Abstract: Energy absorbing material comprising polyolefin particles having as a continuous phase a copolymer of ethylene or propylene and one or more ?-olefin monomers, the copolymer having a density of at most 910 kg/ms and the particles having been formed by cutting at a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the polyolefin, and use of the energy absorbing material as infill material in synthetic grass structures.

Abstract: A method of processing an input signal (SG0) is described. The method involves receiving the input signal (SG0). Moreover, the method also involves processing the input signal (SG0) into a base stream (SG1) and one or more enhanced streams (SG2, SG3) wherein the base stream (SG1) includes basic signal information and the one more enhanced streams (SG2, SG3) include enhancement signal information complementary to the basic signal information. Furthermore, the method involves combining the plurality of streams (SG1, SG2, SG3) to generate a corresponding composite signal (40) of constant bit rate (CBR), the composite signal (40) being susceptible to broadcasting in one multiplex.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for recording a data stream having a base stream and an enhancement stream on a storage medium for improving non-linear playback performance of the recorded data is disclosed. The data stream is received and I-pictures from the base stream are stored in a first buffer. All of the remaining data from the data stream is stored in a second buffer. Each time the first buffer becomes full, I-pictures stored in the first buffer are written onto an intra-coded allocation unit on the storage medium. The contents of second buffer are written onto at least one subsequent inter-coded allocation unit.

Abstract: The device and method according to the invention prevent that the consistency of image quality is negatively affected when transmission rate fluctuations occur on a communication channel. The invention relies on the perception that the transition from a full quality video signal to a basic-quality video signal, respectively from a basic-quality video signal to a full-quality video signal, should be a gradual transition instead of a sudden transition. The blending process can be implemented by circuitry which applies a blending factor on the decoded video signals of the base layer and the enhancement layer(s), before these decoded video signals are merged to form a single output video signal. Due to the delay time of the decoding process there will be a natural delay between the moment a transition occurs in the received video data and the moment that a transition occurs in the full-quality video signal.

Abstract: A heterogeneous layered video decoding system and associated method is disclosed that provides for flexible and cost effective scalability through the use of generic decoders (e.g., MPEG-2/4/AVC) at each layer instead of decoders specifically designed for scalable systems. In one embodiment, additional signaling information (220) embodied as a parameter list is transmitted along with the transport stream (250). The parameter list independently defines for each layer (BS, ES), how the particular layer is to be decoded. In this manner, a trade-off between complexity and efficiency is achieved. For example, the base layer (BS) may employ a sophisticated base layer AVC codec, while one or more enhancement layers (ES) may use an MPEG-2 codec that is half as complex as a full AVC codec but only slightly less efficient.

Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for performing spatial scalable compression of video information captured in a plurality of frames including an encoder for encoding and outputting the captured video frames into a compressed data stream, comprising a base layer comprising an encoded bitstream having a relatively low resolution, a high resolution enhancement layer comprising a residual signal having a relatively high resolution, and wherein a dead zone operation unit attenuates the residual signal, the residual signal being the difference between the original frames and the upscaled frames from the base layer. As a result, the number of bits needed for the compressed data stream is reduced for a given observed video quality.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for efficiently performing spatial scalable compression of video information captured in a plurality of frames including an encoder for encoding and outputting the captured video frames into a compressed data stream is disclosed. A base encoder for encoding an interlaced bitstream having a relatively lower pixel resolution. A spatial enhancement encoder for encoding a differential between a de-interlaced local decoder output from the base layer and an input signal.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing elastic storage of layered video data stored in a storage apparatus are disclosed. The stored enhancement layer video data is read out of the storage apparatus. The enhancement layer video data is then at least partially decoded or ultimately completely deleted. The decoded enhancement layer video data is attenuated in a linear or non-linear manner. The attenuated enhancement layer video data is then encoded. The encoded attenuated video data is stored back in the storage apparatus.

Abstract: There is provided an image encoding system (300, 400) including an encoder (300) for receiving input image data and generating corresponding encoded image output data. The encoder includes image processing features (310, 320, 330, 360) for processing said input image data to generate for each input image therein a plurality of corresponding image layers including at least one basic layer BLOP and at least one enhancement layer ELOP. Moreover, the encoder (300) further includes encoding features (350) for receiving said image layers and generating therefrom the encoded image output data. The encoding features further comprising block selecting features (340) for selecting one or more sub-regions of said at least one enhancement layer and modelling said one or more sub-regions for representation thereof in the image output data by way of descriptive model parameters.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing spatial scalable compression of an input video stream is disclosed. A base stream is encoded which comprises base features. A residual signal is encoded to produce an enhancement stream comprising enhancement features, wherein the residual signal is the difference between original frames of the input video stream an upscaled frames from the base layer. A processed version of the base features are subtracted from the enhancement features in the enhancement stream.

Abstract: Coding of a video signal is provided according to a predefined standard, wherein in a given operation mode some of the tools provided by the predefined standard are disabled, and wherein an identification of the disabled tools is included in the bit-stream, the disabled tools being one or more out of the group of: bidirectional predictive coding of pictures or picture parts, use of a de-blocking filter, use of more than one reference picture.

Abstract: Video signals are converted into a stream of digital numbers arranged in a sequence of digitized video frames (14), neighboring frames being separated by a synchronization signal (16). A sensing circuitry (30) monitors the synchronization signals and detects absent synchronization signals. A clock generator (32) generates a replacement synchronization signal based on the monitored synchronization signals. The replacement signals can replace all of the synchronization signals, e.g., with an average sync frequency, or replace only missing or corrupted synchronization signals. The replacement synchronization signals are generated and inserted either at a fixed rate or at an actual clock rate. In a preferred embodiment, a learning circuitry (42) collects and averages the clock rate of the synchronization signals for a preselected duration. The value is supplied to the clock generator to output the replacement synchronization signals at the actual clock rate.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for delivering content to a user are disclosed. A data bit-stream is provided having a base layer data bit-stream and at least one enhancement layer data bit-stream. The data bit-streams are stored separately in a storage device. The stored content is then offered at different quality levels. When a request is received from the user for the content at a specified quality level, the base layer data bit-stream and however many enhancement layer data bit-streams that are needed to produce the specified quality level are downloaded to the user.

Abstract: Method for encoding a digital video stream, comprising the steps of encoding a video sequence into a full frame sequence, forming a decimated frame sequence by removing a predetermined number of frames from the full frame sequence by means of temporal decimation, locally decoding the full frame sequence, locally decoding the decimated frame sequence, temporally interpolating the decoded decimated frame sequence by means of an interpolator, comparing the locally decoded frames of the full frame sequence with the corresponding frames of the locally interpolated frame sequence, determining residual information for a frame based on at least the comparison for that frame, and providing an output stream comprising the decimated frame sequence and the determined residual information.

Abstract: Polymer composition, comprising as main components: a polyolefin polymer grafted with an ethylenically unsaturated functionalised compound with at least a first functional group; a reactive thermoplastic polymer with a second functional group which can react with the first; and a base polymer, comprising at least 55 wt % of a single site catalyst polymerised polyolefin, wherein the proportion of the base polymer amounts to more than 50 wt %, preferably to at least 55 wt % and the proportion of the reactive thermoplastic polymer to at least 10 wt % of the total of the main components, the proportion of the reactive thermoplastic polymer amounts to more than 50 wt % of the total of the reactive thermoplastic polymer and the polyolefin polymer grafted with an ethylenically unsaturated functionalised compound and the quantity of the ethylenically unsaturated functionalised compound in the grafted polyolefin polymer is between 0.05 and 1.0 mgeq/g, and a method for the preparation of such a composition.

Abstract: The application relates to a method of and devices for encoding an information stream (20) into a variable bit rate (VBR) encoded information stream (24). The application discloses a method of estimating the relation between the variable bit rate, the recording time and the storage capacity of a record carrier. The deviation of the estimated recording time from the true recording time is kept within predefined limits and it is prevented that deviations from several successive recordings accumulate.

Abstract: During image compression alternative video compression technique are selected under control of an extent to which a computational resource is detected to be available for compression. A less or more resource intensive compression technique is used when more of the resource is available respecrtively. At least part of a frame from a sequence of frames from the video information is encoded alternatively using a first process by means of change information relative to a neighboring frame or using a second process independent from any neighboring frame in said sequence, dependent on the extent to which the resource is available it is selected to encode.

Abstract: In macroblock-based coding systems such as MPEG-1 video, MPEG-2 video and MPEG-4 visual, an encoder in the invention decides on macroblock level whether the macroblock is to be encoded or whether local motion-compensated interpolation processing at a compatible decoder can be used to reconstruct the macroblock. In the latter case, the macroblock is skipped. If the decoder detects a skipped macroblock, the decoder reconstructs the macroblock and overwrites the data conventionally generated in MPEG under the skipped macro-block condition.