US6357042B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus for multiplexing separately-authored metadata for insertion into a video data stream
Assignee: Tata America International Corp
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Filing: 1999-01-22
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Granted: 2002-03-12
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Expires: 2019-01-22
Abstract
Abstract An authoring system for interactive video has two or more authoring stations for providing authored metadata to be related to a main video data stream and a multiplexer for relating authored metadata from the authoring sources to the main video data stream. The authoring stations annotate created metadata with presentation time stamps (PTS) from the main video stream, and the multiplexer relates the metadata to the main video stream by the PTS signatures. In analog streams PTS may be created and integrated. In some embodiments there may be multiple and cascaded systems, and some sources may be stored sources. Various methods are disclosed for monitoring and compensating time differences among sources to ensure time coordination in end product. In different embodiments transport of metadata to an end user station is provided by Internet streaming, VBI insertion or by Internet downloading. User equipment is enhanced with hardware and software to coordinate and present authored material with the main data stream.
Inventors
- 👤 Anand Srinivasan
- 👤 Mehul Y Shah
- 👤 Indranil Chakraborty
- 👤 Mohan Mardikar
- 👤 P Venkat Rangan
- 👤 Kamal Bhadada
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 20:50
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N7/00; H04N7/08; H04N7/083; G; G06; G06T; G06T7/00; G06T7/20; G06T7/246; G11; G11B; G11B27/00; G11B27/02; G11B27/031; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/23; H04N21/234; H04N21/23424; H04N21/2343; H04N21/234318; H04N21/235; H04N21/236; H04N21/23614; H04N21/2368; H04N21/242; H04N21/25; H04N21/258; H04N21/25866; H04N21/25891; H04N21/266; H04N21/2668; H04N21/40; H04N21/43; H04N21/434; H04N21/4348; H04N21/435; H04N21/47; H04N21/472; H04N21/4722; H04N21/4725; H04N21/80; H04N21/81; H04N21/812; H04N21/83; H04N21/845; H04N21/8455; H04N21/85; H04N21/854; H04N21/8547; H04N21/858; H04N21/8583; H04N7/087; H04N7/088; H04N7/16; H04N7/162; H04N7/165; H04N21/41; H04N21/422; H04N21/42204; H04N21/426; H04N21/431; H04N21/4312; H04N21/4316; H04N21/45; H04N21/462; H04N21/4622; H04N5/00; H04N5/04; H04N5/06; H04N5/067; H04N5/073
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 24
Claim 1
Independent Claim
124 words
An authoring system for interactive video, comprising: video feeds providing video streams; two or more authoring stations coupled to the video feeds providing authoring functions creating intermittent metadata for enhancing the video streams; and a multiplexer for coordinating authored metadata with the video streams; wherein, in the creation of metadata, the authoring stations note a presentation time stamp (PTS) of video frames or a synchronized system time from the video streams at the point in the video streams the authored metadata is to be later inserted, and incorporate the PTS in the authored metadata for matching the authored metadata with the video streams, and wherein time clocks are monitored for separate stream sources and clocks are adjusted to compensate for real-time differences in sources.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
124 words
An authoring system for interactive video, comprising: video feeds providing video streams; two or more authoring stations coupled to the video feeds providing authoring functions creating intermittent metadata for enhancing the video streams; and a multiplexer for coordinating authored metadata with the video streams; wherein, in the creation of metadata, the authoring stations note a presentation time stamp (PTS) of video frames or a synchronized system time from the video streams at the point in the video streams the authored metadata is to be later inserted, and incorporate the PTS in the authored metadata for matching the authored metadata with the video streams, and wherein time clocks are monitored for separate stream sources and clocks are adjusted to compensate for real-time differences in sources.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
18 words
The system of claim 1 wherein one or more of the stream sources is from a stored source.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of claim 1 wherein PTS values are rewritten in one or more video streams to compensate for perceived time differences.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
18 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the PTS-enhanced metadata is streamed over the Internet to an end user.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
24 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the PTS-enhanced metadata is inserted into video blanking intervals (VBI) of an analog stream according to the PTS.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
19 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the PTS-enhanced metadata is stored to be downloaded as needed by a user.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the authoring stations include one or more of scene authoring, hyper-video authoring, and ad authoring stations.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the video streams are analog streams, and the analog streams are converted to a digital format before authoring and multiplexing.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
