Abstract: Television broadcast standards are continuously improved and new standards are introduced, often with increased resolution. Many users keep their television set that cannot take advantage of the improvements. However, in a case where a higher resolution video signal is available, additional services can be provided to the users of standard resolution television sets. A method for displaying a video comprises steps of enabling a user to define (71) first view settings, applying (72) the first view settings to a first view of a first video scene, determining (73) a first camera corresponding to the first view, storing (74) the first view settings, after a scene change towards a new scene detecting (76) that the new scene corresponds to the first view, and automatically applying (78) the first view settings for displaying the new scene.

Abstract: A method, a computer readable storage medium and an apparatus for generating a combined calendar are described. In formation of at least two calendars are received, each of which includes several events that is associated with at least one attribute. The attributes of the events are compared. Events are considered identical when they have at least one identical attribute. A common visual representation of the at least two calendars are generated. The identical events are represented as a single calendar object in the common visual representation.

Abstract: An optical microphone comprises a light source configured to emit a light beam and an acoustic sensor configured to reflect the light beam. The acoustic sensor includes single-wall nanotubes and deflects in response to pressure waves. An optional reflector of the optical microphone is configured to re-reflect the light beam from the acoustic sensor. A detector is configured to detect the light beam from the acoustic sensor or the reflector, and thus measures the pressure waves.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for improving a main image by fusing the richer information contained in a secondary image are described. A 3D structure of objects contained in the secondary image is retrieved and a parallax-corrected version of the secondary image is generated using the 3D structure. For this purpose a camera pose for which a projection of the 3D structure of the objects contained in the secondary image best resembles the perspective in the main image is determined and the parallax-corrected version of the secondary image is synthesized based on the determined camera pose. The parallax-corrected version of the secondary image is then fused with the main image.

Abstract: Television broadcast standards are continuously improved and new standards are introduced, often with increased resolution. Many users keep their television set that cannot take advantage of the improvements. However, in a case where a higher resolution video signal is available, additional services can be provided to the users of standard resolution television sets. A method for displaying a video comprises steps of enabling a user to define (71) first view settings, applying (72) the first view settings to a first view of a first video scene, determining (73) a first camera corresponding to the first view, storing (74) the first view settings, after a scene change towards a new scene detecting (76) that the new scene corresponds to the first view, and automatically applying (78) the first view settings for displaying the new scene.

Abstract: A method and an input-output device are proposed for rendering content. Further, a servicing device is proposed for delivering pre-rendered content. For rendering, a portion of processing or memorizing resources of said input-output device is allocated such that remaining resources of said input-output device are sufficient for maintaining the input-output capability of the device. Then, it is determined that an amount of resources required for rendering exceeds the allocated resources and a corresponding degree of pre-rendering is determined, too. On the serving device, pre-rendering of the content according to the determined degree is performed and the pre-rendered content is delivered from the serving device to the input-output device. Since server-side rendering is limited to a required degree, bandwidth constraints can be met more easily. Furthermore, rendering occurs more distributed and can be adjusted dynamically, thus, response time can be reduced.

Abstract: The invention relates to the improvement of the resolution of regularly sampled multi-dimensional signals, where a single low-resolution signal is available. These methods are generically referred to as example-based super-resolution or single-image super-resolution. The method for super-resolving a single image comprises three stages. First, an interpolation-based up-scaling of the input image is performed, followed by an equivalent low-pass filtering operation on the low-resolution image. The second stage comprises a search for low-frequency matches between an inspected patch in the high-resolution image and patches in a local neighborhood in the low-resolution low-frequency image, including partly overlapping patches, and accumulating the high-frequency contribution obtained from the low-resolution image. The third stage comprises adding the contributions of the low-frequency band of the high-resolution image and the extrapolated high-frequency band.

Abstract: An optical microphone and a method using the same are described. The optical microphone comprises a light source configured to emit a light beam and an acoustic sensor configured to reflect the light beam. The acoustic sensor includes single-wall nanotubes and deflects in response to pressure waves. An optional reflector of the optical microphone is configured to re-reflect the light beam from the acoustic sensor. A detector is configured to detect the light beam from the acoustic sensor or the reflector, and thus measures the pressure waves.

Abstract: The invention relates to an improved robustness in upscaling the resolution of regularly sampled multi-dimensional signals, where a single low-resolution signal is available. These methods are referred to as example-based super-resolution or single-image super-resolution. A method for super-resolving a single image comprises three stages. First, an interpolation-based up-scaling of the input image is performed, followed by a Local De-noising step in contour regions. The second stage comprises extrapolation through cross-scale block matching, wherein an extrapolated high-frequency band is obtained that is de-noised through regularization in the same contour regions. The third stage comprises adding the contributions of the low-frequency band of the high-resolution image and the extrapolated high-frequency band.

Abstract: An audio/video broadcast system, a method for operating the same and a user device for operation in the interactive broadcast system. The broadcast system comprises an capture unit, an editing unit and a user device. A plurality of video streams is captured by the capture unit, a main signal A is broadcast via a broadcast channel to the plurality of user devices. A user request S is transmitted from the user device to the editing unit and is indicative to information about a topic for an edited replay clip. After processing of content at the editing unit so as to generate the edited replay clip in response to the user request, said reply clip is broadcast using free bandwidth of the broadcast channel. A copy of the replay clip is cached at the user device and reproduced upon reception of a user command.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for improving a main image by fusing the richer information contained in a secondary image are described. A 3D structure of objects contained in the secondary image is retrieved and a parallax-corrected version of the secondary image is generated using the 3D structure. For this purpose a camera pose for which a projection of the 3D structure of the objects contained in the secondary image best resembles the perspective in the main image is determined and the parallax-corrected version of the secondary image is synthesized based on the determined camera pose. The parallax-corrected version of the secondary image is then fused with the main image.

Abstract: The invention relates to the improvement of the resolution of regularly sampled multi-dimensional signals, where a single low-resolution signal is available. These methods are generically referred to as example-based super-resolution or single-image super-resolution. The method for super-resolving a single image comprises three stages. First, an interpolation-based up-scaling of the input image is performed, followed by an equivalent low-pass filtering operation on the low-resolution image. The second stage comprises a search for low-frequency matches between an inspected patch in the high-resolution image and patches in a local neighborhood in the low-resolution low-frequency image, including partly overlapping patches, and accumulating the high-frequency contribution obtained from the low-resolution image. The third stage comprises adding the contributions of the low-frequency band of the high-resolution image and the extrapolated high-frequency band.

Abstract: The invention relates to an improved robustness in upscaling the resolution of regularly sampled multi-dimensional signals, where a single low-resolution signal is available. These methods are referred to as example-based super-resolution or single-image super-resolution. A method for super-resolving a single image comprises three stages. First, an interpolation-based up-scaling of the input image is performed, followed by a Local De-noising step in contour regions. The second stage comprises extrapolation through cross-scale block matching, wherein an extrapolated high-frequency band is obtained that is de-noised through regularization in the same contour regions. The third stage comprises adding the contributions of the low-frequency band of the high-resolution image and the extrapolated high-frequency band.

Abstract: Wavelet thresholding using discrete wavelet transforms is a sophisticated and effective approach for noise reduction. However, usage of integer arithmetic implies that not the full range of input values can be used. A method for selectively reducing noise in a digital signal having a first range of values comprises steps of decomposing the digital signal to a plurality of frequency sub-bands, wherein before, during or after the decomposing the digital signal or at least one sub-band is expanded by one or more bits to a second range of integer values, removing in at least one of the frequency sub-bands values that are below a threshold, re-combining the frequency sub-bands, after removing said values that are below a threshold, into an expanded output signal, and de-expanding the expanded output signal, wherein a signal having the first range of values is obtained.

Abstract: A method and an input-output device are proposed for rendering content. Further, a servicing device is proposed for delivering pre-rendered content. For rendering, a portion of processing or memorizing resources of said input-output device is allocated such that remaining resources of said input-output device are sufficient for maintaining the input-output capability of the device. Then, it is determined that an amount of resources required for rendering exceeds the allocated resources and a corresponding degree of pre-rendering is determined, too. On the serving device, pre-rendering of the content according to the determined degree is performed and the pre-rendered content is delivered from the serving device to the input-output device. Since server-side rendering is limited to a required degree, bandwidth constraints can be met more easily. Furthermore, rendering occurs more distributed and can be adjusted dynamically, thus, response time can be reduced.

Abstract: Specialized image processing circuitry is usually implemented in hardware in a massively parallel way as a single instruction multiple data (SIMD) architecture. The invention prevents long and complicated connection paths between a processing element and the memory subsystem, and improves maximum operating frequency. An optimized architecture for image processing has processing elements that are arranged in a two-dimensional structure, and each processing element has a local storage containing a plurality of reference pixels that are not neighbors in the reference image. Instead, the reference pixels belong to different blocks of the reference image, which may vary for different encoding schemes.

Abstract: During the transmission of data packets received on a wired connection via a first interface via a second interface designed for the wireless transmission of data, the problem exists that between receiving the data and transmitting the data via the second interface a relatively large delay time can arise which must be bridged by means of a suitably dimensioned buffer memory. To enable the maximum delay time to be further reduced, the necessary processing of the received IEEE 1394 bus packets is already performed section by section immediately after a received data packet has arrived. After the complete number of bus packets falling within a transmission frame has been received, there is therefore no longer any lengthy processing time required and the probability of missing the time slots reserved in the next transmission frame is significantly reduced. The buffer memory for bridging the delay time period can therefore be correspondingly smaller.

Abstract: Wavelet thresholding using discrete wavelet transforms is a sophisticated and effective approach for noise reduction. However, usage of integer arithmetic implies that not the full range of input values can be used. A method for selectively reducing noise in a digital signal having a first range of values comprises steps of decomposing the digital signal to a plurality of frequency sub-bands, wherein before, during or after the decomposing the digital signal or at least one sub-band is expanded by one or more bits to a second range of integer values, removing in at least one of the frequency sub-bands values that are below a threshold, re-combining the frequency sub-bands, after removing said values that are below a threshold, into an expanded output signal, and de-expanding the expanded output signal, wherein a signal having the first range of values is obtained.

Abstract: A wireless extension of the IEEE 1394 bus where two clusters of 1394 devices are linked by a wireless bridge. The device clusters communicate without being bridge-aware. The wireless bridge provides for a bus reset isolation. The wireless extension including a buffer memory for storing self-identification packets in the 1394 interfaces of both boxes of the wireless bridge. With these buffer memories the self-identification packets of the bus stations in the other cluster can be collected and they can be read out during the self-configuration phase of the network after a bus reset when the bus grant is assigned to the box of the wireless bridge that is also connected to the bus where the bus reset has occurred. The physical layer block of the 1394 interface transmits artificial self-identification packets for all bus stations of the other cluster.

Abstract: The invention relates to retrieving a test block at a freely selectable position from a blockwise stored reference image. A method for retrieving a test block from a blockwise stored reference image is described. Said method comprises the steps of retrieving a reference block and generating from the reference block a first corona block. Then, the test block is composed using a subsection of the reference block and a subsection of the first corona block.