary splice point of said first elementary data stream, said virtual buffer for controlling an amount of generated code data;

a second detector for detecting a bit occupancy in said virtual buffer at an arbitrary splice point of said second elementary data stream;

a controller for controlling said inserted elementary data stream so that a first bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in said virtual buffer equals the bit occupancy in said virtual buffer at said arbitrary splice point of the first elementary data stream, and a last bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in said virtual buffer equals the bit occupancy in said virtual buffer at said arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream; and

a multiplexer for inserting the inserted elementary data stream between the arbitrary splice point of the first elementary data stream and the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream to generate the spliced elementary data stream.

26. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the inserted elementary data stream comprises a predetermined compressed picture data and pseudo data.

27. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the virtual buffer exhibits a predetermined size;

and the controller determines when the bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in the virtual buffer exceeds the predetermined size of the virtual buffer, and inserts pseudo data to have a size larger than the data amount that the inserted elementary data stream exceeds the predetermined size of the virtual buffer.

28. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes at least one intra-coded picture.

29. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the at least one intra-coded picture is a black picture.

30. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes at least one repeat picture following the intra-coded picture, the repeat picture repeatedly displaying a proceeding picture.

31. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the said controller inserts the at least one repeat picture until the last bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in the virtual buffer exceeds the bit occupancy in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream and then inserts a pseudo data into the spliced elementary data stream.

32. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes at least one repeat picture, the repeat picture repeatedly displaying a previously displayed picture.

33. The apparatus according to claim 32, wherein said controller inserts at least one repeat picture until the last bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in the virtual buffer exceeds the bit occupancy in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream, and then inserts a pseudo data into the spliced elementary data stream.

34. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the first and second elementary data streams and the inserted elementary data stream are coded data according to MPEG video format, respectively.

35. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the inserted elementary data stream comprises a predetermined coded picture data coded by MPEG video format and a stuffing byte defined in MPEG video format.

36. The apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the controller detects the bit occupancy in the virtual buffer (VBV buffer) by the following equation:

37. The apparatus according to claim 36, further comprising a detector for detecting a VBV delay (next_vbv_delay) of a picture to be inserted next after a last picture in the first elementary data stream, by the following equation:

38. The apparatus according to claim 37, further comprising a detector for detecting a VBV delay (next_vbv_delay) of a picture to be inserted next, after a last picture in the first elementary data stream by the following equation:

39. The apparatus according to claim 38, further comprising:

a second detector for detecting the bit occupancy (first_picture_decode_size) in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream by the following equation;

40. The apparatus according to claim 39,

wherein the controller detects a VBV delay (next_vbv_delay) of a picture to be inserted next to a selected picture in the inserted elementary data stream by the following equation:

41. The apparatus according to claim 37,

wherein the controller detects the bit occupancy (first_picture_decode_size) in the virtual buffer (VBV buffer) at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream by the following equation:

42. The apparatus according to claim 41,

wherein the controller detects a VBV delay (next_—

vbv_delay) of a picture to be inserted next to a selected picture in the inserted elementary data stream by the following equation;

43. The apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the controller detects the bit occupancy (first_picture_decode_size) in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream by the following equation:

44. The apparatus according to claim 35,

wherein the controller detects a VBV delay (next_vbv_delay) of a picture to be inserted next, after a selected picture in the inserted elementary data stream by the following equation:

45. The apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes at least one intra-coded picture.

46. The apparatus according to claim 45, wherein the at least one intra-coded picture is a black picture.

47. The apparatus according to claim 45, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes a number of repeat pictures following the intra-coded picture, the repeat picture repeatedly displaying a previously displayed picture.

48. The apparatus according to claim 47, wherein the controller inserts the number of repeat pictures until the last bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in the virtual buffer exceeds the bit occupancy in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream, and then to insert a pseudo data into the spliced elementary data stream.

49. The apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes a number of repeat pictures, the repeat picture repeatedly displaying a previously displayed picture.

50. The apparatus according to claim 49, wherein the controller inserts the number of repeat pictures until the last bit occupancy of the inserted elementary data stream in the virtual buffer exceeds the bit occupancy in the virtual buffer at the arbitrary splice point of the second elementary data stream and then inserts a stuffing byte into the spliced elementary data stream.

51. The apparatus according to claim 42, wherein the inserted elementary data stream includes a number of repeat pictures following at least one intra-coded picture, the repeat picture repeatedly displaying a previously displayed picture.