Sony Corporation of America

Yoram Levy

David O Hodgson

A method and apparatus in which data defining a high definition video frame are written into a memory in a manner so that the data can be linearly accessed from the memory in a selected (interlaced or progressive) format. In a preferred embodiment in which the data are written into a two megabyte memory in blocks of 128 pixels, with a 14-bit address for each block, the invention enables SMPTE-240M format high definition video data to be written into memory in a manner so that the data can be linearly accessed from memory in either an interlaced format or a progressive format. In an embodiment for storing (1920.times.1080)=2,073,600 pixels defining a high definition video frame, the apparatus of the invention includes a two megabyte memory and a thirty-two kilobyte PROM (or PAL) circuit. The thirty-two kilobyte circuit implements two look-up tables, each having a size of 16,384 bytes. In an interlace storage mode, the apparatus employs a first one of the look-up tables to assign interlaced format memory addresses to the pixel blocks being written into memory (so that the data can be linearly accessed from memory in interlaced format). In a progressive storage mode, the apparatus employs the other look-up table to assign 'progressive format' memory addresses to the pixel blocks being written into memory (so that the data can be linearly accessed from memory in progressive format).

Method and apparatus for storing high definition video data for

A method and system for digitally performing flare correction on digitized color film images. Each digitized image may include a red data stream, a blue data stream, and a green data stream collectively corresponding to a digitized color image (or frame). The system of the invention digitally generates flare correction signals, and employs the flare correction signals to compensate for undesired luminance variations from frame to frame within each color channel. In a preferred embodiment, the system also generates lift variation correction signals, and employs these signals to achieve a desired balance between the color channels. In one embodiment, the invention generates digitized color film images from a motion picture film, and digitally performs flare correction on the digitized images to correct for changes in the average luminance of consecutive images, and lift correction to achieve a desired balance between red, blue, and green color channels. Additional processing operations, such as color correction, are then performed digitally on the corrected digitized images.

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Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Yoram Levy