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AssigneeTime Warner Entertainment Co., L.P.
InventorsChristopher J. Cookson, Lewis S. Ostrover, Warren N. Lieberfarb
Estimating the term…
A system for playing a selected one of multiple audio tracks recorded in synchronized fashion with a motion picture on an optical disk. The optical disk has encoded on it a mixing master music and effects ("M&E") track, or a switching master M&E track. Individual audio tracks are provided for language-specific versions of the same motion picture, but these tracks have data recorded in them only where there is dialog. In this way, for many a motion picture, all tracks but masters will have data recorded for well less than half of the running time of the motion picture. When a mixing master is used, it is mixed with a language-specific track when the latter has dialog; the mixing master contains no dialog. If a switching master is used, it may contain dialog recorded with the M&E; when a language-specific track has dialog recorded in it, it also contains M&E and the track is played to the exclusion of the switching master.
A system for controlling play of the audio tracks of a software carrier, said software carrier having recorded thereon a plurality of datablocks which represent an image program, a plurality of audio tracks synchronized with said image program, and a code for each of said audio tracks identifying its use as either a switching master including music and effect and dialog language, a mixing master containing only music and effects, a track to be switched with a switching master, or a track to be mixed with a mixing master, comprising means for selecting a switching master of predetermined length and a shorter track containing audio segments to be switched with said switching master, or a mixing master of predetermined length and a shorter track containing audio segments to be mixed with said mixing master, and codes in the data blocks that specify to automatically switch between or mix the selected tracks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.