Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc.

Nathaniel H Ersoz

Timothy W Saeger

Karl Francis Horlander

Donald Henry Willis

Eric Douglas Romesburg

Barth Alan Canfield

Greg A Kranawetter

Todd J Christopher

David J Duffield

Enrique Rodriguez-Cavazos

Paul Dean Filliman

Robert D Altmanshofer

James H Doty, Ii

Mark D Walby

Automatic letterbox detection

A video display for a television apparatus has a wide format display ratio and is synchronized with a first video signal representative of first picture. A PIP processor is responsive to a second video signal representative of a second picture to define an auxiliary picture smaller in size than the video display. A FIFO line memory stores successive lines of video information representative of the auxiliary picture, which are combined with certain successive lines of video information representative of the first picture. A counter initialized at a time corresponding to the start of each horizontal line of the first video signal generates a variable time delay. A FIFO control circuit successively initiates a transfer of the lines of video information representative of the auxiliary picture from the line memory for combination with the video information representative of the main picture after the variable time delay. The variable time delay determines one of a plurality of horizontal panning positions of the auxiliary picture across all of the video display. A manually operable remote control can be used for adjusting the variable time delay.

Horizontal panning for PIP display in wide screen television

A video signal clamp involves evaluating the difference between the signal level and the desired clamp level during the back porch interval. A correction signal indicates whether the signal level must be increased or decreased to establish the desired clamp level. Generation of the correction signal involves a median filter algorithm. Any required increase or decrease of the signal level occurs continuously throughout each horizontal line interval.

Apparatus for clamping a video signal level

Wide screen television

Picture overlay system for television

A video display system comprises: a video display; first and second signal processors for cropping first and second video signals representative of first and second pictures; a circuit for generating a side-by-side display format of the pictures on the video display; and, a panning control circuit, responsive to panning command signals, for positioning said pictures in the side-by-side display format and for independently panning the pictures, as positioned. The panning control circuit generates independent fixed and variable delays for controlling line memories in the signal processors. Fixed delays control picture positions and variable delays control panning.

Independent horizontal panning for side-by-side pictures

A circuit for compressing and expanding video color component data comprises a FIFO line memory and a delay circuit. A timing circuit generates control signals for writing data into the line memory and for reading data from the line memory to compress and expand the data. The delay circuit matches the data compressed or expanded in the FIFO line memory to luminance data which is similarly compressed or expanded. A switching network selectively establishes a first signal path in which the line memory precedes the delay circuit for implementing the data expansion and a second signal path in which the delay circuit precedes the line memory for implementing the data compression. The switching network is controlled according to selected display formats requiring compression or expansion, for example by a microprocessor.

Chrominance processing system for compressing and expanding video data

Field type matching system

Delay matching for video data during expansion and compression

A video display control system comprises: a video display having a wide format display ratio; a letterbox detector for sampling video information in pictures represented by input video signals having a letterbox format and generating a control signal for enlarging the pictures for substantially filling the video display means with active video; and, a first control circuit for restricting operation of the letterbox detector to a vertical range of horizontal lines in each field of the video signal; and, a second control circuit for restricting operation of the letterbox detector to a horizontal range of video data in each of the horizontal lines.

Managing letterbox signals with logos and closed captions

Aspect ratio control for picture overlays

Luminance processing system for compressing and expanding video data

Video processing circuit with line memory control

A video display unit and deflection system are synchronized with a first video signal. A detecting circuit determines whether the first video signal has more than one field type. A second video signal has more than one field type. A multiplexer combines the first and a second video signals for a simultaneous video display. A video signal processor is responsive to the detecting circuit and has two modes of operation. In a first mode of operation, when the first video signal has more than one field type, all fields of the second video signal are an output to the multiplexer. In a second mode of operation, when the first video signal has only one field type, only one field type of the second video signal is an output to the multiplexer. The video signal processor has a memory for storing the second video signal. Only one field type of the video signal is written into and read from the memory during the second mode of operation. Each field written into the memory during the second mode of operation is read out twice to the multiplexer.

Displaying an interlaced video signal with a noninterlaced video signal

A video system comprises a video display having a wide format display ratio for displaying a video signal. A signal processor has an interpolator and a first in first out line memory having asynchronous write and read ports for selectably expanding and compressing a picture represented by data in the video signal. The picture is cropped to define a subset of the picture for display by controlling writing of the data into the line memory. A microprocessor for controls provides control signals with selectable time durations and selectable phases relative to a synchronizing component of said video signal for selecting boundaries of the subset of the picture for display. The microprocessor can select the time durations and the phases responsive to user commands.

Horizontal panning for wide screen television

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Brownsburg, IN, United States of America

Nathaniel H Ersoz