The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 11, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 17, 2001
David E. Zeidler, Warrington, PA (US);
General Instrument Corporation, Horsham, PA (US);
Abstract
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for measuring the quality of video (e.g., television) signals. In particular, the methods and apparatus of the present invention allow for the measurement of various quality parameters of analog or digital video signals at a set-top terminal or similar device, without the need for external test equipment. A video signal , which contains a test signal, is received at a decoder . The video signal is decoded and temporarily stored in memory . A processor associated with the decoder and the memory analyzes the test signal and calculates a quality parameter for the received video signal based on the test signal. The quality measurements can also be accessed remotely and downloaded, for example, by a cable television provider at a cable television headend. The video quality measurement may include various indicators of end-to-end system performance, including the performance of the set-top terminal or similar device.