Patent Publication Number: US-2006008260-A1

Title: Disk player, display control method thereof, data analyzing method thereof

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
      This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 94116258, filed on May 19, 2005. All disclosure of the Taiwan application is incorporated herein by reference.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a disk player, and more particularly, to a DVD disk player, a method for controlling the DVD display, and a data analyzing method thereof.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      An optical disk has some advantages, for example, high storage capacity, easy storage, long time preservation, low cost and data durability, it has become one of the indispensable optical storage mediums in our daily life and gradually replaced the conventional magnetic storage medium. For example, a digital versatile disk (DVD) includes audio and video (AV) display data such as video, audio and captions, and display control information.  
       FIG. 1  schematically shows a block diagram of a conventional DVD player. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the conventional DVD player  200  comprises a navigator  210 , a de-multiplexer  220 , a decoder  230 , an audio post process unit  240 , an audio output unit  250 , a video post process unit  260 , a video output unit  270 , a user interface  280  and a control module  290 . Wherein, the control module  290  provides a display control signal to the navigator  210  according to a signal input by the user, and the navigator  210  reads an AV data from an optical disk  100  based on the display control signal.  
      The decoder  220  divides the AV data into an audio data, a video data and a sub-picture unit (SPU) that are then respectively provided to an audio decoder  232 , a video decoder  234  and a sub-picture decoder  236  of the decoder  230 . To be more specifically, a display information (including time, position, color contrast, etc.) is decoded by the sub-picture decoder  236  based on the sub-picture unit, and a corresponding caption image is output by the sub-picture decoder  236  according to the display time corresponded to the caption image. In addition, the caption image is usually with a bitmap format.  
      Then, the video post process unit  260  receives the caption image from the sub-picture decoder  236 , and merges the caption image with an image output from the video decoder  234 . Moreover, the display time is determined by the audio decoder  232 , the video decoder  234 , and the sub-picture decoder  236  according to the system timing. A general DVD player usually uses a display time of video data or audio data as its base reference of display. It is to be noted that the navigator  210  may further receive a plug-in caption data for display captions of different languages on the screen. In addition, the AV data in the optical disk  100  further contains a Line-21 information for providing the caption information, wherein the so-called “Line-21 information” is the information hidden in the 21 th  scanning line.  
      As mentioned above, the user control signals received by the conventional DVD player  200  comprise various functions, for example, fast play, slow play, reverse fast play, reverse slow play, and fixed pattern play (including A-to-B replay). However, such AV display control uses the navigator display information, the video display time, or the audio output time as its base reference for controlling the display time. A user is not able to use the caption image as its base reference for controlling the display time. In addition, such conventional DVD player  200  cannot not analyze the digital AV content or provide the database corresponding to the digital content.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disk player that recognizes the caption image as a text data in order to control the AV data display.  
      It is another object of the present invention to provide a disk player that provides the functions such as word search and AV data classification.  
      It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a display control method for recognizing the caption image as a text data in order to control the AV data display.  
      It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a data analyzing method for recognizing the caption image as a text data in order to classify the AV data.  
      In order to achieve the objects mentioned above and others, the present invention provides a disk player. The disk player includes a control module, a navigator, a de-multiplexer, a decoder, a text recognition module and a data comparing module. Wherein, the control module outputs a display control signal according to an operation command. The navigator reads an audio and video (AV) data according to the display control signal. The de-multiplexer divides the AV data into an audio data, a video data and a sub-picture unit. An audio decoding signal, a video decoding signal, a caption image and a display time information corresponding to the caption image are decoded by the decoder according to the audio data, the video data and the sub-picture unit, respectively. The text recognition module recognizes the caption image as a first text data. The data comparing module receives a second text data and compares the first and the second text data to export an analysis result or a display time information corresponding to the second text data.  
