Patent Application
20150163513
This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0151680 filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 6, 2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving high-definition contents through a broadcasting system using a dual stream.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A digital broadcasting service using a dual stream includes a 3DTV broadcasting service as a representative digital broadcasting service. In order to guarantee backward compatibility with an existing digital TV (DTV), a presently projecting 3DTV broadcasting system forms 3D contents into two streams of an image for a left eye and an image for a right eye. A dual stream method encodes each of an image for a left eye and an image for a right eye with different specifications and bit per second (bps). Tables 1 to 3 represent a portion of ATSC A/104 standard and ISO/IEC 13818-1:2013 of Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), which is a US digital broadcasting standardization committee.
As can be seen in Tables 1 to 3, by applying ISO/IEC 13818-1:2013, an ATSC A/104 standard defines a base view of a stream type to 0x02 (MPEG-2) and defines an additional view to 0x23 (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264). 3D related information is identified using a stereoscopic_program_info_descriptor and a stereoscopic_video_info_descriptor.
Such a 3DTV broadcasting system can transmit a broadcasting signal to both a DTV user and a 3DTV user. In this case, the DTV user may receive a dual stream of the 3DTV broadcasting system to display only one stream or may receive and display a stream in which the same image is encoded in a dual stream. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to transmit high-definition 2D contents with a specification of a present broadcasting system.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving high-definition 2D contents through a broadcasting system using a dual stream.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a method of transmitting high-definition contents to a digital television (TV). The method includes: dividing the high-definition contents into two portions; encoding the two portions into a dual stream of a broadcasting system; and transmitting the encoded dual stream.
The two portions may be an odd number field and an even number field of each frame of the high-definition contents, and the encoding of the two portions may include encoding the odd number field and the even number field into the dual stream, respectively.
The encoding of the two portions may include encoding the odd number field into a first stream of the dual stream and encoding the even number field into a second stream of the dual stream.
The encoding of the two portions may include: encoding the odd number field into a first stream of the dual stream and encoding the even number field into a second stream of the dual stream for 1/N second, when the number of frames per second (fps) of the high-definition contents is N; and encoding the even number field into the first stream and encoding the odd number field into the second stream for a next 1/N second after the 1/N second.
The two portions may be an even-numbered frame group and an odd-numbered frame group of a plurality of frames that are included in the high-definition contents, and the encoding of the two portions may include encoding the odd-numbered frame group and the even-numbered frame group into the dual stream, respectively.
The encoding of the two portions may include: encoding the odd-numbered frame group into a first stream of the dual stream and encoding the even-numbered frame group into a second stream of the dual stream for 1/N second, when the number of fps of the high-definition contents is N; and encoding the even-numbered frame group into the first stream and encoding the odd-numbered frame group into the second stream for a next 1/N second after the 1/N second
Another embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus that transmits high-definition contents to a digital TV. The apparatus includes: a dividing device that divides the high-definition contents into two portions; an encoder that encodes the two portions into a dual stream of a broadcasting system; and a transmitter that transmits the encoded dual stream.
The two portions may be an odd number field and an even number field of each frame of the high-definition contents, and the encoder may encode the odd number field and the even number field into the dual stream, respectively.
The encoder may include a first encoder that encodes the odd number field into a first stream of the dual stream and a second encoder that encodes the even number field into a second stream of the dual stream.
The encoder may encode the odd number field into a first stream of the dual stream and encode the even number field into a second stream of the dual stream for 1/N second and encode the even number field into the first stream and encode the odd number field into the second stream for a next 1/N second after the 1/N second, when the number of frames per second (fps) of the high-definition contents is N.
The two portions may be an even-numbered frame group and an odd-numbered frame group of a plurality of frames that are included in the high-definition contents, and the encoder may encode the odd-numbered frame group and the even-numbered frame group into the dual stream, respectively.
The encoder may include: a first encoder that encodes the odd-numbered frame group into a first stream of the dual stream; and a second encoder that encodes the even-numbered frame group into a second stream of the dual stream.
The encoder may encode the odd-numbered frame group into a first stream of the dual stream and encode the even-numbered frame group into a second stream of the dual stream for 1/N second and encode the even-numbered frame group into the first stream and encode the odd-numbered frame group into the second stream for a next 1/N second after the 1/N second, when the number of fps of the high-definition contents is N.
