System and method for seamless switching through buffering
First Claim
1. A method of preparing a plurality of digital data streams, each data stream comprising multiple segments, said plurality of digital data streams to be received by a switching device, said switching device including a buffer with a predetermined capacity, said method comprising the steps of:
- encoding said segments for transmission to said switching device at a selected data transfer rate, wherein said step of encoding said segments is performed based on a buffer capacity value that is less than said predetermined capacity of said buffer of said switching device; and
multiplexing said segments at said selected data transfer rates, wherein said encoded segments include synchronized start and end points in said plurality of digital data streams and wherein said step of multiplexing said encoded segments is performed at a second data transfer rate that is higher than said selected data transfer rate.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of preparing data streams to facilitate seamless switching between such streams by a switching device to produce an output data stream without any switching artifacts. Bi-directional switching between any plurality of data streams is supported. The data streams are divided into segments, wherein the segments include synchronized starting points and end points. The data rate is increased before an end point of a segment, to create switch gaps between the segments. Increasing the data rate can include increasing a bandwidth of the plurality of data streams, for example by multiplexing, or compressing the data.
The present invention can be used, for example, with MPEG or AC-3 encoded audio and MPEG encoded video segments that are multiplexed into MPEG-2 transport streams.
Also included are specific methods for preparing MPEG video streams and multiplexing MPEG video with MPEG or AC-3 audio streams to allow a receiver to create seamless transitions between individually encoded segments.
215 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of preparing a plurality of digital data streams, each data stream comprising multiple segments, said plurality of digital data streams to be received by a switching device, said switching device including a buffer with a predetermined capacity, said method comprising the steps of:
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encoding said segments for transmission to said switching device at a selected data transfer rate, wherein said step of encoding said segments is performed based on a buffer capacity value that is less than said predetermined capacity of said buffer of said switching device; and multiplexing said segments at said selected data transfer rates, wherein said encoded segments include synchronized start and end points in said plurality of digital data streams and wherein said step of multiplexing said encoded segments is performed at a second data transfer rate that is higher than said selected data transfer rate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system for creating an MPEG transport stream from a plurality of digital data segments, wherein said digital data segments have synchronized end points with respect to each other, and wherein said MPEG transport stream will be received by a switching device with a buffer, comprising:
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a frame encoder to receive said plurality of digital data segments and encode said digital data segments into frame encoded segments, wherein said frame encoder encodes said digital data segments based on a selected capacity of said buffer; a multiplexer coupled to said frame encoder to receive said frame encoded segments and create said MPEG transport stream, wherein said multiplexer adjusts a data rate of said frame encoded segments in said MPEG transport stream to allow a gap after said digital data segments with synchronized end points. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification