Method and apparatus for storing high definition video data for interlace or ...

[54] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STORING HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO DATA FOR INTERLACE OR PROGRESSIVE ACCESS

[75] Inventor: Yoram Levy, Palo Alto, Calif.

[73] Assignee: Sony Corporation of America, Park Ridge, N.J.

[21] Appl. No.: 701,228

[22] Filed: May 16,1991

[51] Int. Cl.s H04N 7/01; H04N 5/16

[52] U.S. CI 358/140; 358/160;

340/799

[58] Field of Search 358/140, 160, 21 R;

340/814, 798, 799

[56] References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

4,368.466 1/1983 Dwire 340/799

4,396,938 8/1983 Dischert 358/21 R

4,617,564 10/1986 Yoshioka 340/798

4,951,042 8/1990 Belch 340/799

4,956,708 9/1990 Itagaki 358/140

Primary Examiner—James J. Groody

Assistant Examiner—S. Metjahic

Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Limbach & Limbach

[57] ABSTRACT

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 X1080)=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).

22 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets