Video/audio transmission system and method

Abstract

The invention is a data pipeline system which synchronizes the display of digitized audio and video data regardless of the speed at which the data was recorded on its linear medium. To do this, the video data is played at a constant speed, synchronized by the audio speed. Further, the invention uses a method of “staging” data in storage buffers, i.e., ring buffers, which encourages efficient use of the viewer module resources by not permitting the viewer to read excessive amounts of data at any one time, i.e., to read only enough data into any one ring buffer so that the amount of data in the ring buffer is roughly equivalent to the amount of data in the other ring buffers and yet permitting the viewer to read large enough chunks of data to promote efficient use of the fill system.

Description

PRIOR APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation reissue application of reissue application Ser. No. 08 / 418,862, filed on Apr. 7, 1995, which is a continuation of reissue application Ser. No. 08 / 116,905, filed on Sep. 3, 1993 for reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,940, which is incorporated herein by reference.<?insert-end id="INS-S-00001" ?>REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX[0002]The application includes a microfiche appendix pursuant to 37 CFR 1.96(b) containing 1 microfiche with 44 frames.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The invention relates to displaying non-linear media data, i.e., digitized audio and video data.[0004]Non-linear media data is audio and video data recorded on a linear medium, e.g., a VHS videotape cassette, and stored in digitized form on a computer storage device, e.g., a hard disk drive. Typically, linear audio data is recorded with a “pulse” equal to the speed at which the linear video data is recorded. That is, if the video data is recorded at 30 ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]Further, the invention uses a method of “staging” data in the storage buffers, particularly ring buffers, to coordinate buffer loading to encourage efficient use of the viewer module resources by not permitting the viewer to read excessive amounts of data at any one time, i.e., to read only enough data into any one ring buffer so that the amount of data in the ring buffer is approximately equivalent to the amount of data in the other ring buffers.

Problems solved by technology

Video data from different countries, however, can be successfully edited together and played at a single speed because the human eye cannot detect subtle variations in the number of frames per second.

Over time, differences in the speed at which the video data is displayed and the audio data are played results in visibility and audibly mismatched video and audio data.

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