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.

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.

Abstract: A video signal encoding/decoding system reduces ringing noise by using a post-filter which performs anisotropic diffusion on decoded data. The exemplary system uses an encoding/decoding technique such as that developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). The post-filter processes individual blocks of pixels, assigning an individual edge significance threshold to each block. Noise removal occurs if the edge strength is below the threshold and is inhibited if the edge strength is above the threshold.