Patent ID: 6697569
Filing Date: 2004-02-24
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
A method of converting a visual presentation into a digital format, comprising:monitoring a first sequence of first visible events in the visual presentation, and also monitoring a second sequence of second visible events in the visual presentation, wherein timewise corresponding relationships exist between at least some of the first visible events and at least some of the second visible events; while the first and second sequences are occurring, producing in response to the first and second sequences first and second digital signals that respectively represent the first and second sequences but are not indicative of said timewise corresponding relationships; while the first and second sequences are occurring, processing current portions of the first and second digital signals while successive portions of the first and second digital signals are concurrently being produced in response to the first and second sequences, said processing step including automatically producing digital data indicative of said timewise corresponding relationships; wherein said processing step includes capturing portions of the second digital signal and converting each of said captured portions into a corresponding still image data format, said still image data-formatted portions representing respective parts of the second sequence, and wherein said automatically producing step includes assigning to each still image data-formatted portion a time reference indicative of a time at which the corresponding portion of the second digital signal was captured; and wherein said processing step further includes encoding the first digital signal to produce an encoded data stream, said assigning step including assigning said time references relative to elapsed time in said encoded data stream, and the method further including inserting into the encoded data stream, at respective points in time corresponding to the time references, information indicative of the respective still image data-formatted portions corresponding to the time references.