Method and apparatus for synchronized recording of audio and video streams

1. A method for synchronized recording of audio and video signals, the video signals being grouped into a plurality of video frames, the method comprising:

incrementing a counter value of an audio counter when at least an audio frame associated with the audio signals is compressed, wherein the counter value represents an index of the compressed audio frame;

recording the current counter value of the audio counter when a video frame is received, wherein each recorded counter value represents a time stamp of the received video frame; and

multiplexing an audio stream comprising the compressed audio frames, and a video stream comprising the received video frames with the recorded time stamps.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

compressing the video frames,

wherein the time stamp associated with each compressed video frame is stored in a time stamp buffer.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

storing the compressed audio frames in an audio buffer; and

storing the compressed video frames in a video buffer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the video frames are time stamped as the video frames are received for digitization.

5. An apparatus for synchronized recording of audio and video signals, the video signals being grouped into a plurality of video frames, the apparatus comprising:

an audio counter for incrementing a counter value when at least an audio frame associated with the audio signals is compressed, wherein the counter value represents an index of the compressed audio frame;

a time stamp buffer for recording the current counter value of the audio counter when a video frame is received, wherein each recorded counter value represents a time stamp of the received video frame; and

a multiplexer for multiplexing an audio stream comprising the compressed audio frames, and a video stream comprising the received video frames with the recorded time stamps.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:

an audio A/D converter for receiving the audio signals and digitalizing the audio signals;

a video A/D converter for receiving the video frames and digitalizing the video frames;

an audio compressor for compressing the digitalized audio signals to generate the compressed audio frames;

a video compressor for compressing the video frames; and

a time stamp buffer for storing the counter values.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising:

an audio buffer for storing the compressed audio frames; and

a video buffer for storing the compressed video frames.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the video frames are time stamped as the video frames are received for digitization.