[54] SOFT CODING FOR HDTV
[75] Inventors: Alireza F. Faryar, Shrewsbury; Scott C. Knauer, Mountainside; George J. Kustka, Marlboro; Kim N. Matthews, Watchung; Arun N. Netravali, Westfield; Eric D. Petajan, Watchung; Peter H. Westerink, Newark, all of N.J.
[73] Assignee: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J.
[21] Appl. No.: 785,671
[22] Filed: Oct. 31,1991
[51] Int. CI.* H04N 7/12; H06N 7/08
[52] U.S. CI 358/133; 358/135;
358/142; 370/84; 375/38
[58] Field of Search 358/133, 135, 136, 142,
358/167, 36; 382/56; 370/84, 82, 83, 99, 112;
375/38, 58
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,068,723 11/1991 Dixit et al 358/133
5,105,442 4/1992 Wei 358/13
5,111,292 5/1992 Kuriacose et al 358/133
5,115,309 5/1992 Hang 358/133
5,122,875 6/1992 Raychaudhuri et al 358/133
5,128,756 7/1992 Johnston et al 358/133
5,164,963 11/1992 Lawrence et al 375/39
Primary Examiner—John K. Peng
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Henry T. Brendzel
157] ABSTRACT
Blocks of HDTV picture information are selected for transmission at a plurality of channel rates of an HDTV transmitter. The size of each block of HDTV picture information is dependent on a target distortion parameter for the HDTV picture information. As a result of this selection, a portion of each block of HDTV picture information is transmitted at the lower channel rate, with the result that the HDTV transmitter range is maximized while maintaining a picture quality for the resulting HDTV video image.
15 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets
