Powertv, Inc.

Jiann-Tsuen Chen

Alexander G MacInnis

A graphics blending feature for a terminal such as a home communication terminal (HCT) allows an overlay image to be selectively blended with a background image through the use of a chroma key function and one or more alpha control bits. The chroma key function is used to determine whether the overlay will be completely transparent or not, and the one or more alpha control bits are used to look up a larger alpha value used to blend the overlay and background images. By using a small number of alpha control bits to retrieve a larger alpha value for blending, memory requirements per pixel are reduced. The chroma key function may be implemented by comparing each overlay pixel value to a chroma value and, responsive to a match, making the overlay pixel transparent (i.e., no blending occurs). A dithering function is included in various embodiments to smooth out the resulting image.

Blending of video images in a home communications terminal

Interpolating a low or medium resolution image to a higher resolution image using a pixel replication and averaging technique. An overlay image having pixels of a first display resolution and a plurality of alpha blending values each indicating the degree of blending with a background image is interpolated to the resolution of the background image. In addition to interpolating pixel values, alpha blending values are themselves interpolated and multiplied by corresponding overlay pixel values prior to being blended with the background image.

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Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Jiann-Tsuen Chen