Abstract: The methods and systems of this invention allow for independent adaptive control of ringing and overshoot effects in 2-dimensional array interpolation processes, including in image and video rescaling and analysis. The methods and systems can use either a column-wise or a row-wise interpolation, or a combination thereof. Each uses a respective preliminary interpolation of data, followed by ringing and/or overshoot control. Controllable parameters allow variability in the amount of ringing and/or overshoot retained in the interpolated data. The ringing and overshoot controls apply a local analysis of the data to adjust the preliminary interpolation results. The methods may be repeated iteratively, for example, to obtain a desired rescaling of an image data array.

Abstract: The methods and systems of this invention allow for independent adaptive control of ringing and overshoot effects in 2-dimensional array interpolation processes, including in image and video rescaling and analysis. The methods and systems can use either a column-wise or a row-wise interpolation, or a combination thereof. Each uses a respective preliminary interpolation of data, followed by ringing and/or overshoot control. Controllable parameters allow variability in the amount of ringing and/or overshoot retained in the interpolated data. The ringing and overshoot controls apply a local analysis of the data to adjust the preliminary interpolation results. The methods may be repeated iteratively, for example, to obtain a desired rescaling of an image data array.

Abstract: Provided are a digital video rescaling system, a method of rescaling video images, and a chip comprising a computer executable medium embedded therein computer executable instructions for rescaling video images.

Abstract: Aspects of the invention are directed towards an apparatus and method for detecting conventional and exotic cadences in video sequences. The cadence detector includes a motion auto-correlation unit using the inter-frame/field motion information to detect the cadence and a motion cross-correlation unit using the inter-frame/field motion information and the detected cadence to determine the cadence phase. The cadence detector also may include a reset signal generator to generate a reset signal to control the motion auto-correlation unit and the motion cross-correlation unit. The exotic cadence detector is robust and may support many cadences with reduced cadence detection latency as compared to the prior art.

Abstract: Aspects of the invention are directed towards an apparatus and method for detecting local video pixels in mixed cadence video. The local video detector comprises a comb detector that is adaptive to the contour of moving objects and local contrast, a motion detector that is robust to false motion due to vertical details, and a fader value estimator that provides a video confidence value to a fader that combines film mode and video mode processing results. The coupling of the local video detector to a film mode detector increases the robustness, accuracy, and efficiency of local film/video mode processing as compared to the prior art.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for identifying and removing banding artifacts (i.e., false contours) resulting from insufficient bit depth caused by digital image quantization, conversion, and/or compression. This method includes: explicitly identifying texture block and flat block; de-termination of filter window sizes with the consideration of handling transitions between texture block and flat block; de-banding filtering with edge protection; and noise shaping according to de-banding filter result.

Abstract: Digital noise removal methods and systems for picture quality improvement on next generation high quality set-top-box and digital TV SOCs is disclosed with particular to a de-blocking method and system that is effective on on-grid and off-grid blocky artifacts generated by lossy video compression standards. Blocky artifacts are filtered by extracting motions vectors for a current pixel block, calculating off-grid positions based on the extracted motion vectors, and applying de-blocking filtering along the calculated off-grid positions. The methods and systems can further skip filtering on-grid blocky artifacts to be filtered by an on-grid de-blocking filter known in the art.

Abstract: A directional anti-aliasing filter circuit includes an input node and an output node, a directional anti-aliasing filter having an input coupled to the input node, an adaptive gain control having an input coupled to an output of the directional anti-aliasing filter, a summer having a first input coupled to an output of the adaptive gain control, a second input coupled to the input node, and an output coupled to the output node, a texture detector for providing a texture adjust signal to the directional anti-aliasing filter and a texture adaptive gain signal to the adaptive gain control, an edge detector for providing an edge direction signal to the directional anti-aliasing filter, and a corner detector for providing a corner adaptive gain signal to the adaptive gain control.

Abstract: The present invention relates to systems and methods for inverse telecine or video de-interlacing for picture quality improvement on set-top-box and TV products. The system comprises a film mode detector at the picture or sequence level, a global mixed video and film content detector at the region, picture, or sequence level on top of the detected film content, and a local video content detector at pixel level on top of the detected mixed video and film content. Inverse telecine processing is applied on detected film content fading in with a locally de-interlaced local video content. The invention further provides an apparatus and method for globally detecting mixed video and film content at region, picture, or sequence level. Such apparatus and method comprise a plurality of detectors for robustness and increased detection accuracy.

