Recording medium and method and apparatus for reproducing text subtitle stream recorded on the recording medium

ES 2 338 019 T3 description

Recording medium and method and apparatus for reproducing a stream of text subtitles recorded on the recording medium.

The present invention relates to a recording medium or carrier, and more particularly to a recording medium and to a method and apparatus for reproducing a stream or stream of text subtitles recorded on the recording medium. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide field of applications, it is particularly suitable for recording the text subtitle stream or stream file within the recording medium and effectively reproducing the recorded text subtitle stream.

Optical discs are widely used as an optical recording medium to record data in bulk. Currently, among a wide range of optical discs, a high-density optical recording medium (referred to hereinafter as "HD-DVD"), such as a Blu-ray Disc (referred to as "HD-DVD"), is under development. hereinafter referred to as "BD"), for writing and storing high definition video and audio data. Currently, global standard technical specifications of the Blu-ray Disc (BD), which are known to be the next generation technology, are in establishment as a next generation optical recording solution, which is capable of having data that significantly exceeds the Conventional DVD, along with many other digital gadgets.

Therefore, optical reproduction devices that have the Blu-ray Disc (BD) standards applied to them are also being developed. However, since the Blu-ray Disc (BD) standards have yet to be completed, there have been many difficulties in developing a complete optical reproduction apparatus. Particularly, in order to efficiently reproduce the data from the Blu-ray Disc (BD), not only the main AV data has to be systematized and provided as well as various data required for user convenience, such as subtitle information. such as the supplementary data related to the AV main data, but also management information to play the main data and subtitle data recorded on the optical disc.

However, in the present Blu-ray Disc (BD) standards, since preferred methods of creating the supplementary data, particularly the subtitle stream file, have yet to be completed, there are many restrictions on full-scale development of a optical reproduction device based on Blu-ray Disc (BD). And such restrictions cause problems by providing the user with supplementary data such as subtitles.

Document WO 2005/074399 A2 relates to a recording medium and a method and apparatus for decoding text subtitle streams. Each text caption flow includes a dialog style segment that defines a set of region styles and at least one dialog display segment. Each dialog presentation segment contains at least one dialog text region and it is linked or bound to at least one of the set of region styles. The dialog style segment includes an actuator style flag (player) that indicates whether an actuator is allowed to generate its own set of actuator styles. Then each dialog display segment is decoded using the actuator style set if the permission is indicated by the actuator style flag.

The document ETSIEN 300 743, V1.2.1: “Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Subtitling systems ”(2002-06) refers to the DVB subtitling system specification for the transport and encoding of subtitles. According to this document, a caption stream carries one or more caption services, each service containing the textual and / or graphical information necessary to provide captions or glyphs for a particular purpose. Each caption service presents its information in a sequence of so-called pages that are intended to be positioned over the associated video image. The subtitle page contains one or more regions, within which graphic objects are placed. An object can represent a character, a word, a line of text or an entire phrase or it can also define a logo or icon. The use and positioning of objects within a region are defined by the region composition segment. The use and positioning of regions within a page are defined by the page composition segment. A DVB subtitle stream is carried in PES packets and the timing of its presentation is defined by the PTS in the PES header.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium and a method and apparatus for reproducing and recording a subtitle stream of text recorded on the recording medium, which essentially avoids one or more problems due to limitations and Disadvantages of the Related Art.

This object is achieved with the features of the independent claims.

Additional advantages, objects and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows and in part will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. These objects and other advantages of the invention can be realized and achieved by means of the structure particularly set forth in the written description and appended claims, as well as the accompanying drawings.

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In accordance with the purpose of the invention, as incorporated and described herein, a recording medium for reproducing text subtitle streams includes a data area that stores at least one text subtitle stream, each stream including text captions a dialog style segment that defines a group of region styles and a plurality of dialog presentation segments, each dialog display segment containing at least one dialog text region and each dialog text region linked to a selected one from the group of region styles, wherein each dialog style segment and the plurality of dialog display segments dialog are encapsulated in a plurality of PES packets, respectively.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method of reproducing a recorded text subtitle stream on a recording medium includes reading a dialog style segment included in the text subtitle stream, the dialog style segment defining a group of region styles, read each of a plurality of dialogue presentation segments included in the text caption stream, each dialog presentation segment containing at least one dialog text region and each dialog text region being linked to a selected one from the group of region styles, the dialog style segment and the plurality of dialog presentation segments being encapsulated in a plurality of PES packets, respectively, and presenting each dialogue presentation segment in accordance with a continuous presentation flag contained in the dialogue presentation segment, the continuous presentation flag indicating whether continuous presentation is required for each dialogue presentation segment with a preceding one.

