Abstract: A method and apparatus for splicing a first compressed digital information stream into a second compressed digital information stream. The first information stream includes at least one entrance indicium identifying an appropriate stream entrance point, the second information stream includes at least one exit indicium identifying an appropriate stream exit point. A controller monitors the two streams until the appropriate points are found and, in response to a control signal, splices the first stream into the second stream.

Abstract: Noise reduction circuitry, in a video signal compression apparatus of the predictive DPCM compression type includes a simple nonlinear processing element within the DPCM loop to eliminate residues between predicted and real image signals, which are smaller than a predetermined value. Elimination of such residues dramatically reduces the amount of compressed data generated for signals including even modest amounts of noise.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for splicing a first compressed digital information stream into a second compressed digital information stream. The first information stream includes at least one entrance indicium identifying an appropriate stream entrance point, the second information stream includes at least one exit indicium identifying an appropriate stream exit point. A controller monitors the two streams until the appropriate points are found and, in response to a control signal, splices the first stream into the second stream.

Abstract: The invention is a method and apparatus for processing an MPEG-like bitstream comprising information frames having associated timing parameters. The method and apparatus identify one or more non-referential information frames containing at least a threshold number of bits, remove one or more of the identified non-referential information frames and modify the timing information associated with each information frame following the one or more removed information frames.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for improving the display of progressively scanned images on displays that employ an interlace display technique. The apparatus comprises a vertical filter and a clipper. An input image is vertically low-pass and high-pass filtered through the vertical filter. The resulting high-pass signal is passed through the clipper such that a non-linear transfer function limits the maximum value that is permitted to pass through the clipper. The "clipped" high-pass signal is then recombined with the low-pass signal to reconstruct a flicker-reduced image. In this fashion, interline flicker is reduced while maintaining the full resolution of natural images.

Abstract: In a compression system including a quantizer for quantifying a matrix of coefficients according to a matrix of quantizing values, and which is responsive to rate buffer occupancy for providing quantizing scale factors to modify the quantizing matrix, significant channel capacity may be salvaged without significant loss of image quality by incorporating apparatus to limit the minimum values of quantizing scale factors that are applied to the quantizing matrix.

Abstract: A discontinuous motion special effects generator for television is described including a memory means responsive to a television video signal for storing signals representing a television picture field and memory control means for controlling the writing and reading of the picture fields. This generator includes means for automatically providing control pulses at a rate for desired discontinuous motion. The generator further includes means coupled to the memory control means and responsive to the control pulses for writing a single picture field of video only on the occurrence of each control pulse whereby the video output changes only on the occurrence of each control pulse.

Abstract: A repetitive cyclic test signal representing constant chrominance with changing phase, changing chrominance with constant phase, and changing chrominance with changing luminance is coupled through a television system under test to a vectorscope display device for measuring saturation, hue and luminance crosstalk within the television system.

Abstract: A system is provided for compensating for signal defects such as dropouts in recorded television signals. A recovered video signal is delayed for a period of substantially one scanning line, and the delayed signal is coupled to two channels, one for the luminance and scan synchronizing information and the other for the color information. The color information is phase-reversed each time it is delayed so as to provide a proper phase relationship when reinserting the delayed information into the signal path. The two channels are recombined to provide a compensating signal which is substituted for the original video signal during a dropout.