U.S. patent application number 10/993696 was filed with the patent office on 2007-10-18 for video program subtitle tex recording method and system.
This patent application is currently assigned to Inventec Corporation. Invention is credited to Yaz-Tzung Wu.
Application Number | 20070245374 10/993696 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 34910677 |
Filed Date | 2007-10-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070245374 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wu; Yaz-Tzung |
October 18, 2007 |
Video program subtitle tex recording method and system
Abstract
A video program subtitle text recording method and system is
proposed, which is s designed for use in conjunction with a video
playback platform for providing a video program subtitle text
recording function that allows the user to record the subtitle text
embedded in a video program displayed on the video playback
platform into an electronic text file, so that the user can later
retrieve the electronic text file and view the subtitle text
through a computer platform. This feature allows the user to
automatically record all the subtitle text in a video program into
an electronic text file without requiring the user to do shorthand
writing, and is therefore advantageous to use.
Inventors: |
Wu; Yaz-Tzung; (Taipei,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
EDWARDS & ANGELL, LLP
P.O. BOX 55874
BOSTON
MA
02205
US
|
Assignee: |
Inventec Corporation
Taipei
TW
|
Family ID: |
34910677 |
Appl. No.: |
10/993696 |
Filed: |
November 19, 2004 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60524472 |
Nov 24, 2003 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
725/40 ;
348/563 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 21/47 20130101;
G01V 3/14 20130101; H04N 5/44513 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
725/040 ;
348/563 |
International
Class: |
H04N 5/445 20060101
H04N005/445 |
Claims
1. A video program subtitle text recording method for use on a
video playback platform for providing a video program subtitle text
recording function; the video program subtitle text recording
method comprising: fetching a bifurcated part of a video stream
that is being inputted to the video playback platform; extracting a
block of subtitle text that is embedded in the fetched video
stream; converting the format of the extracted subtitle text into a
standard computer text format; and building an electronic text file
that collects the format-converted subtitle text outputted from the
text format conversion module.
2. The video program subtitle text recording method of claim 1,
wherein the video playback platform is a digital TV unit.
3. The video program subtitle text recording method of claim 1,
wherein the video playback platform is a multimedia player.
4. The video program subtitle text recording method of claim 1,
wherein the video playback platform is a desktop computer.
5. The video program subtitle text recording method of claim 1,
wherein the video playback platform is a notebook computer.
6. The video program subtitle text recording method of claim 1,
wherein the standard computer text format utilized by the text
format conversion module is ASCII (American Standard Code for
Information Interchange).
7. The video program subtitle text recording method of claim 1,
wherein the standard computer text format utilized by the text
format conversion module is Unicode.
8. The video program subtitle text recording method of claim 1,
further comprising: inserting the value of the date/time when the
subtitle text is recorded into the electronic text file.
9. The video program subtitle text recording method of claim 1,
further comprising: translating the contents of the recorded
subtitle text from its original language into another language.
10. A video program subtitle text recording system for use in
conjunction with a video playback platform for providing a video
program subtitle text recording function; the video program
subtitle text recording system comprising: a video stream fetching
module, which is capable of fetching a bifurcated part of a video
stream that is being inputted to the video playback platform; a
subtitle text extracting module, which is capable of extracting a
block of subtitle text that is embedded in the fetched video
stream; a text format conversion module, which is capable of
converting the format of the extracted subtitle text into a
standard computer text format; and a file building module, which is
capable of building an electronic text file that collects the
format-converted subtitle text outputted from the text format
conversion module.
11. The video program subtitle text recording system of claim 10,
wherein the video playback platform is a digital TV unit.
12. The video program subtitle text recording system of claim 10,
wherein the video playback platform is a multimedia player.
13. The video program subtitle text recording system of claim 10,
wherein the video playback platform is a desktop computer.
14. The video program subtitle text recording system of claim 10,
wherein the video playback platform is a notebook computer.
15. The video program subtitle text recording system of claim 10,
wherein the standard computer text format utilized by the text
format conversion module is ASCII (American Standard Code for
Information Exchange).
16. The video program subtitle text recording system of claim 10,
wherein the standard computer text format utilized by the text
format conversion module is Unicode.
17. The video program subtitle text recording system of claim 10,
further comprising: a date/time insertion module, which is capable
of inserting the value of the date/time when the subtitle text is
recorded into the electronic text file.
18. The video program subtitle text recording system of claim 10,
further comprising: a translation module, which is capable of
translating the contents of the recorded subtitle text from its
original language into another language.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] This invention relates to information technology (IT), and
more particularly, to a video program subtitle text recording
method and system, which is designed for use in conjunction with a
video playback platform, such as a digital TV, a multimedia player,
a desktop computer, a notebook computer, and so on, for providing a
video program subtitle text recording function that allows the user
to record the subtitle text embedded in a video program displayed
on the video playback platform into an electronic text file, so
that the user can later retrieve the electronic text file and view
the recorded subtitle text through a computer platform, such as a
desktop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet PC, a PDA (Personal
Digital Assistant), an intelligent mobile phone, and the like.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] Digital TV is a new video broadcast technology that can
reproduce a digital video stream and display it on a digital
display, such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) for viewing by the
user. In practical use, a digital TV is typically connected to an
external or built-in video source, such as a wireless set-top-box
(STB), a cable TV receiver, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) player,
or the like.