24 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the video streams are analog streams, and a presentation time stamp is generated and integrated with analog steams.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system of claim 1 further comprising a user system enhanced with software for rendering the video streams and the authored metadata according to the PTS.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
126 words
A method for coordinating authored video metadata with video data streams, comprising steps of: (a) ensuring the video data streams have presentation time stamps (PTS); (b) feeding the video data streams to authoring stations; (c) authoring intermittent metadata at the authoring stations to be later used to enhance the video data streams; (d) marking the metadata with presentation time stamps (PTS) taken from the video data streams at the time of authoring the metadata; and (e) multiplexing the authored metadata with the video data streams, wherein the multiplexer places the metadata in relation to video data streams according to the PTS, and multiple sources of video is fed to the multiplexer as well as metadata, and the multiplexer compensates for real-time differences between the multiple sources.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
126 words
A method for coordinating authored video metadata with video data streams, comprising steps of: (a) ensuring the video data streams have presentation time stamps (PTS); (b) feeding the video data streams to authoring stations; (c) authoring intermittent metadata at the authoring stations to be later used to enhance the video data streams; (d) marking the metadata with presentation time stamps (PTS) taken from the video data streams at the time of authoring the metadata; and (e) multiplexing the authored metadata with the video data streams, wherein the multiplexer places the metadata in relation to video data streams according to the PTS, and multiple sources of video is fed to the multiplexer as well as metadata, and the multiplexer compensates for real-time differences between the multiple sources.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 11 wherein, in the compensating step, presentation time stamps (PTS) are amended according to source time differences.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 11 wherein the PTS-enhanced metadata is streamed over the Internet to an end user.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 11 wherein the PTS-enhanced metadata is inserted into video blanking intervals (VBI) of an analog stream according to the PTS.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 11 wherein the PTS-enhanced metadata is stored to be downloaded as needed by a user.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 11 wherein the authoring stations include one or more of scene authoring, hyper-video authoring, and ad authoring stations.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 11 wherein the video data streams are analog steams, and the analog streams are converted to a digital format before authoring and multiplexing.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 14 further comprising a step for displaying the video data streams and authored metadata according to PTS at a user's station.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
116 words
A video multiplexing system comprising: inputs for digital video data streams; and inputs from video authoring stations, comprising intermittent metadata associated with the video data streams by presentation time stamps (PTS) copied from the video data streams at the time of authoring; and an output to a video transport interface; wherein one or more of the inputs for digital video data streams are from stored sources, and the multiplexing system notes the presentation time stamps associated with the authored metadata, monitors real time clocks of the sources and uses the information to compensate one or both of the multiple streams, and places the authored metadata relative to the video data streams for transport to end users.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
116 words
A video multiplexing system comprising: inputs for digital video data streams; and inputs from video authoring stations, comprising intermittent metadata associated with the video data streams by presentation time stamps (PTS) copied from the video data streams at the time of authoring; and an output to a video transport interface; wherein one or more of the inputs for digital video data streams are from stored sources, and the multiplexing system notes the presentation time stamps associated with the authored metadata, monitors real time clocks of the sources and uses the information to compensate one or both of the multiple streams, and places the authored metadata relative to the video data streams for transport to end users.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
20 words
The multiplexing system of claim 19 wherein the multiplexer compensates incoming streams by buffering one or more of the streams.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
27 words
The system of claim 19 wherein the multiplexer compensates incoming streams by amending the presentation time stamps of one or more of the digital video data streams.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-03-11 | 2005-09-10 | 2006-03-12 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-03-11 | 2009-09-10 | 2010-03-12 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-03-11 | 2013-09-10 | 2014-03-12 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |