Digital media splicing system and method

A method of inserting a secondary stream of digital frames into a primary stream of digital frames without transcoding any of the streams, where the primary stream is encoded according to a first format and the secondary stream is encoded according to a second format where each frame is independent of a succeeding frame, the method including:

• receiving a requested splice-out point in the primary stream;
• determining an optimal splice-out point in the primary stream in dependence upon the requested splice-out point;
• receiving a requested splice-in point in the primary stream;
• determining an optimal splice-in point in the primary stream in dependence upon the requested splice-in point;
• and
• replacing a section of the primary stream between the optimal splice-out point and the optimal splice-in point with the secondary stream;
• wherein the insertion of digital frames from the secondary stream into the primary stream is terminated when a Presentation Time Stamp of the inserted secondary stream reaches a Presentation Time Stamp value of a frame prior to the splice-in point of the primary stream.

A method of inserting a secondary stream of digital frames into a primary stream of digital frames without transcoding any of the streams, where the primary stream is encoded according to a first format and the secondary stream is encoded according to a second format where each frame is independent of a succeeding frame, the method including:

• receiving a requested splice-out point in the primary stream;
• determining an optimal splice-out point in the primary stream in dependence upon the requested splice-out point;
• receiving a requested splice-in point in the primary stream;
• determining an optimal splice-in point in the primary stream in dependence upon the requested splice-in point;
• and
• replacing a section of the primary stream between the optimal splice-out point and the optimal splice-in point with the secondary stream;
• wherein replacing the section of the primary stream between the optimal splice-out point and the optimal splice-in point comprises inserting an infinite series of concatenated copies of the secondary stream.

A system for inserting a secondary stream of digital frames into a primary stream of digital frames without transcoding any of the streams, where the primary stream is encoded according to a first format and the secondary stream is encoded according to a second format where each frame is independent of a succeeding frame, the system comprises a means adapted to:

• receive a requested splice-out point in the primary stream;
• determine an optimal splice-out point in the primary stream in dependence upon the requested splice-out point;
• receive a requested splice-in point in the primary stream;
• determine an optimal splice-in point in the primary stream in dependence upon the requested splice-in point;
• replace a section of the primary stream between the optimal splice-out point and the optimal splice-in point with the secondary stream;
• and
• detect closed Group of Pictures boundaries of the primary stream;
• wherein the step of determining an optimal splice-out point in the primary stream comprises selecting a Group of Pictures boundary closest to the requested splice-out point or a Group of Pictures boundary immediately following the requested splice-out point.

A system for inserting a secondary stream of digital frames into a primary stream of digital frames without transcoding any of the streams, where the primary stream is encoded according to a first format and the secondary stream is encoded according to a second format where each frame is independent of a succeeding frame, the system comprises a means adapted to:

• receive a requested splice-out point in the primary stream;
• determine an optimal splice-out point in the primary stream in dependence upon the requested splice-out point;
• receive a requested splice-in point in the primary stream;
• determine an optimal splice-in point in the primary stream in dependence upon the requested splice-in point;
• and
• replace a section of the primary stream between the optimal splice-out point and the optimal splice-in point with the secondary stream;
• wherein the system further comprises means adapted so that the insertion of digital frames from the secondary stream into the primary stream is terminated when a Presentation Time Stamp of the inserted secondary stream reaches a Presentation Time Stamp value of a frame prior to the splice-in point of the primary stream.

A system for inserting a secondary stream of digital frames into a primary stream of digital frames without transcoding any of the streams, where the primary stream is encoded according to a first format and the secondary stream is encoded according to a second format where each frame is independent of a succeeding frame, the system comprises a means adapted to:

• receive a requested splice-out point in the primary stream;
• determine an optimal splice-out point in the primary stream in dependence upon the requested splice-out point;
• receive a requested splice-in point in the primary stream;
• determine an optimal splice-in point in the primary stream in dependence upon the requested splice-in point;
• and
• replace a section of the primary stream between the optimal splice-out point and the optimal splice-in point with the secondary stream;
• wherein replacing the section of the primary stream between the optimal splice-out point and the optimal splice-in point comprises inserting an infinite series of concatenated copies of the secondary stream.