Merging of multiple encoded audio-video streams into one program with source clock frequency locked and encoder clock synchronized
First Claim
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1. A method, comprising:
- frequency locking the audio and video streams from a plurality of programs;
using independent encoder/program multiplexers, each having its own clock reference, to separately encode and multiplex each program'"'"'s audio and video streams into a program stream, each program stream having an independent program clock reference (PCR) and audio and video presentation time stamps (PTS) in the audio and video streams;
multiplexing the program streams into a transport stream; and
synchronizing the programs'"'"' PCR and audio and video PTSs in the transport stream from a declared master PCR while avoiding feedback to any of the encoder/program multiplexers in one of the program streams to merge the programs'"'"' PCR and audio and video PTSs into one program having the master PCR against which the PTSs for all the audio and video streams are referenced, wherein the programs'"'"' PCR and PTS are synchronized by declaring one program and its PCR to be the master PCR and the remaining programs and their PCRs to be slaves, comparing each slave PCR to an interpolated value of the master PCR to compute an offset, setting the slave PCR to the interpolated value, and adding the offset to each occurrence of the slave'"'"'s PTS.
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Abstract
A system and method for merging of multiple encoded audio and video streams into a single program in the transport stream enables playback of any audio stream with any video stream. This is accomplished by first locking the frequency of audio and video input streams for a plurality of different programs to a source clock, independently encoding each program with its own PCR and PTS into a program stream, multiplexing the program streams into a transport stream, and then synchronizing the PCR and PTS of the program streams to a declared master PCR.
40 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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frequency locking the audio and video streams from a plurality of programs; using independent encoder/program multiplexers, each having its own clock reference, to separately encode and multiplex each program'"'"'s audio and video streams into a program stream, each program stream having an independent program clock reference (PCR) and audio and video presentation time stamps (PTS) in the audio and video streams; multiplexing the program streams into a transport stream; and synchronizing the programs'"'"' PCR and audio and video PTSs in the transport stream from a declared master PCR while avoiding feedback to any of the encoder/program multiplexers in one of the program streams to merge the programs'"'"' PCR and audio and video PTSs into one program having the master PCR against which the PTSs for all the audio and video streams are referenced, wherein the programs'"'"' PCR and PTS are synchronized by declaring one program and its PCR to be the master PCR and the remaining programs and their PCRs to be slaves, comparing each slave PCR to an interpolated value of the master PCR to compute an offset, setting the slave PCR to the interpolated value, and adding the offset to each occurrence of the slave'"'"'s PTS. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method, comprising:
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receiving a transport stream comprising multiplexed program streams each of which comprise an encoded video stream, an encoded audio stream, a program clock reference (PCR) and audio and video presentation time stamps (PTS), wherein said video streams are source clock frequency locked and said PCRs are encoder clock synchronized to a master PCR against which the PTSs for all the audio and video streams are referenced, wherein the programs'"'"' PCR and PTS are synchronized by declaring one program and its PCR to be the master PCR and the remaining programs and their PCRs to be slaves, comparing each slave PCR to an interpolated value of the master PCR to compute an offset, setting the slave PCR to the interpolated value, and adding the offset to each occurrence of the slave'"'"'s PTS, in response to a customer command selecting a video stream from a program stream and an audio stream from a different program stream, extracting the selected audio and video streams, the master PCR, and the audio and video PTSs from the transport stream, decoding the selected audio and video streams as if they came from a common program stream, and in accordance with the PTSs for the selected audio and video streams with respect to the master PCR, playing back the selected audio and video streams in frequency and time synchronization. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
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12. An apparatus, comprising:
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a frequency locker that frequency locks the audio and video streams from a plurality of programs; a plurality of independent encoders each having its own clock reference, each encoder encoding and multiplexing a different said program'"'"'s audio and video streams into a program stream, each program stream having an independent program clock reference (PCR) and audio and video presentation time stamps (PTS) in the audio and video streams; a transport multiplexer that multiplexes the program streams into a transport stream; and an encoder clock synchronizer that, without feedback to any of the encoder/program multiplexers, declares one program and its PCR to be the master and the remaining programs and their PCRs to be slaves, and synchronizes the programs'"'"' PCR and audio and video PTSs in the transport stream from the declared master PCR in one of the program streams while avoiding feedback to any of the encoder/program multiplexers by comparing each slave PCR to an interpolated value of the master PCR to compute an offset, setting the slave PCR to the interpolated value, and adding the offset to each occurrence of the slave'"'"'s PTS, to merge the programs'"'"' PCR and audio and video PTSs into one program having the master PCR against which the PTS for all the audio and video streams are referenced. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification