Patents Examined by Huy Nguyen
  • Patent number: 7302168
    Abstract: An optical disk includes an audio data storage area for storing audio data; a still picture data storage area for storing a plurality of pieces of still picture data; and a management area for storing reproduction control information for controlling reproduction of the audio data and the plurality of pieces of still picture data. The reproduction control information has flag information representing specified still picture data among the plurality of pieces of still picture data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2007
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoyuki Nonomura, Masaya Yamamoto, Yoshihiro Mori, Yasushi Uesaka, Masayuki Kozuka
  • Patent number: 7302158
    Abstract: When second material data is inserted into first material data, in point and out point are set in the first material data and the second material data to generate editing processing information. On the basis of the editing processing information, there are prepared first virtual file in which recording area of recording medium with respect to the first material data is described by time codes and second virtual file in which recording area of the recording medium with respect to the second material data is described by time codes. Thus, reproduction is carried out from preroll point positioned forward in point of time with respect to the in point up to postroll point positioned backward in point of time with respect to the out point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2007
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoichiro Asato, Makoto Tabuchi, Masakazu Murata
  • Patent number: 7302164
    Abstract: This application discloses a system for recording medical image data for production on a portable digital recording medium such as CDs and DVDs. This system includes a receiving module, a processing module and an output module, with viewing program for viewing medical image data stored on the portable digital recording medium. It also discloses a method of storing medical image data on a portable digital recording medium, including the steps of receiving the medical image data, processing the data and storing the data on the portable digital recording medium, with a viewing program for viewing medical image data stored on the portable digital recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2007
    Assignee: Datcard Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Ken Wright, Chet LaGuardia
  • Patent number: 7295758
    Abstract: Data is recorded in a data area of a disk in a hierarchical structure of program chains, programs, cells and packs, each pack is constructed by a pack header for identifying the pack and a packet having a data stream recorded therein, the packet has a packet header having a stream ID indicating at least a private stream and a sub-stream ID indicating the classification of the private stream described therein, and the classification indicates packet data of Dolby AC3 audio data, packet data of linear audio data, packet data of sub-picture data, or packet data of computer data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2007
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Shinichi Kikuchi, Kazuhiko Taira, Tomoaki Kurano, Hideki Mimura
  • Patent number: 7295759
    Abstract: An information storage medium capable of recording and playing back still picture information is provided with a first information unit having one still picture information, and a first group unit which is composed of a set of first information units, and has a plurality of pieces of still picture information having different contents. Information is recorded in the first group unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2007
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hideo Ando, Shinichi Kikuchi, Kazuhiko Taira, Yuji Ito
  • Patent number: 7295757
    Abstract: A digital video data system automatically skips the playback of recorded video data to a position that corresponds to a transition between segments of the video data. Positions that are candidates for being segment transitions are identified by quantifying the rate of change of one or more parameters of the video data at multiple positions and determining positions for which the rate of change is locally maximal. Parameters such as luminance, I-frame frequency, and frame size tend to change most rapidly at segment transitions. Information relating to the change in the parameter values is stored with recorded video data so that it can be used to identify segment transitions during playback of the video data. During playback, and in response to user input, the system selects a position where the rate of change of parameter values is locally maximal and skips playback to that position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2007
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Dustin Green
  • Patent number: 7295763
    Abstract: A data storage element comprising a substrate and a data track disposed on the substrate, the data track comprising a plurality of data sectors, each of the data sectors being formatted in accordance with a first digital data standard and comprised of a control data portion and a payload data portion, each of the payload portions including a plurality of data packets formatted in accordance with a digital television standard. In particular, the data packs correspond to program stream packs specified in the DVD standard and the data packets correspond to transport packets specified in the ATSC standard. The present storage element enables the data stored thereon to be read by a conventional DVD front end and provided to an ATSC receiver without processing the contents of the transport packets. Therefore, the present invention allows ATSC data to be stored on a DVD disc and to be provided in a manner that can fully realize the display capabilities of the ATSC receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2007
