Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B27/00—Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
  • G11B27/02—Editing, e.g. varying the order of information signals recorded on, or reproduced from, record carriers
  • G11B27/031—Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04H—BROADCAST COMMUNICATION
  • H04H20/00—Arrangements for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast
  • H04H20/02—Arrangements for relaying broadcast information
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B27/00—Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
  • G11B27/10—Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
  • H04N21/234—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs
  • H04N21/23412—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs for generating or manipulating the scene composition of objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/4302—Content synchronisation processes, e.g. decoder synchronisation
  • H04N21/4307—Synchronising the rendering of multiple content streams or additional data on devices, e.g. synchronisation of audio on a mobile phone with the video output on the TV screen
  • H04N21/43072—Synchronising the rendering of multiple content streams or additional data on devices, e.g. synchronisation of audio on a mobile phone with the video output on the TV screen of multiple content streams on the same device
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/431—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/44—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs
  • H04N21/4402—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client 
  • H04N21/61—Network physical structure; Signal processing
  • H04N21/6106—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network
  • H04N21/6125—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network involving transmission via Internet
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client 
  • H04N21/65—Transmission of management data between client and server
  • H04N21/654—Transmission by server directed to the client
  • H04N21/6543—Transmission by server directed to the client for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client 
  • H04N21/65—Transmission of management data between client and server
  • H04N21/654—Transmission by server directed to the client
  • H04N21/6547—Transmission by server directed to the client comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
  • H04N21/81—Monomedia components thereof
  • H04N21/8146—Monomedia components thereof involving graphical data, e.g. 3D object, 2D graphics
  • H04N21/8153—Monomedia components thereof involving graphical data, e.g. 3D object, 2D graphics comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
  • H04N21/83—Generation or processing of protective or descriptive data associated with content; Content structuring
  • H04N21/845—Structuring of content, e.g. decomposing content into time segments
  • H04N21/8456—Structuring of content, e.g. decomposing content into time segments by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
  • H04N5/222—Studio circuitry; Studio devices; Studio equipment
  • H04N5/262—Studio circuits, e.g. for mixing, switching-over, change of character of image, other special effects ; Cameras specially adapted for the electronic generation of special effects

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method of relaying digital video and audio data over a communications medium and relates particularly but not exclusively to such in an Internet environment.
• the frame rate is sometimes reduced from NTSC 30 frames per second or PAL 25 frames per second, to around 15 frames per second to again reduce the file size.
• the picture detail of the video image is traded off by having low resolution images and consequential relatively smaller file sizes.
• transmission of motion video via the Internet has not been entirely satisfactory owing to the large transmission times needed to transmit the entire video content.
• the problem is further exacerbated if audio is to accompany the motion video transmission as the audio files are in general "wave" files and digital files in this format also have a very large file size.
• a suitable compression codec such as an MPEG (Motion Picture Expert Group) codec or other codecs.
• Wave files can be similarly suitably compressed.
• video data and audio file data are interleaved,- such as in the .AVT Video for Windows file format.
• these techniques have not elevated video transmission over the Internet to a position where it can be considered as an efficient commercial option.
• US patent no. 5,132,792 describes a system that uses a frame dropping processes to remove predetermined frames from a transmission. In general, the more frames that are dropped, the more efficiently the video signals are transmitted however, this tends to deteriorate video quality by providing jerky video movement. Accordingly, this solution has limited application.
• the present invention attempts to overcome one or more of the aforementioned problems by a completely different technique.
• this technique one or more frames are relayed together with data of filters and parameters therefor to be applied to the one or more frames.
• the data of one or more frames is then self generating over many frames with filters such as ZOOM, PAN, FADE etc., applied over those frames and this results in an apparent motion video image in the final video.
• filters such as ZOOM, PAN, FADE etc.
• the video and audio content is particularly suited for providing motion video information in relation real estate where motion video of buildings/apartments can be received by intending purchasers to obtain a first hand viewing before making a physical site inspection or a purchase.
• the system also enables a 2- D floor plan of the real estate to be provided and a walk through path provided on the 2-D floor plan indicating the path taken of a person walking through the real estate as the video plays. This, in turn, gives an apparent indication of the position in the real estate at any given instant of the viewed video. Whilst the invention has particular application in conveying video information concerning real estate the invention should not be considered limited thereto as it has application in many other fields.
