Digital moving picture data player system having a time-based access list

• US 6,807,363 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2000
• Issued: 10/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Kato, Hideo, Abiko, Yukihiro, Koezuka, Tetsuo
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, THAI Q
• Application Number:
  US09/675,051
• Time in Patent Office: 1,481 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.576, H04/N.979, H04/N.5781, H04/N.5783, 386/1, 386/33, 386/34, 386/37, 386/40, 386/45, 386/46, 386/111, 386/112, 386/125, 386/126, 386/98, 386/105-106, 386/69-70, 386/68, 386/82, 348/423.1
• US Class Current: 386/343
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/20 Disc-shaped record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2525 Magneto-optical [MO] discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/005 Reproducing at a different information rate from the information rate of recording for television signals H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/007 reproducing continuously a part of the information, i.e. repeating
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3027 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/236 Assembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. transport stream, by combining a video stream with other content or additional data, e.g. inserting a URL [Uniform Resource Locator] into a video stream, multiplexing software data into a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Insertion of stuffing bits into the multiplex stream, e.g. to obtain a constant bit-rate; Assembling of a packetised elementary stream multiplexing of data packets for data networks, e.g. RTP/UDP H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4305 Synchronising client clock from received content stream, e.g. locking decoder clock with encoder clock, extraction of the PCR packets arrangements for synchronising receiver with transmitter by comparing receiver clock with transmitter clock H04L7/0012; arrangements for synchronising receiver with transmitter wherein the receiver takes measures against momentary loss of synchronisation H04L7/0083
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/434 Disassembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. demultiplexing audio and video streams, extraction of additional data from a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Extraction or processing of SI; Disassembling of packetised elementary stream demultiplexing of data packets for data networks, e.g. RTP/UDP H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/783 Adaptations for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction

Abstract

The present invention relates to an image reproducing device, and an image recording/reproducing device, which reproduce encoded image data. With these devices, special reproduction such as reproduction at an arbitrary speed-multiple, etc., and special recording/reproduction can be made with ease. A packet information generating unit (23) generates packet information composed of PTS (Presentation Time Stamp) included in a packet header of an MPEG stream, and a file address of the packet header. A controlling unit obtains a reproduction point of an MPEG stream based on the packet information referenced by a packet information referencing unit (25), reads the corresponding MPEG stream from the information storing unit (24), and outputs the read stream to a decoding unit (26). The decoding unit (26) decodes and outputs the MPEG stream.

Claims

1. A digital moving picture data player device, comprising:

a packet information referencing unit referencing a packet information list having an entry for each packet, the entries having a predetermined order, each entry comprising a time stamp included in a corresponding header of an encoded image data packet and position information pointing to a position at which the corresponding packet header is stored, and obtaining the position information corresponding to a playback portion of the image data; and

a decoding unit decoding encoded image data specified by the position information obtained by said packet information referencing unit.

2. The device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a packet information generating unit generating the packet information list composed of the time stamp included in a packet header of encoded image data, and the position information pointing to the packet header with the entries in chronological order.

3. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 2, wherein:

the packet information list generating unit generates a packet information list containing a plurality of packet information entries, lining up a chronological order in order to enable a playback at any desired number-times speed;

the packet information referencing unit, when the player device being instructed to perform an N-times speed playback, retrieves every N entry of the packet information contained in the packet information list and obtains the position information pointing to positions at which the packet headers corresponding to the ones in every N entries are stored; and

the decoding unit decodes the encoded image data as specified by the position information obtained by said packet information referencing unit to realize the N-times speed playback.

4. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 2, further comprising an encoding unit encoding an image data set and having a resulting encoded set of data stored in an internal or external storing unit, wherein

controls over encoding and decoding unit operations and transfer of the encoded data set are configured as tasks of a multitask group.

5. The image reproducing device according to claim 4, wherein a decoding process performed by the decoding unit and an encoding process performed by the encoding unit are arranged by a plurality of channels, and the respective processes are put into tasks running on a multitasking OS.

6. The device according to claim 4, wherein an image encoding process performed by the encoding unit, a recorded data transfer process transferring encoded image data to a storing unit, and a reproduction data transfer process transferring the image data stored in the storing unit to the decoding unit, and an encoded image data decoding process performed by the decoding unit are put into multiple tasks.