      In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the text recognition module mentioned above is an optical character recognition (OCR) module.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second text data mentioned above is input by the user for displaying the AV data corresponded to the second text data.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the disk player mentioned above further comprises a database. The second text data is from the database, and an analysis result is output by the data comparing module. The database at least comprises either a build-in database or a user-defined database. In addition, the disc player mentioned above further comprises a word selection module, and the user uses the word selection module to select the first text data as the input of the data comparing module.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the disk player mentioned above further comprises a user interface. The user interface is electrically coupled to the control module, and an operation command is provided to the control module through the user interface by the user.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the decoder mentioned above is for example an audio decoder, a video decoder or a sub-picture decoder. Wherein, the audio decoder receives and decodes an audio data from the de-multiplexer to generate an audio decoding signal. The video decoder receives and decodes a video data from the de-multiplexer to generate a video decoding signal. The sub-picture decoder receives and decodes a sub-picture unit from the de-multiplexer to generate a caption image and a display time information corresponding to the caption image.  
      The disk player mentioned above further comprises a video post process unit and a video output unit. Wherein, the video post process unit receives the video decoding signal, the caption image, and the display time information corresponding to the caption image for generating a video signal. The video output unit receives the video signal and generates a video output signal.  
      The disk player mentioned above further comprises an audio post process unit and an audio output unit. Wherein, the audio post process unit receives the audio decoding signal and generates an audio signal. The audio output unit receives the audio signal and generates an audio output signal.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the navigator provides a setup signal to the text recognition module in order to control the types of text to be recognized by the text recognition module.  
      In order to achieve the objects mentioned above and others, the present invention provides a disk player. The disk player comprises a control module, an AV display unit, a text recognition module and a data comparing module. Wherein, the control module outputs a display control signal according to an operation command. The AV display unit reads an AV data and outputs an audio output signal, a video output signal, a caption image, and a display time information corresponding to the caption image according to the display control signal. The text recognition module recognizes the caption image as a first text data. The data comparing module receives a second text data, compares the first text data with the second text data, and exports an analysis result or a display time information corresponding to the second text data.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the text recognition module mentioned above is for example an OCR module.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the disk player mentioned above further comprises a user interface, electrically coupled to the control module. The operation command is input to the control module through the user interface by the user.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second text data mentioned above is input by the user for displaying the AV data corresponded to the second text data.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the disk player mentioned above further comprises a database. The second text data is from the database, and an analysis result is output by the data comparing module. The database at least comprises either a build-in database or a user-defined database. In addition, the disc player mentioned above further comprises a word selection module, and the user uses the word selection module to select the first text data as the input of the data comparing module.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the data comparing module mentioned above further receives a Line-21 information or a plug-in caption information. The data comparing module compares the second text data with the corresponding Line-21 information or the plug-in caption information to export the analysis result or the display time information corresponding to the second text data.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the AV display unit mentioned above comprises a navigator, a de-multiplexer, and a decoder. Wherein, the navigator electrically coupled to the control module reads the AV data according to the display control signal. The de-multiplexer divides the AV data into an audio data, a video data, and a sub-picture unit. The decoder decodes the audio data, the video data, and the sub-picture unit into an audio decoding signal, a video decoding signal, a caption image and a display time information corresponding to the caption image.  
      The decoder mentioned above is for example an audio decoder, a video decoder and a sub-picture decoder. Wherein, the audio decoder receives and decodes an audio data from the de-multiplexer to generate an audio decoding signal. The video decoder receives and decodes a video data from the de-multiplexer to generate a video decoding signal. The sub-picture decoder receives and decodes a sub-picture unit from the de-multiplexer to generate a caption image and a display time information corresponding to the caption image.  
      The disk player mentioned above further comprises a video post process unit and a video output unit. Wherein, the video post process unit receives the video decoding signal, the caption image, and the display time information corresponding to the caption image to generate a video signal. The video output unit receives the video signal and generates a video output signal.  
      The disk player mentioned above further comprises an audio post process unit and an audio output unit. Wherein, the audio post process unit receives the audio decoding signal and generates an audio signal. The audio output unit receives the audio signal and generates an audio output signal.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the navigator provides a setup signal to the text recognition module in order to control the types of text to be recognized by the text recognition module.  
      In order to achieve the objects mentioned above and others, the present invention provides a display control method for controlling an AV data display. The display control method comprises the following steps. First, a caption image and a display time information corresponding to the caption image are decoded from the AV data, and the caption image is converted into a first text data. Then, the first text data is compared with a second text data input by the user. Finally, the display time information corresponding to the second text data is output in order to display the AV data corresponding to the display time information.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method of converting the caption image into the first text data mentioned above is for example an OCR technique.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method of decoding the AV data may be an asynchronous output.  
