Video stream index generation at a video content transmitter

Abstract

A method of generating and using indexing information for video content is presented. In the method, an index stream for a video stream is generated at a video content transmitter. The video stream includes video frames, and the index stream includes an index for each of at least some of the video frames within the video stream. The video stream and the index stream are transmitted from the video content transmitter to a video content receiver, which receives and stores the video and index streams. Further, at the video content receiver, the index stream is processed to locate the video frames within the video stream that are associated with at least some of the indexes of the index stream, and at least some of the located video frames of the video stream are presented to an output device under control of a user of the video content receiver.

1 . A method of generating and using indexing information for video content, the method comprising:
 at the video content transmitter, generating an index stream for a video stream, wherein the video stream comprises video frames, and wherein the index stream comprises an index for each of at least some of the video frames within the video stream; and   at the video content transmitter, transmitting the video stream and the index stream to a video content receiver.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 at the video content receiver, receiving and storing the video stream and the index stream;   at the video content receiver, processing the index stream to locate the video frames within the video stream that are associated with at least some of the indexes of the index stream; and   at the video content receiver, presenting at least some of the located video frames of the video stream to an output device under control of a user of the video content receiver.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the at least some of the video frames comprise intra-coded video frames.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the video stream is accompanied by an associated audio stream.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the video content transmitter comprises one of a satellite television headend transmitter and a cable television headend transmitter.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the video stream and the index stream are transmitted within a transport data stream, wherein the video stream and the index stream are packetized elementary streams of the transport data stream.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 each of the at least some of the video frames comprises a timestamp; and   each of the indexes of the index stream comprises at least a portion of the timestamp of the video frame associated with the index.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 at the video content receiver, matching the timestamp of at least one of the indexes with the timestamp of at least one of the video frames of the video stream to synchronize the index stream with the video stream.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 each of the indexes of the index stream comprises a sequence number indicating a relative position of the index compared to other indexes of the index stream.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 at the video content receiver, employing the sequence number of each of the indexes of the index stream to determine if any of the indexes of the index stream are missing.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 each of the indexes of the index stream comprises a data offset of the associated video frame relative to the video stream.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein:
 presenting the at least some of the located video frames of the video stream to the output device is accomplished using at least one of the data offsets of the index stream.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 each of the indexes of the index stream comprises a data offset indicating an amount of data of the video stream from the beginning of the video frame associated with an immediately preceding indexed video frame up to, but not including, the video frame associated with the index.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein:
 presenting the at least some of the located video frames of the video stream to the output device is accomplished using at least one of the data offsets of the index stream.   
     
     
         15 . A video content transmitter, comprising:
 an indexing circuit configured to generate an index stream from a video stream, wherein the video stream comprises video frames, and wherein the index stream comprises an index for each of at least some of the video frames within the video stream;   a multiplexer configured to multiplex the video stream and the index stream into a data stream; and   a transmitter circuit configured to transmit the data stream to a video content receiver.   
     
     
         16 . The video content transmitter of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the transmitting circuit is configured to transmit the data stream over one of a cable television network and a satellite television network to the video content receiver.   
     
     
         17 . A video content receiver, comprising:
 a receiver circuit configured to receive a data stream comprising a video stream and an index stream, wherein the video stream comprises video frames, and wherein the index stream comprises indexes, wherein each of the indexes indicates a location of one of the video frames within the video stream;   data storage for storing the data stream and the index stream;   an output interface configured to present the video stream to an output device;   a user interface; and   control circuitry configured to:
 process the index stream to locate the video frames within the video stream that are associated with at least some of the indexes of the index stream; and 
 present at least some of the located video frames of the video stream to the output device by way of the output interface under user control by way of the user interface. 
   
     
     
         18 . The video content receiver of  claim 17 , wherein, to process the index stream, the control circuitry is configured to:
 synchronize the index stream with the video stream by matching a timestamp of at least one video frame with a timestamp of an associated index.   
     
     
         19 . The video content receiver of  claim 18 , wherein, to process the index stream, the control circuitry is configured to:
 locate another video frame associated with another index by using the other index to determine a location of the other video frame based on a location of the at least one video frame.   
     
     
         20 . The video content receiver of  claim 18 , wherein, to process the index stream, the control circuitry is configured to:
 attempt to locate another video frame associated with another index by using the other index to determine a location of the other video frame based on a location of the at least one video frame; and   if the attempt to locate the other video frame is unsuccessful, synchronize the index stream with the video stream by matching a timestamp of another one of the video frames with a timestamp of an associated index.