Matsushita Electric Corporation of America

At&t Bell Laboratories

Matsushita Electric Corp., Ltd.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Motorola Corporation

General Instrument Corporation

American Telephone & Telegraph Co., At&t Bell Laboratories

American Telephone and Telegraph, Co.

Quasar Electronics Corporation

Matsushita Electric Company of America

Theodore S Rzeszewski

Joseph L LoCicero

Melih Pazarci

Sotirios Sideris

Paul D Frantzis

Tobin L Gimber

Paul Moroney

Petr Peterka

Morris A Moore

William S Hede

William L Olson

Vida Ilderem

Francis H Hilbert

Robert Patzer

Robert H Yacobellis

Hideki Yumoto

Peter H Van Anrooy

George A Maney

Eiraj Rezania

Frederick L Kitson

A method and devices for dynamically embedding watermark and/or end-user access information into multimedia content. The method includes providing multimedia content transformed into blocks that each include an array of pixel blocks, and dynamically embedding portions of watermark and/or end-user access information into selected pixel blocks based on the values of the coefficients within the pixel blocks. For multimedia content encoded using discrete cosine transform (DCT) or other block-based encoding, the transform coefficients to include embedded information are chosen based on analysis of the coefficient values, rather than in a fixed or predetermined manner. Also, embedding watermark and/or end-user access information can occur across different pixel blocks within a given image to reduce the number of embedded coefficients per block, within the peripheral pixel blocks within a given image, and/or in different areas across images to reduce the duration of embedded information in any one area.

Method, device and system for dynamically embedding watermark information into multimedia content

Embodiments of the invention generally provide a method and apparatus for enabling digital rights management in file transfers. One embodiment of a method for transferring digital content from a first user to a second user, includes transferring ownership of an instance of the digital content to the second user, where the instance of the digital content resides on a first device belonging to the first user. Copies of the digital content are then deleted from one or more additional devices belonging to the first user (including at least one offline device).

Method and apparatus for enabling digital rights management in file transfers

A communication system () includes two or more communication devices () for communicating video including at least one virtual image. An avatar is associated with each communicated image. Change messages are communicated between a transmitting communication device () and at least one receiving communication device () to provide iterative enhancement of each avatar associated with a current digital image at the receiving communication device ().

Video enhancement of an avatar

A microcomputer for automatically controlling the sound in an audio or audio-visual system. Incoming audio signals from multiple channels are combined and fed to a pair of detector-rectifier circuits. One detector-rectifier circuit is a smoothing circuit with a time constant longer than that of the other detector-rectifier circuit. The signals with a longer time constant are fed to the microprocessor to control the volume function of an audio or audio-visual system. The signals with a shorter time constant are fed to the microprocessor to equalize the source frequency spectrum of an audio or audio-visual system.

Method and apparatus for leveling and equalizing the audio output of an audio or audio-visual system

A method and device for receiving and storing an electronic television (TV) program guide. In a satellite, cable or broadcast TV system, electronic TV program guides may be coded into the video signals received by the TV receiver. Many currently available TV receivers also allow users to program a list of 'select-channels.' When the receiver is in its select-channel mode, the receiver only tunes to the channels the user stored in the list of select channels. The present invention limits the memory and processing power required to store an electronic TV program guide by only storing program guide information associated with the channels stored by the user in connection with the select-channels function of the receiver. In receivers having a second tuner, the second tuner may be used to automatically update the stored program guide.

Electronic television program guide with selective updating

Electronic television program guide for a television system having two

A microcomputer for automatically controlling an audio output from a receiver. The microcomputer calculates a power signal corresponding to the power of a detected audio input signal, determines whether the calculated power signal is above or below a predetermined power value, generates a power control signal in response to whether the calculated power signal is above or below said predetermined value, and uses the power control signal to automatically maintain a substantially constant audio output from the receiver. In another embodiment, a separate detection circuit calculated the power signal and feeds it to the microcomputer.