• a method of relaying digital video data said method involving providing a set of digital data of one frame representing a scene of a video image, assembling data of one or more filters and parameters therefor to be applied to the digital data over a plurality of repeated frames of that scene, relaying the digital data and the data of the filters and parameters therefor from one location to another location over a communications medium, and at said another location receiving and reproducing the digital data over the plurality of repeated frames with the one or more video filters and parameters therefor applied whereby to generate at the another location an apparent video movie over those reproduced video frames and whereby the transmission time over the transmission medium is less than that required to transmit digital data of a video movie of the same content if digital data of all of those reproduced video frames were transmitted.
• the communication medium is the Internet.
• the filters include one or more of ZOOM, PAN, and
• the video content is of a two dimensional area and a floor plan of that area is simultaneously displayed at said another location together with a route-of-path over the 2-D area, and a marker indicator is provided which progresses along the route-of-path in accordance with the particular image being viewed in the video whereby to provide an apparent location of where the image is being viewed at any given time.
• audio data is also transmitted from the one location to said another location so that when the video is generated at said another location, the audio component can be reproduced with the video component.
• Figures 2a through 2e are a series of diagrams time synchronised to one another showing:-
• Figure 3 is a 2-D floor plan of real estate and a walk through route-of-path therein;
• Figure 4 is a diagram of a viewing preview window on a receiving computer
• FIGS 5, 6 and 7 show diagrams of the image sizes of the scenes 1, 2 and 3;
• Figures 8 and 9 show interconnected functional diagrams of a "production system" and connection with the Internet; and Figures 10 through 12 show functional diagrams of a user connecting with the Internet and downloading video and audio files and subsequently reproducing the video/audio at the users PC.
• Figure 1 it can be seen that the preferred method for use in a real estate environment is implemented in a system which comprises three primary blocks comprising:- a production system 1, the Internet 2 as a communication medium, and one or more receiving computers 3. Whilst Figure 1 shows only video encoding in the production system 1, it should be understood that both video and audio can be encoded and used in the method. In a broader sense, only video may be encoded and transmitted, without audio.
• a video server 20 is provided as a means to store the video/audio data relating to individual items of real estate which can be accessed by receiving computers 3. Reference will firstly be made to Figures 2a through 2e, and
• the video frame rate is 15 frames per second then the video could be made up from 15 x 20 identical images.
• a video of that nature would not appear to have any motion when viewed on a monitor of a receiving computer 3 because all frames would be identical in content.
• digital data representative of the image of a single frame can be relayed over the transmission medium - the Internet 2 - and received in a receiving computer 3, and then the computer 3 will self generate the video locally.
• the video image then viewed by a viewer on the monitor screen of a receiving computer 3 would appear as a stationary image for the duration of the video - 20 seconds.
• an apparent moving video image can be created by the self generation at the receiving computer 3 if that receiving computer 3 knows how to manipulate the video image of the single still frame for each particular frame of the 20 second period duration.
• filters can comprise one or more of ZOOM, PAN, TILT, DISTORT, MORPH, FADE etc and also transition effect filters, as will be discussed in relation to a more complex example.
• the time taken to relay the single frame image, together with information concerning the duration of the proposed video sequence, and information concerning any filters to be applied, will be far less than that required to relay a complete motion video sequence from the video server 20 where each frame is relayed one after the other.
• the relaying time over the transmission medium is substantially less than that required to relay digital data of a motion video movie of the same content if digital data of all those reproduced video frames were transmitted.
• the codec used for compression of the still frame image of the scene can be any particular codec and is not limited solely to MPEG or JPEG or the like. However, it is preferred to use a JPEG compression codec as it is readily available and operates reasonably satisfactorily.
• Figure 2a shows a type of video time-line representation of three scenes. It can be seen that scene 1 is an image of a hallway, scene 2 an image of a living room, and scene 3 an image of a bedroom.
• Figure 3 there is shown a floor plan in 2-D format of real estate in the form of an apartment scene 1, being the hallway, and this is diagrammatically shown as having a picture image plane represented by plane A.
• Scene 2, being a living room, is represented by a picture image plane B.
• Scene 3, being a bedroom is represented by a picture image plane C.
• three picture frame images A, B and C are provided to provide a total video sequence of a duration of 11 seconds. This is shown in Figure 2B.
• the duration of the hallway video part of the total video sequence has a duration of 5 seconds.
• the duration of the living room part of the video has a duration of 2 seconds.
• the bedroom part of the total video sequence has a duration of 4 seconds.
• the time-line shown in Figure 2a shows only the first and last frames of each of the individual video parts. It also shows that the video part for the living room buts with the video part for the hallway. It also shows that the bedroom part of the video buts with the living room part of the video.