Yet another embodiment of the present invention provides a method of receiving high-definition contents. The method includes: receiving a dual stream in which the high-definition contents are encoded; decoding the dual stream; and combining a first stream and a second stream of the decoded dual stream and generating the high-definition contents.
The first stream may include an odd number field of each frame of the high-definition contents and the second stream may include an even number field of each frame of the high-definition contents.
The first stream may include an odd number field of each frame of the high-definition contents and the second stream may include an even number field of each frame of the high-definition contents for 1/N second, and the first stream may include an even number field and the second stream may include an odd number field for a next 1/N second after the 1/N second, when the number of frames per second (fps) of the high-definition contents is N.
The first stream may include an odd numbered frame group of a plurality of frames that are included in the high-definition contents, and the second stream may include an even numbered frame group of a plurality of frames that are included in the high-definition contents.
The first stream may include an odd-numbered frame group of a plurality of frames that are included in the high-definition contents and the second stream may include an even-numbered frame group of a plurality of frames that are included in the high-definition contents for 1/N second, and the first stream may include the even-numbered frame group and the second stream may include the odd-numbered frame group for a next 1/N second after the 1/N second, when the number of fps of the high-definition contents is N.
In the following detailed description, only certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, simply by way of illustration. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive. Like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification.
In addition, in the entire specification, unless explicitly described to the contrary, the word “comprise” and variations such as “comprises” or “comprising” will be understood to imply the inclusion of stated elements but not the exclusion of any other elements. In addition, the terms “-er”, “-or”, “module”, and “block” described in the specification mean units for processing at least one function and operation and can be implemented by hardware components or software components and combinations thereof.
Referring to
The base view encoder 110 encodes base view video, and the additional view encoder 120 encodes additional view video. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a base view encoder and an additional view encoder may each encode high-definition contents that are divided into two portions into a dual stream of a 3DTV broadcasting system.
The multiplexer 200 multiplexes a dual stream that is encoded in the base view encoder and the additional view encoder with audio and auxiliary data.
The transmitter 300 transmits the multiplexed stream using the 3DTV broadcasting system.
The DTV 400 receives a stream of the 3DTV broadcasting system and displays contents.
Referring to
That is, according to an ATSC standard, a binocular 3D image is provided with a dual stream using a base view encoder and an additional view encoder. In this case, when 2D contents are provided with a method of switching and providing only a base view, an additional view encoder should be stopped, and thus when 3D contents are converted to 2D contents, screen flickering may occur. Hereinafter, a method of transmitting high-definition contents of a high frame rate to a DTV through a broadcasting system using a dual stream will be described. An image of a progressive method (1080 60p) of 60 fps and in which a longitudinal resolution is 1080 is described as an example of high-definition contents of a high frame data rate. In this case, a longitudinal resolution 1080 is a specification of a present high-definition (HD) image, and the present invention can be applied to a higher resolution and frame data rate.
Referring to
Next, the encoders 110 and 120 encode the divided image into an image of an interlace method 60i. That is, the encoders 110 and 120 each encode high-definition contents that are divided into data (odd number field) of an odd-numbered line and data (even number field) of an even-numbered line into a dual stream of a broadcasting system in each frame.
In this case, two separated fields may each be encoded into one stream, but as shown in
Thereafter, the transmitter 300 transmits the encoded dual stream to a DTV using a broadcasting system. As described above, because a broadcasting system using a dual stream can transmit two broadcasting streams, odd number fields and even number fields according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be transmitted through a dual stream of a broadcasting system.
Thereafter, the DTV 400, having received a 1080 60i image through a dual stream, decodes the received dual stream and combines the decoded each stream, thereby generating one 1080 60p image. Generation of one 1080 60p image by combining the received 1080 60i image stream may be performed in a device that is located at the outside of the DTV 400, and may be performed in a processor that is included in the DTV 400.
Referring to
Thereafter, the encoders 110 and 120 encode each divided frame group into a dual stream of a progressive method 30p.
As in an exemplary embodiment of
Thereafter, the transmitter 300 transmits a dual stream to the DTV 400. Then, the DTV 400 having received a 1080 30p image through two streams decodes the received dual stream and combines each decoded stream, thereby generating a 1080 60p image.
As described above, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, because a 2D high-definition image can be transmitted to a digital TV using a dual stream of a broadcasting system, a viewer can view a 2D high-definition image through an existing digital TV.
While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2013-0151680 | Dec 2013 | KR | national |
