Low bandwidth television

Abstract

The present invention is concerned with client-side production in a personal computer environment of low bandwidth images and audio. A series of low bandwidth still images along with a “script” and audio data is sent over a network in a client / server architecture or is read from a compact disk or other memory. A “director” module residing in a client personal computer uses the “script” to tell the computer how to execute a sequence of “moves” on the still images. These moves include cuts, dissolves, fades, wipes, focuses, flying planes and digital video effects such as push and pull. Moves within a still image occur in real time, and are relatively smooth and continuous as compared to prior art network video. Low bandwidth is achieved because most of the production is done at the client location without relying upon slow, bandwidth-limited downloading of conventional network video formats.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 020,104, filed on Dec. 12, 2001, and entitled LOW BANDWIDTH TELEVISION, now U.S. Pat. No. ______, which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 233,687 filed Jan. 19, 1999, and entitled LOW BANDWIDTH TELEVISION, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,380,950, which claims priority to provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 071,930 filed Jan. 20, 1998, the entire disclosures of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates generally to image processing, and specifically to production of images and audio in a personal computer environment. [0004] 2. Discussion of the Prior Art [0005] An important issue in digital technology is providing video images on a personal computer. These images are transmitted across the Internet and other networks, across telephone lines with modem-...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015] Production sequences are in real time, as well as being relatively smooth and continuous as compared to prior art network video. In order to permit viewing as soon as possible and to avoid caching, the script module is transmitted to the personal computer along with preliminary images, so playback begins immediately. Low bandwidth is achieved because a majority of the production is done at the client location and the transmission of still pictures, audio data and script is relatively rapid. Images are always displayed in real time and in full screen formats. If necessary to prevent latency delays, the director modules inserts stand-in from stock footage, animation and loops so that a viewer always has a continuous visual and audio experience.

Problems solved by technology

An important issue in digital technology is providing video images on a personal computer.

The speed of a modem is commonly the limiting factor in sending real time, continuous video information across the Internet, over corporate intranets or local area networks.

With the exception of telephone line connections, these other techniques involve non-continuous, packet-switched data.

Satellite and cable architectures are also possible, but have not yet been widely adopted and present other difficulties.

Personal computers have hard drives accommodating many gigabits of data, and the price of memory chips is decreasing.

Compression algorithms, such as JPEG and MPEG, using discrete cosine transfer (DCT) methods, produce serviceable images but compromise image size, image quality, definition, and acquisition speed.

Image transmission is sometimes interrupted due to network errors and traffic.

Streaming techniques allow a user to begin viewing the images immediately while downloading, but streaming still sacrifices image quality and latency.

Comparing this to the standard modem of 56 kilobytes per second, there is a readily apparent, significant gap between requirements for ITU-R 601 and present-day hardware transmission capabilities.

While HDTV developed concurrently with MPEG and JPEG, HDTV is broadcast-oriented and does not lend itself to network transmission or personal computer applications.

It is expected that bandwidth will continue to be the bottleneck in network transmission for the foreseeable future.

Images