[54] VIDEO CONVERSIONS OF VIDEO SIGNAL FORMATS
[75] Inventor: John W. Richards, Stockbridge, United Kingdom
[73] Assignee: Sony United Kingdom Limited,
Staines, United Kingdom
[21] Appl. No.: 9,670
[22] Filed: Jan. 27,1993
[30] Foreign Application Priority Data
Feb. 17, 1992 [GB] United Kingdom 9203331
[51] Int. CI.5 H04N 7/01
[52] U.S. a 348/441; 348/180
[58] Field of Search 358/140, 11, 160, 22,
358/180, 138, 141, 12; H04N 7/07
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
3,457,369 2/1966 Davies et al 358/140
3,803,352 4/1974 Goldberger 358/140
4,862,266 8/1989 Gillard 358/140
5,221,966 6/1993 Clayton et al 358/140
Primary Examiner—James J. Groody
Assistant Examiner—Glenton B. Burgess
...
US005327235A
[ii] Patent Number: 5,327,235 [45] Date of Patent: Jul. 5,1994
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—William S. Frommer; Alvin Sinderbrand
[57] ABSTRACT
A digital video signal is real-time converted from a high definition format (such as 1250 lines, 50 field/s, 2:1 interlace, with a 16:9 aspect ratio) to a conventional definition format (such as 525 lines, 60 field/s, 2:1 interlace, with a 4:3 aspect ratio) by compressing the image so that the active area extends across only part of an intermediate field/frame; by writing the pixels of the high definition fields to alternate field stores at the high definition format pixel rate; and by forming the output frames in the conventional definition format by reading, at the conventional definition pixel rate, pixels of at least part of the active portion from the field store which is not being written. Alternatively, a conventional definition format signal is converted to a high definition format by placing each conventional definition field in a portion of a high definition field and then expanding that portion substantially to fill the high definition field. In order to deal with a change in field rate between the input and output video, a standards converter is included in the high definition part of the arrangement.
20 Claims, 9 Drawing Sheets
