Thomson Licensing

Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc.

Thomson Licensing S.a.

Interdigital Madison Patent Holdings, Sas

Thomson Licensing Dtv

Interdigital Madison Patent Holdings

Thomas Edward Horlander

Kevin Elliott Bridgewater

Michael Scott Deiss

Harold Blatter

Terry Wayne Lockridge

Eric Stephen Carlsgaard

Mark Francis Rumreich

Mary Lafuze Comer

Chad Andrew Lefevre

Timothy Forrest Settle

Mark Alan Schultz

Jeffrey Allen Cooper

Keith Reynolds Wehmeyer

John William Richardson

Paul Dean Filliman

Mike Arthur Derrenberger

Scott Allan Kendall

Gregory George Tamer

Daniel Richard Schneidewend

Gary Robert Gutknecht

Thomas Herbert Jones

Kevin Lloyd Grimes

Michael Dillon Rich

Robert Vincent Krakora

Kevin Elliot Bridgewater

Todd Goosman

Phillip Aaron Junkersfeld

Brian Joseph Dorini

Shuyou Chen

Ligang Lu

Douglas Edward Lankford

Russell W Perkins

Method () of providing power saving information for media content is described including receiving () media content comprising a plurality of media segments, determining () a power consumption indicator for a media segment of the plurality of media segments, determining () power saving information for the media segment based on the power consumption indicator for the media segment and providing () the power saving information. Method () of receiving power saving information for media content is described including receiving () power saving information for a media segment in a media content, applying () said power saving information to the media segment to generate a power adjusted media content and providing () the power adjusted media content. Equivalent apparatuses for providing () and for receiving () power saving information for media content are also provided.

Method and apparatus for providing power saving media content

A method and apparatus for a first device to determine profile information are described including receiving input from a second device, wherein at least one of the first device or the second device detects physical characteristics of people present in an area and the physical characteristics are used by the device to determine who is present in the area, retrieving profile information of the people present in the area, determining a relationship between profiles of the people in the area, applying rules to negotiate a compromise regarding device settings responsive to the relationship between profiles of the people present in the area and adjusting settings of a first device or a third device responsive to the compromise.

Automatic settings negotiation

An apparatus and method for generating a disparity map in a receiving device, e.g., a set-top box, that enables user control for adjusting image depth in a stereo image set are provided. The apparatus and method provide for receiving a signal comprising a left eye image and a right eye image, encoding the left eye image as a reference image, predictively coding the right eye image using the coded left eye image as the reference image, capturing motion indicators generated during encoding of the right eye image, and generating a disparity map between the left eye image and right eye image using the motion indicators.

Apparatus and method for generating a disparity map in a receiving device

At least one implementation interleaves blocks from a stereo-image pair and enables intra-coding of the interleaved image using corresponding blocks as references. One particular implementation accesses a first image that includes multiple blocks, one of which is a first-image block. A second image is accessed that includes multiple blocks, one of which is a second-image block that has overlapping content with the first-image block. The multiple blocks of the first and second images are interleaved on a block basis to form an interleaved image. At least a portion of the interleaved image is encoded by encoding the first-image block using the second-image block as a reference. Another implementation provides the encoded portion in signal. Yet another implementation accesses the encoded image and decodes the portion by using the second-image block as a reference.

Block-based interleaving

Systems and low bandwidth methods to encode and broadcast a video multiplex that allows a receiving device, e.g., a set-top box, to select and decode reduced resolution stereoscopic three-dimensional video, full resolution two-dimensional video and full resolution stereoscopic three-dimensional video is provided. The systems and methods provide for receiving a data signal, the data signal including a first video signal representing a two-dimensional image at a first video resolution and a second video signal representing a three-dimensional image at a second resolution, decoding the first video signal if an output display type is a two-dimensional display type, decoding the second video signal if the output display type is a first three-dimensional display type, and decoding the first video signal and second video signal simultaneously if the output display type is a second three-dimensional display type.

Apparatus and method for processing video content

Systems and low bandwidth methods to encode and broadcast a video multiplex that allows a receiving device, e.g., a set-top box, to select and decode half resolution split screen stereo video, full resolution two-dimensional video and full resolution stereo video is provided. The systems and methods provide for receiving a data signal, the data signal including a first video signal representing a two-dimensional image at a first video resolution and a second video signal representing a three-dimensional image at a second resolution; decoding the first video signal if an output display type is a two-dimensional display type; decoding the second video signal if the output display type is a first three-dimensional display type; and decoding the first video signal and second video signal simultaneously if the output display type is a second three-dimensional display type.

An apparatus for performing arbitration increases the fairness of arbitrations, decreases system latency, increases system throughput, and is suitable for use in more complex systems. According to an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus includes a generator for generating a plurality of arbitration numbers corresponding to a plurality of agents, and circuitry for selecting one of the agents to access a resource shared by the agents based on the arbitration numbers. At least one of the arbitration numbers includes a plurality of fields corresponding to a plurality of parameters.

