JPH0965291A - Dynamic image processer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a dynamic image processer in which a dynamic image is reproduced immediately on a request of a dynamic image reproduction and the dynamic image is reproduced smoothly till its end without interruption. SOLUTION: When a dynamic image processing means 12 reads dynamic image data from a dynamic image data storage device 11, a storage control means 13 checks whether or not a capacity of dynamic image data exceeds a value kL and the excess data are stored in a temporary storage means 14, then the data are read from the temporary storage means 14 at a succeeding read to reproduce a dynamic image immediately and the dynamic image is smoothly reproduced till its end without intermission.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a moving image processing apparatus for providing a moving image information service via a line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, information services have come to the spotlight, and along with this, the necessity of a system for realizing the services has been emphasized. Current information service systems include captain systems that use telephone lines to mainly exchange textual information with the center and street corner terminals that provide information related to the area by installing terminals at street corners and public facilities. .

A general configuration and operation of these conventional information service systems will be described. Each terminal is generally connected to a center having a server as a communication path by a relatively low speed telephone line of several tens of kbits / second, a LAN, or the like. Character data, control data,
Numerical data mainly flows. Although still images and audio data flow infrequently, when dealing with relatively large data, the thinness of the communication path is compensated by accumulating in the terminal side beforehand. This is a method in which a storage device is provided inside the terminal and data is stored here.

As the storage device, a magnetic storage device, a CD-R
There is OM. While these conventional terminals mainly handle only character information, in recent years, multimedia has been required, and moving image information that can provide more information together with character information has also been required. Behind this is that the price-performance ratio of an information processing device such as a computer or a storage device has been remarkably improved, which makes it possible for a computer to easily handle a moving image. Recently, a server such as video-on-demand (VOD) that provides moving image information using a computer has been enhanced.

[0005]

However, even if this server is connected to a street corner terminal, it is difficult to provide moving image information service. This is because the transmission speed of the communication path connecting the terminal and the server is generally slow, and even if moving image data with a large amount of information is transmitted, the data obtained per unit time at the terminal is insufficient and the video cannot be played back smoothly. Is.

It is not an effective means from an economical point of view to newly install a communication path capable of satisfactorily transmitting moving image information in an existing information service system, which requires extensive wiring work. Rather, it is more effective to make the server and the terminal compatible by providing a mechanism that can reproduce the moving image data without difficulty.

Therefore, in order to compensate the transmission speed of the communication path and the access delay of the moving image server, a temporary storage device connected to the terminal by the communication path having a high transmission speed is provided on the terminal side, and the moving image data is stored therein. A method of storing it in advance can be considered. With the above measures, even if the transmission speed of the communication path connecting the terminal and the server is low, smooth reproduction can be realized by first starting reproduction from the moving image stored in the temporary storage device.

Further, unlike a CD-ROM or the like, it is possible to dynamically deal with changes in moving image data registered on the server side. However, the memory of the temporary storage device is limited in physical capacity and cost, and cannot store all moving image data. Therefore, it is conceivable to increase the utilization efficiency of the temporary storage device by making the moving image data to be stored in advance a part and effectively selecting the portion to store the moving image data. Here, there is a problem to realize a means for determining and accumulating a part of moving image data, which is to be solved by the present invention.

Further, this problem also occurs in a multimedia title or the like, in which a moving image is reproduced by randomly accessing an arbitrary portion of arbitrary moving image data according to a scenario or a certain selection branch. Is.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems. First, the transmission speed of the communication path between the moving image processing device and the temporary storage device, and the temporary storage device. From the transmission speed of the communication path between the moving image data storage devices and the time it takes for the data to reach the temporary storage device after the temporary storage device sends a moving image data transmission request to the temporary storage device, Decide the capacity required to play the video smoothly without interruption and provide a temporary storage device based on this capacity, and temporarily store the first part of the video data so that the video processing device can play it. When you make a request,
Solves the problem that you can start playing a video immediately, and the video plays smoothly without interruption during playback.

Secondly, even with the first method, when the memory of the temporary storage device is limited in capacity and it is not possible to store all the temporary data, further moving image reproduction by the moving image processing device is performed. During this period, the average moving image data playback stop location is calculated from the point at which the user stopped playback without playing the moving image data to the end, and this is regarded as the actual total length of the moving image data for temporary storage. To solve the problem of increasing the memory utilization efficiency of the device and limiting the capacity of the memory of the temporary storage device.

Thirdly, the number of users who have further stopped the reproduction is extremely small, in addition to simply obtaining the average stop position of the reproduction of the moving image data from the position where the user stopped the reproduction without completely reproducing the moving image data. By taking the average of the stop points that exceed this value as the threshold value, the playback mode that starts playback and stops immediately is eliminated, and a more realistic overall length of the moving image data is obtained. The problem is solved by reducing the probability of occurrence of a situation in which the playback of moving image data cannot be performed smoothly to the end even if the data in the temporary storage device is used due to the statistical difference in the playback form of moving image data. To do.

Fourth, by automatically indexing the scene transition in the moving image data, regarding the transition between the scenes as one moving image data, and applying the first solution, Solves the problem that video cannot be played back smoothly.

Fifth, in the case of a multimedia title composed of an arbitrary section of a plurality of moving image data, the scenario is interpreted, the section of the moving image data used is regarded as one moving image data, and Apply the first solution to the interval. This makes it possible to immediately play a video that is linked to it according to a scenario or whichever choice is selected, and the problem of playing the video smoothly even when randomly accessing any part of multiple videos. To solve.

[0015]

When there is a request for moving image data from the moving image processing means, the storage control means examines the stored data management table in the temporary storage means, and reads out the moving image data of the first portion that has been stored and stores it as a moving image. It is sent to the image processing means. On the other hand, the remaining data that has not been stored is read out to the moving image data storage device and a request is issued. The rest of the acquired data is
When the data stored in the temporary storage means is completely sent to the moving image processing means in the order of acquisition, and when the data has been sent to the moving image processing means, the data extracted from the FIFO memory is connected to the end of the data and sent to the moving image processing means. To do. This means that the moving image data has been transmitted to the moving image processing means without interruption.

In order for the moving image to be reproduced immediately after the moving image processing request from the moving image processing means, and for the moving image to be reproduced smoothly without stopping until the end, sufficient data must be stored in it. No more, and further data storage is wasted. According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the utilization efficiency of the memory by securing this memory in a necessary and sufficient manner while enabling the smooth reproduction of the moving image to the end without interruption.

[0017]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the first invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the first invention. In FIG. 1, 11 is a moving image data storage device for storing moving image data, 12 is a moving image processing device for performing moving image data processing such as displaying of moving images, and 13 is a temporary storage device for temporarily storing data. A storage control means for selecting data to be stored and for constructing the data stored in the temporary storage means and the data newly read from the moving picture storage device, and 14 is a temporary storage for temporarily storing the moving picture data. The storage means 17 is a moving image data total length transmission means for transmitting the entire length of the moving image data stored in the moving image data storage device to the storage control means.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the storage control means 13 in FIG. In FIG. 2, 201 is a data amount measuring means for measuring a data capacity, 202 is a condition determining means for temporary storage conditions, 203 is a temporary storage condition storage means for storing temporary storage conditions, and 204 is data stored in the temporary storage means. Is a stored data management means for managing the.

The operation of the moving image processing apparatus configured as described above will be described below. First, when moving image data is newly stored and registered in the moving image data storage device 11, the entire length of the data is stored together with the unique identification number of the data, and the moving image data entire length transmission means 17 causes the respective storage control means. 13 is transmitted. In each storage control means 13, the transmitted total length information is stored in the moving image data total length storage means 2.
05.

Next, the moving picture processing means 12 issues a request for moving picture data to the storage control means 13 when reading out necessary moving picture data from the moving picture data storage device 11.

In the storage control means 13, the temporary storage means 14
When the requested moving image data is not stored at all, the moving image data storage device 11 is requested to read all moving image data. If the moving image data of this request has not been stored at all, and if the moving image data newly stored in the moving image data storage device 11 is to be read, it has been read before. There is a case where it is no longer stored in the temporary storage means.

The moving image data read out is transmitted through the transmission line 1 (1
5) and reaches the moving image data processing means 12 through the storage means 13 and the transmission path 2 (16). At this time, the moving image data transmitted from the moving image data storage device 11 accumulates the data according to the condition stored in advance in the temporary storage condition storage means. In the present invention, this condition is assumed to accumulate data having a length obtained by multiplying the entire length L of moving image data by a proportional constant k from the beginning of the moving image data. That is, the data of the capacity kL of the first portion of the moving image data is temporarily stored in the storage unit 14.
Copy and store.

Here, k is a proportional constant of 0≤k≤1, and L is an overall length which varies depending on moving image data. Finally, the last position of the copied data is written in the accumulated data management table in the temporary accumulating unit 14 together with the unique number of the moving image data.

