US 2001/0013068 A1 · INTERLEAVED MULTIPLE MULTIMEDIA STREAM FOR SYNCHRONIZED TRANSMISSION OVER A COMPUTER NETWORK

Abstract

The production of an interleaved multimedia stream for servers and client computers coupled to each other by a diverse computer network which includes local area networks (LANs) and/or wide area networks (WANs) such as the internet. Interleaved multimedia streams can include compressed video frames for display in a video window, accompanying compressed audio frames and annotation frames. In one embodiment, a producer captures separate video/audio frames and generates an interleaved multimedia file. In another embodiment, the interleaved file include annotation frames which provide either pointer(s) to the event(s) of interest or include displayable data embedded within the annotation stream. The interleaved file is then stored in the web server for subsequent retrieval by client computer(s) in a coordinated manner, so that the client computer(s) is able to synchronously display the video frames and displayable event(s) in a video window and event window(s), respectively. In some embodiments, the interleaved file includes packets with variable length fields, each of which are at least one numerical unit in length.

Claims11

Dependent claims

In a computer having a processor and memory, said computer useful in association with a web server coupled to a client computer via a network, a method for producing an interleaved multimedia file from a video file and an audio file, the method comprising the steps of:

if a video frame buffer is empty, then retrieving a first video frame from the video file, said first video frame including a video timestamp;
if an audio frame buffer is empty, then retrieving a first audio frame from the audio file, said first audio frame including an audio timestamp;
and
if the video timestamp is less than or equal to the audio timestamp, then
writing the first video frame to a first packet of the interleaved file;
and
retrieving a second video frame from the video file;
else if the audio timestamp is less than or equal to the video timestamp, then
writing the first audio frame to a second packet of the interleaved file;
and
retrieving a second audio frame from the audio file.

8 more elements

A computer-readable medium useful in association with a computer system having a processor and memory, the computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable code instructions configured to cause said computer system to execute the steps of:

if a video frame buffer is empty, then retrieving a first video frame from a video file, said first video frame including a video timestamp;
if an audio frame buffer is empty, then retrieving a first audio frame from an audio file, said first audio frame including an audio timestamp;
and
if the video timestamp is less than or equal to the audio timestamp, then
writing the first video frame to a first packet of an interleaved file;
and
retrieving a second video frame from the video file;
else if the audio timestamp is less than or equal to the video timestamp, then
writing the first audio frame to a second packet of the interleaved file;
and
retrieving a second audio frame from the audio file.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Interleaved multiple multimedia stream for synchronized transmission over a computer network

Life of this patent

Interleaved multiple multimedia stream for synchronized transmission over a computer network

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims11