URI pointer system and method for the carriage of MPEG-4 data in an ATSC MPEG-2 transport stream file system

• US 7,421,513 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2003
• Issued: 09/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Liang, Kai-Chieh
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Philip B
• Application Number:
  US10/680,694
• Publication Number:
  US 20050080840A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,792 Days
• Field of Search: 709/245, 709/247, 709/230, 709/231, 709/238, 725/112
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234318 by decomposing into objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/643 Communication protocols network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP], H04L65/65

Abstract

A URI pointer system and method are provided for the referencing of MPEG-4 data resources carried in an American ATSC MPEG-2 TSFS. The method comprises: receiving an MPEG-2 TS, with a packetized ATSC TSFS; locating a URI in the TS; in response to the URI, accessing an address such as a lid or an http address; retrieving MPEG-4 resources from the ATSC TSFS; and, decoding the MPEG-4 resources. Accessed lid URIs provide a binding name and access scheme to the objects in the ATSC TSFS, as a lid URI embedded in an Initial Object Descriptor (IOD) is used to locate resources in the TSFS such as a BIFS scene description stream and/or an object descriptor stream. Receiving an MPEG-2 TS, with a packetized ATSC TSFS, means that MPEG-4 resources are formed in a hierarchical directory structure of BIOP objects including a DSM::ServiceGateway, a DSM::Directory, and a DSM::File.

Claims

1. A uniform resource identifier (URI) pointer method for the referencing of Motion Picture Coding Expert Group 4 (MPEG-4) data resources carried in an American advanced television systems committee (ATSC) Motion Picture Coding Expert Group 2 (MPEG-2) transport stream file system (TSFS), the method comprising:

receiving an MPEG-2 TS, with a packetized ATSC TSFS organized in a hierarchical structure;

locating a local identifier (lid) URI, embedded in an Initial Object Descriptor (IOD) of the Transport Stream (TS) and providing a binding name and access scheme to the objects in the ATSC TSFS to locate resources in the TSFS selected from a group including a Binary Format For Scenes (BIFS) scene description stream and an object descriptor stream;

in response to the URI, accessing an address;

in response to accessing the address, retrieving MPEG-4 resources from the ATSC TSFS; and

,

decoding the MPEG-4 resources.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the MPEG-2 TS includes receiving a packetized ATSC TSFS organized in a hierarchical directory structure of Broadcast Inter-Object Request Broker Protocol (BIOP) objects including a Directory Structure Module (DSM):

;

ServiceGateway, a DSM;

;

Directory, and a DSM;

;

File.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein retrieving MPEG-4 resources from the ATSC TSFS, in response to accessing the address, includes:

locating a Download Server Initiate (DSI) message;

extracting the Interoperable Object Reference (IOR) for the Service Gateway;

parsing the Service Gateway object;

extracting IORs for Directory and File objects from the Service Gateway binding structure; and

,

acquiring MPEG-4 resources from the file objects.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein receiving an MPEG-2 TS, with a packetized ATSC TSFS, includes receiving an MPEG-4 audio/video stream embedded in the MPEG-2 TS in accordance with ISO/IEC 13818-3 encapsulation standards;

and,

the method further comprising;

retrieving the MPEG-4 audio/visual stream from the MPEG-2 TS; and

,

wherein decoding the MPEG-4 resources includes decoding the resource retrieved from the ATSC TSFS, together with the retrieved MPEG-4 audio/visual stream.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving an MPEG-2 TS, with a packetized ATSC TSFS, includes receiving a first MPEG-2 TS and a second MPEG-2 TS with a packetized ATSC TSFS;

wherein locating a lid URI in the TS includes retrieving a lid URI in the first MPEG-2 TS; and

,

wherein retrieving MPEG-4 resources from the ATSC TSFS, in response to accessing the lid URI, includes retrieving MPEG-4 resources from the second MPEG-2 TS ATSC TSFS.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein retrieving MPEG-4 resources from ATSC TSFS, in response to accessing the address, includes retrieving MPEG-4 resources selected from the group including audio, video, and systems data.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein decoding the MPEG-4 resources includes an action selected from the group including enhancing audio data in the MPEG-2 TS, enhancing video data in the MPEG-2 TS, and using the systems data to establish an interactive audiovisual scene and communication link.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

establishing an interactive audiovisual scene and communication link in response to decoding MPEG-4 systems data.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

caching the retrieved MPEG-4 resources.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing an address in response to the URI includes additionally accessing an address selected from the group including a local cache address and a Web protocol identifier;

and,

the method further comprising;

retrieving MPEG-4 resources, in response to accessing the address, from a source selected from the group including a local cache and a website.

11. A uniform resource identifier (URI) pointer system for accessing Motion Picture Expert Group 4 (MPEG-4) data from an American Advanced Television Systems Committer (ATSC) Motion Picture Expert Group 2 (MPEG-2) transport stream file system (TSFS), the system comprising:

a receiver having an interface for accepting an MPEG-2 Transport Stream (TS) with a packetized ATSC TSFS and a local identifier (lid) URI embedded in an Initial Object Descriptor (IOD) providing a binding name and access scheme to objects in an ATSC TSFS to locate resources in the ATSC TSFS selected from the group including a Binary Format for Scenes (BIFS) scene description stream and an object descriptor stream;

an address access unit having an interface to accept the MPEG-2 TS from the receiver, the address access unit locating a URI in the TS, accessing an address, and retrieving MPEG-4 resources from a hierarchical directory in the ATSC TSFS; and

,

a decoder having an interface connected to the address access unit for receiving the MPEG-4 resources and an interface for supplying decoded MPEG-4 information.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the address access unit forms a hierarchical directory structure of Broadcast Inter-Object Request Broker Protocol (BIOP) objects including a Directory Service Module (DSM):

;

ServiceGateway, a DSM;

;

Directory, and a DSM;

;

File.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the address access unit retrieves MPEG-4 resources from the ATSC TSFS as follows:

locating a Download Server Initiate (DSI) message;

extracting the Interoperable Object Reference(IOR) for the Service Gateway;

parsing the Service Gateway object;

extracting IORs for Directory and File objects from the Service Gateway binding structure; and

,

acquiring MPEG-4 resources from the file objects.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the receiver additionally receives an MPEG-4 audio/video stream embedded in the MPEG-2 TS in accordance with ISO/IEC 13818-1 encapsulation standards;

and,

wherein the address access unit supplies the audio/visual stream retrieved from the MPEG-2 TS; and

,

an MPEG-2 decoder having an interface to accept the retrieved MPEG-4 audio/visual stream and an interface to supply decoded MPEG-4 audio/visual stream information in accordance with ISO/IEC 13818-1 encapsulation methods for the carriage of MPEG-4 streams in an MPEG-2 TS.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the receiver receives a first MPEG-2 TS and a second MPEG-2 TS with a packetized ATSC TSFS;

wherein the address access unit retrieves the lid URI from the first MPEG-2 TS, and retrieves MPEG-4 resources from the ATSC TSTS in the second MPEG-2 TS.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the address access unit retrieves MPEG-4 resources selected from the group including audio, video, and systems data.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the decoder supplies MPEG-4 information selected from the group including enhancing audio data in the MPEG-2 TS, enhancing video data in the MPEG-2 TS, and using the systems data to establish an interactive audiovisual scene and communication link.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

a transmitter having a transmit interface; and

,

wherein the transmitter and receiver form an interactive audiovisual scene and communication link in response to decoding MPEG-4 systems data.

19. The system of claim 11 further comprising:

a local cache have an interface to receive retrieved MPEG-4 resources for storage.

20. The system of claim 11 wherein the address access unit accesses an address selected from the group including a local cache address and a Web protocol identifier, and retrieves MPEG-4 resources, in response to accessing the address, from a source selected from the group including a local cache and a network-connected website.