Here, when the memory of the temporary storage means is full, the data stored in the temporary storage means is erased from the oldest referenced time, and new data is stored there. Thereafter, when the moving image processing means 12 tries to read the moving image data next time, the moving image processing means 12 first issues a data reading request to the storage control means 13. The storage control means 13 checks the stored data management table in the temporary storage means 14, reads out the stored moving image data of the first portion, and sends it to the moving image processing means 12.

On the other hand, the remaining data that has not been accumulated is issued to the moving image data accumulating device and a read request is issued. The rest of the acquired data is put in the FIFO memory in the order of acquisition, and when the data stored in the temporary storage means is completely sent to the moving image processing means, the data retrieved from the FIFO memory is linked to the end of the data. , To the moving image processing means. This means that the moving image data has been transmitted to the moving image processing means without interruption.

The method of determining the proportional constant k of the present invention will be described below. The constant of proportionality k is the data transmission rate in the transmission line 2 which connects the moving image processing means 12 and the storage control means 13 to v
1. v2 is the data transmission speed in the transmission line 1 that connects the moving image data storage means 11 and the storage control means 13 and the storage control means issues a data transmission request to the moving image data storage device and the requested data reaches the storage control means. Time T
s, the total volume of moving image data is L, and if v1 and v2 are independent of each other and independent, the last part of the moving image data to be read is the total time from the moving image data storage device and the storage control means. Considering that the data transmission times are the same, Ts + (L-kL) / v2 = L / v1 is expressed, and thus k = 1-v2 / v1 + TsV2 / L. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when the moving image processing means 12 of the above operation reads data from the moving image data storage device 11.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a data storage procedure in the temporary storage means 14 in the storage control means 13 when the moving image processing means 12 of the above operation reads data from the moving image data storage device 11. . Here, the inspection of the data by the storage control means (step 309) indicates whether or not the data capacity from the beginning of the moving image data exceeds kL. Further, storing a part of the data in the temporary storage means (step 310) means copying the data whose data amount from the beginning exceeds kL to the temporary storage means 14 after checking the data (step 309). .

When the transmission speed of the communication path between the moving picture processing device and the temporary storage device is higher than the transmission speed of the communication path between the temporary storage device and the moving picture data storage device,
While the data stored in the temporary storage means 14 is being sent to the moving image processing device 12, the moving image data storage device 1
If the remaining data can be acquired from 1, the data reading speed from the moving image data storage device of the moving image processing means will be relatively faster than when the data is not stored in the temporary storage means.

In order for a moving picture to be reproduced immediately after a moving picture reproduction request from the moving picture processing means and to be smoothly reproduced without stopping the reproduction of the moving picture, sufficient data must be stored in it. Moreover, further data accumulation is wasted.

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the utilization efficiency of the memory by securing the necessary and sufficient memory while enabling the smooth reproduction of the moving image to the end without interruption.

As is apparent from the above structure, in the moving image processing apparatus according to this embodiment, when the moving image processing means 12 reads the moving image data from the moving image data storage device 11, the data capacity is the moving image data. Temporary storage means 14 for inspecting whether or not the data capacity exceeds kL from the first part
And a storage control means 13 for checking whether or not to store moving image data is provided between the moving image processing means 12 and the moving image data storage device 11, and a memory for storing kL data per moving image data is temporarily stored. By preparing the means, the moving image data processing means 12 can smoothly reproduce the moving image to the end.

As described above, according to the present invention, the transmission speed of the communication path between the moving image processing apparatus and the temporary storage apparatus is higher than that of the communication path between the temporary storage apparatus and the moving image data storage apparatus. , I want to store as much data as possible in the temporary storage device at high speed, but solve the problem that each moving image data must store data that can be smoothly played back to the end without interruption during playback. It is a thing.

(Embodiment 2) An embodiment of the second invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The block diagram of the embodiment of the second invention is the same as that of FIG. FIG. 4 shows the storage control means 1 in FIG.
It is a block diagram in 3. The difference between FIG. 4 and FIG. 2 is 2 in FIG.
The moving image data total length storage means 05 is the moving image data reproduction total length storage means 405, and the entire reproduction length calculation means 407 is only provided.

The operation of the moving image processing apparatus configured as described above is the same as that of the first invention. However,
In the first invention, the entire length of the moving image data is stored in the moving image data total length storage means. However, in the second invention, the user reproduces the moving image data in the middle while reproducing the moving image data in the moving image processing means. Considering the length from the beginning of the data as the whole length of the moving image data at the time of discontinuation, each time the whole reproduction length calculation means calculates the arithmetic mean of all past events,
This is stored in moving image data reproduction total length storage means for each moving image data.

The updated moving image data reproduction total length is referred to at the next data reading. The initial value of the entire moving image data reproduction length may be set in advance as the entire moving image data length as in the first aspect of the invention. Therefore, unlike the first invention, the entire length of the moving image data reproduction dynamically changes.

In the case of an unpopular moving picture or multimedia title, all the data is not reproduced, and the user often stops the reproduction in the middle. In addition, moving images and multimedia titles become less valuable as information over time, and the time for the user to play them often decreases.

In this case, it becomes wasteful to store the data in the temporary storage means on the basis of the entire length of the moving image data. Therefore, by considering the length actually reproduced by the user as the actual total length of the moving image data, the memory of the temporary storage means can be used efficiently. Particularly in information services, when referring to a moving image in an electronic catalog or the like in online shopping, few users look to the end, and few people stop looking immediately. The moving image reproduction form of the user is generally similar to a normal distribution. Therefore, in the second invention, it is assumed that the statistical property of the reproduction form of the moving image has a normal distribution.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the number of users who have stopped reproduction during reproduction of moving image data and the elapsed time from the start of reproduction of moving image data. Here, M represents the entire length of moving image data reproduction. It should be noted that the entire length of the moving image data reproduction becomes statistically accurate as the number of times the user stops reproduction during the reproduction.

The condition for storing the moving image data in the temporary storage means is that, in the first aspect of the invention, data having a length obtained by multiplying the entire length L of the moving image data by a proportional constant k is stored from the head of the moving image data. However, in the second aspect of the present invention, the condition is that data having a length obtained by multiplying the moving image data reproduction total length M that differs depending on the moving image data by the proportional constant k is accumulated from the beginning of the moving image data. The method of determining the proportional constant k is the same as in the first aspect of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a data storage procedure in the temporary storage means 14 in the storage control means 13 when the moving image processing means 12 of the above operation reads data from the moving image data storage device 11. . Here, the inspection of data by the storage control means (step 609) indicates whether or not the data capacity from the beginning of the moving image data exceeds kM. Storing a part of the data in the temporary storage means (step 610) means copying the data whose data amount from the beginning exceeds kM to the temporary storage means 14 after checking the data (step 609). . If there is a reproduction stop request or the reproduction is ended during the reproduction of the moving image (step 613), the entire moving image data reproduction length of the moving image data being reproduced is calculated (step 61).
4) Then, this is stored in the moving image data reproduction entire length storage means (step 615).

When the transmission speed of the communication path between the moving picture processing device and the temporary storage device is higher than the transmission speed of the communication path between the temporary storage device and the moving picture data storage device,
While the data stored in the temporary storage means 14 is being sent to the moving image processing device 12, the moving image data storage device 1
If the remaining data can be acquired from 1, the data reading speed from the moving image data storage device of the moving image processing means will be relatively faster than when the data is not stored in the temporary storage means.

In order to start playing a moving picture immediately after the moving picture playing request from the moving picture processing means, and to enable smooth playing without stopping the playing of the moving picture to the end, sufficient data must be stored in it. Moreover, further data accumulation is wasted. However, if the entire length of the moving image data is long, or if the temporary storage means cannot physically secure the memory, the ideal temporary storage means as in the first aspect of the invention cannot secure the memory.

The present invention statistically utilizes the moving image reproduction mode of the user to calculate the required temporary storage memory amount based on the actual reproduction length of the moving image data, and secures this memory to generate a moving image. It is possible to smoothly reproduce the reproduction of the above until the end and to further improve the utilization efficiency of the memory.

As is apparent from the above structure, in the moving image processing apparatus according to this embodiment, when the moving image processing means 12 reads the moving image data from the moving image data storage device 11, the data capacity is the moving image data. Temporary storage means 14 for checking whether or not the data capacity exceeds kM from the first part
And a storage control means 13 for checking whether or not to store moving image data is provided between the moving image processing means 12 and the moving image data storage device 11 to temporarily store a memory for storing kM data per moving image data. By preparing the means, the moving image data processing means 12 can smoothly reproduce the moving image to the end.

As described above, according to the present invention, the transmission speed of the communication path between the moving image processing apparatus and the temporary storage apparatus is higher than that of the communication path between the temporary storage apparatus and the moving image data storage apparatus. In the fast case, when the memory of the temporary storage device is not sufficient and the capacity is limited, an ideal data storage method cannot be performed, and a more efficient storage method is needed. .