• Figure 2c shows a transition in the form of a "RIGHT/LEFT SLIDE WIPE" at the end of the hallway video and the start of the living room video. It also shows a similar transition at the end of the living room video, and the start of the bedroom video.
• the time durations of the transitions have been arbitrarily shown as 1 second and 0.75 seconds respectively. The transitions could occur over any given time period.
• the apparent wipe speed should approximate the apparent speed of a person walking through the apartment along a route-of-path P (see Figure 3).
• the transition from the living room to the bedroom is slightly faster than the transition from the hallway to the living room. This will have the apparent effect in the video of a person walking quicker at the transition between the living room and the bedroom than at the transition between the hallway and the living room.
• the transitions are interpreted herein as certain filters.
• Figure 2d shows that for a 2.5 second period of the hallway video there is a ZOOM IN filter applied and that for the remaining 2.5 second period of that video, there is a PAN filter applied.
• the PAN filter also extends for a period of 1 second into the living room video.
• a preview window 4 is available on the monitor screen of a receiving computer 3.
• this preview window can have any size and any aspect ratio. It has been arbitrarily shown as having a height of 180 and a width of 180 pixels but of course any desired size and aspect ratio could be utilised.
• Figure 5 shows the size of the image for the hallway image which has a height of 180 and a width of 1900 pixels. These dimensions are also arbitrary but because the height 180 equals the height 180 of the preview window 4, the height images correspond with what will be displayed in the preview window 4.
• the preview window has particular dimensions for width and height, and the particular images in each frame for the hallway part of the video, the living room part of the video, and the bedroom part of the video have a much greater width than the width of the preview window. Accordingly, it is possible for a relative
• PANNING motion to appear through the preview window 4 by scanning across the respective images.
• an image which represents a ZOOMING down the hallway, a PAN from left to right with a transition of a SLIDE WIPE between scene 2 and scene 1 representing movement into the living room.
• ZOOM OUT in the bedroom followed by a further PAN left to right.
• All of the above can be created at the receiving computer 3 by relaying a single picture frame image of each of the hallway scene, the living room scene, and the bedroom scene.
• only three single frame images need to be relayed via the communications medium together with information concerning the duration of each of the video components, together with the particular filters which are applied, and the start and end times of the filters.
• one or more filters are applied together with parameters therefor and that these are utilized at the receiving computer 3 to self generate an apparent video from only three single frame images. All the missing frames are reconstituted at the receiving computer 3 according to the parameters of the filters and the parameters associated with each of the respective frame images ie the time duration for each of the picture frame images in the video sequence.
• an indicator arrowhead Z is shown on the route-of-path P.
• the arrowhead Z is caused to move along the route-of-path P as viewed on the monitor screen of a receiving computer 3 to provide an indication approximately where a viewer is in the apartment.
• Figure 2e shows transition times Tl and T2 representing the transitions between the hallway part of the video and the living room part of the video, and the living room part of the video and the bedroom part of the video respectively.
• time periods Tl and T2 are used to tell controlling software which moves the arrowhead Z along the route-of- path P that it is to change the direction at the transition time Tl or T2 etc.
• the video can be made to play, start or stop, pause etc. and the arrowhead Z will assume a position along the route-of-path P which approximates the position of a person on the route-of-path P at that time.
• the arrowhead Z moves continuously along the route-of-path P in accordance with the playing of the video.
• an apparent video can be made up from a number of different single frame images representing each of the rooms of an apartment or indeed any other area.
• a 2-D floor plan of the area can be provided together with a route-of-path which indicates the path of a person walking through the area.
• the single picture frame images can be related to the position of the person walking through the area, and by applying various filters there can be provided an apparent video of the 2- D area.
• the video can be of a 3-D volume depending on the particular images of the single picture frames and the particular PANS and other filters applied thereto.
• the video can be of a 3-D volume depending on the particular images of the single picture frames and the particular PANS and other filters applied thereto.
• other 2-D representations can be provided to indicate vertical planes, and a route- of-path can be shown on those planes in a similar manner to the route-of- path on the 2-D plan format shown in Figure 3.
• FIG. 3 there may be provided several diagrams similar to Figure 3 but representing plan views, and side elevational views etc. with appropriate route-of-paths drawn thereon together with appropriate arrows on the routes-of-paths.
• the picture images can be assembled into a digital file together with the parameters relating thereto, including the timing of the duration of each of the video components for each of the still frames and the various filters applied thereto.
