Abstract: The invention relates to the reception of data by a data broadcast receiver, particularly, a mobile data receiver for the Japanese TV data multibroadcast sound subcarrier system. The receiver is controlled to receive a desired type of data, for example, weather forecasts, news, stock prices, etc. The invention provides the transmission of time information which specifies, for each type of data, when the data will be transmitted or retransmitted. This allows the receiver to enter a standby mode in which the power consumption is reduced. On, or slightly before, the specified time, the receiver switches on to receive, decode and display the desired data. The invention is also applicable in television receivers having the facility to receive electronic program guides (EPG) or other services. The receiver is informed about the time at which an updated version of the EPG can be expected.

Abstract: A processor is programmed for accessing data-items from a matrix of rows and columns, access being constrained to a moving window. A cache memory caches data for the window. The cache memory makes a location used for a first data-item from an earliest row available for reuse when the window moves along the row direction, and retrieves a second data item for a latest row of the window into the cache memory. Data for the latest row may be written into the location just made available for reuse. The position of the first data-item along the row direction of the matrix trails the position of the second data-item along the row direction of the matrix at least by the width of the window.

Abstract: A multimedia system has unprogrammable task-specific processors of high performance-density. The task-specific processors perform primitive functions that together constitute a video algorithm. The task-specific processors are interconnected via a high-speed communication module whose interconnectivity is controlled by an arbiter. The arbiter stores a data flow graph. A fully programmable general-purpose processor of low performance-density carries out those tasks that are not readily mapped onto the primitive functions. This configuration with different levels of performance-density and programmability increases overall system performance-density with regard to the prior art.

Abstract: A color image is locally discoloured in the vicinity of edges. The edges extend, for example, between a superposed foreground and a background in a computer-generated image, but also between different regions in natural images which are processed, for example, in a television receiver. Consequently, the edges are perceived as being sharper upon display.

Abstract: An image display system forms an output video signal which is composed of successive frames, the output video signal including a plurality of windows, each of which contains image information from an own input video signal in each frame. The image information from the input video signals is written into a memory wherefrom subsequently successive frames of an output video signal are read, each time from a respective series of locations of the memory. Upon reading, a concatenation of the respective series of the successive frames is formed. The locations are periodically repeated in this concatenation with a period of recurrence which is longer than a single series, the locations of the respective series of each frame at an end being coincident in an overlapping fashion with the locations at the beginning of the series of a directly preceding frame.

Abstract: An image processing system processes background and foreground images and stores a combined image in a shared frame buffer. The images are processed such that mixing of the images and smooth transitions between the images can be achieved. The input images may be independently supplied and may have different refresh rates. The image processing system determines whether a position in a combined image is part of a predetermined background area, a predetermined foreground area or a predetermined mixing area. The mixing area includes mixing area positions, defined as positions in the combined image which correspond to a predetermined area of the corresponding foreground image. The foreground area includes foreground area positions, defined as positions in the combined image which correspond to the foreground image and which are not part of the mixing area.

Abstract: A data processing system comprises a plurality of processing elements being operative to process data and being coupled in parallel to a bus via a control means that governs data communication. The control means comprises a plurality of buffer means, and each respective one of the buffer means includes a respective plurality of parallel buffer segments. The control means is operative to selectively connect a single one of the buffer segments in respective ones of the buffer means to respective ones of the processing elements. This effectively permits distributing of the data in an arbitrary manner over the elements by the sorting the data in advance in the segments according to destination. The system is highly suitable to handle video and graphics data in image synthesis.

Abstract: A system for synchronizing input video signals from a plurality of video sources includes a plurality of buffering units (B1 . . . BN) each coupled to receive a respective one of the input video signals. The buffering units have mutually independent read and write operations. Each buffer write operation is locked to the corresponding video input signal. Each buffer read operation is locked to a system clock. The buffering units are substantially smaller than required to store a video signal field. The system further includes a storage arrangement (DRAM-1 . . . DRAM-M) for storing a composite signal composed from the input video signals, and a communication network (110) for communicating data from the buffering units to the storage arrangement, pixel (X) and line (Y) addresses of the buffering units and of the storage arrangement being coupled.