(Embodiment 3) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the third invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The block diagram of the embodiment of the third invention is the same as that of FIG. The configuration diagram of the storage control means 13 is also the same as FIG. 4 is different from FIG. 2 in that the moving picture data total length storage means 205 in FIG. 2 is the moving picture data reproduction whole length storage means 405, and the reproduction whole length calculation means 407 is provided. I'm just there. The operation of the moving image processing apparatus configured as described above is the same as that of the second invention. It differs from the second invention in the assumed statistical moving image reproduction mode of the user.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the number of users whose reproduction is stopped during reproduction of moving image data and the elapsed time from the start of reproduction of moving image data, which is assumed in the third aspect of the invention. It is conceivable that such a graph will be obtained for certain moving image data. This is the case when there are many users who have just played back and stopped playback shortly. This happens when the content of the video data or multimedia title does not meet expectations or has been seen before. Here again, it is assumed that this statistical property is a combination of normal distribution graphs, as in the second invention.

Here, as in the second aspect of the present invention, N ′ is the entire moving image data reproduction length when the average of all reproduction stop points is taken. However, in reality, there are many users who continue to reproduce, and when N ′ is the moving image data reproduction length, inconvenience occurs. Therefore, H is the point at which the number of users who stopped playback is at a minimum value, and this value is used as a threshold value. At the playback stop point beyond this, the arithmetic average of all past events is calculated. The total length N of moving image data reproduction is set.

The initial value of the threshold value H is 0, and the initial value of N is the entire moving image data length L. It should be noted that, as in the second invention, the entire length of the moving image data reproduction becomes statistically accurate as the number of times the user cancels the reproduction during the reproduction increases. In the first invention, the condition for storing the moving image data in the temporary storage means is that the entire length L of the moving image data is multiplied by the proportional constant k to be stored from the head of the moving image data. . In the third aspect of the invention, the proportional constant k is set to the total length N of moving image data reproduction which is obtained by averaging the length of time H at which the user whose reproduction is stopped reaches the maximum and the reproduction length exceeding the threshold value H is obtained. The condition is that the multiplied length data is accumulated from the beginning of the moving image data. The method of determining the proportional constant k is the same as in the first aspect of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a procedure for storing data in the temporary storage means 14 in the storage control means 13 when the moving image processing means 12 of the above operation reads data from the moving image data storage device 11. The same as the second invention.

When the transmission speed of the communication path between the moving picture processing device and the temporary storage device is higher than the transmission speed of the communication path between the temporary storage device and the moving picture data storage device,
While the data stored in the temporary storage means 14 is being sent to the moving image processing device 12, the moving image data storage device 1
If the remaining data can be acquired from 1, the data reading speed from the moving image data storage device of the moving image processing means will be relatively faster than when the data is not stored in the temporary storage means. In order to start playing the video immediately after the moving picture processing request from the moving picture processing means and to be able to play the moving picture smoothly without stopping until the end, it is necessary to accumulate sufficient data for it. The above data accumulation is wasted. However, if the entire length of the moving image data is long, or if the temporary storage means cannot physically secure the memory, the ideal temporary storage means as in the first aspect of the invention cannot secure the memory. Therefore, in the second invention, by statistically utilizing the moving image reproduction mode of the user, the required temporary storage memory amount is calculated based on the actual reproduction length of the moving image data, and this memory is secured. We made it possible to play the video smoothly without interruption.

However, depending on the moving image reproduction mode of the user, in this method, the supply of data is interrupted at the time of reproducing the moving image, and more users watch a moving image that cannot be smoothly reproduced. In the third aspect of the invention, while compensating for this, it is possible to further improve the memory utilization efficiency.

As is apparent from the above structure, in the moving image processing apparatus according to this embodiment, when the moving image processing means 12 reads the moving image data from the moving image data storage device 11, the data capacity is the moving image data. Temporary storage means 14 for checking whether the data capacity kN has been exceeded from the first part
And a storage control means 13 for inspecting whether or not to store moving image data is provided between the moving image processing means 12 and the moving image data storage device 11, and a memory for storing kN data per moving image data is temporarily stored. By preparing the means, the moving image data processing means 12 can smoothly reproduce the moving image to the end.

As described above, according to the present invention, the transmission speed of the communication path between the moving image processing apparatus and the temporary storage apparatus is higher than that of the communication path between the temporary storage apparatus and the moving image data storage apparatus. , In the case of high speed, the memory of the temporary storage device is not enough and the capacity is limited, the ideal data storage method cannot be performed, and it is not enough to simply average the playback length depending on the playback mode of the moving image data. If not,
It is intended to solve the problem that a more efficient method of storing data in a temporary storage device is required.

(Embodiment 4) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the fourth invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The block diagram of the embodiment of the fourth invention is the same as that of FIG. The block diagram of the storage control means 13 is shown in FIG. The difference between FIG. 8 and FIG. 2 is that
2 is that the moving image data total length storage unit 205 in FIG. 2 is the moving image data scene-specific data length storage unit 805, and the scene switching determination unit 807 is provided.

A moving image is generally composed of a plurality of scenes, and in a multimedia title or the like, a scene in a moving image may be randomly accessed and reproduced. In such a case, if the first portion of the moving image data is stored in the temporary storage means as in the first invention, the moving image will be smooth when the scene is not stored. The inconvenience of not being reproduced occurs. Therefore, in the fourth aspect of the invention, the transition of the scene in the moving image data is automatically determined by a conventional general method such as assuming that the scene has changed when the difference between each frame and the previous frame exceeds a threshold value. By considering the transition between the scenes as one moving image data and applying the first solution, the problem that the moving image cannot be smoothly reproduced is solved. Further, for the problem of how much data is temporarily stored for each scene, any of the first invention, the second invention, and the third invention may be applied, but here, as an example,
The first invention is applied and the proportional constant k is used for description.

The operation of the moving image processing apparatus configured as described above will be described below. First, the moving image processing means 12 issues a request for moving image data to the storage control means 13 when reading out required moving image data from the moving image data storage device 11. The storage control means 13 checks the stored data management table, and if the requested moving image data is not stored at all, issues a request to read all moving image data to the moving image data storage device 11. The read moving image data passes through the transmission line 1 (15), and the storage means 1
3, the moving image data processing means 12 through the transmission line 2 (16)
Reach

At this time, the storage control means 13 stores the scene-specific data length information associated with the moving picture data in the moving picture data scene-specific data length storage means 805. For moving image data to which the total length information cannot or is not attached, the scene-specific data length information is stored in advance in the moving image data scene-specific data length storage unit 805.

The moving image data transmitted from the moving image data storage device 11 is a constant proportional to the condition stored in advance in the temporary storage condition storing means, that is, the data length of the scene.
The capacity kP of the first part of the moving image data is stored under the condition that data of length multiplied by k is accumulated from the beginning of the scene.
The data of No. 1 is copied and stored in the temporary storage means 14.
At this time, the scene change point is detected using the scene change determining means, and if the scene is changed, the data amount for each scene measured by the data amount measuring means is initialized. Here, k is a proportional constant of 0 <= k <= 1, and P1 is a scene-specific data length of scene 1.

The method of determining the proportional constant k is the same as in the first aspect of the invention. Further, the final position of the copied data is written in the accumulated data management table in the temporary accumulating means 14 together with the moving image data and the unique number of the scene.

FIG. 9 shows the relationship between the moving image data, the scene and the temporarily stored portion. When the moving image processing means 12 reads the moving image data next, the moving image processing means 12 first issues a data reading request to the storage control means 13. The storage control means 13 checks the stored data management table in the temporary storage means 14, reads out the stored moving image data of the first portion, and sends it to the moving image processing means 12.

On the other hand, the remaining data which has not been accumulated is issued to the moving image data accumulating device to be read out. The rest of the acquired data is put in the FIFO memory in the order of acquisition,
When the data stored in the temporary storage means is completely sent to the moving picture processing means, the data retrieved from the FIFO memory is connected to the end of the data and sent to the moving picture processing means. This means that the moving image data has been transmitted to the moving image processing means without interruption.

The first embodiment of the invention is a flow chart showing the data storage procedure in the temporary storage means 14 in the storage control means 13 when the moving image processing means 12 of the above operation reads data from the moving image data storage device 11. Is similar to.

As is apparent from the above structure, the moving picture processing apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the case of multimedia titles, randomly processes a certain scene in the moving picture and reproduces it, so that the moving picture processing is performed. Means 12
Is a temporary storage means 14 for inspecting whether or not the data capacity of the scene 1 exceeds the data capacity kP1 from the first portion of the data of the scene 1 when the scene 1 of the video data is read from the video data storage device 11. And a storage control means 13 for inspecting whether or not to store the moving image data are provided between the moving image processing means 12 and the moving image data storage device 11, and kPn (n = 1,2,3 ...) for each scene. A moving image data processing means 1 for randomly accessing a scene by preparing a memory for storing the data of the above in the temporary storage means.
The moving image reproduction of the scene Pn in 2 can be smoothly performed to the end.