7. The device according to claim 4, wherein a process transferring recorded data from the encoding unit to a memory, a process transferring the recorded data from the memory to a storing unit, a process transferring playback data from the storing unit to the memory, and a process transferring the playback data from the memory to the decoding unit are respectively put into multiple tasks and priorities of tasks for recording are set to be higher than those of the tasks for reproduction.

8. The device according to claim 4, wherein block sizes associated with transfers of recorded data and playback data can be set to individual values.

9. The device according to claim 4, wherein the transfer data block sizes of a first playback data transfer task transferring playback data from the storing unit to a memory, a second playback data transfer task transferring playback data from the memory to the decoding unit, a first recorded data transfer task transferring recorded data from the encoding unit to the memory, and a second recorded data transfer task transferring recorded data from the memory to the storing unit can individually be set for the respective tasks.

10. The device according to claim 9, wherein when the player device is performing playback not in a special mode, the first playback data transfer task and the second playback data transfer task are configured as one task, and playback data is directly transferred from the storing unit to the decoding unit.

11. The device according to claim 4, wherein when the player device recording, a task of transferring recorded data from the encoding unit to a memory or to the storing unit includes simultaneous transfer of packet information.

12. The device according to claim 4, wherein the packet information generating unit generates the packet information list by extracting the time stamp from the packet headers of an image data set for which packet information is not generated, when during a period in which the play device is not performing either a recording or a playback.

13. The device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an encoding unit encoding an image, and recording the encoded image onto an external or internal storage medium.

14. The device according to claim 13, wherein control of the encoding unit, the decoding unit, and an encoded image data transfer are put into tasks running on a multitasking OS.

15. The device according to claim 1, wherein:

the encoded image data is an image encoded in an MPEG format; and

the packet information is composed of a presentation time stamp included in a packet header of an MPEG stream, and a file address of the packet header.

16. The device according to claim 15, wherein when making reproduction with a time obtained by using as a criterion a packet being decoded, the decoding unit converts the time into a time stamp, obtains a file address of a packet having a value close to the value obtained from the converted time stamp and time information used as a criterion during decoding based on the packet information, and makes reproduction.

17. The device according to claim 15, wherein the decoding unit makes a random access in units of packets of an MPEG stream based on the packet information.

18. The device according to claim 15, wherein when generating a clip from an MPEG stream, the start and end points of the clip are specified with the time from the start of the MPEG stream or an entry number of the packet information list.

19. The device according to claim 15, wherein when repeat-reproduction is made, reproduction start and end points are specified with the time from the start of an MPEG stream or an entry number of a packet information list.

20. The device according to claim 15, wherein when real-time shift which overwrites a reproduced stream is made, overwrite start and end points are specified with a time from the start of a stream or an entry number of a packet information list.

21. The device according to claim 15, wherein when a just recorded image is reproduced simultaneously with recording, reproduction start and end points are specified with a time from the start of a stream or an entry number of a packet information list.

22. The device according to claim 1, wherein the packet information generating unit extracts a packet header of a packet including a GOP header of an MPEG stream, and generates a packet information list composed of packet information of the packet header of the packet including the GOP header.

23. The device according to claim 1, wherein:

the packet information generating unit generates a packet information list where entry numbers are sequentially assigned to packet information, in order to enable reproduction at an arbitrary speed-multiple; and

the decoding unit obtains a reproduction start or end point of encoded image data based on an entry number of the packet information list.

24. The device according to claim 1, wherein when making reproduction by using as a criterion a time from the start of an MPEG stream, the decoding unit converts the time into a time stamp, obtains a file address of a packet header having time information close to the converted time stamp based on the packet information, and makes reproduction.

25. The device according to claim 1, wherein the decoding unit makes reproduction at an arbitrary speed-multiple by repeating an access to every N-th (“

N”

is a positive or a negative integer) GOP in a forward direction based on the packet information list.

26. The device according to claim 25, wherein when making backward reproduction, the decoding unit makes reproduction by decoding an image for one frame of every N-th GOP in a backward direction, and by skipping the remaining frames.

27. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a data input/output interface unit a plurality of storing units either external or internal can be connected.

28. The device according to claim 1, wherein a file system is made compatible with that of a different information processing device, and image data can be recorded or played back in common between the different information processing device and the image reproducing device.

29. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 1, wherein:

the packet information referencing unit, when the player device having been instructed to perform an N-times speed playback, retrieves one in every N entries of the packet information contained in the packet information list and obtains the position information pointing to positions at which the packet headers corresponding to the ones in every N entries are stored; and

the decoding unit decodes the encoded image data as specified by the position information obtained by said packet information referencing unit to realize the N-times speed playback.

30. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 1, wherein:

the encoded image data comprises an MPEG stream of encoded data set in a manner conforming to the MPEG format; and

each of the packet information list entries associates a presentation time stamp included in each of the packet headers associated with the MPEG stream with a file address of the position at which the corresponding packet header is stored.

31. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 30, wherein:

the packet information reference unit, when playback positions are specified by the time counted from a front of the MPEG stream, converts the time counted from the front of the MPEG stream into time stamps, finds packet information entries associated with time stamps equal or closest to the time stamps resulting from the conversion from the packet information list and obtains a file address the found packet information entries reference; and

the decoding unit decodes a portion of the MPEG stream specified by the file address obtained by the packet information reference unit.

32. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 30, wherein:

the packet information referencing unit, when playback positions are specified by the time counted in a manner relative to the MPEG stream being played back at the time, converts the specified time to a first time stamp, adds the first time stamp to the system clock associated with the MPEG stream that is being decoded at the time to obtain a second time stamp, finds a packet information entry associated with time stamp equal or closest to the second time stamp from the packet information list and obtains a file address the found packet information entry references; and

the decoding unit decodes the MPEG stream specified by the file address obtained by the packet information referencing unit.

33. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 30, wherein:

the decoding unit accesses to a position selected randomly from positions within the MPEG stream, the positions being specifiable in units of a packet using the packet information list entries.

34. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 30, wherein:

the packet information referencing unit, when the player device is to perform an N-times speed playback, obtains GOPs lining up at forward positions by every N entries in the packet information list; and

the decoding unit realizes the N-times speed playback based on the GOPs obtained by the packet information referencing unit.

35. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 30, wherein:

the packet information referencing unit, when the player device is to perform a reverse-direction playback at an N-times speed, obtains file addresses corresponding to the packet information entries lining up at backward positions by every N entries in the packet information list; and

the decoding unit decodes the encoded image data located at the position specified by each of the file addresses obtained by the packet information referencing unit, of which the data volume corresponding to that of one frame of the MPEG stream and plays back the decoded data and ignores data in any other frames.

36. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 30, wherein,

when the player device is to generate a clip from the MPEG stream, the packet information referencing unit obtains the file address corresponding to the packet information entry associated with a front end of the clip and a file address corresponding the packet information entries are selected from those contained in the packet information list.

37. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 30, wherein,

when the player device is to playback a portion in repeat, the packet information referencing unit obtains a file address corresponding to the packet information entry that is associated with a front end of the playback portion and the file address corresponding to the packet information entry associated with a back end of the playback portion, wherein these packet information entries are selected from those contained in the packet information list.

38. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 30, wherein,

when performing a playback in a real-time shift mode in which MPEG stream portions once played back are over written with newly received portions of the MPEG stream, overwrite start and end points are specified with the numbers representing an order of packet information entries chronologically in the packet information list.

39. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 30, wherein,

when the player device is to perform simultaneously a recording process of an image data set and a playback process of an already recorded portion of the image data set, the packet information referencing unit specifies both front and back ends of the portion to be played back based on the numbers representing an order of packet information entries chronologically in the packet information list.

40. The digital moving-picture data player device according to claim 1, wherein:

the packet information referencing unit, when a playback portion of the image data is specified by time scale values, converts the time scale values into time stamps, compares between the converted time stamps and the time stamps contained in the packet information list and obtains the position information pointing to positions at which the packet headers corresponding to the time stamps that are close to the time stamps corresponding to the specified playback portion of the encoded image data; and

the decoding unit decodes the encoded image data as specified by the position information obtained by said packet information referencing unit to realize the playback.

the decoding unit decodes the encoded image data as specified by the position information obtained by said packet information referencing unit to realize the playback.

41. A digital moving picture image packet data playback method accessing a disc storing encoded image data in image data packets, each packet including a header having a disc storage position and a time stamp, comprising:

referencing a hardware data structure packet information list composed of an entry for each packet, the entries having a predetermined order, each entry comprising the time stamp included in the packet header of the corresponding encoded image data packet and positional information pointing to the disc storage position of the packet header of the corresponding encoded image data packet;

obtaining the position information corresponding to a playback portion of the image data; and

decoding the encoded image data as specified by the obtained position information.