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing
    Inventors: Jeffrey Allen Cooper, Thomas Edward Horlander, Michael Dillon Rich, Mark Alan Schultz, Timothy Forrest Settle
  • Patent number: 7295756
    Abstract: By reducing the number of seek operations in an operation to play back a signal from a recording medium, the amount of data temporarily stored in a read buffer memory employed in a signal recording/playback apparatus is large enough to be output as a playback signal during a seek operation, allowing a continuous playback operation to be carried out. In order to reduce the number of seek operations, a signal is always recorded onto the recording medium in continuous free areas each having a size equal to or larger than a predetermined recording/playback time length which is typically set at 1 minute. If it is necessary to insert an additional signal having a length smaller than the predetermined recording/playback time length into a point of insertion in an area already occupied by an existing signal, a continuous free area with a size equal to or larger than the predetermined recording/playback time length is newly allocated to the additional signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2007
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takao Takahashi, Masashi Ohta, Toshiya Akiba, Masami Tomita, Taro Suito
  • Patent number: 7292773
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for enforcing mandatory segments in multimedia content. Generally, a command is received and it is determined if a duration of the command affects a mandatory segment of the multimedia content. If so, the command and the duration are used to determine if the mandatory segment should be enforced and, therefore, played to a user. Additionally, a segment lifetime and mandatory level add flexibility by providing additional options to enforce mandatory segments if certain predetermined conditions are met. Finally, mandatory segments that meet predetermined criteria may be replaced by additional mandatory segments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2007
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
    Inventor: Janevski Angel
  • Patent number: 7292780
    Abstract: An information storage medium capable of recording and playing back still picture information is provided with a first information unit having one still picture information, and a first group unit which is composed of a set of first information units, and has a plurality of pieces of still picture information having different contents. Information is recorded in the first group unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2007
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hideo Ando, Shinichi Kikuchi, Kazuhiko Taira, Yuji Ito
  • Patent number: 7292774
    Abstract: A video system has an input port to receive display contents including a plurality of broadcast display contents and has an output port to couple to a video display. Further, the system includes a preference engine, a storage device and a management module. The preference engine is coupled to the input port and tracks viewer selections of the broadcast display contents to create a viewer profile. The storage device is coupled to the input port, the output port and the preference engine, and records a first plurality of display contents according to the viewer profile and a second plurality of display contents upon a viewer selecting the display contents for recording. The management module is coupled to the preference engine and the storage device, and defines a third plurality of display contents based upon the available broadcast display contents for a viewing session and based upon the viewer profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2007
    Assignee: Keen Personal Media, Inc.
    Inventors: Bradley S. Masters, William P. Price
  • Patent number: 7292781
    Abstract: The present invention provides an AV data recording apparatus and method that facilitate various processes concerning a recorded video, including continuous reproduction, digital transmission, file operation, partial deletion, and post-recording. The AV data recording apparatus divides an audio signal and a video signal into transport packets having a predetermined unit length, assembles a plurality of transport packets as one transport stream and executes recording. Accordingly, this invention enables managing whether a logical block is used or not, detecting a continuous data area comprising plural logical blocks that ensure realtime continuous reproduction, and determining logical block numbers of continuous data areas to be recorded. As a result, the transport stream is recorded continuously on a plurality of detected continuous data areas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2007
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masanori Ito, Masafumi Shimotashiro, Makoto Mitsuda, Tadashi Nakamura, Yasumori Hino
  • Patent number: 7292776
    Abstract: An information storage medium capable of recording and playing back still picture information is provided with a first information unit having one still picture information, and a first group unit which is composed of a set of first information units, and has a plurality of pieces of still picture information having different contents. Information is recorded in the first group unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2007
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hideo Ando, Shinichi Kikuchi, Kazuhiko Taira, Yuji Ito
  • Patent number: 7292860
    Abstract: When a base station of a mobile communications system attempts to reduce its cell radius for power saving, frequency re-use enhancement and the like, a risk is that an ongoing communication between a mobile station served by the base station may be disconnected, which is avoided by: the base station transmitting information about a new cell radius to mobile stations in the current cell; the mobile stations responding to the base station with a positive or a negative reply determined from the information received from the base station; the base station suspending or revising the attempted cell radius reduction according to the responses from the mobile stations; and further by the mobile stations being capable of performing hand-over more efficiently than ever owing to abilities to detect final cell radii of adjacent base stations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2007
    Assignee: NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
    Inventors: Hideki Tobe, Hijin Sato
  • Patent number: 7289720
    Abstract: Pictures in number indicated by a value (3 in one example) of M in a GOP structure are set as one unit. AUX data (denoted by U in FIG. 32) related to those pictures, audio data (denoted by A in FIG. 32) corresponding to those pictures, and AUX data (denoted by X in FIG. 32) related to the audio data are arranged together at the head of 16 tracks that undergo interleaving. Subsequent to those data, one unit of pictures (3 pictures in one example) is arranged. An HD video signal and an HD audio signal can be recorded and played back with certainty.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2007
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Fumiyoshi Abe, Yoichiro Tauchi, Yasutaka Kotani, Toshinori Kozai
  • Patent number: 7289719
    Abstract: An information storage medium capable of recording and playing back still picture information is provided with a first information unit having one still picture information, and a first group unit which is composed of a set of first information units, and has a plurality of pieces of still picture information having different contents. Information is recorded in the first group unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2007
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hideo Ando, Shinichi Kikuchi, Kazuhiko Taira, Yuji Ito
  • Patent number: 7286751
    Abstract: A recording medium for storing real time recording/reproduction information, a real time recording and reproducing method and apparatus, and a file operating method using the information. Real time recording/reproduction information for ensuring real time recording/reproduction is stored in a file control information area, in each real time file, or in a separate file, and real time recording/reproduction attributes are assigned to the file. Thus, real time recorded files can be continuously reproduced without interruption. Also, there are methods of creating a file to which real time recording/reproduction attributes are assigned, extending a data area, and recording and reproducing the file to which real time recording/reproduction attributes are assigned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2007
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hyun-kwon Chung, Jung-wan Ko, Byung-jun Kim, Young-yoon Kim, Do-nam Lee
  • Patent number: 7286745
    Abstract: A reproducing apparatus is disclosed, that has at least one record medium on which contents data and related information thereof are recorded, for handling the contents data and the related information, the record medium being attachable to and detachable from the reproducing apparatus and that comprises a reading means for reading the related information from the record medium, a storing means for storing the related information that is read from the record medium, and a graphical user interface means having a displaying means for displaying the related information stored in the storing means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2007
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Tsuguhiro Mukai, Shigeho Ogawa, Mitsuhiko Awata, Kenji Fukumoto
  • Patent number: 7283724
    Abstract: Fast-forwarding and rewinding within a compressed video stream and a corresponding content stream of pages are disclosed. The compressed video stream is made up of intra frames, predictive frames; and bi-directional frames. The content stream has a number of trigger pages and/or script pages. An intra frame is skipped to within the video stream, and the trigger page closest to this frame is skipped to within the content stream. Alternatively, the script page closest to the frame that is not further ahead of it is skipped to within the content stream. This page is executed until the content stream is aligned with the video stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2007
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Michael E. Pietraszak
  • Patent number: 7283728
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for recording an AV file using an information recording disk in which data is recorded/reproduced by sectors. The recording method includes the steps of determining whether or not input data is AV data; detecting a defective sector existing in an assigned data recording area; when the input data is AV data while a defective sector is detected in the data recording area, allocating a defective extent including the defective sector; recording AV data in continuous sectors while skipping the defective extent; and allocating an area of continuous sectors where on the AV data is recorded as one AV extent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2007
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiho Gotoh, Hiroshi Ueda, Yoshihisa Fukushima