Method and apparatus for leveling audio output

A circuit and method for shortening the transition time of sharp color transitions in color television signals. The invention includes a pattern recognition circuit and method which directly and efficiently recognizes color transitions within a predetermined range. The disclosed embodiment of the invention utilizes a filter to output its step response to the pattern recognition circuit which outputs a control signal whenever the color signal rise or fall time does not fit a predetermined pattern. When the pattern recognition circuit recognizes the step response, it directs a hold circuit to output a previous color signal for a predetermined time period before allowing the transition to proceed, thus shortening the transition time.

Circuit and method for controlling abnormally slow transitions in color

An optical multiplexer and demultiplexer using combined code division and wavelength division multiplexing. The multiplexer comprises a plurality of code division multiplexers, each responsive to a plurality of input signals and a plurality of orthogonal code sequences, and a wave division multiplexer for generating an output signal representing the signals of each code division multiplexer carried on a different wavelength. Each code division multiplexer comprises a plurality of lithium niobate phase shifters, each comprising an indiffused titanium wave guide and a pair of electrodes for the accepting one of the orthogonal code sequences, to modulate the light wave being passed thrugh the wave guide. The demultiplexer for extracting a selected input signal, comprises a wavelength selector for selecting the wavelength carrying the selected input signal, a phase shifter for modulating the selected wavelength signal by the code sequence of the selected individual input signal, and a PIN photodiode for combining the multiplexed signal with the output of the phase shifter to extract the selected input signal. Advantageously, many signals can be multiplexed onto one path and selected separately through the combination of the code division and wavelength division multiplexing and demultiplexing.

Photonic switch architecture utilizing code and wavelength multiplexing

A digital subsystem for improving the resolution of a TV digital signal by inserting additional digital samples into the digital TV signal in response to the correspondence of the digital signal and predefined patterns. The digital subsystem is a logic circuit which is responsive to received digital samples to group these digital samples into sets of samples. The digital circuit then calculates the slope between pairs of digital samples of each set and utilizes the calculated slopes to determine the correspondence to the predefined patterns. The determined predefined pattern designates the digital sample to be inserted into each set. The inserted digital sample is either equal to one of the digital samples or the average between two of the digital samples of each set. The calculation of the slopes results in a logical '0' for a constant slope and a logical '1' for a negative or a positive slope. An Exclusive OR gate is utilized to make the determination of whether to use a value equal to one of the digital samples of the set or the average of the value of two of the digital samples. A slope is considered constant if the difference between the pair of digital samples is less than a value calculated from range information of the set of samples.

Video signal enhancement by adaptive digital signal processing

A television (TV) system having provision for automatically compensating for signal distortion which would cause artifacts at the point where high- and low-resolution portions of an extended aspect ratio, high-definition TV display are joined together. Compensation parameters are calculated at the TV receiver in response to a known test pattern transmitted during the vertical retrace interval of the TV display and then accessed and utilized to compensate received active display signals. The compensation parameters are calculated by first converting Y, I, and Q signals for the test pattern into digital samples and then processing these digital samples in a digital signal processor unit. After the compensation parameters have been calculated by the digital signal processor, they are stored in a memory. The received active display signals are compensated by accessing the stored compensation parameters during the active display time. Each accessed compensation parameter is converted to an analog signal and is multiplied with received Y, I, and Q edge signals and combined with the center signals to compensate for distortions. In addition, the stored parameters are also averaged over a period of time to stop transient conditions from affecting the stored value of a compensation parameter.

Recombination of low- and high-resolution segments of an extended aspect

A system (FIGS. 1A-1C) for transmitting analog component video signals (Y, (R-Y), B-Y)) in digital form uses sharp cut-off low-pass filters (104-106) to bandlimit the signals. Chrominance signals are limted to one-half of the 4.2 MHz bandwidth of the luminance signal. Phase equalizers (107-109) are used to compensate for distortion caused by the sharp cut-off filters. Prior to sampling, the chrominance signals are comb-filtered by sharp cut-off comb filters (110-111) in the region where weighted sub-Nyquist sampling will cause spectral interleaving between the baseband spectrum and its replica. The luminance signals are sampled using a sampler (116) that uses a super-Nyquist sampling frequency, while the chrominance signals are sampled using samplers (117-118) that use a weighted sub-Nyquist sampling frequency. The signal samples are passed through digitizers (125, 127, 129), DPCM encoders (126, 128, 130), and a multiplexer (131) prior to being transmitted by a transmitter (132) on a 90 Mbps telephony trunk (150). Signals received at a receiver (200) are passed through a demultiplexer (201) and DPCM decoders (205, 207, 209), and are reconverted to analog form by D/A converters (211-213). The analog signals are filtered by gentle cut-off comb filters (214-216) and low-pass filters (217-219) to remove therefrom replicas of the baseband spectra. Since gentle cut-off filters introduce little phase distortion, no phase equalizers are needed at the receiver.

Processing of analog video signals in digital transmission systems

A television (TV) system having a compatible high-definition signal receivable at conventional resolution by conventional TV receivers without auxiliary apparatus with carrier modulated high-definition luminance information being transmitted in a continuous spectrum spanning two conventional TV channels, carrier modulated quadrature amplitude modulated (QAM) high-frequency chrominance information being transmitted in the luminance spectrum and carrier modulated QAM low-frequency chrominance information being transmitted outside luminance spectrum. A decoder recovers the high-definition luminance information by demodulating the transmitted signal. The chrominance information is recovered from the transmitted signal by first notch filtering the transmitted high-definition signal to remove energy existing between the two sidebands of the QAM high-frequency chrominance information, and then, demodulating at the carrier frequency. The demodulating at the carrier frequency results in the QAM high- and low-frequency chrominance information forming a continuous spectrum that is then bandpass filtered. The high-definition I and Q chrominance signals are then recovered from the bandpass filtered chrominance information by a QAM demodulator. The QAM demodulation of the latter results in continuous high-definition I and Q chrominance signals.

Economical high-definition television using a modulated-signal

A television (TV) system having a fully compatible high-definition signal with extended aspect ratio information receivable at conventional resolution by conventional TV receivers without auxiliary apparatus with one TV channel carrying the conventional TV signal while high-frequency luminance and chrominance information plus extended aspect ratio information are provided in a second TV channel. The television system uses a video camera that produces the Y, I, and Q video signals with a bandwidth of 9.4 megahertz (MHz). These, Y, I, and Q signals have already been line decimated to 525 lines per frame with a scan rate of the standard 15.7 kiloherts (kHz). The resulting 63.5 microseconds line scan time comprises 42 microseconds of center information and 10.5 microseconds of edge information with 11 microseconds being allowed for the blanking and synchronization interval. The low-frequency center luminance and chrominance information is first time expanded and inserted into the first channel, and the high-frequency center chrominance and luminance information is time expanded and inserted into the second channel. The extended aspect ratio chrominance and luminance information is contained within the edge information and is transmitted during the horizontal retrace interval in the second TV channel.

Compatible high-definition television with extended aspect ratio

A television system having a fully compatible high-definition signal receivable at conventional resolution by conventional TV receivers and which is transmitted to the TV receivers by one TV channel carrying the conventional signal and a second TV channel carrying the high-frequency luminance and chrominance information. The high-frequency chrominance information is time compressed and transmitted during the horizontal retrace interval of the second TV channel. The baseband signal containing the high-frequency luminance components is derived from the lower sideband output of a product modulator whose inputs are taken from an anti-alias filtered (camera) source of wideband luminance information and a local oscillator. The phase of the local oscillator is transmitted to the TV receivers by a tone burst signal gated into the vertical retrace interval of the second channel. The high-frequency chrominance information comprises Q' and I' segments which are transmitted at alternate horizontal retrace intervals. The television receivers comprise memories which alternately store the transmitted Q' and I' segments. The storage of the received segments is done at a higher rate than the accessing of these segments thus a time expansion operation is performed by the memories. In addition, since the segments are alternately transmitted, a storage mechanism is provided so that a segment received on a previous horizontal horizontal line's active time for displaying both Q' and I' information.

Growing community of inventors

Lombard, IL, United States of America

Theodore S Rzeszewski