Abstract: A video-signal processing device is connectable to an electronic endoscope designed to output at least one kind of electric analog video signal, and comprises: an analog-to-digital converter for converting the electric analog video signal into a parallel electric digital video signal; and a parallel-to-serial converter for converting the parallel electric digital video signal into a serial electric digital video signal, whereby the electric analog video signal outputted from the electronic endoscope is fed outside from said device as the serial electric digital video signal.

Abstract: The method and apparatus capable of adaptively coding intra-video signals by separately predicting intra DC and AC coefficients is provided. The method comprises the steps of finding a DC reference block among the previously coded blocks based on a correlation of the DC coefficients of the previously coded blocks; setting a DC coefficient of the DC reference block as a DC reference coefficient; determining one of the previously coded blocks as an AC reference block based on a correlation of selected AC coefficients of the previously coded blocks; generating AC reference coefficients based on AC coefficients of the AC reference block; and encoding coefficients of the current block based on the DC and the AC reference coefficients. The apparatus includes a transform block, a quantization block, a memory, a prediction block, and an entropy coding block.

Abstract: With an electronic endoscope, a wide band video signal is output to connected instruments without giving electric shocks to a body even when the connected instruments are not insulated. The video signal V is converted to differential signals V1, V2 by a differential amp 31 and input to buffers 42, 43 via capacitors 32, 33. The clamp signal CP generated by the clamp signal output means 44 is input to the end terminals of the switches SW1, SW2 via the photocoupler 46. The differential signals V1, V2 undergo pulse clamping in the buffers 42, 43 and the DC components are restored. The video signal restoring portion 49 restores the video signal V on the basis of the differential signals V1, V2 having undergone DC restoration and outputs the video signals to the connected instruments.

Abstract: By inserting a downsampling filter between the decoding and re-encoding parts of a transcoder, a reduced resolution transcoding is performed. Before transferring the decoded motion vectors to the encoding part, the motion vectors are processed by additional operations provided in order to take into account the fact that macroblocks before and after the resizing step no longer match.

Abstract: An illumination system for an endoscopic camera has a plurality of light emitting diodes mounted to a substrate. The substrate is adapted for attachment at the distal end of the endoscope. Each LED is contained within a reflector cup which directs the angular dispersion of emitted light toward the object to be viewed.

Abstract: A system and method for enhancing display of a sporting event. The path of a ball in a playing field of the sporting event is tracked while the ball is moving. In response, successive overlay video image frames are generated that represent successive overlay video images of the path of the ball within the large field of view but without the playing field in the background. In one embodiment, the successive overlay video image frames are combined with a single background video image frame so as to generate successive overlaid video image frames. The overlaid video image frames represent successive overlaid video images of the path of the ball in the playing field within the large field of view. In another embodiment, the successive overlay video image frames are combined with successive background video image frames so as to generate the successive overlaid video image frames.

Abstract: A signal representing an eyeball accommodation detected by an eyeball accommodation detector 18 provided for the left eye 10L is supplied to a shift amount calculator 34. The shift amount calculator 34 calculates necessary shift amounts of a right eye and left eye image corresponding to the eyeball accommodation, and supplies signals representing the necessary shift amounts to image shifters 32R and 32L. According to these signals, the image shifters 32R and 32L horizontally shift a right eye and a left eye image signal from an image generator 31 on a right eye and as left eye LCDs 11R and 11L, respectively, to obtain an adequate binocular parallax.

Abstract: A system and method for generating trick play video streams, such as fast forward and fast reverse video streams, from an MPEG compressed normal play bitstream. The system receives a compressed normal play bitstream and filters the bitstream by extracting and saving only portions of the bitstream. The system preferably extracts I-frames and sequence headers, including all weighting matrices, from the MPEG bitstream and stores this information in a new file. The system then assembles or collates the filtered data into the proper order to generate a single assembled bitstream. The system also ensures that the weighting matrixes properly correspond to the respective I-frames. This produces a bitstream comprised of a plurality of sequence headers and I-frames. This assembled bitstream is MPEG-2 decoded to produce a new video sequence which comprises only one out of every X pictures of the original, uncompressed normal play bitstream.

Abstract: An encoder and a decoder for still and moving pictures are provided. The encoder has a memory for storing a default quantization matrix including a plurality of quantization elements having predetermined values. A generator is also provided for producing a particular quantization matrix after a number of frames. The particular quantization matrix is read in a predetermined zigzag pattern, and the reading is terminated at a selected position which is in the middle of the zigzag pattern. An end code is added after the read quantization elements of a former portion of the particular quantization matrix. The quantization elements in the default quantization matrix are read in the same zigzag pattern from a position immediately after the selected position, and produce a latter portion of the default quantization matrix. The former portion of the particular quantization matrix and the latter portion of the default quantization matrix are synthesized to form a synthesis quantization matrix.

Abstract: In a method of estimating motion vectors from subsampled video data (I), first vectors are estimated (ME, PM2) between an image with a first sub-sampling phase and an earlier image sub-sampled with a second sub-sampling phase, second vectors are estimated (ME, PM1) between an image with a second sub-sampling phase and an earlier image sub-sampled with a first subsampling phase, and the first and second vectors are combined (CD) to obtain output motion vectors (MV).