In a further aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for reproducing a recorded text subtitle stream on a recording medium includes a temporary memory configured to preload the text subtitle stream, the preloaded text subtitle stream including a segment of dialog style that defines a group of region styles and a plurality of dialog presentation segments, each dialog presentation segment containing at least one dialog text region and each dialog text region being linked to a selected one from the group of region styles, wherein the dialog style segment and the plurality of presentation segments dialog boxes are encapsulated in a plurality of PES packets, respectively, and at least one text caption decoder configured to decode and display each dialogue presentation segment in accordance with a continuous presentation flag in each dialogue presentation segment, the continuous presentation flag indicating whether continuous presentation is required for each segment dialogue presentation with a previous one.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

Brief description of the drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. . In the drawings:

Figure 1 illustrates a structure of data files recorded on an optical disc in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 illustrates data storage areas of the optical disc in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 3 illustrates a text caption and main image displayed on a display screen in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 4 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating playback control of a text subtitle stream in accordance with the present invention;

Figures 5A to 5C illustrate applications of playback control information for reproducing the text subtitle stream in accordance with the present invention;

Figures 6A and 6B illustrate an example of the method for writing the playback control information into a text subtitle stream in accordance with the present invention;

Figures 7A to 7C illustrate the structure of the text subtitle stream file and the playback control information included in the text subtitle stream file in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 8 illustrates a text caption stream file syntax in accordance with the present invention;

Figures 9A to 9D illustrate another example of text subtitle stream file syntax in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 10A illustrates another example of text caption stream file syntax in accordance with the present invention;

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Fig. 10B illustrates an example syntax of a region subtitle among the text subtitle stream file according to a first embodiment of the present invention; Y

Fig. 11 illustrates an optical recording and / or reproducing apparatus including a reproduction of the text subtitle stream file in accordance with the present invention.

Best way to carry out the invention

Reference will now be made in detail to preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or similar parts. Furthermore, although the terms used in the present invention are chosen from terms generally known and used, some of the terms mentioned in the description of the present invention have been selected by the applicant at his or her discretion, the meanings of which are described. in the relevant parts of this document. Furthermore, the present invention is required to be understood, not simply by the actual terms, but by the meaning of each term contained therein.

In this detailed description, "recording medium" refers to all types of media or carriers that can record data and generally includes all types of media regardless of the recording method, such as an optical disc, a magnetic tape, etc. . In the following, to simplify the description of the present invention, the optical disc and, more specifically, the "Blu-ray disc (BD)" will be given as an example of the recording medium proposed here. However, it will be apparent that the spirit or scope of the present invention can be applied equally to other types of recording media.

In this detailed description, "main data" represents audio / video (AV) data pertaining to a title (eg, a movie title) recorded on an optical disc by an author. Generally, AV data is recorded in MPEG2 format and is often called AV streams or main AV streams. In addition, "supplemental data" represents all other data required to reproduce the main data, examples of which are text caption streams, interactive graphics streams, presentation graphics streams, and supplemental audio streams (for example, for a observable slideshow). These supplementary data streams can be recorded in MPEG2 format or in any other data format. Those can be multiplexed with AV streams or they can exist as separate data files within the optical disc.

A "subtitle" represents caption information corresponding to video (image) data being played, and may be represented in a predetermined language. For example, when a user selects an option to view one of a plurality of subtitles rendered in multiple languages ​​while viewing images on a display screen, the caption information corresponding to the selected subtitle is displayed on a predetermined portion of the display screen. . If the caption information displayed is text data (eg, characters), the selected caption is often referred to as a "text caption." Also, in the present invention, "palette information" refers to color information and opacity information, which are provided to the user when the text caption data is displayed on the screen. In accordance with the present invention, a plurality of MPEG2 format text subtitle streams can be recorded on an optical disc, and can exist as a plurality of independent stream files. Each "text subtitle stream file" is created and burned onto an optical disc. And the purpose of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for reproducing the recorded text subtitle stream file.

Figure 1 illustrates a file structure of data files recorded on a Blu-ray disc (hereinafter referred to as "BD") in accordance with the present invention. Referring to Fig. 1, at least one BD directory (BDMV) is included in a root (root) directory. Each DB directory includes an index file (index.bdmv) and an object file (MovieObject.bdmv), which are used to interact with one or more users. For example, the index file may contain data representing an index table that has a plurality of selectable menus and movie titles. Each BD directory further includes four file directories which include audio / video (AV) data to be reproduced and various data required for the reproduction of the AV data.

The file directories included in each DB directory are a stream directory (STREAM), a clip information directory (INFCLIP) and a playlist directory (LISTAPLAY) and an auxiliary data directory (AUX DATA). First of all, the stream directory (STREAM) includes audio / video (AV) stream files that have a particular data format. For example, AV stream files can be in the form of MPEG2 transport packets and be named as "* .m2ts", as shown in Figure 1. The stream directory may also include one or more streaming files. text caption stream, where each text caption stream file includes text data (eg, characters) for a text caption rendered in a particular language and playback control information for the text data. Text subtitle stream files exist as separate stream files within the stream directory and can be named as “* .m2ts” or “* .txtst”, as shown in figure 1. An AV stream file o Text caption stream file included in the stream directory is often called a clip stream file.

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The clip information directory (INFCLIP) then includes clip information files that correspond to the stream files (AV or text subtitle) included in the stream directory, respectively. Each clip information file contains property and playback timing information for a file in the corresponding stream. For example, a clip information file can include mapping information, in which PTS and SPNs are in one-to-one correspondence. and are mapped by an entry point map (EPM), depending on the type of clip. Using the mapping information, a particular location in a stream file can be determined from a set of timing information (In-Time and Out-of-Time) provided by an ItemPlay or ItemSubPlay, which will be explained in more detail later. . In industry regulations, each pair of a stream file and its corresponding clip information file is designated as a clip. For example, 01000.clpi included in iNfClIP includes playback timing and property information for 01000.m2ts included in STREAM, and 01000.clpi and 01000.m2ts form a clip.

Referring back to Figure 1, the listplay (LISTAPLAY) directory includes one or more ListaPlay files (* .mpls), where each ListaPlay file includes at least one ItemPlay that designates at least one main AV clip and the playback time. of the main AV clip. More specifically, an ItemPlay contains information designating In-Time and Out-of-Time, representing playback start and end times for a main AV clip designated by Clip_Information_File_name within the ItemPlay. Therefore, a PlayList file represents the basic playback control information for one or more major AV clips. Additionally, the Playlist file can also include an ItemSubPlay, which represents the basic playback control information for a text subtitle stream file. When an ItemSubPlay is included in a Playlist file to play one or more text subtitle stream files, the ItemSubPlay is synchronized with the ItemPlay (s). On the other hand, when the ItemSubPlay is used to play an observable slideshow, it may be out of sync with the ItemPlay (s). According to the present invention, the primary function of an ItemSubPlay is to control the playback of one or more text subtitle stream files.

Finally, the auxiliary data directory (AUX DATA) may include supplemental data stream files, examples of which are typeface or font files (for example, aaaaa.font or aaaaa.otf), pop-menu files. up (not shown), and sound files (for example, Sound.bdmv) to generate click sound. The above text caption stream files may be included in the stub directory instead of the stream directory.

Figure 2 illustrates data storage areas of an optical disc in accordance with the present invention. Referring to Figure 2, the optical disc includes a file system information area that occupies the innermost portion of the disc volume, a flow area that occupies the outermost portion of the disc volume, and a base area of data arranged between the file system information area and the stream area. In the file system information area, the system information is stored to manage all of the data files shown in Figure 1. Next, the main data and the supplementary data (that is, AV streams and one or more of the text caption streams) are stored in the stream area. The main data can include audio data, video data, and graphics data. And the supplementary data (i.e. the text caption) is independently stored in the streaming area without being multiplexed with the main data. General files, Playlist files, and clip information files shown in Figure 1 are stored in the database area of ​​the disk volume. As noted above, general files include an index file and an object file, and ListaPlay files and clip information files include information required to play AV streams and text subtitle streams stored in the flow area. Using the information stored in the database area and / or the stream area, a user is able to select a particular playback mode and play the main AV and text subtitle streams in the selected playback mode.

In the following, the structure of the text subtitle stream file according to the present invention will be described in detail. First of all, the control information for reproducing the text subtitle stream will be redefined. The following will follow the detailed description of the method of creating the text stream file including the newly defined control information, and the method and apparatus of reproducing the text subtitle stream to reproduce the recorded stream file. Figure 3 illustrates a text caption and a main image displayed on a display screen in accordance with the present invention. The main image and the text subtitle are simultaneously displayed on the display screen when an AV stream and a corresponding text subtitle stream are played in sync.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating playback control of a main AV clip and text subtitle clips in accordance with the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, the ListaPlay file includes at least one ItemPlay that controls the playback of at least one main AV clip and one ItemSubPlay that controls the playback of a plurality of text subtitle clips. One of text subtitle clip 1 and text subtitle clip 2, shown in figure 4, for English and Korean text subtitles can be synchronized with the main AV clip such that a main picture and a subtitle Corresponding text is presented on a display screen simultaneously at a particular presentation time. In order to display the text caption on the display screen, display control information (eg, position and size information) and display time information are required, examples of which are illustrated in Figures 5A through 5C.

