Method and apparatus for encoding control data in a video data system

• US 6,895,166 B1
• Filed: 03/09/2000
• Issued: 05/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Telestream, LLC (Telestream Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Prompting and Captioning Company (Telestream Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Schriebman, Jeffrey A.
• Primary Examiner(s): BOCCIO, VINCENT F
• Application Number:
  US09/522,108
• Time in Patent Office: 1,895 Days
• Field of Search: 386/52, 386/55, 386/46, 386/83, 386/95, 386/69
• US Class Current: 386/245
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4884 for displaying subtitles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/278 Subtitling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9201 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the video signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9206 the additional signal being a character code signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0885 for the transmission of subtitles

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for inserting closed-caption and/or other control data into the vertical blanking interval of a video image data stream without the use of special encoding hardware.

Claims

1. A method for encoding control data in a video data file, the video data file comprising at least one video frame, said method comprising:

generating an image data file comprising a video frame including a pixel representation of desired control data in at least one line of the video frame; and

merging the generated video frame in said image data file with a desired video frame in the video data file to produce a master video data file, wherein the pixel representation of the desired control data is mapped onto a line in the vertical blanking interval of the desired video frame.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising

recording said master video data file on a suitable storage medium.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said storage medium is a video cassette.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said image data file is merged with said video data file using a video editing system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said pixel representation of desired control data spans across one horizontal line of a corresponding video frame of said image data file.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said pixel representation of desired control data comprises at least two lines of a corresponding video frame of said image data file.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said pixel representation further includes an initialization sequence.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the image data file comprises a plurality of video frames, each including a pixel representation of desired control data in at least one line of the corresponding video frame;

the method further comprising,

repeating the merging step for a desired number of video frames in the image data file.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said pixel representation are mapped to Line 21 of the vertical blanking interval of said desired video frame of said video data file.

10. A method for encoding control data in a video data file, the video data file including at least one video frame, said method comprising:

(a) receiving control data;

(b) generating an image data file comprising a video frame including a pixel representation of said control data in at least one line corresponding to a line in the vertical blanking interval of an underlying video frame; and

,

(c) merging a video frame in the image data file with a desired video frame in the video data file.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein a line in the video frame of said video data file corresponds to a line in the vertical blanking interval, and wherein said pixel representation of said control data is mapped to the corresponding line in the vertical blanking interval of said video frame of the merged video data file.

12. A method for encoding control data in a video data file, the video data file comprising at least one video frame, said method comprising:

(a) receiving a control data script, said control data script comprising command directives and control data;

(b) inserting said control data in a data structure according to said command directives, wherein elements of said data structure represent time points; and

,

(c) for at least one element in said data structure, generating a control data image frame intended for subsequent merger with a desired video frame in the video data file, wherein the control data image frame comprises a pixel representation of corresponding control data in a line of the control data image frame corresponding to a line in the vertical blanking interval.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of

(d) merging said control data image frame with a desired video frame in said video data file.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said pixel representation is a gray-scale pixel representation.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein said merging step (d) comprises mapping said pixel representation to a line corresponding in the vertical blanking interval of the desired video frame in said video data file.

16. The method of claim 14 merging step (d) comprises mapping said pixel representation to a line corresponding in the vertical blanking interval of the desired video frame in said video data file.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein said data structure comprises an array.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein said data structure comprises two parallel arrays.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the elements in said parallel arrays corresponds to the video frames in said video data file.

20. A method for encoding control data in a video data file, the video data file comprising at least one video frame, said method comprising:

receiving a control data script, said control data script comprising command directives and control data;

converting said control data into byte code representation according to a predetermined specification;

inserting said converted control data in a data structure according to said command directives, wherein elements in said data structure represent time points;

p1 generating a sequence of control data video frames each having a pixel representation of converted control data in a line of the video frame; and

mapping the pixel representations of converted control data in said sequence of control data video frames to corresponding lines in the vertical blanking interval of desired video frames in the video data file.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the control data comprises closed-caption data.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein said pixel representations are gray-scale pixel representations.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein said mapping step comprises mapping said pixel representations to Line 21 of the vertical blanking interval of the desired video frames in said video data file.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein said mapping step comprises mapping said pixel representations to the vertical blanking interval of the desired video frames in said video data file.

25. The method of claim 20 wherein said data structure comprises an array.

26. The method of claim 20 wherein said data structure comprises two parallel arrays.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the elements in said parallel arrays corresponds to the video frames in said video data file.

28. A method for adding control data to an underlying video data file, the video data file comprising at least one video frame, said method comprising the steps of

(a) generating a control data image data file comprising a sequence of image frames, said image frames each including a linear pixel representation of desired control data;

(b) merging, within the context of a video editing system, an image frame in said control data image data file with a desired video frame in the video data file by mapping the linear pixel representation of said control data to a line in the desired video frame corresponding to a line in the vertical blanking interval.

29. An apparatus for encoding control data in a video data file, the video data file comprising at least one video frame, comprising:

a user interface facilitating input of control data;

means for generating a control data image file comprising a control data video frame having a pixel representation of said control data in a line of the control data video frame corresponding to a line in the vertical blanking interval of the control data video frame, wherein the control data video frame is intended for subsequent merger with a desired video frame in the video data file.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 further comprising

means for adding the video frame having said pixel representation of said control data to a desired line in the vertical blanking interval of the desired video frame in said video data file.

31. An apparatus according to claim 29 wherein said generating means generates pixel representations of control data according to a predetermined specification.

32. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein said user interface facilitates input of command directives, and wherein said apparatus further comprises:

a computer readable memory including a data structure, wherein elements of said data structure represent time points;

processing means for inserting said control data in said data structure according to said command directives; and

,

wherein said generating means generates a video frame comprising a pixel representation of the corresponding control data in at least one line of the video frame corresponding to the vertical blanking interval.

33. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein said user interface facilitates entry of an external data file comprising control data and command directives.

34. An apparatus for encoding control data in a video data file, said video data file including at least one video frame having a vertical blanking interval, comprising:

a video editing device, wherein said video editing device maps at least one line of the video data file to one line of the vertical blanking interval of a video frame;

a user interface facilitating input of control data and command directives;

a computer-readable memory, said computer readable memory storing said control data and command directives;

processing means associated with said memory for generating a control data image file comprising a video frame having a pixel representation of said control data;

wherein said video editing device merges said video frame having said pixel representation of said control data with a desired video frame of an underlying video data file according to said command directives, and maps the pixel representation of said control data to a desired line in the vertical blanking interval of the desired video frame.

35. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein said video editing device maps said pixel representations of said control data to line 21 in the vertical blanking interval of said desired video frame of video data file.

36. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein said memory includes a data structure, and wherein said processing means further stores said control data in said data structure according to said command directives.

37. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein elements in said data structure correspond to video frames in said video data file.

38. An apparatus for encoding control data to video data file, said video data file including at least one video frame having a line corresponding to a line of the vertical blanking interval, comprising:

video editing means for mapping video data;

wherein said video editing means maps at least one line of the vertical blanking interval of video frames of said video data file;

first video image storage means associated with said video editing means for storing the video data;

a user interface facilitating input of control data and command directives;

a computer-readable memory, said memory storing said control data and said command directives;

processing means associated with said input means and said memory for generating a sequence of images frames, at least one of said image frames comprising a pixel representation of said control data in a line of the image frame;

wherein said video editing means is coupled to said first video image storage means and said processing means for merging said pixel representations of said control data in said sequence of image frames to corresponding lines in the vertical blanking interval of said desired video frames of video data file.

39. The apparatus of claim 38 further comprising means for converting said control data into byte code representations of said control data.

40. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein said processing means generates said sequence of image frames according to said command directives.