Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for seeking within audiovisual files

US6157771A · kind A · utility

59Cited by
7References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 9, 1997
Grant dateDec 5, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 9, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N9/8042
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Disclosed are methods and apparatuses for seeking within audiovisual files. A seeking engine is implemented to efficiently locate target video frames without having to laboriously decode and index each and every video frame in an audiovisual file. Further, a seeking engine is capable of frame accurately determining the number of frames in a video file by identifying the last GOP header in the video file, and then identifying a last video frame in the file. The last video frame in the file is identified by reading each video frame's picture header (i.e., within the last GOP) and determining which picture header produces a larger temporal reference number. The video frame having the largest temporal number is therefore the last video frame in the video file. In addition, the seeking engine is capable of associating an identified video frame with a closest audio frame to complete an audio-to-video seek.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.