      In order to achieve the objects mentioned above and others, the present invention provides a data analyzing method for analyzing an AV data. Wherein, the display control method comprises the following steps. First, a caption image is decoded from the AV data, and the caption image is converted into a first text data. Then, the first text data is compared with a second text data input by the user or from a database. Finally, an analysis result is output.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method of converting the caption image into the first text data mentioned above is for example an OCR technique.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method of comparing the first text data with the second text data from the database is for example a database search technique.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, after the step of converting the caption image into the first text data, the method further comprises selecting a part from the first text data for comparison.  
      In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method for decoding the caption image may be an asynchronous output.  
      In summary, the caption image is converted into a text data in the present invention, thus the text data can be used by the user to control the display. In addition, the AV data is classified by the user based on the text data converted from the caption image. Moreover, the text data converted from the caption image can also be used by the user to do word searching. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.  
       FIG. 1  schematically shows a block diagram of a conventional DVD player.  
       FIG. 2  schematically shows a block diagram of a DVD player according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  schematically shows a flow chart illustrating a word monitoring function of the DVD player according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  schematically shows a flow chart illustrating an AV display control function of the DVD player according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  schematically shows a block diagram of a DVD player according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 6  schematically shows a flow chart illustrating a data analyzing function of the DVD player according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 7  schematically shows a block diagram of a DVD player according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 8  schematically shows a flow chart illustrating a word query function of the DVD player according to the third preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     First Embodiment  
       FIG. 2  schematically shows a block diagram of a DVD player according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to  FIG. 2 , the disk player  300  comprises a control module  370 , a navigator  310 , a de-multiplexer  320 , a decoder  330 , a text recognition module  380 , and a data comparing module  390 . Wherein, the user inputs an operation command to the control module  370  through a user interface  360 ; and the operation command is for example the command of various functions such as fast play, slow play, reverse fast play, reverse slow play, and fixed pattern play (including A-to-B replay). It is to be noted that the operation command of the present embodiment further comprises word monitoring, display control, data analysis or word search, etc. The details are described hereinafter.  
      The control module  370  outputs a display control signal according to the operation command; and the navigator  310  reads an AV data based on the display control signal. In addition, the AV data can be read from hard drive, optical disk, Internet, or other types of data storage media. The de-multiplexer  320  divides the AV data into an audio data, a video data and a sub-picture unit. Moreover, the decoder  330  decodes the audio data, video data, and sub-picture unit into an audio decoding signal, a video decoding signal, a caption image and a display time information corresponding to a caption image, respectively.  
      To be more specifically, the decoder  330  comprises an audio decoder  332 , a video decoder  334  and a sub-picture decoder  336 . Wherein, the audio decoder  332  receives and decodes an audio data from the de-multiplexer  320  to generate an audio decoding signal. In addition, the audio post process unit  342  receives the audio decoding signal and generates an audio signal. The audio output unit  344  receives the audio signal and generates an audio output signal. Moreover, the audio output signal can be transmitted to a speaker (not shown).  
      The video decoder  334  receives and decodes a video data from the de-multiplexer  320  and generates a video decoding signal. In addition, the sub-picture decoder  336  receives and decodes a sub-picture unit from the de-multiplexer  320  and generates a caption image and a display time information corresponding to the caption image. Moreover, the video post process unit  352  receives the video decoding signal, the caption image, and the display time information corresponding to the caption image to generate a video signal. The video output unit  354  receives the video signal and generates a video output signal. Furthermore, the video output signal can be transmitted to a screen.  
      It is to be noted that the text recognition module  380  recognizes the caption image as a first text data, and the text recognition module  380  can be an OCR module or other text recognition module. In addition, the text recognition module  380  receives a setup signal from the control module  370  for determining the type of text to be recognized. In order to store the recognized first text data, the text recognition module  380  may further comprise a memory unit (not shown). Moreover, the data comparing module  390  receives a second text data and compares the first text data with the second text data so as to export an analysis result or a display time information corresponding to the second text data. Furthermore, all of the navigator  310 , the de-multiplexer  320 , the decoder  330 , the audio post process unit  342 , the audio output unit  344 , the video post process unit  352  and the video output unit  354  mentioned above may be cooperated and referred to as an AV display unit  300   a . By the way, the text recognition module  380  and the data comparing module  390  may be added into the AV display unit  300   a  with a plug-in method in order to provide additional functions. The operation flow of the disk player  300  is described in greater detail hereinafter.  
       FIG. 3  schematically shows a flow chart illustrating a word monitoring function of the DVD player according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , the word monitoring function comprises the following steps. First, the AV is displayed in step S 110 . Then, after an operation command (word monitoring) is input by the user through the user interface  360 , it is determined whether to enter into the word monitoring mode in step S 120 .  
      Then, in step S 130 , the user inputs a keyword through the user interface  360 , and the keyword is input to the data comparing module  390 . In addition, the user may also control the navigator  310  through the user interface  360  and the control module  370  to output a setup signal to the text recognition module  380 , such that the type of text to be recognized by the text recognition module  380  is set. Afterwards, the sub-picture decoder  336  decodes the caption image of the AV data and the display time information corresponding to the caption image. In addition, the sub-picture decoder  336  receives a text recognition control signal from the control module  370  and inputs an enable signal to the text recognition module  380  based on the text recognition control signal so as to activate the text recognition module  380 . Then, in step S 140 , the caption image is provided to the text recognition module  380  to recognize the first text data. Wherein, the method of converting the caption image into the first text data can be an OCR technique.  
      Then, in step S 150 , the recognized first text data is compared with the second text data input by the user. In step S 160 , it is determined whether the comparison is matched or not. If it is not matched, steps S 140 , S 150 , and S 160  are repeated until all of the caption images in the AV data are recognized. Otherwise, if the comparison is matched, step S 170  is performed, where a message of “comparison is matched” is displayed on the screen or a voice is generated by the audio device to notify the user.  
      In summary, in the present embodiment, the caption image in the AV data is converted into text data with the OCR technique, thus the text data can be used by the user. For example, it is possible to search whether a specific keyword is existed in the AV data or not as shown in  FIG. 3 . However, since each caption image has individual corresponding display time information, it is possible for the user to determine the start point and the end point of the AV data display by inputting the keyword, and its detail is described in greater detail hereinafter.  
       FIG. 4  schematically shows a flow chart illustrating an AV display control function of the DVD player according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 4 , the AV display control function comprises the following steps. First in step S 210 , after an operation command is input by the user via the user interface  360 , the system enters into a special display mode and the output of the audio and video is turned off. Meanwhile, the user controls the navigator  310  through the user interface  360  and the control module  370  to output a setup signal to the text recognition module  380 , such that the type of text to be recognized by the text recognition module  380  can be configured. Then, in step S 220 , the sub-picture unit is asynchronously exported and provided to the text recognition module  380  for recognition. Here, the so-called “asynchronously exporting the sub-picture unit” means to input the sub-picture unit to the text recognition module  380  without considering the display time, such that the speed of exporting the sub-picture unit can be improved.  
      Then, in step S 230 , a keyword is input to the data comparing module  390 . It is to be noted that step S 230  and step S 220  may be performed in an arbitrary order. In step S 240 , the data comparing module compares the text input by the user with the text data recognized from the caption image. In step S 250 , if the comparison is not matched, the AV display control function is terminated. If the comparison is matched, the display time information corresponding to the caption image of the recognized text data is exported in step S 260 . Then, in step S 270 , the operation mode is back to the normal display mode, and AV is displayed starting from a time point indicated by the display time information provided in step S 260 .  
      To be more specifically, the data comparing module  390  provides the display time information corresponding to the caption image of the recognized text data to the navigator  310 ; and the navigator  310  reads the AV data to be displayed according to the display time information. In other words, it is possible for the user to control the AV data display by inputting a keyword. Furthermore, if the navigator  310  reads the AV data with the Line- 21  information or the plug-in caption information, the data can be directly compared without using the text recognition module  380 .  
