Method of transmitting update information for a stationary video picture.

A. Background of the invention.

A(1). Field of the invention.

0001The invention generally relates to a method of transmitting stationary pictures via a transmission medium having a very limited capacity to a user for display of said pictures on the display screen of a monitor. The invention more particularly relates to a method of transmitting such pictures via a digital transmission medium, a compact disc and the like.

A(2). Description of the prior art.

0002As is generally known, the compact disc is a digital transmission medium which can comprise a given number of bits. The first use of the compact disc has been known for some years as a transmission medium for 16 bit PCM encoded audio signals. A second use was the data ROM application for data processing equipment. A third use is now being developed, namely as a transmission medium for digitalised video signals of stationary pictures which are accompanied by digitalised audio and possibly computer data.

0003In order to be able to transmit such a stationary picture via this transmission medium, the picture is divided into a number of lines (for example 280) and each line is in turn divided into a number of contiguous picture elements (for example, 384). Each picture element is assumed to have a uniform luminance and a uniform colour. A picture element is now fully written by a number of picture components; namely the luminance component Y(i, k) and the two colour difference components U(i, k) and V(i, k) or, which is the same, the three primary colour components R(i, k), G(i, k) and B(i, k). In this case i indicates the ordinal number of the line and k indicates the ordinal number of the picture element on this line (column).

0004Each picture component of a picture element is subjected to an encoding operation so that a uniform information word is obtained for each picture element, which will hereinafter be referred to as video word. When PCM encoding is used, the picture components of each picture element are separately encoded; that is to say, independent of corresponding picture components of other picture elements. However, when the picture components are subjected to a DPCM encoding, roughly only the difference between the corresponding picture components of each time two consec five picture elements is subjected to a PCM encoding. Since the encoding of such a difference generally requires fewer bits than the encoding of each of the separate picture components, 4-bit DPCM encoding is used for each of the picture components for the envisaged novel use of the compact disc. This means that each picture element is characterized by a 12-bit video word.

0005To utilize the capacity of the transmission medium as economically as possible, the entire block of 280 x 384 video words is transmitted once only. The monitor has a picture memory which comprises at least as many memory locations as the picture comprises picture elements. A picture element is uniformly associated with each memory location and such a memory location comprises the transmitted video word of the relevant picture element. This picture memory is repeatedly read in the conventional manner in order to obtain the relevant picture on the display.

0006It is to be noted that it is found to be unnecessary in practice to transmit both the luminance component and the two colour difference components of each picture element. It is found to be sufficient to transmit the luminance component of each picture element and to transmit alternately the colour difference component U and the colour difference component V of successive picture elements. This means that each picture element can be characterized by an 8-bit video word. More particularly, the first four bits of this video word represent the luminance component of the picture element in DPCM format and the other four bits represent one of the two (alternating) colour difference components, likewise in DPCM format. The assembly of video words to be transmitted together defining a given stationary picture will hereinafter be referred to as video block.

0007In the now envisaged novel use of the compact disc a video block is accommodated in packets for its transmission, likewise as the digitalised information constituents, sound and computer data. Each packet comprises, for example, 2352 bytes and each packet is roughly divided into two fields, namely into a packet header consisting of 24 bytes and a data field of 2328 bytes. The last 280 bytes in the data field may be utilized for fault protection and correction of the other bytes in the data field. They are used, for example, when the packet comprises computer data.

0008The packet header comprises, inter alia, synchronisation bytes for byte and bit synchronisation but also indicates whether the data in the data-field represent picture information or audio or computer data. In these cases they are referred to as a video packet, an audio packet, and a computer data packet, respectively. The data field of an audio packet comprises 1164 audio words of 16 bits each, whilst the data field of a video packet comprises 2328 video words of 8 bits each. B.Object and summary of the invention.

0009It is an object of the invention to provide a transmission method for quasi-stationary pictures with which a further reduction of the total amount of bits to be transmitted is possible.

0010According to the invention each video block is therefore divided into a number of sub-blocks and an operational code defining a number of picture elements is added to the beginning of each sub-block; the sub-block comprises video words for the defined picture elements.

0011The invention will be appreciated when it is considered that in the method described in the previous section the video words of all 384 x 280 picture elements of each new picture must be transmitted, even when this new picture is mainly equal to the actual picture. In such cases it can be indicated by means of the operational code of which picture elements of the actual picture the associated video words are to be changed and the video words succeeding this operational code are the new video words.

C. Brief description of the Figures.

0012<ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>Figure 1 diagrammatically shows a compact disc with a track and its partition into packets;</li><li>Fig. 2 diagrammatically shows the structure of a receiver for processing the signals supplied by the compact disc;</li><li>Fig. 3 shows how a block of video words for the purpose of an update is accommodated in packets;</li><li>Fig. 4 diagrammatically shows which information in the data field must be transmitted in the case of a partial update of the original picture.</li></ul>

D. Description of the invention.

0013In Fig. 1 part of the track on a compact disc is diagrammatically shown at A. A packet is present between two consecutive points a, b, c, d, e, etc. The structure of such a packet is diagrammatically shown at B in Fig. 1. It comprises a total of 2352 bytes and is partitioned into a packet header H consisting of 24 bytes and a data field D consisting of 2328 bytes.

0014The packet header H is also divided into a synchronisation field S of 12 bytes, a first auxiliary field EH of 4 bytes and a second auxiliary field TH of 8 bytes. The synchronisation field S indicates the beginning of a packet. It comprises one byte consisting exclusively of "0" bits followed by 10 bytes consisting exclusively of "1" bits and finally again one byte consisting exclusively of "0" bits. The type in the first auxiliary field EH indicate the ordinal number of the packet in the track. The second auxiliary field TH indicates whether the packet is a video packet, an audio packet or a computer data packet.

0015The data field D is divided into data slots DS. For an audio packet these data slots are chosen to be such that each of them can accommodate one 16-bit audio word of a digital audio signal. For a video packet these data slots are chosen to be such that each of them can accommodate one 8-bit video word of a digital video signal. Also for computer data packets these data slots have a length of one byte.

0016As already described in the foregoing, each picture is divided into an array of 280 x 384 picture elements A(i, k). Here i (= 1, 2, .., 280) is the ordinal number of the line and k (=1, 2, ..., 384) is the ordinal number of the picture element on this line (column). When for each picture element A(i,k) an eight-bit video word Q(i,k) is transmitted, the transmission of an entire picture requires approximately 47 video packets.

0017At the receiver end shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2 the compact disc 1 is read with the aid of a reading device 2. This device converts the information from the disc into electric signals which are applied to a demultiplexer 3. Starting from the information in the second auxiliary field, this demultiplexer supplies the computer data packets present on the disc to an output 3(1), the audio packets to an output 3(2) and the video packets to an output 3(3).

0018Since within the scope of the invention it is only important to have some insight into the further processing of the video packets, the processing of the audio and computer data packets will not be further described. The video packets are applied to a separation device 4 whose function will be explained hereinafter. At this point in the description it is sufficient to know that this separation device exclusively supplies the video words which are present in the video packet. These video words are applied to a picture memory 5. This memory has at least as many memory locations as there are picture elements into which the transmitted picture is partitioned. It will initially be assumed hereinafter that the number of memory locations is equal to the number of picture elements. The memory location whose content corresponds to the picture element A(i,k) will be indicated by 5(i,k). An addressing circuit 5(l) ensures together with a write command W that an 8-bit video word Q(i,k) is written in each memory location 5(i, k) in the conventional manner via an input encoding circuit 5(2). The addressing circuit 5(1) also ensures that together with a read command R the contents of the memory locations are non-destructively read in the correct sequence via an output decoding circuit 5(3). The video words Q(i, k) consecutively occurring at the output of this decoding circuit 5(3) are applied to a decoding circuit 6 which converts these video words into analogue video signals. These are in turn applied to a picture tube 7 which visualises the transmitted picture.

0019The transmission method described so far has the unpleasant property that 47 video packets must be transmitted whenever a different picture is desired. Particularly when the new picture differs only little from the actual picture, this is a waste of the transmission capacity of the disc. When exclusively the changes which must be made in the actual picture to obtain the new picture are transmitted, there will be a considerably economy in space on the compact disc, which space can then be utilized for other purposes. The change of parts of the ^Iactual picture will be referred to as "updating" and the video words required for this purpose will be referred to as "updating video words".

0020Let it be assumed that 3200 picture elements of an actual picture must be updated. This means that a block of 3200 updating video words is to be transmitted. This block is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 3 by the block UB. For the transmission this block is divided into a number of sub-blocks. In Fig. 3 these sub-blocks are dnoted by I II, III, ... VIII. These sub-blocks comprise, for example, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 and 400 bytes, respectively. An operational code (OPC) of, for example, 10 bytes is added to the beginning of each sub- block. A code word EOB also consisting of, for example, 10 bytes and indicating that the UB block has ended can be added to the end of the last sub-block, in this case sub- block VIII (EOB = end of block). The block UBT obtained thereby is shown diagrammatically at B in Fig. 3. The length of the added operational codes and the code word EOB is not drawn to scale. However, it has been indicated that sub-block I is preceded by operational code OPC_I, sub-block II by OPC_II, etc. Due to the addition of the different operational codes and the code word EOB, the block UBT to be transmitted has a total length of 3290 bytes. Since this is more than the length of the data field in a video packet, this block UBT is divided into two parts. The first part comprises 2328 bytes and, as is diagrammatically shown at C in Fig. 3, it can be accommodated exactly in the data field of a video packet P . The remaining part, which comprises 962 bytes, is accommodated in a second video packet P_n+1. This packet thus comprises 1366 bytes which are not used for the transmission of video words and therefore all acquire the zero value.

0021As is shown at D in ^Fig. 3, the added operational codes OPC consist of an operation identifier OI of 2 bytes and a picture elementindicator PELI of 8 bytes. The operation identifier indicates that picture elements of the actual picture must be renewed and it indicates whether, for example, the video words accommodated in the sub-block relate to consecutive picture elements of the same line, or whether it relates to, for example, picture elements of different directly subjacent lines, which picture elements combined constitute a rectangular block. The first four bytes of the picture element indicator PELI give the beginning coordinates i and k of the picture element to which the first updating video word in the sub-block relates. The last four bytes of the picture element indicator PELI give the coordinates i and k of the picture element to which the last updating video word in the sub-block relates.