Further, any one of the first invention, the second invention and the third invention may be applied to the problem of how much data is temporarily stored for each scene. , The first invention is applied and the proportional constant k is used for description.

As described above, according to the present invention, the transmission speed of the communication path between the moving image processing apparatus and the temporary storage apparatus is higher than that of the communication path between the temporary storage apparatus and the moving image data storage apparatus. , In the case of fast access, such as multimedia titles, in the case of randomly accessing a scene in the video, the video data to be stored in the temporary storage device is
This is to solve the problem that the scene cannot be immediately reproduced only by accumulating the first part of the moving image data.

(Embodiment 5) An embodiment of the fifth invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The block diagram of the embodiment of the fifth invention is the same as that of FIG. FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of the storage control means 13. 10 is different from FIG. 8 in that the moving image data total length storage means 805 in FIG.
05 is a moving picture data section-by-section data length storage means, and a scenario interpretation means 1006 is provided.

In a multimedia title or the like, it is possible to randomly access an arbitrary part of a plurality of moving image data according to a scenario or a certain selection. This is because one multimedia title is composed of a plurality of sections of a plurality of moving image data.
In such a case, this section is arbitrary and is not limited to the scene switching portion, and the method of accumulating the moving image data in the temporary accumulating means becomes an issue. However, this access section is specified in the scenario of the multimedia title.

The fifth invention interprets this scenario,
According to that, by storing the moving image data of the required section in the temporary storage means, it is possible to reproduce the moving image data according to the scenario and change the moving image to be reproduced by the selection branch,
To solve this problem. Further, any of the first invention, the second invention, and the third invention may be applied to the problem of how much data is temporarily stored for each section, but here, as an example, Applying the invention of
To explain.

The operation of the moving image processing apparatus configured as described above will be described below. First, the moving image processing means 12 issues a request for moving image data to the storage control means 13 when reading out required moving image data from the moving image data storage device 11. The storage control means 13 checks the stored data management table, and if the requested moving image data is not stored at all, issues a request to read all moving image data to the moving image data storage device 11. The read moving image data passes through the transmission line 1 (15), and the storage means 1
3, the moving image data processing means 12 through the transmission line 2 (16)
Reach At this time, in the storage controller 13, the scenario interpreter 1006 interprets the scenario information attached to the multimedia title, and stores it in the data length storage unit 1005 for each moving image data section.

As for the moving image data to which the scenario information is not attached or not attached, the scene-specific data length information is stored in advance in the moving image data scene-specific data length storage means 1005. Video data storage device 11
The moving image data transmitted from the condition is stored in advance in the temporary storage condition storage means, that is, from the condition that data having a length obtained by multiplying the data length of the section by the proportional constant k is stored from the head of the section, The data of the capacity kQ1 in the section of the moving image data is copied and stored in the temporary storage means 14. At this time, the break of the section Q1 is obtained from the scenario interpreting means, and the data amount for each section measured by the data amount measuring means is initialized.

Here, k is a proportional constant of 0.ltoreq.k.ltoreq.1, and Q1 is a section-specific data length of section 1 in the moving image data. The method of determining the proportional constant k is the same as in the first aspect of the invention. Further, the last position of the copied data is written in the accumulated data management table in the temporary accumulating means 14 together with the moving image data and the unique number of the section.

In FIG. 11, a scenario is moving image data A.
The section 2 includes the section 2, the moving picture data B, the section 1 of the moving picture data C, and the section 3 of the moving picture data D. Here, the moving image data stored by the temporary storage means is shown in dark gray. The part shown in light gray is
This is the part that is stored in the temporary storage means when this section is needed in another scenario.

As described above, only the necessary moving image section specified in the scenario is stored in the temporary storage means. When the moving image processing means 12 reads the moving image data next, the moving image processing means 12 first issues a data reading request to the storage control means 13. The storage control means 13 checks the stored data management table in the temporary storage means 14, reads out the stored moving image data of the first portion, and sends it to the moving image processing means 12. On the other hand, the remaining data that has not been stored is read out to the moving image data storage device and a request is issued. The rest of the acquired data is put in the FIFO memory in the order of acquisition, and when the data stored in the temporary storage means is completely sent to the moving image processing means, the
The data taken out from the IFO memory is linked and sent to the moving image processing means. This means that the moving image data has been transmitted to the moving image processing means without interruption. The flowchart showing the procedure for storing data in the temporary storage means 14 in the storage control means 13 when the moving image processing means 12 of the above operation reads data from the moving image data storage device 11 is the same as in the first aspect of the invention. .

As is clear from the above structure, the moving picture processing apparatus according to the fifth invention, in the case of multimedia titles, randomly accesses a certain section in a plurality of moving pictures and reproduces the section. When the image processing means 12 reads the inner scene 1 of the moving image data from the moving image data storage device 11, it is checked whether the capacity of the data of the section 1 exceeds the data capacity kQ1 from the first portion of the data of the section 1. A temporary storage means 14 and a storage control means 13 for inspecting whether or not to store moving image data are provided between the moving image processing means 12 and the moving image data storage device 11, and data for each required moving image data section is obtained. A section in the moving image data processing section 12 for randomly accessing any section by preparing a memory for storing The video playback of can be smoothly performed to the end. Further, any one of the first invention, the second invention, and the third invention may be applied to the problem of how much data is temporarily stored for each section, but here, as an example, Applying one invention, proportional constant k
I explained using.

As described above, the present invention interprets a scenario, regards a section of an arbitrary portion of a plurality of moving image data of one multimedia title as one moving image data,
By applying the first solution, according to the scenario, or whatever choice you choose, it is linked to it,
It is possible to solve a problem that a moving image can be played immediately and that a moving image can be smoothly played even when an arbitrary portion of a plurality of moving images is randomly accessed.

[0079]

As described above, according to the present invention, the moving image processing means, the moving image data storage device, the temporary storage means, and the moving image processing means and the moving image of the data read from the moving image data storage means. A storage control means is provided for storing, from the beginning of the moving image data, temporary capacity storing data having a capacity based on the proportional constant obtained from the data transmission rate of the transmission path between the data storage devices and the entire length of the moving image data. As a result, it becomes possible to start playing the video immediately with the video playback request from the video processing means, and it is possible to play the video smoothly without stopping until the end, and by securing the necessary and sufficient memory. It is possible to realize an excellent moving image processing apparatus which can improve the utilization efficiency of the memory and can cope with more moving image data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a moving image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a storage control unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of storage control means in a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a user's moving image reproduction mode in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a user's moving image reproduction mode in the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of storage control means in a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a moving image data and scene configuration in a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of storage control means in a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a section configuration diagram of a title and a plurality of moving image data according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 moving image data accumulating device 12 moving image processing means 13 accumulation controlling means 14 temporary accumulating means 15 transmission path 1 16 transmission path 2 201 frame capacity measuring means 202 condition judging means 203 temporary accumulation condition storing means 204 accumulated data managing means 205 moving image Total data length storage means 206 FIFO memory 401 Frame capacity measurement means 402 Condition determination means 403 Temporary storage condition storage means 404 Stored data management means 405 Moving image data total length storage means 406 FIFO memory 407 Playback total length calculation means 801 Frame capacity measurement means 802 Condition determination means 803 Temporary storage condition storage means 804 Stored data management means 805 Moving image data Scene data length storage means 806 FIFO memory 807 Scene switching determination means 1001 Frame capacity measurement means 10 2 condition determination means 1003 temporarily storing condition storage unit 1004 storing the data management unit 1005 moving image data segment-specific data length storage unit 1006 scenario interpretation unit 1007 FIFO memories

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A moving image processing unit, a moving image data storage device, a temporary storage unit, and among the data read from the moving image data storage unit, transmission between the moving image processing unit and the moving image data storage device. A moving image characterized by comprising storage control means for storing in the temporary storage means the capacity data based on the proportional constant obtained from the transmission speed of the road data and the entire length of the moving image data from the beginning of the moving image data. Image processing device. 2. A data capacity of moving image data up to a point where reproduction is stopped by a user is averaged during reproduction of a moving image by the moving image processing means, and this is regarded as a substantial total length of the moving image data. The moving image processing apparatus according to claim 1. 3. In obtaining the substantial overall length of a moving image, the user may stop the reproduction during the moving image reproduction in the moving image processing means in consideration of the statistical characteristics of the moving image data reproduction form of the user. 3. The moving image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the data capacities of the moving image data up to a certain place are averaged, and this is regarded as the substantial total length of the moving image data. 4. The transition of the scene in the moving image data,
2. The moving image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving image processing apparatus automatically calculates the moving image data, and regards the transition between the scenes as one moving image data. 5. The moving image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a section of an arbitrary portion of a plurality of moving image data that constitutes one multimedia title is interpreted as one moving image data by interpreting a scenario.