     Second Embodiment  
       FIG. 5  schematically shows a block diagram of a DVD player according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, and  FIG. 6  schematically shows a flow chart illustrating a data analyzing function of the DVD player according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to  FIG. 5 , the second embodiment is similar to the first embodiment except that the disk player  400  further comprises a build-in database  412 . For example, the build-in database  412  is an English-Chinese dictionary, a TOEFL dictionary or a dirty word book. In other words, the text data recognized from the caption image may be compared with the build-in database  412 , such that the content of the AV data can be classified. In addition, the data source of the data comparing module  390  may be a user-defined database, wherein the words additionally input by the user become a part of the user-defined database. It is to be noted that both the build-in database  412  and the user-defined database  414  can be stored in either an external storage media or a build-in storage media.  
      Referring to  FIG. 5  and  FIG. 6 , the data analyzing function comprises the following steps. First in step S 310 , after an operation command is input by the user via the user interface  360 , the system enters into a special display mode and the output of the audio and video is turned off. Meanwhile, the user controls the navigator  310  through the user interface  360  and the control module  370  to provide a setup signal to the text recognition module  380 , such that the type of text to be recognized by the text recognition module  380  can be configured. Then, in step S 320 , the caption image is asynchronously read and output to the text recognition module  380  for recognition. In step S 330 , the recognized text data is output to the data comparing module  390  for comparison. The method for comparing the recognized text data with the build-in database  412  or the user-defined database  414  is for example a database search technique.  
      Then, in step S 340 , the recognition results complying with the database are calculated. Then, the property of the AV data content is analyzed based on the statistic result in step S 350 . Finally, in step S 360 , a comparison result is exported. It is to be noted that the comparison result may be exported to the screen or stored in the memory unit. In addition, the comparison result for example includes whether the difficult level of the analyzed AV data is corresponded to the TOEFL exam, or whether the analyzed AV data is suitable for the underage to watch. Furthermore, if the navigator  310  reads the AV data with the Line- 21  information or the plug-in caption information, the data can be directly compared without using the text recognition module  380 .  
     Third Embodiment  
       FIG. 7  schematically shows a block diagram of a DVD player according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention, and  FIG. 8  schematically shows a flow chart illustrating a word query function of the DVD player according to the third preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to  FIG. 7 , the third embodiment is similar to the second embodiment except that the disk player  500  further comprises a word selection module  510 ; and the user can select the text data to be queried through the word selection module  510 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 7  and  FIG. 8 , the data analyzing function comprises the following steps. First in step S 410 , an operation command is input by the user via the user interface  360  to suspend the AV display. Meanwhile, the user controls the navigator  310  through the user interface  360  and the control module  370  to output a setup signal to the text recognition module  380 , such that the type of text to be recognized by the text recognition module  380  can be configured. Then, in step S 420 , the caption image decoded by the sub-picture decoder  336  is input to the text recognition module  380  for recognition. Then, in step S 430 , a number is marked on the caption image for user to select.  
      Then, the user selects the text to be queried through the user interface  360  in step S 440 . In step S 450 , the text selected by the user is provided to the data comparing module  390  and compared with a database. For example, the database may be a build-in database  412  or a user-defined database  414 . In addition, the build-in database  412  or the user-defined database  414  is for example an English-Chinese dictionary, an English-to-English dictionary or a Chinese-to-English dictionary.  
      Then, in step S 460 , it is determined whether the comparison is matched. If the comparison is not matched, steps S 470  and S 490  are sequentially performed. In step S 470 , a message of “no such data in the database” is displayed on the screen, and in step S 490 , the AV data display is resumed. If the comparison is matched, steps S 480  and S 490  are sequentially performed. In step S 480 , a comparison result is displayed on the screen. In other words, the user is able to use the word query function to display the representation of the queried word while watching the AV information. Furthermore, if the navigator  310  reads the AV data with the Line-21 information or the plug-in caption information, the data can be directly compared without using the text recognition module  380 .  
      In summary, the disk player and the methods for display control and data analysis provided by the present invention at least have the following advantages:  
      1. Compared to the conventional technique, with the disk player provided by the present invention, the user can use the caption image to control the AV display.  
      2. Since the caption image of the AV data can be recognized as text data, the AV data can be classified by the user based on the text data.  
      3. Since the caption image of the AV data can be recognized as text data, when the AV data is displayed, the user can query the representation of word meanings shown on the screen.  
      Although the invention has been described with reference to a particular embodiment thereof, it will be apparent to one of the ordinary skill in the art that modifications to the described embodiment may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention will be defined by the attached claims not by the above detailed description.