Method and apparatus for displaying video

• US 7,634,004 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2005
• Issued: 12/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Parthenon Unified Memory Architecture LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Genesis Microchip Inc. (STMicroelectronics NV)
• Inventors: Desai, Pratish R.
• Primary Examiner(s): WONG, ALLEN C
• Application Number:
  US11/088,314
• Publication Number:
  US 20050162556A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,728 Days
• Field of Search: 375/240, 375/240.01, 375/240.12, 715/810, 386/125, 711/122
• US Class Current: 375/240.01
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8063 using time division multiplex of the PCM audio and PCM video signals

Abstract

A method and apparatus for displaying different presentations of program material allows various presentations of a DVD movie, for example, to be displayed on a display for a user'"'"'s selection. The various presentations might involve different angles from which a user must select or different chapters from which a program should begin. The selection of a presentation is facilitated by displaying the various options on a single display such that the user can quickly choose which presentation to choose. Furthermore, audio is provided with chapter presentations to assist a user in selecting a chapter from where playback should be initiated.

Claims

1. A method of concurrently displaying a number of camera angle presentations of a full motion video, each camera angle presentation having a video portion and an associated audio portion, comprising:

receiving, at a disk controller, a datastream corresponding to the video;

playing back, in normal playback mode, a first camera angle presentation of said video on a display by using a portion of a processing resource at a central processing unit (CPU) and memory resources, including a random access memory (RAM) and a track buffer;

monitoring, at the CPU, said processing resource and said memory resources needed for playing back in normal playback mode the first camera angle presentation;

determining, at the CPU, whether there is a time when said processing resources and said memory resources are under utilized during normal playback mode of the first camera angle presentation;

if there is said time, concurrently playing back, in normal playback mode, a second camera angle presentation of said video on said display with said first camera angle presentation, wherein the concurrent playback occurs intermittently as permitted by the remainder of said processing resource and said memory resources; and

permitting a user to select a desired one of the camera angle presentations for displaying on said display.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 and further comprising:

converting a portion of said second camera angle presentation to a graphics format using the track buffer and the CPU; and

displaying said converted portion of said second camera angle presentation on said display.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said graphics format comprises a 16 bit per pixel graphic image.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 and further comprising:

playing back successive segments of said first camera angle presentation of said video on said display; and

playing back at least a portion of one of said successive segments of said video according to said second presentation.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 and further comprising:

displaying on said display a plurality of camera angle presentations of said video that are different from said first presentation while displaying on said display said first camera angle presentation of said video.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said datastream comprises a plurality of interleaved angles for said video.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 and further comprising:

storing in memory an identifier which identifies a primary camera angle presentation being displayed on said display.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 and further comprising:

displaying on said display a plurality of camera angle presentations of said video that are different from said first camera angle presentation while displaying on said display said first camera angle presentation of said video;

converting at least a portion of each of said plurality of camera angle presentations to a graphics format;

displaying each of said graphics format for each of said plurality of camera angle presentations on said display; and

updating each of said plurality of camera angle presentations of said video that are different from said first camera angle presentation as resources permit so as to correspond with a different segment of said video.

9. An apparatus for concurrently displaying a number of camera angle presentations of a full motion video, the apparatus comprising:

a disk controller for receiving a datastream corresponding to said video;

a central processing unit (CPU) for;

playing back in normal playback mode a first camera angle presentation of said video by using a portion of a processing resource at said CPU and of memory resources, including a random access memory (RAM) and a track buffer,

monitoring said processing resource and said memory resources needed for playing back, in normal playback, the first camera angle presentation;

determining whether there is a time when said processing resource and said memory resources are under utilized during normal playback mode of the first camera angle presentation; and

concurrently playing back in normal playback mode, a second camera angle presentation of said video together with said first camera angle presentation if the CPU determines that there is a said time, wherein the concurrent playback of the second camera angle presentation occurs intermittently as permitted by the remainder of said processing resource and said memory resources; and

a display for displaying said first camera angle presentation of said video and said second camera angle presentation of said video;

wherein said memory resources include said track buffer for storing data related to said first camera angle presentation and to said second camera angle presentation and said RAM; and

wherein said apparatus permits a user to select a desired one of the camera angle presentations for displaying on said display.

10. An apparatus as recited in claim 9 further comprising:

a stream demultiplexer for demultiplexing audio and video streams.

11. An apparatus as recited in claim 9 further comprising:

an audio controller for transmitting data to said display.

12. An apparatus as recited in claim 9 further comprising:

a video controller for transmitting data to the display.

13. An apparatus as recited in claim 9 further comprising:

a receiver for receiving output from an external transmitter.

14. An apparatus as recited in claim 13 wherein said track buffer and CPU are used to convert a portion of said second camera angle presentation to a graphics format.

15. An apparatus as recited in claim 9 wherein said CPU is used for monitoring processing resources and memory resources.

16. An apparatus for concurrently displaying a number of camera angle presentations of a full motion video, each camera angle presentation having a video portion and an associated audio portion, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a datastream corresponding to the video;

means for playing back, in normal playback mode, a first camera angle presentation of said video on a display;

means for monitoring said processing resource and said memory resources needed for playing back in normal playback mode the first camera angle presentation;

means for determining whether there is a time when said processing resources and said memory resources are under utilized during normal playback mode of the first camera angle presentation;

means for concurrently playing back, in normal playback mode, a second camera angle presentation of said video with said first camera angle presentation, wherein said concurrent playback occurs intermittently; and

means for permitting a user to select a desired one of the camera angle presentations for displaying on said display.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 16 further comprising:

means for converting a portion of said second camera angle presentation to a graphics format.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 16 further comprising:

means for playing back successive segments of said first camera angle presentation of said video; and

means for playing back at least a portion of one of said successive segments of said video according to said second presentation.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 16 further comprising:

means for displaying a plurality of camera angle presentations of said video that are different from said first camera angle presentation while displaying on said means for displaying said first camera angle presentation of said video;

means for converting at least a portion of each of said plurality of camera angle presentations to a graphics format;

means for displaying each of said graphics format for each of said plurality of camera angle presentations on said means for displaying; and

means for updating each of said plurality of camera angle presentations of said video that are different from said first camera angle presentation as resources permit so as to correspond with a different segment of said video.