Audio and/or video generation apparatus and method of generating audio and/or video signals

Abstract

An audio and / or video generation apparatus comprises a recording processor which is operable to record audio and / or video signals on a recording medium, a meta data generation processor which is operable to generate meta data identifying the content of the audio / video signals, and a communications processor which arranged to communicate the meta data separately from the recording medium. Furthermore, the meta data generation processor may be operable to generate at least one sample image which is representative of a video image from the recorded video signals, and to associate the sample image with an address on the recording medium at which the video image is recorded. The video and / or audio generation apparatus provides an advantage in generating and utilising meta data to facilitate the generation of audio / video productions. Accordingly, a system for generating an audio and / or video production comprises an acquisition processor operable in use to receive instructions from a user which instructions are representative of a list of content items for the audio and / or video production. The audio and / or video generation apparatus is arranged in use to receive information representative of the list of content items, and to generate audio and / or video signals in accordance with the content items on the list. An ingestion processor may be provided to receive the list of content items, and the audio and / or video signals and to form the audio and / or video production by associating the audio and / or video signals with the list of content items.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to audio and / or video generation apparatus and methods of generating audio and / or video signals. The present invention also relates to systems for facilitating the generation of audio and / or video productions. [0002] The present invention also relates to acquisition processors for use in generating audio and / or video productions, and audio and / or video generation apparatus. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] The subject matter and content of audio and video productions varies greatly. In addition, to this variety there is, correspondingly, a considerable quantity of such audio and video productions. The quantity has been required to meet the demand from the broadcast and entertainment industries. The audio productions include, for example, radio broadcasts, both live and pre-recorded, musical and audio recordings, whereas video productions include, for example, films, television programs and video recordings. As will be app...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] As will be understood from the foregoing discussion, rapid identification of the content of audio / video material for asset management or for facilitating editing of the audio / video material, provides a considerable advantage and benefit, in particular to producers of audio / video material. The audio / video generation apparatus provides this advantage and benefit by including a communications processor in combination with a meta data generator to communicate meta data describing the contents of the audio / video material separately to the recording medium. The meta data can therefore be received in advance of the recording medium to identify which parts of the content are relevant to the editor, or to store the meta data in an asset management system so that the content of the recording medium can be rapidly assimilated.

[0032] Although it is conventional to acquire items of audio / video material from a source and to edit these items to form an audio / video production, the present invention recognises an advantage in pre-planning audio / video material items and providing a system for effecting the process of generating such productions. Accordingly, a system is provided with an acquisition processor which receives instructions which are representative of a list of content items for the audio and / or video production. An audio and / or video generation apparatus receives an indication from the acquisition processor of which of the items from the list audio / video signals are to be acquired from a source, and generates audio and / or video signals in association with the communicated content item. After acquiring the audio / video material items an ingestion processor is arranged to apply the list of content items to the audio and / or video signals. In effect the audio / video production is formed from the association of the audio and / or video signals with the list of content items. The efficiency with which the audio / video production is generated is improved, and in addition the pre-planned production information in the form of the list of content items can be re-used repeatedly, thereby adding value to future productions.

Problems solved by technology

As a result of the great variety and considerable quantity of audio / video productions, the task of locating particular content items of audio / video material within an archive of audio / video productions represents an arduous and labour intensive task, because an operator must visually search the audio / video productions for the desired content item.

Furthermore, because of the length of audio / video productions which are typically although not exclusively stored on linear recording media, the task of navigating through the media to locate particular content items of audio / video material from an audio / video production is time consuming and labour intensive.

The content of audio / video material is typically stored in a form which does not readily allow access to the content of the audio / video signals.

Once the video signals have been recorded on to the video tape, a user cannot determine the content of the video tape without reviewing the entire tape.

Furthermore, because video tape is an example of a linear recording medium, the task of navigating through the media to locate particular content items of video material is time consuming and labour intensive.

As will be understood from the foregoing discussion the audio / video material may be recorded on any medium, so that it remains a technical problem to identify the content of audio / video material for post production and archiving regardless of the recording medium, which may be a disc or a tape.

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