Deutsche Thomson-brandt Gmbh

Martin Plantholt

Hans-Joachim Platte

Heinz-Werner Keesen

Dietmar Hepper

Erich Geiger

Herbert Schutze

Uwe Riemann

Dietrich Westerkamp

Dieter Haupt

An apparatus for recording/reproducing television signals transmitted in the letter-box format whereby 16:9 aspect ratio picture information is sandwiched between black areas corresponding to the top and bottom portions of the display, and wherein auxiliary items of information can be modulated onto the color sub-carrier of the television signal. The apparatus includes a luminance channel, an adaptive filter and a digital chrominance decoder for separating the television signal into a chrominance component and a luminance component. First apparatus digitally demodulates the auxiliary information from the color sub-carrier. Second apparatus applies the auxiliary signals to the luminance channel during the scanning of the black areas.

Device for reproducing picture signals in letter-box format

In the process of generating a compatible 4:3 letterbox format television signal, a wide aspect ration 16:9 progressive scan television signal is vertically transcoded from 575 to 431 image lines, converted to line interlaced form and horizontally compressed. A vertically transcoded interlaced luminance component is converted back to progressive scan form via interpolation, and subtracted from a vertically transcoded original progressive scan luminance component to produce a difference (helper) signal. The difference signal is time compressed and multiplexed into upper and lower edge bar regions of the letterbox format. The compatible letterbox signal also is encoded with additional information including vertical high frequency information and horizontal high frequency information separated during the transcoding and compression processes, respectively. The encoding includes modulating the color subcarrier frequency with luminance information, and intraframe averaging. The difference signal and encoded additional information are used by a 16:9 widescreen receiver to produce a 16:9 progressive scan image display with the transcoded number of lines and good resolution.

Auxiliary signal to assist conversion of a letterbox standard aspect

A television camera includes an acceleration correction device for correcting for sudden movements of the camera, to prevent blurring of the resulting television picture. The correction device changes the starting point on an image target depending upon the amount and direction of the acceleration. This correction does not occur until the acceleration exceeds a threshold value.

Television camera acceleration compensation apparatus

Method of compatibly increasing the resolution in a color television system employing offset modulation at the transmitter and offset demodulation at the receiver and transmitting a reference signal during the vertical blanking interval. The reference signal includes two components of which the first component contains phase information regarding the spectral addition at the receiver and the second component contains information regarding the offset modulation phase. Thus offset demodulation is realized at the receiver while retaining compatibility with existing television standards.

Growing community of inventors

Bad Camberg, Germany

Martin Plantholt