Sony Corporation

Hideki Koyanagi

Yoichi Yagasaki

Shinji Negishi

Katsumi Tahara

Yasushi Fujinami

Motoki Kato

Tohru Wada

Hiroshi Sumihiro

Toru Wada

Seiichi Emoto

Tetsuya Yamamoto

Takashi Kojima

Jun Yonemitsu

Takefumi Nagumo

Yoshihiro Murakami

Yoshiyuki Akiyama

Shigeto Funado

Tomonori Tahara

Akira Uchida

Yasuyuki Baba

A user interface system comprises a server having a scene description converting device for converting scene description containing input user interaction into converted scene description while leaving parts containing the user interaction and a scene description decoding device for decoding converted scene description into decoded scene description, a remote terminal having a scene description decoding device for decoding scene description and converted scene description sent from the server and a display device for displaying decoded scenes and a user input device for receiving user input according to this display, and a display terminal for displaying decoded scenes sent from the server. Thus, decoding can be enabled at terminals having inferior decoding capabilities and display capabilities.

User interface system, scene description generating device and method, scene description converting device and method, recording medium, and sending medium

A data distribution system includes a server apparatus and a decoding terminal. In the server apparatus, the access unit information of data to be transmitted is read from a data storage unit in accordance with a trick play request. The access unit information is converted for a trick play in a data conversion unit. The data to be transmitted is converted in a multiplexing unit into trick play data in accordance with the access unit information having been converted. Then, the trick play data is transmitted from the server apparatus to the decoding terminal.

Method and apparatus for conversion and distribution of data utilizing trick-play requests and meta-data information

A special playback request made by a user is input into a special playback controller. Transmission data to be transmitted to a decoding terminal based on the special playback request and insertion data to be transmitted together with the transmission data are read from a data storage unit. Used bits of the read transmission data and insertion data which occupy a vbv buffer are detected by a vbv delay detector. A stuffing insertion unit adds extra data to the read insertion data based on the detected used bits so as to adjust the data size of the insertion data. The resulting transmission data and the insertion data are selectively output by a switch based on the type of special playback operation indicated in the special playback request. The output transmission data and the insertion data are then transmitted to the decoding terminal.

Data distribution apparatus and method, and data distribution system

A special playback controller receives a special playback request from a user. A data storage unit stores data. In response to the special playback request received by the special playback controller, a data converter converts the data stored in the data storage unit into special playback data according to the type of special playback operation. The special playback data converted by the data converter is transmitted to a decoding terminal via a multiplexer, a transmitter, and a communication line, thereby enabling the decoding terminal to perform the special playback operation.

A transmission system is a data delivery system which includes a server for transmitting ES data and a receiving terminal for receiving the transmitted data. The server includes a conversion controller for determining elementary streams (ES's) and a scene description to be transmitted based on transmission priority levels and display priority levels, in accordance with the state of a transmission path and/or a request from the receiving terminal. The server also includes an ES processor and a scene description processor.

Transmission apparatus and transmission method

The present invention generates coded data having always high image quality irrespective of the change amount of a picture. When a difference between two adjacent frames in inputted picture data is calculated as well as a motion vector between the above frames is calculated, and the picture data is encoded based on the difference and the motion vector between the above frames as well as the motion vector is encoded, a scene change in the above picture data is detected based on the difference between the two adjacent frames in the picture data, and the feature quantity of the picture data is calculated. If the above feature quantity exceeds a prescribed threshold value, the number of pixels of the picture data is reduced in a prescribed conversion ratio at the prescribed timing according to the detected scene change. And the picture data and the motion vector are encoded so as to be the amount of generating codes obtained by allotting the amount of signal of the motion vector representing the movement of the picture data reduced based on the picture data reduced in pixel, to the amount of signal of the picture data.

Method and device for data encoding and method for data transmission

A scene description generating apparatus and method, an object extracting method, and a recording medium extract an object from an input image. Positional information on the extracted object is output. Based on the positional information, scene description information about a placement position of the object in a scene is generated. When the object is deformed, reference to the positional information is made, and the scene description information is generated in which the object deformation is reflected. Accordingly, the object is placed at a desirable position in the scene.

Scene description generating apparatus and method, object extracting method, and recording medium

In the case where plural encoder outputs are encoded at variable bit rates and are multiplexed to carry out transmission thereof at a fixed or constant bit rate, the output bit rates from respective buffers are controlled on the basis of delay time &tgr; from the time when encoding bit rates of video signals Video , Video of the respective encoders have been changed. Thus, the multiplexed bit rate is prevented from exceeding the capacity of the transmission path or causing an overflow of an encoder buffer.

Encoded signal transmission method and encoded signal transmission apparatus

In the speckled broadcasting of HDTV and SDTV, an encoding transmitting apparatus and a decoding receiving apparatus can perform a parallel multichannel transmission and reception of SDTV with a simple construction. When an HDTV video signal is encoded and decoded, each of the transmission buffer and the reception buffer is used as a single buffer. On the other hand, when a plurality of SDTV video signals are encoded and decoded, the transmission buffer and the reception buffer are divided into the number of SDTV video signals to use them as a plurality of divided transmission buffers and a plurality of divided reception buffers, so as to perform a encoding and decoding processing.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Hideki Koyanagi