Abstract: Block matching is a robust and simple method of motion estimation for television pictures. One important parameter in block matching is the block size. Large blocks give more reliable motion estimation than small blocks, particularly in the presence of noise on the input picture, but they produce a coarser motion vector field. However, if the motion estimation is being used for motion compensated interpolation, for example the upconversion between 50 and 100 Hz display rates, the effects on picture quality of wrong vectors for whole blocks, and also of vectors that do not correctly follow the boundaries of moving objects, can be severe. According to the invention, large block (LB) matching is combined with the performance of more localized motion vectors to get pixel motion vectors. For any pixel, the motion vector will be one of four possibilities; the vector calculated for the block containing the pixel and the vectors (V1, V2, V3, V4) of the nearest blocks horizontally, vertically and diagonally.

Abstract: A transmitter, a receiver, a transmitting method, and a receiving method which make it possible to transmit or receive moving image data with higher resolution than specified by the prescribed coding and decoding modes. A split moving image data is obtained by dividing a second moving image data for one frame in a second image format in accordance with an image size in a first image format and the dummy moving image data in the first image format are sequentially and alternately coded and transmitted. The split moving image data and the dummy moving image data which have been coded and transmitted are then received and decoded. The split moving image data which has been obtained is then selectively used to reproduce second moving image data.

Abstract: A motion prediction apparatus and method that is capable of preventing the redundancy of calculation occurring during a motion prediction. In the apparatus, a first motion estimator predicts a single-pixel motion in a top-to-top field path and in a bottom-to-bottom field path with respect to an input image by retrieving a previous image. A frame vector determining circuit determines a frame motion vector on a basis of a motion vector outputted from the first motion estimator. A scaler scales each motion vector outputted from the first motion estimator to determine a field motion vector in a different path. A second motion estimator predicts a motion in a half pixel unit by retrieving a decoded image on a basis of each single-pixel motion vector outputted from the first motion estimator, the frame vector determining circuit and the scaler. The apparatus can reduce a calculation amount required for a motion prediction in a single pixel unit to ¼ compared with the prior art.

Abstract: A video signal conversion apparatus converts DV-format encoded compressed video data to MPEG format data, by utilizing motion flag information contained in the DV data which specifies for each of respective DCT blocks whether interlaced-frame mode DCT processing or progressive-field mode DCT processing has been applied to the block when executing DV encoding. The motion flag information can be used by a procesing mode selection section to determine various MPEG encoding modes to be applied in units of MPEG macroblocks, such as selecting respective macroblocks to be subjected to interlaced-frame mode DCT processing by an orthogonal transform processing section when the set of motion flags corresponding to the blocks constituting that macroblock are judged to indicate no substantial amount of motion for the macroblock, and to select progressive-field mode DCT processing when a substantial amount of motion is judged to exist.

Abstract: A moving picture compression apparatus in which signal deterioration can be minimized on repeated compression/expansion. The moving picture compression apparatus compresses a moving picture signal having a motion vector multiplexed in its blanking portion and includes a motion vector separator 13 for separating the motion vector multiplexed in the blanking portion of the moving picture signal and components from a difference calculating unit 2 to a motion compensation unit 10 for compressing the moving picture signal using the motion vector.

Abstract: A group of video plane (GOV) layers in which the encoding start time is absolute time with an accuracy of one second is provided as a coded bit stream. A GOV layer can be inserted not only at the head of the coded bit stream but at an arbitrary position in the coded bit stream. The display time of each video object plane (VOP) included in the GOV layer is represented by modulo_time_base which represents absolute time in one second units with the encoding start time set as the standard, and VOP_time_increment, which represents in millisecond units, the time that has elapsed since the time point represented by the modulo_time_base.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus improves picture quality and moreover, makes resolution higher, wherein second image data is generated by combining a current image having first image data with an image which is temporality different from the current image, so that an image having high resolution and having less aliasing can be generated as compared with the current image.

Abstract: An encoding circuit transforms a picture signal into blocks of, for example, 8*8 coefficients, in which each block of coefficients is read motion- adaptively. In the case of motion within a sub-picture, the block of coefficients is read in such an order that the obtained series of coefficients includes, as it were, two interleaved sub-series. The first series starts with a do component, In a first embodiment, the second series starts with the most relevant motion coefficient. In a second embodiment, two interlaced sub-fields are separately transformed and the second series also starts with a dc coefficient. As a result, the coefficients are transmitted as much as possible in their order of significance. This particularly produces the largest possible clusters of zero value coefficients. Such clusters are transmitted as one compact run-length code so that an effective bit rate reduction is achieved, also for moving pictures.

Abstract: A method of perceptually quantizing a block of an image or video sequence includes generating a non-perceptibility of distortion value. The non-perceptibility of distortion value is calculated from one or more masking values, e.g., complexity, brightness, movement, etc., which themselves are respectively calculated from previously reconstructed samples associated with the image or video sequence. The reconstructed samples form one or more causal templates that are used to calculate such masking effects and, thus, the non-perceptibility of distortion value. The perceptual quantization method then includes generating a quantization step size value which is a function of the non-perceptibility of distortion value. Since templates consisting only of previously reconstructed samples are used to derive the quantization step size value, the templates used at the encoder are also available at the decoder.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes input structure for inputting image data. Noise reduction circuitry is provided for reducing noise of the image data inputted by the input structure. Transformation circuitry is provided for performing an orthogonal transformation on the image data noise having reduced by the noise reduction circuitry. Control circuitry is provided for controlling a noise-reduction level of the noise reduction circuitry based on transformation coefficients obtained through the orthogonal transformation performed by the transformation circuitry.