A VIDEO SIGNAL ENCODER, A VIDEO SIGNAL PROCESSOR, A VIDEO SIGNAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND METHODS OF OPERATION THEREFOR

摘要

A video encoder ( 100 ) comprises a receiver ( 101 ) which receives an uncompressed video signal. An encoding element ( 103 ) generates a compressed video signal in accordance with a compression algorithm, such as an MPEG-2 encoding algorithm. In addition, a feature point processor ( 105 ) generates feature point data ( 105 ) in response to the uncompressed signal, and an output processor ( 107 ) generates an output video signal which comprises the compressed video signal and the feature point data. The output signal is received by a receiver ( 201 ) of a video signal processor ( 200 ). An extraction processor ( 203 ) extracts the feature point data and feeds it to a video processor unit ( 207 ) which processes the compressed video signal in response to the feature point data. The separate and independent generation of feature point data, such as feature point movement data or tracks using the uncompressed (original) video signal, eliminates or reduces the impact of compression artifacts, inaccuracies and errors on feature point locations and trajectories when these are detected using the compressed signal.