0022The updating block UBT transmitted in the manner described above and shown at B in Fig. 3 is applied at the receiver end shown in Fig. 2 to the separation device 4. This device applies the operational codes OPC to the addressing circuit 5(l) and the updating video words each time succeeding an operational code to the input decoder 5(2). The addressing circuit 5(1) addresses memory locations of the memory 5 in a sequence determined by the operation identifier OI from the memory location with the beginning coordinates given by the picture element indicator (PELI) to the memory location with the end coordinates given by the picture element indicator PELI. The above- mentioned addressing sequence may be, for example, in accordance with a straight line or a rectangle.

0023It is to be noted that the division of the block UB shown at A in Fig. 3 is a result of the fact that the number of possible operation identifiers OI is limited. The division into sub-blocks is therefore such that each sub-block comprises the video words which are associated with picture elements which are related to each other in a manner which can be defined by one operation identifier. For example, they are located contiguously on one and the same picture line or they are located contiguously in a rectangle. This means that if all video words of the block UB are related to each other in a manner which can be defined by one operation identifier, the previously described partition of this block UB can be dispensed with. It is then sufficient to add one operational code to the beginning of the block. In the extreme case this block comprises the video words for all picture elements of a picture which is therefore entirely renewed.

0024The above means that for the transmission a block of video words always begins with an operational code, which operational code is located immediately after the packet header of the first packet in which a part of the block is accommodated.

0025The question which can now be asked is how does the receiver end detect that a given packet begins with an operational code. This is signalised by a part of the bytes in the second auxiliary field, more specifically by, for example, the last two bits in this second auxiliary field. If the last bit but one is, for example, "1", the data field begins with an operational cade. If this bit is "O", the data field immediately begins with video words. If the last bit of the second auxiliary field is a "1", then this means that the data field comprises an EOB code. If such a code is not present in the data field, then this last bit of the second auxiliary field is a "O".

0026Particularly in the case of a partial updating of the picture there is a special problem if, as has been assumed in the foregoing, the video pictures are transmitted in a DPCM format. This special problem will be described with reference to Fig. 4. In this Fig. 4 a number of consecutive picture elements are diagrammatically shown at A and are indicated by the reference numerals 100, 101, 102, ... 120, respectively. Let it be assumed that these picture elements have a luminance whose value is characterized by the height of the lines indicated at B in Fig. 4. The video words which are representative of the difference between the luminances of each time two consecutive picture elements are now transmitted, and stored in the memory locations of the memory 5. These differences are ' diagrammatically shown at C in Fig. 4. Let it be assumed that of the picture elements marked x at A in Fig. 4 the luminances must be changed into the values indicated at D . This then means that for these picture elements video words must be transmitted which are representative of the luminance differences indicated at E in Fig. 4. Since the new luminance of the picture element 109 (see D in Fig. 4) increased by the original difference luminance (see C in Fig. 4) applying to the picture element 110 does not lead to the luminance shown at B in Fig. 4, the difference luminance for this picture element 110 must be adapted and therefore also the video word applying to this picture element 110. This adaptation is also shown at E in Fig. 4. Since the luminance differences are encoded by only 4 bits, such a difference cannot be more than sixteen steps. If the difference is more than sixteen steps the adaptation of the renewed part to the original picture must be spread over a number of picture elements. For the sake of completeness this is indicated at F and G in Fig. 4. The desired new luminances of the picture elements 104 through 109 are shown at F, and G indicates the luminance differences. More particularly, the transitional luminance differences are marked by 0 at G.

0027It has been described in the foregoing that certain parts of the picture memory can be renewed by using the operation identifier OI, whereafter this picture memory is read in accordance with a fixed pattern, namely line after line and memory location after memory location and beginning with the memay location with the coordinates i = 1, k = 1. With the aid of a suitably chosen operation identifier OI it can, however, also be indicated that this reading operation should start with a different memory location. If this different memory location has the coordinates i , 1, the term vertical scrolling is some- times used and if it has the coordinates 1, k the term horizontal scrolling is sometimes used.

0028In the case of vertical scrolling the memory locations in the lines 1 through io are read last and thus they constitute the last lines of the picture. In the case of horizontal scrolling the memory locations 1 through k_o of each line are not read until memory locations k +1 through 384 have been read. Thus they constitute the last picture elements of the corresponding picture line.

0029The operation identifier 01 also comprises an update operation for replacing the contents of the memory locations in the lines 1 through i_o in the case of vertical scrolling and of the memory locations in the colum- columns 1 through k +1 in the case of horizontal scrolling by the video words which are incorporated in the data field.

0030It is to be noted that it is conventional practice to transmit each time the first picture element of a line in a PCM format in the transmission of video signals in a DPCM format. In the case of horizontal scrolling the DPCM words in the memory locations 5(i, k +1) (i = 1, 2, ... 288) are then replaced by PCM words.