• the transition timing information relating to Tl T2 etc as referred to in relation to Figure 2e is stored in a file with a .TRK extension.
• Data representative of the floor plan in 2-D format as shown in Figure 3 can be represented in a vector, bitmap or other compatible format as a file with a .MGM file extension.
• These file extensions have arbitrarily been provided by our however, any file extensions can be utilized.
• the video picture images for each frame are compressed according to the JPEG codec, although they may be uncompressed images such as in a bitmap file or other file.
• a receiving computer 3 when a receiving computer 3 makes contact with the video server 20 via the Internet, it accesses these three types of file types and then at the receiving computer 3 a video is generated from the still picture frame images. If desired, audio may accompany the video .MSD files. This audio may be compressed, if desired, according to a particular codec. Thus, when received at the receiving computer 3, it can be uncompressed by that codec.
• FIG. 1 there is an editing block 10.
• the particular still frame images used to create the entire video are assembled.
• FIG. 2a through 2e there are three scenes of picture images. These scene images are then presented to the video encoding block 15 where they are compressed according to a particular codec such as the JPEG compression codec.
• the video server block 20 is provided to store all the data files necessary for the video display including the .MSD files, the .MGM files and the .TRK files. Audio files may also be included.
• the video server transmits all the files to a receiving computer 3 when a receiving computer 3 request the playing of a video from the Internet address site of the server 20.
• the downloading and decoding is identified in the receiving computer 3 in decoding block 30.
• the receiving computer 3 will then wait for a request from a reply block 40 to self generate a playable motion video from the digital data which has been transmitted. This is shown in the self generation block 50.
• the video and audio processor block 60 enables the video and audio from the self generated motion video to be displayed on the monitor of the receiving computer 3.
• a video player arrangement can be provided on the monitor screen to simulate the normal buttons of a video recorder/player such as stop, play, pause, rewind etc.
• the draw walk-through-route block 65 processes the 2-D floor plan information from the .MGM file and displays the route-of-path thereon. It also processes the .TRK file which controls points of transition of movement of a position indicator in the shape of the arrowhead Z over the route-of- path P.
• the draw walk through route block 65 can also check to see if the video has played in its entirety such that the end block 68 can automatically return the video to its start point for subsequent replaying. Referring now to Figure 8 it can be seen that there are two subsection blocks being create .MSD file 5, and create .TRK file 7.
• a 2-D floor plan is firstly opened in the sub-block 85.
• the 2-D floor plan can be a vector or bitmap based drawing and has been provided with a .MGM file extension as an arbitrary extension.
• a route-of-path P is then drawn on the 2-D floor plan as a polyline that is made up of one or more straight lines.
• the example in Figure 3 shows the walk through route-of-path P having three straight lines.
• the route-of-path P is to correspond to particular time instances relative to the picture images in the .MSD files, it is necessary to manipulate the route-of-path so it will fine tune and be in synchronisation with the resultant video. At present this is done by trial and error by manipulating the length of the individual straight lines in the route-of- path and the particular angles of intersection.
• the timings Tl and T2 etc at the change of direction points is also manipulated slightly so that they approximately correspond with the resultant video image.
• This synchronisation is performed in block 95 in the create .TRK file 7.
• the resultant information is then saved in a .TRK file in block 97.
• Figure 9 shows a flow diagram of the functions associated with video encoding block 15 where the picture data from the create .MSD file block 5 is saved in an MSD file block 100.
• the resultant picture data, with the video effects and timings in the .MSD file is then brought together with the information in the .TRK file and copied into the video server 20 in block 110.
• the information is saved in hard disk in the video server 20 and can be accessed via the Internet using TCP IP protocol.
• the still picture scene images are compiled with effects and timings with a JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group) codec compression screen. This will reduce the .MSD file size by about 25 times its original size. It will then be saved as a .MSD file for viewing via the Internet.
• JPEG Joint Photographic Expert Group
• the video server block 20 three kinds of files are copied to specific directories. These files are the .MGM files, .MSD files, and the .TRK files.
• a program is run to facilitate relaying of the three types of files of each video to the receiving computers as requested by using TCP/IP protocol.
• a multi- thread system can be utilized to connect each of the receiving computers 3 to each thread to facilitate requests from the receiving computers 3. This will increase the efficiency of the video server 20 to the receiving computers 3.
• the video server 20 can be connected to the Internet using an ISDN line (eg 64K to 384K bit-sec or higher capacity bandwidth line such as a fibre optic line which can have data transfer rates up to megabits/sec).