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Figure 5A illustrates a dialog presented on a display screen in accordance with the present invention. A dialog represents all of the text caption data presented on a display screen during a given presentation time. In general, dialogue presentation times can be represented in presentation timestamps (PTS). For example, the display of the dialog shown in Figure 5A begins at PTS (k) and ends at PTS (k + 1). Therefore, the dialog shown in FIG. 5A represents a complete unit of text caption data that is displayed on the display or presentation screen between PTS (k) and PTS (k + 1). A dialog includes a maximum of 100 character codes in a text caption.

Furthermore, Figure 5B illustrates regions of a dialog in accordance with the present invention. A region represents a divided portion of text (dialog) caption data displayed on a display screen during a given display time. In other words, a dialog includes at least one region, and each region can include at least one line of subtitle text. All of the text caption data representing a region can be displayed on the display screen according to a region style (global style) assigned to the region. The maximum number of regions included in a dialogue is to be determined based on a desired decoding rate of the subtitle data due to the greater number of regions that generally result in a lower decoding ratio. For example, the maximum number of regions for a dialogue may be limited to two in order to achieve a relatively high decoding speed. Therefore, the maximum number of regions within a single dialog is limited to 2 due to decoding load, when playing the text subtitle stream. In another embodiment of the present invention, there may be a maximum of a number n (where n> 2) of regions within a single dialog.

Figure 5C illustrates style information for regions of a dialog in accordance with the present invention. Style information represents information that defines properties required to display at least a portion of a region included in a dialog. Some of the examples of style information are position information, region size, background color, text alignment and text flow information, and many others. Style information can be classified into region style information (global style information) and inline style information (local style information).

Region style information defines a region style (global style) that is applied to an entire region of a dialog. For example, the region style information can contain at least one of a region position, region size, letter or font color, background color, text flow, text alignment, line spacing, letter name , font style and font size of the region. For example, two different region styles are applied to region 1 and region 2, as shown in Figure 5C. A region style with position 1, size 1 and color blue is applied to Region 1, and a different region style with position 2, size 2 and color red is applied to Region 2.

On the other hand, local style information defines an inline style (local style) that is applied to a particular portion of text strings included in a region. For example, inline style information can contain at least one of the font, font size, font style, and font color. The particular portion of text strings can be a complete line of text within a region or a particular portion of the text line. Referring to Figure 5C, a particular inline style is applied to the "mountain" text portion included in Region 1. In other words, at least one of the font, font size, font style and color The font of the particular portion of text strings is different from the remaining portion of the text strings within Region 1. Therefore, the text data described above is recorded and described as a “text string” depending on whether a particular inline style exists.

Figures 6A and 6B illustrate text subtitle stream playback control information, and more particularly a method for providing text subtitle stream using dialogue information, region information, and style information. Figure 6A illustrates a method for defining each dialog that applies to each of the presentation timestamp (PTS) sections. Referring to Figure 6A, there are four (4) dialogs between PTS1 and PTS6. Here, Dialog # 1 presents Text # 1 in the section between PTS1 and PTS2 as the text data, and Dialog # 2 has two (2) regions (region 1 and region 2) in the section between PTS2 and PTS3, in which Text # 1 is presented in region 1 as the text data, and where Text # 2 is presented in region 2 as the text data. Likewise, Dialog # 3 presents Text # 2 in the section between PTS3 and PTS4 as the text data, and Dialog # 4 presents Text # 3 in the section between PTS5 and PTS6. Here, the text caption data is not included in the section between PTS4 and PTS5.

In the description of the method for defining each dialog information, each dialog is required to include a timing information (set of PTS), in which the corresponding dialog, a style information and an information related to the text data are displayed. real. Therefore, the timing information (PTS set) displayed includes a PTS start information and a PTS end information, which differ from each other. The style information includes a global style information and a local style information which are defined in a way that they differ from each other and, in the present invention, the global and local style information are recorded respectively as a region style information. (region_styles) and an inline style information (inline_styles). And the text data is recorded as text data that is actually displayed. More particularly, since Dialog # 2 consists of region 1 and region 2, style information and text data is recorded for each region 1 and region 2.

