Method and apparatus for remotely controlling a live TV production

• US 9,357,141 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2011
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Overton, Kenneth J., Fong, Alcuin D., Johnson, Gaines S., Guida, Frank C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Czekaj, Dave
• Assistant Examiner(s): SULLIVAN, TYLER
• Application Number:
  US13/161,203
• Publication Number:
  US 20120320196A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,812 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/10 Arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or the distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/268 Signal distribution or switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

According to some embodiments, methods, systems, apparatus, and computer program products are provided which allow the remote production of live events by capturing, at a remote event site, event video data in a first time horizon. The event video data is compressed to a proxy of the event video data, and the proxy event video data is transmitted to a remote production facility. A switcher at the production facility is operated to generate commands to produce a proxy program using the proxy event video data. The commands are then transmitted to the remote event site to cause a shadow switcher to produce a cut program in third time horizon delayed from the second time horizon, where the cut program is produced using the event video data. The cut program is transmitted to the production facility. The resulting program is the broadcast program that can be broadcast and distributed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing, at an event site, event video data in a first time horizon;

compressing the event video data to create proxy event video data, the proxy event video data being a representation of the event video data requiring less bandwidth than the event video data,

transmitting the proxy event video data to a production facility remote from the event site;

generating, at a switcher device at the production facility, command signals to operate the switcher device to select video feeds to produce a proxy program using the proxy event video data, the command signals associated with a second time horizon delayed from the first time horizon;

transmitting the command signals used to produce the proxy program to the event site;

producing a cut program in a third time horizon delayed from the second time horizon, the cut program produced from the event video data by a shadow switcher device at the event site executing the command signals used to produce the proxy program; and

transmitting the cut program to the production facility.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

keying, at the production facility, additional data into the cut program in a fourth time horizon, the fourth time horizon delayed from the first, second and third time horizons, to generate a broadcast program.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the capturing of event video data further includes capturing event audio data and the broadcast program is further generated using the event audio data.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the compressing of the event video data to create proxy event video data comprises down-converting the event video data.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of the first time horizon, the second time horizon, the third time horizon, and the fourth time horizon are associated with one or more monotonic identifiers.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein down-converting the event video data comprises down converting high definition (“

HD”

) event video data to standard definition (“

SD”

) event video data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the proxy event video data to a production facility is performed over a backhaul network comprising at least one of (i) a fiber cable and a (ii) a satellite transmission network.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the second time horizon is based on a latency associated with the backhaul network.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising transmitting event audio data to the production facility over the backhaul network.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the transmitting of the cut program to the production facility includes transmitting the cut program over the backhaul network, and where the fourth time horizon further is based on a latency of the backhaul network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the commands used to produce the proxy program to the remote event site includes transmitting the command signals used to produce the proxy program over a fronthaul channel, and the third time horizon further is based on a latency associated with the fronthaul channel.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast program is an HD program.

13. A mobile production vehicle system for interacting with a production facility to remotely produce a broadcast event, comprising:

a first subsystem for capturing, at an event site associated with the mobile production vehicle, event video data in a first time horizon;

a second subsystem for compressing the event video data into proxy event video data that is a representation of the event video data and consumes, when transmitted, less bandwidth than the event video data, and transmitting the proxy event video data to the production facility located remotely from the event site over a backhaul network, the production facility using command signals generated at a switcher device to select video feeds and the proxy event video data to produce a proxy program associated with a second time horizon delayed from the first time horizon;

a shadow switcher subsystem at the mobile production vehicle associated with the event site for responding to the command signals received from a the switcher device at the production facility to produce a cut program in a third time horizon delayed from the second time horizon, the cut program produced by the shadow switcher subsystem by executing the command signals used to produced the proxy event using the event video data; and

a transmission subsystem for transmitting the cut program to the production facility over the backhaul network for use in generating a broadcast program.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the event video data are captured by a plurality of cameras arranged to capture images at the live event.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the compressing of the event video data to a proxy of the event video data comprises down-converting the event video data to standard definition (“

SD”

) event video data.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the backhaul network is at least one of (i) a fiber cable and a (ii) a satellite transmission network.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the second time horizon is based on a latency associated with the backhaul network.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the transmitting of the cut program to the production facility includes transmitting the cut program over the backhaul network, and where the broadcast program is generated in a fourth time horizon which is based on a latency of the backhaul network.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the command signals used to produce the proxy program received from the switcher device at the production location are received over a fronthaul channel, and the third time horizon is based on a latency associated with the fronthaul channel.

20. A production system for interacting with a vehicle system at a live event site for producing a broadcast of the live event, comprising:

a master switcher subsystem for receiving proxy event video data that is a representation of event video data captured at the event site and consumes, when transmitted, less bandwidth than the event video data from a vehicle system at the live event, the master switcher subsystem associating the received data with a second time horizon based on a latency of a backhaul network and based on an event time horizon;

controls to interact with the master switcher subsystem to generate command signals to operate the master switcher subsystem to select video feeds to produce a proxy program using the proxy event video data, the command signals used to produce the proxy program associated with the second time horizon;

a fronthaul network communication subsystem for transmitting the command signals used to produce the proxy program to the vehicle system at the event site, for use by a shadow switcher device at the vehicle system;

a backhaul network communication subsystem for receiving a cut program from the vehicle system, the cut program generated by the shadow switcher device at the vehicle system under control of the command signals to produce the proxy program using the event video data in a third time horizon based on a latency of the fronthaul network and the second time horizon; and

a keyer subsystem for keying additional data into the cut program in a fourth time horizon, the fourth time horizon based on a latency of the backhaul network and the third time horizon and for producing a final broadcast program.

21. A method comprising:

receiving proxy event video data from a remote event site, the proxy event video data being a representation of event video data captured at an event site and requiring less bandwidth than the event video data;

generating, using a master switcher device, command signals to operate the master switcher device to select video feeds to produce a proxy program using the proxy event video data;

transmitting the command signals used to produce the proxy program to the remote event site for use in controlling a shadow switcher device at the remote event site to produce a cut program by executing the command signals used to produce the proxy program using event video data; and

receiving the cut program from the remote event site, the cut program created at the remote event site using the command signals used to produce the proxy program.

22. A method, comprising:

capturing, at a remote event site, event video data in a first time horizon;

compressing the event video data to create proxy event video data, the proxy event video data being a representation of the event video data requiring less bandwidth than the event video data, and transmitting the proxy event video data to a production facility located remotely from the event site, the proxy event video data being a representation of the event video data that, when transmitted, consumes less bandwidth than the event video data;

receiving, from the production facility, command signals used to produce a proxy program at the production facility by a switcher device to cause a shadow switcher device at the remote event site to produce a cut program in a time horizon delayed from the first time horizon, the cut program produced using the command signals and the event video data; and

transmitting the cut program to the production facility.