[0005] Typically, most video programs are embedded with subtitles
that represents a written form of the speeches in the video program
or shows related messages about the video program. For example, in
the case of an English-speaking video program, such as an
English-teaching program, is broadcast in a Chinese-speaking
country, the video program is typically embedded with
Chinese-translated subtitles; in the case of a video program that
teaches cooking, the video program is typically embedded with a
written form of the recipes; and in the case of a music-related
video program, the video program typically uses subtitles to show
the lyrics of the songs.
[0006] In the use of digital TV, there exists a need for the user
to record the text contents the subtitles in the video program, so
that the user can keep the subtitle text contents as a reference
without having to view it again by turning on the TV.
Traditionally, the user can do this only by shorthand writing.
However, since the subtitles typically run very quickly, it would
be highly difficult or next to impossible for the user to record
all the subtitle contents by shorthand writing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] It is therefore an objective of this invention to provide a
video program subtitle text recording method and system, which is
capable of automatically recording all the subtitle text embedded
in a video program into an electronic text file, so that the user
can later view the subtitle text through a PC or any PC-compliant
electronic devices, without requiring the user to do shorthand
writing.
[0008] The video program subtitle text recording method and system
according to the invention is designed for use in conjunction with
a video playback platform, such as a digital TV, a multimedia
player, a desktop computer, a notebook computer, and so on, for
providing a video program subtitle text recording function that
allows the user to record the subtitle text embedded in a video
program displayed on the video playback platform into an electronic
text file, so that the user can later retrieve the electronic text
file and view the recorded subtitle text through a computer
platform, such as a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet
PC, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), an intelligent mobile
phone, and the like.
[0009] The video program subtitle text recording method and system
according to the invention is advantageous to use in that it allows
the user to automatically record all the subtitle text in a video
program into an electronic text file without requiring the user to
do shorthand writing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0010] The invention can be more fully understood by reading the
following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, with
reference made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the application
architecture and modularized component model of the video program
subtitle text recording system according to the invention;
[0012] FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram showing an example of a block
of subtitle text embedded in a video program;
[0013] FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram showing an example of the
contents of an electronic text file that records the subtitle text
shown in FIG. 2A;
[0014] FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram showing an example of a line
of English subtitle text embedded in a video program; and
[0015] FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram showing an example of the
contents of an electronic text file that records the English
subtitle text shown in FIG. 3A along with a line of
Chinese-translated text.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0016] The video program subtitle text recording method and system
according to the invention is disclosed in full details by way of
preferred embodiments in the following with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
[0017] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the application
architecture and modularized component model of the video program
subtitle text recording system according to the invention (as the
part enclosed in the dotted box indicated by the reference numeral
100). As shown, the video program subtitle text recording system of
the invention 100 is designed for use with in conjunction with a
video playback platform 10, such as a digital TV unit, a multimedia
player, a desktop computer, a notebook computer, and so on, for
providing a video program subtitle text recording function that
allows the user to record the subtitle text embedded in a video
program displayed on the video playback platform 10 into an
electronic text file 300, so that the user can later view the
subtitle text through a computer platform 30, such as a desktop
computer, a notebook computer, a tablet PC, a PDA (Personal Digital
Assistant), an intelligent mobile phone, and the like.
[0018] In practical application, the video playback platform 10 is
connected to an external or built-in video source 20, such as a
wireless set-top-box, a cable TV receiver, a DVD (Digital Versatile
Disc) player, or the like, which is capable of outputting a video
stream 21 to the video playback platform 10 for the video playback
platform 10 to display the contents of the video stream 21 on the
screen 11 thereof.
[0019] As shown in FIG. 1, the modularized component model of the
video program subtitle text recording system of the invention 100
comprises: (a) a video stream fetching module 110; (b) a subtitle
text extracting module 120; (c) a text format conversion module
130; and (d) a file building module 140; and can further optionally
include a date/time insertion module 210 and a translation module
220.
[0020] The video stream fetching module 110 is capable of fetching
a bifurcated part of the video stream 21 that is being inputted to
the video playback platform 10 from the video source 20 for
processing by the video program subtitle text recording system of
the invention 100.
[0021] The subtitle text extracting module 120 is capable of
performing a subtitle text extracting procedure on the video stream
21 fetched by the video stream fetching module 110 from the video
source 20, for the purpose of extracting all the subtitle text that
is embedded in the video stream 21. The subtitle text extracting
technique utilized here by the subtitle text extracting module 120
is conventional technology, so that detailed description thereof
will not be given in this specification.
[0022] The text format conversion module 130 is capable of
converting the format of the subtitle text extracted by the
subtitle text extracting module 120 into a standard computer text
format, such as ASCII (American Standard Code for Information
Interchange) format or Unicode format.
[0023] The file building module 140 is capable of building an
electronic text file 300, such as a TXT file (*.txt) that collects
all the ASCII-converted or Unicode-converted text from the text
format conversion module 130.
[0024] The date/time insertion module 210 is an optional module,
which is capable of inserting a value of the current date/time
(i.e., the temporal point when the subtitle text is recorded) in a
predetermined format, such as YY/MM/DD for date and HH/MM/SS for
clock time, in the header of the electronic text file 300 for
serving as a reference that later allows the user to know when the
subtitle text was recorded. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, when
the video playback platform 10 displays a block of subtitle text 40
on the screen 11 (which is for example a set of cooking
instructions), the video program subtitle text recording system of
the invention 100 will record this block of subtitle text 40 into
the electronic text file 300 as a block of ASCII or Unicode text 41
shown in FIG. 2B, and meanwhile the date/time insertion module 210
will insert a block of date/time value 42 in the header of the
electronic text file 300.
[0025] The translation module 220 is also an optional module, which
is capable of translating the recorded subtitle text in the
electronic text file 300 from its original language into another
language, for example from English into Chinese. For instance, as
shown in FIG. 3A, when the video playback platform 10 displays a
line of English subtitle text 50 on the screen 11 (which is for
example an English sentence from an English teaching program), the
video program subtitle text recording system of the invention 100
will record this line of English subtitle text 50 into the
electronic text file 300 as a block of ASCII or Unicode text 51
shown in FIG. 3B, and meanwhile the translation module 220 will
translate the English subtitle text 50 into Chinese and then paste
the Chinese-translated text 52 beneath the English text 51 in the
electronic text file 300.
[0026] Referring to FIG. 1, FIGS. 2A-2B, and FIGS. 3A-3B, in
practical application, when the video playback platform 10 is
reproducing a video stream 21 outputted from the video source 20
and if the user wants to record the subtitle text embedded in the
video stream 21, the user needs first to activate the video program
subtitle text recording system of the invention 100 by using, for
example, a remote controller or similar control means (not
shown).
[0027] When the video program subtitle text recording system of the
invention 100 is activated, it will first enable the video stream
fetching module 110 to fetch a bifurcated part of the video stream
21 and transfer the fetched video stream 21 to the subtitle text
extracting module 120. In response, the subtitle text extracting
module 120 will perform a subtitle text extracting procedure on the
video stream 21 to extract all the subtitle text that is embedded
in the video stream 21. Subsequently, the text format conversion
module 130 is activated to convert the format of the extracted
subtitle text from the video stream 21 into a standard computer
text format, such as ASCII format or Unicode. Next, the file
building module 140 is activated to build an electronic text file
300, such as a TXT file (*.txt) that collects all the
ASCII-converted or Unicode-converted text outputted from the text
format conversion module 130.
[0028] If the user choose the optional date/time insertion
function, the video program subtitle text recording system of the
invention 100 will activate the date/time insertion module 210 to
insert the value of the current date/time in a predetermined format
(such as YY/MM/DD for date and HH/MM/SS for time) in the header of
the electronic text file 300. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A,
when the video playback platform 10 displays a block of subtitle
text 40 on the screen 11 (which is for example a set of cooking
instructions), the video program subtitle text recording system of
the invention 100 will record this block of subtitle text 40 into
the electronic text file 300 as a block of text 41 shown in FIG.
2B, and meanwhile the date/time insertion module 210 will insert a
block of date/time value 42 in the header of the electronic text
file 300.
[0029] In addition, if the recorded subtitle text from the video
stream 21 is English while the user is a Chinese-speaking person
who wishes to view a Chinese-translated version of the text, the
user can then choose the optional translation function, which
causes the video program subtitle text recording system of the
invention 100 to activate the translation module 220 to translate
the recorded English subtitle text into Chinese. For instance, as
shown in FIG. 3A, when the video playback platform 10 displays a
line of English subtitle text 50 on the screen 11 (which is for
example an English sentence from an English teaching program), the
video program subtitle text recording system of the invention 100
will record this line of English subtitle text 50 into the
electronic text file 300 as a block of ASCII or Unicode text 51
shown in FIG. 3B, and meanwhile the translation module 220 will
translate the English subtitle text 50 into Chinese and then paste
the Chinese-translated text 52 beneath the English text 51 in the
electronic text file 300.
[0030] In conclusion, the invention provides a video program
subtitle text recording method and system which is designed for use
in conjunction with a video playback platform, such as a digital
TV, a multimedia player, a desktop computer, a notebook computer,
and so on, for providing a video program subtitle text recording
function that allows the user to record the subtitle text embedded
in a video program displayed on the video playback platform into an
electronic text file, so that the user can later retrieve the
electronic text file and view the recorded subtitle text through a
PC or a PC-compliant electronic device. This feature allows the
user to automatically record all the subtitle text in a video
program into an electronic text file without requiring the user to
do shorthand writing. The invention is therefore more advantageous
to use than the prior art.
[0031] The invention has been described using exemplary preferred
embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the scope of the
invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the
contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar
arrangements. The scope of the claims, therefore, should be
accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such
modifications and similar arrangements.
* * * * *