Method and apparatus for performing arbitration

A television receiver includes a source of digital data comprising a plurality of data streams each representing one of a standard definition television signal and a high definition television signal and encoded in such a manner that it may be decoded at full resolution to produce an image substantially without visible decoding artifacts or decoded at partial resolution to produce an image possibly including visible decoding artifacts. A decoder is coupled to the digital data source, and has a maximum decoding bandwidth less than that required to simultaneously decode two high definition television signals at full decoding resolution. A controller, is coupled to the decoder, for selecting two respective ones of the data streams responsive to user input, and if both represent a high definition television signal, requesting user input for specifying one of the two respective data streams to decode at partial resolution.

System and user interface for a television receiver in a television program distribution system

A method and apparatus for simultaneously recording and displaying video signals from two different video sources. The apparatus comprises a main channel processing circuit, a second channel processing circuit, and common circuitry. The common circuit comprises a digital video decoder pipe that decodes both first and second encoded video signals. A PIP picture is produced using a common reference clock that is derived from the first video signal. In a record mode, a second channel clock reference is coupled to the second channel processing circuit to produce a recordable signal using a digital encoder. The recordable signal also forms a PIP picture that is coupled to the main channel processing circuit to produce a PIP picture that is used to monitor the recording process.

Method and apparatus for simultaneous recording and displaying two different video programs

An adaptive transport protocol decoder includes a source of a stream of packets, each including a payload, and having a first transport protocol, and a source of a stream of packets, each including a payload, and having a second transport protocol. A protocol decoder, coupled to the first and second packet stream sources, extracts the respective payloads from the packets from a selected one of the first and second packet stream sources.

Adaptive transport protocol

A method and apparatus for simultaneously recording and displaying video signals from two different video sources. The apparatus comprises a main channel processing circuit/logic, a second channel processing circuit/logic, and common circuitry/logic. The common circuitry comprises a digital video encoder pipe that decodes both a first and second encoded video signals. The main channel processing circuit processes a first decoded video signal utilizing a first clock to form a main picture for display. The second channel processing circuit processes a second decoded video signal to form a PIP picture for combination with the main picture for display. The PIP picture is produced using a second clock signal that is independent from the first clock signal. In a record mode, the second channel clock is coupled to the second channel processing circuit to produce a recordable signal using a digital encoder. The recordable signal also forms the PIP picture that is coupled to the main channel processing circuit to produce a PIP picture that is used to monitor the recording process.

A server apparatus receives packetized data and transmits the packetized data over a network. The apparatus includes an input for receiving the packetized data from a signal source. An AC clock counter receives an AC power signal and generates a count value in dependence upon a frequency of the AC power signal. An output is coupled to the network and transmits the packetized data and the count value to a client device. A clock associated with the client device is controlled in dependence upon the count value.

Jitter prevention in a digital communication network

A method and an apparatus using a system level clocking scheme to remove jitter from multi-media packets distributed over an asynchronous network, in particular an asynchronous network. The present invention overcomes the problems associated with jitter introduced in an asynchronous network by using various time stamps to synchronize a client device clock to a headend clock and to control the data flow in the client device to match the rate that the data is received by a broadband receiver coupled to the headend. A first time stamp is prepended to the transport packets when the packets are received from the headend. A second time stamp is placed in the data frame when the data frame is placed on the network. A third time stamp is placed in the data frame when the data frame is received from the network. The second and third time stamps are used for synchronizing the client clock to the server clock, which is in turn frequency locked to the headend clock. The first time stamp is used for data flow control wherein the client controls the data flow to correspond to the rate the data is received at the server.

Multi-media jitter removal in an asynchronous digital home network

A method and an apparatus using a system level clocking scheme to remove jitter from multi-media packets distributed over an asynchronous network. The present invention overcomes the problems associated with jitter introduced in an asynchronous network by using various time stamps to synchronize a client device clock to a headend clock and to control the data flow in the client device to match the rate that the data is received by a broadband receiver coupled to the headend. The present invention allows the client device to synchronize to a selected one of a plurality of headend clock by including a clock adjustment factor along with the time stamps. The time stamps are added at the physical layer so that the time stamps correspond to the time the data packets are placed onto and received from the asynchronous network.

There is provided a serial compressed bus interface having a reduced pin count. The interface includes a serial-to-parallel converter having a single serial data input line adapted to receive time-division multiplexed serial data from a plurality of data sources. Enable logic is adapted to input at least one data valid signal that identifies each of a plurality of data consumers for which the time-division multiplexed serial data is valid.

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Indianapolis, IN, United States of America

Thomas Edward Horlander