Patents by Inventor Daniel Qiang Zhu

Daniel Qiang Zhu has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6424749
    Abstract: A system and method for format conversion for use with images containing mixed video and computer generated imagery. A first intermediate scaled image is generated using a first interpolator which has a relatively wide passband and a narrow transition band to the stop band. This interpolator retains high frequency components in the interpolated image but may introduce ringing distortion adjacent to strong edges. The first intermediate scaled image is then processed through an edge extractor which extracts strong edges but ignores any associated ringing distortion. The output signal of the edge detector is a scaled edge image. Next, a second intermediate scaled image is generated using a second interpolator which has a narrower passband and a more gradual transition band. This interpolator produces an image having reduced high frequency components relative to the original image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2002
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Daniel Qiang Zhu, Kevin John Stec
  • Patent number: 6100863
    Abstract: A digital display device, such as a plasma display or a digital DMD based light digital project employs a minimum moving pixel distortion (MPD) set of codewords for reducing visually perceived artifacts viewed on a DDD, specially on a plasma display panel (PDP). The plasma display device includes a minimum MPD mapping process, which maps by, for example, a ROM look-up table, received pixel intensity values into intensity levels corresponding to selected ones of the set of codewords. By increasing the number of subfields (or rounding the least significant bits (LSBs) of the intensity pixels), redundant codewords that express pixel intensities can be generated based on the sustain pulse vector with predetermined constraints. An optimal set of codewords can be determined using a dynamic programming method which minimizes a measure of apparent error in a transition from a gray scale produced by one codeword to a gray scale produced by a next successive codeword.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Daniel Qiang Zhu
  • Patent number: 6097368
    Abstract: A digital display device, such as a plasma display or a digital micromirror device (DMD) based digital light projector, employs a minimum moving pixel distortion (MPD) set of codewords for reducing visually perceived artifacts viewed on a digital display device (PDP). The digital display device includes a minimum MPD mapping process, which maps by, for example, a ROM look-up table, corresponding present and previous pixel intensity values from first and second image frames into a preferred equalizing code value corresponding to the present pixel intensity value. An optimal set of equalizing codewords is determined by comparing objective measures of MPD error for each of a plurality of trial equalizing codewords and selecting the codeword having the smallest measure of MPD error. The optimal equalizing codewords are stored in a ROM lookup table which is addressed by the previous and current codewords.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Daniel Qiang Zhu, Thomas J. Leacock, James D. Noecker
  • Patent number: 6069664
    Abstract: The present invention is embodied in an apparatus and method for converting a progressive video signal to an interlaced video signal from which the progressive video signal may be recovered. The invention is further embodied in an apparatus and method for converting such an interlaced video signal to a progressive video signal. A progressive-to-interlaced video converter includes a progressive video preprocessor and a converter. The progressive video preprocessor replaces at least one scan line in a video frame by its preceding or succeeding scan line. Alternatively, the preprocessor may assign a predetermined value to one or multiple scan lines at appropriate position(s) in a frame. In either scenario, each frame will carry at least one redundant scan line. The frame modification information will be encoded to an ancillary data section of a digital video stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Daniel Qiang Zhu, Kaarlo Juhani Hamalainen, Thomas James Leacock, Kevin John Stec
  • Patent number: 5841413
    Abstract: A plasma display device employs a minimum moving pixel distortion (MPD) set of codewords for reducing visually perceived artifacts viewed on a plasma display panel (PDP). The plasma display device includes a minimum MPD mapping process, which maps by, for example, a ROM look-up table, received pixel intensity values into intensity levels corresponding to selected ones of the set of codewords. By increasing the number of subfields (or rounding the least significant bits (LSBs) of the intensity pixels), redundant codewords that express pixel intensities can be generated based on the sustain pulse vector with predetermined constraints. An optimal set of codewords can be determined though (1) a random search; (2) an exhaustive search; (3) dynamic programming or (4) a genetic algorithm based search which minimizes the MPD distance. The mapped codewords are stored in a ROM lookup table as display data by a plasma display controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 24, 1998
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Daniel Qiang Zhu, Thomas James Leacock