• ISDN line eg 64K to 384K bit-sec or higher capacity bandwidth line such as a fibre optic line which can have data transfer rates up to megabits/sec).
• FIG. 10 there is shown a breakdown of the decoding block 30 which occurs within the receiving computer 3.
• the receiving computers 3 are connected to the Internet via a modem dial-up or LAN based connection.
• the interacting software with the Media Server program residing in the receiving computer 3 is an Internet Browser Plug-in which is compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 and 4 and Netscape 3 and 4. It requests the necessary files ie .MGM, .TRK and .MSD files respectively from the server 20 using TCP/TP.
• the decoding block 30 there are two paths. One path is for audio and the other path is for video.
• the audio is processed within the blocks 200 and 220 and the video is processed within the blocks 210 to 230.
• the audio file which is pre-stored in the plug- in directory of a receiving computer 3 when installing or updating of the Internet plug-in, so that for audio, an audio file is opened in block 200 and is assembled ready for playing in a buffer in block 220.
• the video is unpacked in block 210 and is decompressed using the JPEG codec in block 230.
• FIG 11 is a flow diagram of the self generation block 50 shown in Figure 1.
• the 2-D floor plan is drawn onto the Internet browser window using the downloaded Internet plug-in written in C++ as it is received from the video server 20.
• there are interfaces that allow the user of a receiving computer 3 to manipulate the 2-D floor plan such as magnify or de-magnify and allows Play, Pause, and Stop functions within the block 235.
• the plug-in interface enables activation of the video by clicking either the play button or by directly clicking on the route-of-path P polyline while still receiving unpacked .MSD files.
• the .MSD files will be decompressed and all the necessary frames to create the video segment will be produced in the self generation block 50 in accordance with the sub-block 250.
• the audio component begins playing concurrently with any video and is synchronised with block 270 and block 280.
• Figure 12 shows a flow diagram of the floor walk-through block 65 and shows that the display route is provided as a decision process as block 300 and the arrow head Z is drawn on the 2-D floor plan in block 320. Interrogation is made at decision 330 whether the video has been completed in its entirety. If it has, the audio playback and audio buffer are closed in block 340. If it has not the process re-loops.
• audio files such as music files are loaded during installation of the plug-in. Any audio files can be updated from time to time by simply reloading the plug-in once again. Many audio files such as music files can be loaded with the plug-in, and can be arranged to be randomly selected during playing of a video, to provide variation to the accompaniment of the video.
• Image is I(xT,yT,wT,hT) — xT is left position — yT is top position — wT is width — hT is height
• Image is I(O,O,W,H)
• Image is i(O,O,W,H)
• p(x,y) is the pixel value (colour or grayscale) in position
• Image is I'(O,O,W,H)
• Image is i (O,O,W,H)
• Image is I(O,O,W,H) — W is the width of the still picture
• the display area is a four points polygon (xd[4],yd[4])

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Computer Graphics (AREA)
• Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)
• Television Systems (AREA)
• Processing Or Creating Images (AREA)
• Studio Circuits (AREA)
• Compression Or Coding Systems Of Tv Signals (AREA)
• Details Of Television Systems (AREA)

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Publications (2)

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Family Applications (1)

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• 1998
  • 1998-04-01 US US09/053,878 patent/US6243865B1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 1999
  • 1999-03-31 NZ NZ507082A patent/NZ507082A/xx unknown
  • 1999-03-31 CA CA002324620A patent/CA2324620A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1999-03-31 JP JP2000541796A patent/JP2002510901A/ja active Pending
  • 1999-03-31 TR TR2000/02873T patent/TR200002873T2/xx unknown
  • 1999-03-31 HU HU0600531A patent/HUP0600531A2/hu unknown
  • 1999-03-31 MX MXPA00009599A patent/MXPA00009599A/es active IP Right Grant
  • 1999-03-31 BR BR9909224-7A patent/BR9909224A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1999-03-31 AU AU34385/99A patent/AU762194B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1999-03-31 CN CNB998047414A patent/CN1178168C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1999-03-31 EP EP99915977A patent/EP1057143A4/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1999-03-31 IL IL13859899A patent/IL138598A0/xx unknown
  • 1999-03-31 KR KR1020007010962A patent/KR100615727B1/ko not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1999-03-31 WO PCT/IB1999/000809 patent/WO1999050988A2/en not_active Ceased
• 2001
  • 2001-04-05 US US09/827,059 patent/US20010056575A1/en not_active Abandoned

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