Abstract: Aspects of the invention are directed towards an apparatus and method for detecting local video pixels in mixed cadence video. The local video detector comprises a comb detector that is adaptive to the contour of moving objects and local contrast, a motion detector that is robust to false motion due to vertical details, and a fader value estimator that provides a video confidence value to a fader that combines film mode and video mode processing results. The coupling of the local video detector to a film mode detector increases the robustness, accuracy, and efficiency of local film/video mode processing as compared to the prior art.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for determining the perceptibility of noise in a block of images and/or video. The systems and methods may compute a mask value for the block using a block masking generator. The mask value may indicate the perceptibility of noise in the block. The mask value may be computed using a normalized activity value and/or a texture value for the block. The normalized activity value may indicate the relative activity in the block as compared to the activity in the image and/or video. The texture value may indicate the strength and/or number of edges in the block.

Abstract: Aspects of the invention are directed towards an apparatus and method for detecting conventional and exotic cadences in video sequences. The cadence detector includes a motion auto-correlation unit using the inter-frame/field motion information to detect the cadence and a motion cross-correlation unit using the inter-frame/field motion information and the detected cadence to determine the cadence phase. The cadence detector also may include a reset signal generator to generate a reset signal to control the motion auto-correlation unit and the motion cross-correlation unit. The exotic cadence detector is robust and may support many cadences with reduced cadence detection latency as compared to the prior art.

Abstract: A directional anti-aliasing filter circuit includes an input node and an output node, a directional anti-aliasing filter having an input coupled to the input node, an adaptive gain control having an input coupled to an output of the directional anti-aliasing filter, a summer having a first input coupled to an output of the adaptive gain control, a second input coupled to the input node, and an output coupled to the output node, a texture detector for providing a texture adjust signal to the directional anti-aliasing filter and a texture adaptive gain signal to the adaptive gain control, an edge detector for providing an edge direction signal to the directional anti-aliasing filter, and a corner detector for providing a corner adaptive gain signal to the adaptive gain control.

Abstract: A frame level noise estimate for an image can be determined. An image processor includes a high pass filter unit configured to perform high-pass spatial filtering of image data for first and second frames to produce high-pass spatially filtered information for the first frame and the second frame. A cumulative histogram generator is configured to analyze the high-pass spatially filtered information for the first frame and the second frame to produce a first cumulative histogram for the first frame and a second cumulative histogram for the second frame. A comparator is configured to determine a difference value between the first and second cumulative histograms. A mapping unit is configured to determine an estimated noise value based on the difference value.

Abstract: A video image processing system is described that generates the interpolated video images with sharp and jaggedness-free edges. A method of video image processing is also described that interpolates video images to generate the video images with sharp and jaggedness-free edges. The video image processing system receives and makes input image data available for further processing; analyzes the local features of the input image data; filters the input image data before performing interpolation process; modifies the phase value adaptive to the local edge distance; rescales the input image data in horizontal interpolation using the modified phase value; and rescales the horizontally interpolated image data in vertical interpolation using modified phase value.

Abstract: The appearance of image details can be preserved and/or enhanced by applying contrast adaptive gain to the high spatial frequency component of the luminance information. The image details in bright and/or dark regions can be further boosted by applying a local mean adaptive gain. The contrast transfer mapping curve for luminance contrast enhancement can be re-scaled to account for the applied gain. The re-scaling may be performed from frame to frame of displayed video. The re-scaling may be temporally controlled for subsequent frames to make the re-scaling change gradually to prevent flickering.

Abstract: Provided are a digital video rescaling system, a method of rescaling video images, and a chip comprising a computer executable medium embedded therein computer executable instructions for rescaling video images.

Abstract: A method of processing video data to detect field characteristics of the data, said data having a plurality of fields, including the steps of: comparing first and second fields, said first field being a successive field of said second field; comparing pixel values of respective sub-blocks of said first field and a third field, said second field being a successive field of said third field; determining whether said first field is an interlaced field or a progressive field with respect to a successive field of said first field based on said steps of comparing.

Abstract: A video image processing system is described that generates the interpolated video images with sharp and jaggedness-free edges. A method of video image processing is also described that interpolates video images to generate the video images with sharp and jaggedness-free edges. The video image processing system receives and makes input image data available for further processing; analyzes the local features of the input image data; filters the input image data before performing interpolation process; modifies the phase value adaptive to the local edge distance; rescales the input image data in horizontal interpolation using the modified phase value; and rescales the horizontally interpolated image data in vertical interpolation using modified phase value.

Abstract: A method and apparatus of encoding digital video according to the ISO/IEC MPEG standards (ISO/IEC 11172-2 MPEG-1 and ISO/IEC 13818-2 MPEG-2) using an adaptive motion estimator. A plurality of global motion vectors are derived from the motion vectors of a previous picture in a sequence, and the global motion vectors are analyzed to determine motion characteristics. The video encoding is arranged to enable switching among different types of local motion estimators based on the motion characteristics of the moving pictures sequence. This gives rise to a motion estimation algorithm that can adaptively change its search range, search area and block matching scheme to suit different types of moving sequences.