Sony United Kingdom Limited

Sony Corporation

Other

Sony Europe Limited

Sony Europe B.v.

Mark John McGrath

Martin Rex Dorricott

Andrew Collins

Vincent Carl Harradine

Jonathan Richard Thorpe

Michael John Williams

Alan Hogg Turner

Andrew David Kydd

Jonathan Mark Greenwood

Richard Daniel Foster

Morgan W David

Morgan William Amos David

Yiming Zhou

Michael John Ludgate

Paul Edward Prayle

Timothy Stuart Roberts

Barney Govan

Matthew Brian Spencer

John Edward Hodgkins

Alexander John James Miller

Andrew Kydd

An audio and/or video generation apparatus which is arranged in operation to generate audio and/or video signals representative of an audio and/or video source, the audio and/or video generation apparatus comprising a recording unit which records the audio and/or video signals on a recording medium, wherein the audio and/or video generation apparatus is arranged to receive metadata associated with the audio and/or video signals generated by a data processor, the recording unit records the metadata on the recording medium with the audio and/or video signals. The data processor receives signals representative of the time codes of the recorded audio/video signals, and the metadata includes time code data representative of the in and out points of a take of the audio/video signals generated by the data processor. The metadata also includes unique identification code for identifying the audio/video signals. The unique identification code is a UMID or the like.

Audio and/or video generation apparatus and method of generating audio and/or video signals

A camera configured to generate audio/video signals, the camera including a recording unit configured to record the audio/video signals on a recording medium, a meta data generation processor configured to generate automatically meta data identifying the content of the audio/video signals in response to the audio/video signals, a wireless communications processor configured to communicate the meta data separately from the recording medium, and a communications interface configured to communicate the automatically generated meta data to a personal data processing apparatus and to receive user generated meta data from the personal data processing apparatus.

An audio and/or video generation apparatus which is arranged in operation to generate audio and/or video signals representative of an audio and/or video source, the audio and/or video generation apparatus including a recording unit which is arranged in operation to record the audio and/or video signals on a recording medium, wherein the audio and/or video generation apparatus is arranged to receive metadata associated with the audio and/or video signals generated by a data processor, the recording unit being arranged in operation to record the metadata on the recording medium with the audio and/or video signals. The data processor may be arranged to receive signals representative of the time codes of the recorded audio/video signals, and the metadata may include time code data representative of the in and out points of a take of the audio/video signals generated by the data processor.

An audio and/or video generation apparatus is arranged in operation to generate audio and/or video signals representative of an audio and/or video source has a meta data generation tool which is arranged in operation to generate meta data associated with the audio and/or video signals, wherein the type of meta data generated by the meta data generation tool is user selectable. The audio and/or video generation apparatus may comprise a recording means which is arranged in operation to record the audio and/or video signals on a recording medium, and the audio and/or video generation apparatus may be arranged to receive meta data associated with the audio and/or video signals generated by a data processor, the recording means being arranged in operation to record the meta data on the recording medium with the audio and/or video signals. The meta data may be user generated, such as text describing the audio/video signals, or may be secondary meta data which is automatically generated by the audio/video apparatus. The recording medium may be a linear recording medium, and the recording means may be arranged in operation to record at least one of the user generated meta data and the secondary meta data on the recording medium after the audio and/or video signals at a position at which at least one of the user generated and secondary meta data can be read by a reproducing means before the audio and/or video signals.

Audio and/or video generation apparatus and method of generating audio and /or video signals

An audio and/or video generation apparatus which is arranged in operation to generate audio and/or video signals representative of an audio and/or video source, the audio and/or video generation apparatus comprising a recording unit which is arranged in operation to record the audio and/or video signals on a recording medium, wherein the audio and/or video generation apparatus is arranged to receive metadata associated with the audio and/or video signals generated by a data processor, the recording unit being arranged in operation to record the metadata on the recording medium with the audio and/or video signals. The data processor may be arranged to receive signals representative of the time codes of the recorded audio/video signals, and the metadata may include time code data representative of the in and out points of a take of the audio/video signals generated by the data processor.

An audio and/or video generation apparatus configured to generate audio and/or video signals representative of an audio and/or video source, the audio and/or video generation apparatus comprising a recording unit configured to record the audio and/or video signals on a recording medium, wherein the audio and/or video generation apparatus is arranged to receive metadata associated with the audio and/or video signals generated by a data processor, the recording unit configured to record the metadata on the recording medium with the audio and/or video signals. The data processor may be arranged to receive signals representative of the time codes of the recorded audio/video signals, and the metadata may include time code data representative of the in and out points of a take of the audio/video signals generated by the data processor. The metadata may also include unique identification code for identifying the audio/video signals. The unique identification code may be a UMID or the like.