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Figure 6B illustrates a method of continuous playback between neighboring dialogues. For example, Dialog # 1 and Region 1 of Dialog # 2 play continuously, and Region 2 of Dialog # 2 and Dialog # 3 play continuously. More specifically, in order to perform continuous playback between neighboring dialogues, the following conditions have to be satisfied. Above all, the PTS must be continuous and must not be interrupted (for example, the end time of Dialogue # 1 presentation and the beginning time of Dialogue # 2 presentation are identical, so that it is possible to continues playback). Then the style information for consecutive (or continuous) dialogs must also be identical. And so, since Dialogue PTS # 3 and Dialogue PTS # 4 are not consecutive (or continuous) dialogues, this section becomes discontinuous (or interrupted) and not continuous. Therefore, by providing a continuous_present_flag indicating whether to perform continuous playback from the previous dialog, within the current (or present) dialog, the continuous playback performance is thereby facilitated. The continuous_present_flag described above will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 7C.

Figure 7 illustrates a text caption stream file (eg, 10001.m2ts, shown in Figure 1) in accordance with the present invention. The text caption stream file may be made up of an MPEG2 transport stream that includes a plurality of transport packets (TP), all of which have the same packet identifier (eg, PID = 0x18xx). When a disk player receives many input streams that include a particular text subtitle stream, it searches for all transport packets that belong to the text subtitle stream using their PIDs. Referring to FIG. 7A, each transport packet subset forms one packet of the packet elementary stream (PES). One of the PES packages shown in Figure 7A corresponds to a dialog style segment (DSS) that defines a group of region styles. All remaining PES packets after the second PES packet correspond to the Dialog Presentation Segment (DPSs).

In the above-described text caption stream structure of FIG. 7A, each dialogue information shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C represents a dialogue display segment (DPS). And the style information included in the dialog information represents a set of information that links or binds any one of the plurality of region style sets in the dialog style segment (DSS), which may also be referred to as "Region_style_id", and inline styles. Therefore, in the present invention, a set of region style and palette information, which are applied to the dialog display segment (DPS), are recorded in the dialog style segment (DSS), which will be described below below in detail.

Therefore, in the present invention, a maximum number of region style information sets are recorded in the dialogue style segment (DSS), in which the maximum number is decided according to the standard of the related technology. . For example, a maximum of 60 specific sets of style information are recorded, each set of style information being identified by a region_style_id. Therefore, in a text caption decoder (number 17 of FIG. 11) only one Dialog Display Segment (DPS) is used at a time to perform the decoding process. Meanwhile, the text subtitle stream according to the present invention is recorded according to an MPEG2 standard, and the packet elementary stream (PES) is also created according to the MPEG-2 standard. The structure of the packet elementary stream (PES) that forms the text subtitle stream will now be described in detail with reference to FIG. 7B.

Figure 7B illustrates a detailed structure of the packet elemental stream (PES), which forms the text subtitle stream in accordance with the present invention and more particularly illustrates limitations or restrictions when applying the PES to the text subtitle stream . More specifically, each packet stream (PES) according to the present invention is distinguished as a packet stream header (PES header) and packet data. Any one of Dialog Style Segment (DSS) and Dialog Presentation Segment (DpS) is written to the packet data. Also, various information can be recorded in the packet stream header (PES) according to the MPEG-2 standard. However, some of the information can be recorded as limited (or constrained) values ​​according to the property of the text caption stream. More specifically, a field "flow_id", which is a set of information that decides the type of packet flow within the packet flow header (PES header), is set as "flow_id = 1011 1111" so that it designates flow private 2. This is to preserve the text subtitle stream in a stream format that can be differentiated from the video stream or the audio stream, to still preserve the elemental packet stream (ESP) structure to be similar to the video stream. /Audio.

In addition, any one of a Dialog Style Segment (DSS) and a Dialog Presentation Segment (DPS) are written to the packet data of a Packet Elementary Stream (PES). For example, in the present invention, a dialogue style segment (DSS) is recorded in a first packet elementary stream (PES). A Dialogue Presentation Segment (DPS) using the Dialog Style Segment (DSS) is then recorded in the packet elementary stream (PES) that follows (or follows) a second packet elementary stream (PES). Meanwhile, when the packet elementary stream (PES) is recorded with private stream 2, the presentation time stamp (PTS) and the decoding time stamp (DTS) are not recorded within the packet elementary stream header (header PES) as the timing information.

More specifically, the presentation timestamp (PTS) value is not recorded within the PES header to avoid duplicating the recording of the PTS_dialogue_start and PTS_end_dialogue within the dialog presentation segment (DPS), in which they are recorded the data in packets. Also, the decoding timestamp (DTS) value is not written inside the PES header so that the command is not changed (or modified)

ES 2 338 019 T3 for decoding the text subtitle stream, as opposed to the general MPEG-2 video or audio streams. Another reason for not storing the DTS value within the PES header is because a separate DTS value is not required, since the entire text caption stream is stored in a preload buffer and then sequentially decoded. With the exception of characteristic properties of the text subtitle stream, the information is recorded within the PES header according to the MPEG-2 standard.

Fig. 7C illustrates a structure of the text subtitle stream file in accordance with the present invention, and more particularly illustrates a method for controlling the dialog display segment (DPS) as a single group. More specifically, the text caption stream file includes a continuous_present_flag, which indicates whether continuous presentation is performed between neighboring regions of dialog presentation segments (DPSs), as shown in FIG. 6A. Therefore, if the playback (or presentation) of the current DPS is continued from the previous DPS, "flag_present_continuous = 1" is assigned, and if the playback is not continuous, "flag_ present_continuous = 0" is assigned. At this point, if at least one of the regions included in the DPS is set to be played continuously, the corresponding DPS is defined as a "continuous display DPS". Thus, for example, DPS # 2, DPS # 3 and DPS # 4, which are continuous presentation DPSs, are grouped as "continuous presentation set # 2".

And when the stream set # 2 described above is played (or rendered), the first DPS of the stream set # 2 (ie, DPS # 2) is played first. Then, without clearing the text data presented on the screen, the presentation continues until the end of the presentation, which is until the end of the DPS # 4 presentation.

The syntax structure of the Dialog Style Segment (DSS) and Dialog Presentation Segment (DPS) described above, which are recorded in the packet data included in the Packet Elementary Stream (PES) will be described in detail below. referring to Figures 8 to 10B. Fig. 8 illustrates a textp subtitle stream syntax (text_bubtitle_stream ()) according to the present invention. Referring to Figure 8, the text_subtitle_stream () includes a syntax of dialogue_style_segment () and syntax of dialogue_presentation_segment (), as shown in Figure 7A. More specifically, the syntax for dialog_style_segment () corresponds to a single dialog style segment (DSS) that defines the set of style information, and the syntax for dialog_presentation_segment () corresponds to a plurality of dialog presentation segments (DPS) that have the actual dialogue information engraved on them.

Figures 9A to 9C illustrate a detailed structure of the dialog_style_segment (), which represents the dialog style segment (DSS). More specifically, Figure 9A illustrates the overall structure of the dialog_style_segment (), in which a dialog_style_set () is defined that defines various sets of style information that are applied in the dialog. Figure 9B illustrates a set of dialog_style () in accordance with the present invention, which is defined in the dialog_style_segment (). Apart from the region_styles (region_style ()), the dialog_style set () includes a player_style_flag, a user_changeable_style_set (), and a palette (), which indicates color information and degree of transparency. The style_player_flag indicates whether the change in style information is authorized by the player (player). Likewise, the set user_changeable_dialog_style () defines the interval of change in style information by the actuator, and palette () indicates color information.

The region style information (region_style ()) represents Global style information defined for each region, as described above. A region_style_id is assigned to each region, and a set of style information is defined corresponding to the region_style_id. Therefore, when a dialog is played by writing the region_style_id, which is applied to the corresponding dialog, within the dialog display segment (DPS), style information set values ​​defined by identical region_style_id are applied within the dialog_style_set (), so that the dialogue is reproduced. Therefore, individual style information included in the style information set provided to each region_style_id will be described below.

In this memory, region_horizontal_position, region_vertical_position; region_width and region_height are provided as information to define the position and size of a corresponding region within the screen.

And region_back_color_input_id information is also provided which decides a background color of the corresponding region. Furthermore, text_horizontal_position and text_vertical position are provided as information defining an original (or starting) position of the text within the corresponding region. Also provided are a text_flow that defines the direction of the text (for example, left right, left right, top to bottom) and a text_alignment that defines the direction of text alignment (for example, left, center, right). More specifically, when a plurality of regions are included in a particular dialog, the textstream of each region included in the corresponding dialog is defined to have an identical textstream value, to prevent users from seeing distorted images.

Additionally, a linespace designating the space between each line within the region is provided as individual style information included in the style information set. And a font_type, a font_style, a font_size and a font_color_index are provided as font information for actual font information. Meanwhile, the player_style_flag written inside the dialog_style_set () indicates whether an author can apply the provided style information to the player (player). For example, when player_style_flag = 1b, as well as style information defined in the dialog_style () set recorded on a disc, the actuator is allowed to play the text subtitle stream by applying the provided style information within the actuator itself. On the other hand, when player_style_flag = 0b, only the use of the style information defined in the dialog_style () set recorded on disk is allowed.

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Figure 9C illustrates the user_changeable_style set () according to the present invention, which is defined in the dialog_style set (). The user_changeable_style () set pre-defines the types of style information that can be changed by the user and the change interval, and the user_changeable_style () set is used to easily change the style information of the text caption data. However, when the user is enabled to change all the style information, which is described in connection with Fig. 9B, the user may become more confused. Therefore, in the present invention, the style information of only letter_size, region_horizontal_position and region_vertical_position can be changed. And, consequently, the variation in the position of the text and the space between lines, which can be changed according to the letter_size, is also defined in the user_changeable_style () set. More specifically, the user_changeable_style set () is defined for each region_style_id. For example, a maximum of 25 user_style_id can be defined within a specific region_style_id = k in the user_changeable_style set ().

Likewise, each user_style_id includes region_horizontal_position_address and region_vertical_position_address, which designates the direction of the changed position of each changeable region_horizontal_position and region_vertical_position. Each user_style_id also includes delta_horizontal_position_region and delta_vertical_region_position information to designate a single unit of position movement in each direction as a unit of pixels. More specifically, for example, when region_horizontal_position_address = 0, the region position is moved in a clockwise direction. And when region_horizontal_position_address = 1, the region position is moved in the left direction. Also, when region_vertical_position_address = 0, the region position is moved in a downward direction. Finally, when region_vertical_position_address = 1, the region position is moved in the upward direction.

In addition, each user_style_id includes letter_size_dis_information, which designates the change direction of each of the changeable letter_size and delta_letter_size information to designate a single position movement unit in each direction as a pixel unit. More particularly, for example, dis-increase_letter_size = 0 represents a direction of increasing letter_size, and dis_increase_letter_size = 1 represents a direction of decreasing letter_size. In addition, the decrease or increase of the "text position" and the "space between lines", which are changed depending on the decrease or increase of the letter_size, can be defined using the same method as the letter_size, the region_horizontal_position and the region_vertical_position.

The characteristics of the user_changeable_style set () according to the present invention will now be described in detail. The user_control_style number () defined in each region_style () included in the dialog style segment (DSS) is identical. In other words, the number of user_control_styles that can be applied to each dialog display segment (DPS) is identical. Also, each user_control_style () is represented by a different user_style_id. And when the user selects a random user_style_id, the same order of user_control_style () is applied to each region_style () as well. Also, all possible combinations of changeable styles are defined in a single user_control_style (). In other words, region_position and letter_size are defined simultaneously in combination, rather than being defined separately. And finally, the direction of movement (direction_ *) or indication of increase / decrease (dis_aum_ *) is distinguished independently of each position movement unit (delta_ *) and is recorded accordingly. More specifically, only the position movement unit (delta_ *) is defined without having the style value, which is the value that is actually being changed. Consequently, the defined position movement unit (delta_ *) is added to the value defined in the style_region (), thereby obtaining the final value of the style value that is actually being changed.

Fig. 9D illustrates palette information (palette ()) in accordance with the present invention, which is defined in the dialog_style set (). The () palette provides color change information for the text caption data recorded within the dialog. Herein, the palette () includes a plurality of palette_entries, where each palette_entry is described by a palette_entry_id. And each palette_input is provided with a specific brightness value (Y_value), a specific color value (Cr_value, Cb_value) and a specific T_value, which designates the transparency of the text data, for each palette_input_id. Therefore, one of the characteristics of the text caption flow according to the present invention is that only one basic (or common) palette is defined, the palette being applied to each dialog display segment (DPS) included in the text caption stream file. More specifically, after defining a palette in the dialog style segment (DSS), the defined palette is commonly used in each dialog presentation segment (DPS). However, if a new concrete palette is to be used instead of the common palette in a concrete dialog display segment (DPS), the concrete palette is again defined using the update_palette_flag, the description of which will follow with reference to the Figure 10A.

Figures 10A and 10B illustrate a detailed structure of the dialog_presentation_segment (), representing the dialog presentation segment (DPS) in accordance with the present invention. Figure 10A illustrates the overall structure of the dialog_presentation_segment (), in which a dialog_start PTS and a dialog_end PTS are defined. The PTS-start_dialogue and the PTS_end_dialogue designate the presentation time of the corresponding dialogue. Then, the dialog_presentation_segment () includes a palette_update_flag, which indicates a change of color information within the corresponding dialog. In this memory, when palette_update_flag = 1b, the color and the degree of transparency (value_T) are changed (or updated), and therefore the palette information () is recorded separately, which defines the color again. In this case, the palette () that is newly defined in the segment of

ES 2 338 019 T3 Dialog Presentation (DPS) should be applied only to the corresponding Dialog Presentation Segment (DPS). Assuming that the palette_update_flag = 0b, when presenting (playing) the corresponding dialog presentation segment (DPS), the previously described common palette, which has been defined in the dialog style segment (DSS), has to be restored (or preserved). ), as shown in Figure 9A.

A dialog_region () that defines the region information is then written to the dialog_presentation_segment (). In the present invention, a maximum of two regions are provided within a single dialog, and therefore dialog_region () information is provided to each region. The dialog_region () includes region_style_id information and continuous_present_flag information. The region_style_id information designates any one of the region styles, as shown in FIG. 9B, and the continuous_present_flag information identifies whether seamless playback is performed with the previous dialog region, as shown in FIG. 7B. In addition, text data and region_subtitle () information are also included in the dialog_region (). The text data is included in the corresponding actual region, and the region_subtitle () information defines the local style information.

FIG. 10B illustrates region_subtitle () information defined within dialog_region (). Herein, the region_subtitle () is made up of a group (or pair) of a series of texts and inline style information that is applied to the series of texts. Also, when the type within the region_subtitle () is not equal to type = 0x01, the region_subtitle () represents the inline style information. For example, type = 0x02 represents a change in the Font or Font set, and therefore a letter ID value designated by the corresponding InfoClip is written to a specific field (that is, the online_style_value ()), and type = 0x03 represents a change in Font Style, and thus a corresponding font style value is written to a specific field (that is, the inline_style_value ()). Likewise, type = 0x04 represents a change in Font size, and a corresponding font size value is recorded in a specific field (that is, inline_style_value ()), and type = 0x05 represents a change in font color. Letter, and therefore an index value designated by the corresponding palette is recorded in a specific field (ie, the _line_style () value). Also, type = 0x0A represents a line break. For example, the "mountain" text portion included in Region 1, as shown in Figure 5C, is written as a text_string (eg, text_string = "mountain"), although the text portion is set to "type inline_style = 0x04 (Font resize ”as the local style information. And by setting online_style_value = xxx, the Letter_Size of the corresponding text_string = mountain can be set to a value (xxx) that is different from the value designated by the region_style ().

Figure 11 illustrates a detailed view of an optical recording and / or reproducing apparatus 10 in accordance with the present invention, including the reproduction of the text caption data. The optical recording and / or reproducing apparatus 10 basically includes a pick-up unit 11 for reproducing main data, text subtitle stream and playback control information recorded on the optical disk, a servo 14 that controls the operation of the unit 11 pickup, a signal processor 13 that either recovers the playback signal received from the pickup unit 11 to a desired signal value, or modulates a signal so that it is recorded in an optical disk recordable signal and transmits the modulated signal, and a microcomputer16 that controls the above operations.

In addition, an AV decoder and text subtitle (ST Text) decoder 17 performs the final decoding of output data depending on the controls of the controller 12. And, in order to perform the function of recording a signal on the optical disc, an AV encoder 18 converts an input signal into a signal of a specific format (for example, an MPEG-2 transport stream) depending on controller controls 12, and then provides the converted signal to signal processor 13. Therefore, the AV decoder and the text subtitle (Text ST) decoder 17 are included in the present invention as a single decoder, to simplify the description. However, it is evident that only the text subtitle (Text ST) decoder can be independently included as an element of the present invention.

A buffer 18 is used to preload and store the text caption stream in advance, in order to decode the text caption stream in accordance with the present invention. Controller 12 controls the operations of the optical recording and / or reproducing apparatus. And, when the user enters the command requesting that a text subtitle of a specific language be displayed, then the corresponding text subtitle stream is preloaded and stored in temporary memory 18. Next, among the text caption stream data that is preloaded and stored in the buffer 18, the controller 12 refers to the dialogue information, region information, style information, etc., described above, and controls the text caption decoder 17 so that the actual text data is presented at a specific size and at a specific position on the screen.

More specifically, in the method for reproducing the text subtitle stream according to the present invention, a dialogue style segment (DSS) recorded in the first packet elementary stream (PES) is read into the text subtitle stream. . A specific style is then applied to each dialog presentation segment (DPS) recorded in the elementary packet stream (PES) that succeeds (or follows) the second PES for playback. However, the reproduction is performed by deciding the application of the previous DPS according to the continuous_presentation_flag recorded in the dialog presentation segment (DPS), which the user wants to reproduce. In other words, when the continuous presentation information recorded within the current dialogue presentation segment (DPS), which is to be played (or presented), is set to be continuous_presentation_flag = 0b, the presentation segment

ES 2 338 019 T3 current dialogue (DPS) is presented independently of the previous dialogue presentation segment (DPS). On the other hand, when the continuous presentation information recorded within the current dialogue presentation segment (DPS), which is to be played (or presented), is set to be continuous_presentation_flag = ab, the current dialogue presentation segment is reproduced (or presented) using the decoded result of the previous dialogue presentation segment.

Industrial applicability

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is intended to cover modifications and variations of this invention as long as they fall within the scope of the appended claims.