Text-Based Subtitle Rendering via Segmented XML Styling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional subtitles are generated as bitmap images, limiting user control over style attributes such as text color, size, and direction, resulting in a monotonous viewing experience due to increased data requirements and processing complexity.
Innovation Solution
A text-based subtitle system that stores multimedia data with script text and output style information in a markup or binary format, allowing users to select and apply style groups and styles to render subtitles dynamically, reducing data complexity and enabling varied output styles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If rendering information (color, size, position, shape) is added to each sentence of a subtitle to enable various styles, then the capability of providing various styles is improved, but the amount of data required for a subtitle and the amount of data to be processed increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments subtitle data into two distinct parts: (1) basic subtitle information stored in a conventional bitmap format, and (2) rendering information stored separately in an XML file. This segmentation allows the subtitle content to remain compact while enabling flexible styling through the external XML file that contains color, size, position, and shape parameters for different subtitle types.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an XML file as an intermediary between the subtitle bitmap data and the rendering parameters. This intermediary structure allows rendering information to be stored externally and referenced by the subtitle system without embedding it directly in the subtitle stream, thus reducing the core subtitle data size while maintaining full styling capability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If rendering information is added to each sentence of a subtitle to enable various styles, then the capability of providing various styles is improved, but the amount of data to be processed increase
Solution Approach 1:
By separating rendering information into an external XML file, the patent reduces the processing burden on the subtitle decoding system. The XML file can be parsed independently and its rendering parameters cached, so that during subtitle playback, the system only needs to reference pre-parsed rendering information rather than processing complex rendering instructions for each subtitle sentence in real-time.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional bitmap format is used for subtitles, then the subtitle can be generated and included in MPEG stream, but the user cannot select the style of the subtitle such as color of text, size of the text, or output direction of the text
Solution Approach 1:
The XML file serves as an intermediary that carries rendering information from the subtitle producer to the user's playback system. This allows the subtitle to be generated in a standard bitmap format for easy inclusion in MPEG streams, while the XML file simultaneously provides users with the ability to select and customize subtitle styles through color, size, position, and shape parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal subtitle system where a single subtitle bitmap can be paired with multiple XML rendering configurations. This multi-functionality allows the same subtitle content to be displayed in various styles depending on user preference or application requirements, without requiring multiple separate subtitle files.
Data Source
AI summary
An information storage medium storing subtitle text-based information, and a method and apparatus utilizing same, process a subtitle. The information storage medium includes: dialog information which contains script text information of the subtitle and information specifying an output type of the script text; and presentation information which contains style information used to convert the script text into a bitmap format through rendering. With this structure, the amount of data required for a subtitle and the amount of data that should be processed when a subtitle is output may be greatly reduced.