An audio and/or video generation apparatus comprises a recording processor which is operable to record audio and/or video signals on a recording medium, a meta data generation processor which is operable to generate meta data identifying the content of the audio/video signals, and a communications processor which arranged to communicate the meta data separately from the recording medium. Furthermore, the meta data generation processor may be operable to generate at least one sample image which is representative of a video image from the recorded video signals, and to associate the sample image with an address on the recording medium at which the video image is recorded. The video and/or audio generation apparatus provides an advantage in generating and utilising meta data to facilitate the generation of audio/video productions. Accordingly, a system for generating an audio and/or video production comprises an acquisition processor operable in use to receive instructions from a user which instructions are representative of a list of content items for the audio and/or video production. The audio and/or video generation apparatus is arranged in use to receive information representative of the list of content items, and to generate audio and/or video signals in accordance with the content items on the list. An ingestion processor may be provided to receive the list of content items, and the audio and/or video signals and to form the audio and/or video production by associating the audio and/or video signals with the list of content items.

An audio/video reproducing apparatus is connectable to a communications network for selectively reproducing items of audio/video material from a recording medium in response to a request received via the communications network. The audio/video reproducing apparatus may comprise a control processor operable in use to receive data representing the request for the audio/video material item via the communications network. A reproducing processor is operable in response to signals identifying the audio/video material items from the control processor to reproduce the audio/video material items. The data identifying the audio/video material items includes meta data indicative of the audio/video material items. The meta data may be one of UMID, tape ID and time codes, and a Unique Material Identifier the material items. To facilitate the identification and selection of the audio and/or video material, an audio and/or video processing apparatus is provided for processing audio and/or video signals representing sound and/or images. The processing apparatus comprises an activity detector operable to generate an activity signal indicative of an amount of activity within the sound/images represented by the audio/video signal, and a meta data generator coupled to the activity detector which is operable to generate sample images at temporal positions within the audio/video signal, which temporal positions are determined from the activity signal. The processing apparatus thereby provides a facility for automatically generating meta data from received audio/video signals. The meta data can be used to select the audio/video material.

Audio/video reproducing apparatus and method

A data structure for representing metadata describes the content of at least one shot or sub-shot of information material. The data structure comprises a volume identification defining a data carrier on which the information material is contained, at least one shot identification defining the shot or sub-shot within the material, and at least one type of metadata associated with the content of the shot or sub-shot. The volume identification is arranged at a first hierarchical level and the shot identification is arranged at a lower hierarchical level and the metadata describing the shot is arranged with respect to the shot hierarchical level. The data structure provides an efficient facility for communicating metadata between metadata nodes including application programs which use the metadata. The metadata is identified on the basis of a shot and volume on which the information material which the metadata describes is contained. By arranging the volume identifier at a first hierarchical level, the shot identifier at a lower hierarchical level and the metadata related to the shot or sub-shot within the shot level, a systematic and compatible format for interrogating and retrieving metadata is provided.

Video metadata data structure

A video replay apparatus including a content storage device, a replay controller configured to control a replay of video material from the content storage device, the replay controller being configured to control the replay in accordance with metadata associated with the video material, the metadata defining an information content of the video material and defining an information event within the video material as a threshold change in the information content, and the replay controller is further configured to replay the video material with a pre-defined number of information events in a unit of time in a replayed sequence.

Replaying video information

A camera-recorder apparatus comprises an image capture device operable to capture a plurality of video images; a storage medium by which the video images are stored for later retrieval; a feature extraction unit operable to derive image property data from the image content of at least one of the video images substantially in real time at the capture of the video images, the image property data being associated with respective images or groups of images; and a data path by which the camera-recorder apparatus is operable to transfer the derived image property data to an external data processing apparatus.

Video and audio information processing

An audio and/or video generation apparatus which is arranged in operation to generate audio and/or video signals representative of an audio and/or video source, the audio and/or video generation apparatus comprising a recording means which is arranged in operation to record the audio and/or video signals on a recording medium, wherein the audio and/or video generation apparatus is arranged to receive metadata associated with the audio and/or video signals generated by a data processor, the recording means being arranged in operation to record the metadata on the recording medium with the audio and/or video signals. The data processor may be arranged to receive signals representative of the time codes of the recorded audio/video signals, and the metadata may include time code data representative of the in and out points of a take of the audio/video signals generated by the data processor. The metadata may also include unique identification code for identifying the audio/video signals. The unique identification code may be a UMID or the like.

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Bracknell, United Kingdom

Mark John McGrath