42. The method according to claim 41, further comprising generating the packet information list composed of the time stamp and the position information.

43. The method according to claim 41, wherein the packet information is composed of a presentation time stamp included in a packet header of an MPEG stream, and a file address of the packet header.

44. The method according to claim 41, wherein an image data encoding process, a recorded data transfer process transferring the encoded image data to a storage medium, a playback data transfer process transferring playback data stored on a storage medium for reproduction, and an encoded image data decoding process.

45. The method according to claim 41, wherein a first recorded data transfer process transferring encoded recorded data to a memory, a second recorded data transfer process transferring recorded data from the memory to a storage medium when a recording is performed, a first playback data transfer process transferring playback data from the storage medium to the memory, and a second playback data transfer process transferring data of the memory to a task performing a decoding process when a playback is performed are performed in multiple tasks and priorities of tasks for the recording are set to be higher than those of the tasks for the playback.

46. The digital moving-picture data playback method, according to claim 41, wherein:

the encoded image data set comprises an MPEG stream generated via encoding of a data set in a manner conforming to the MPEG format; and

each of the packet information entries is associated with a presentation time stamp included in each of the packet headers associated with the MPEG stream with a file address indicating the position at which the corresponding packet header is stored.

49. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 41, said process further comprising generating a packet information list containing a plurality of packet information entries in a chronological order, each associating a time stamp included in each packet headers associated with encoded image data with position information pointing to the position at which the corresponding packet header is stored.

47. A computer-readable storage medium on which is recorded a program for causing a computer to execute a process accessing a disc storing encoded image data in image data packets, each racket including a header having a disc storage position and a time stamp, said process comprising:

encoding an image in packets and storing the encoded image onto the disc;

referencing a hardware data structure packet information list composed of an entry for each packet, the entries having a predetermined order, each entry comprising the time stamp included in the packet header of the corresponding encoded image data packet and positional information pointing to the disc storage position of the packet header of the corresponding encoded image data packet;

obtaining the position information corresponding to a playback portion of the image data; and

decoding the encoded image data based as specified by the obtained position information.

48. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 47, said process further comprising generating packet information composed of a time stamp included in a packet header of encoded image data and information pointing to the packet header.

50. A digital moving picture data player, comprising:

an encoding unit encoding image in packets;

a packet information generating unit generating a packet information list, comprising an entry for each packet, the entries having a predetermined order, each entry comprising a time stamp included in a packet header of a corresponding encoded image data packet and position information pointing to the packet header of the corresponding encoded image data packet;

a packet information referencing unit referencing the packet information list and obtaining the position information corresponding to a playback portion of the moving picture data; and

a decoding unit decoding encoded image data as specified by the position information obtained by said packet information referencing unit.

51. A digital moving picture data player playing image data encoded in encoded image data packets, comprising:

a packet information referencing unit referencing a packet information list having an entry for each packet, each entry comprising a time stamp included in a corresponding header of the encoded image data packet and position information pointing to a position at which the packet is stored, the entries ordered by the time stamp, and obtaining the position information corresponding to a playback portion of the image data specified by a time;

a decoding unit decoding the encoded image data specified by the position information obtained by said packet information referencing unit; and

a player unit playing the decoded image data.

52. A digital moving picture data player device accessing a disc storing encoded image data in image data packets, each packet including a header having a disc storage position and a time stamp, said device comprising:

a packet information referencing unit referencing a packet information list having an entry for each packet, the entries having a predetermined order, each entry comprising the time stamp included in the corresponding header of the image data packet and position information pointing to the disc storage position at which the corresponding packet header is stored, and obtaining the position information corresponding to a playback portion of the image data; and

a decoding unit decoding encoded image data specified by the position information obtained by said packet information referencing unit and allowing movement within a moving picture to be played responsive to time inputs.

53. A digital moving picture image packet data playback method accessing a disc storing encoded image data in image data packets, each packet including a header having a disc storage position and a time stamp, said method comprising:

allowing the input of time information;

referencing a packet information list composed of an entry for each packet, the entries having a predetermined order, each entry comprising the time stamp included in the packet header of the image data packet and positional information pointing to the disc storage position of the packet header of the corresponding encoded image data packet;

responsive to the time information obtaining the position information from the list corresponding to a playback portion of the image data using the time stamp; and

decoding the encoded image data as specified by the obtained position information and allowing movement within a moving picture to be played responsive to the time information.