METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING AND USING PICTURE DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION IN A FRAME RATE CONVERSION PROCESSOR

• US 20100013988A1
• Filed: 07/17/2008
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
• Inventors: Pearlstein, Larry A., Hulyalkar, Samir N.
• Granted Patent: US 9,204,086 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/441
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440281 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. by frame skipping television signal recording using magnetic recording on tape for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0112 one of the standards corresponding to a cinematograph film standard
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/013 the incoming video signal comprising different parts having originally different frame rate, e.g. video and graphics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0132 the field or frame frequency of the incoming video signal being multiplied by a positive integer, e.g. for flicker reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0135 involving interpolation processes interpolation-based image scaling G06T3/4007; interpolation for video coding H04N19/587, H04N19/59

Abstract

A method and apparatus of frame rate conversion where descriptive information relating to an input video signal is transmitted to the frame rate converter along with the input signal. The descriptive information is used to interpolate frames, allowing the interpolator to make pixel analysis using the descriptive information relating to the original signal. The descriptive information is derived by a compositor/scaler and is transmitted to the frame rate converter with the composited/scaled signal. There may be multiple input signals that are composited to make a final composited video output such as a picture-in-picture display. The information may be transmitted in-band with the video signal received by the frame rate converter. Alternatively, the descriptive information may be transmitted in a separate stream in a side-band manner. In another embodiment, the descriptive information may be transmitted to the frame rate converter separate from the video input source as commands or packets.

Claims

1. A method of frame rate conversion, the method comprising:

using descriptive information derived from an input video signal to create new frames based on original frames in the input video signal; and

combining the new frames with the input video signal to produce an output video signal with a different frame rate than the input video signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the input video signal comprises a plurality of input signals.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the input video signal comprises a representation of an on-screen display (OSD).

4. A method of compositing a video image, the method comprising:

maintaining descriptive information derived from an input video signal while the input video signal is composited; and

transmitting a composited video signal and the descriptive information to a frame rate converter.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the input video signal is comprised of data representative of an on-screen display (OSD).

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the composited video signal and the descriptive information are transmitted in-band in a single signal stream.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the composited video signal and the descriptive information are transmitted side-band in a plurality of signal streams.

8. A method of frame interpolation in a frame rate converter, the method comprising:

receiving an input video signal and descriptive information associated with the input video signal; and

using the descriptive information to create new video frames based on frames that are temporally near a new frame being created.

9. A frame rate converter comprising:

a frame interpolater configured to use descriptive information related to a composited video signal to create new frames based on the composited video signal; and

a combiner for inserting the new frames in the composited video signal to create an output video signal.

10. The frame rate converter of claim 9, further comprising a receiver configured to receive a single data stream containing both the composited video signal and the descriptive information.

11. The frame rate converter of claim 9, further comprising a receiver configured to receive the composited video signal in a first data stream and the descriptive information in a second data stream.

12. The frame rate converter of claim 9, wherein the frame interpolator is configured to disable frame rate conversion based on the descriptive information.

13. A frame interpolator configured to receive an input signal and descriptive information relating to the input signal, and wherein new frames are created based on the data contained in the input signal and based in part on the descriptive information.

14. A compositor/scaler comprising:

a processor capable of converting a plurality of input video streams into a composited video stream; and

a transmitter capable of providing said composited video stream and descriptive information related to each input video stream in said plurality of input streams as outputs of said compositor/scaler.

15. The compositor/scaler of claim 14, wherein said transmitter provides a single output stream comprising said descriptive information and said composited video stream.

16. The compositor/scaler of claim 14, wherein said transmitter provides said composited video stream in a first output data stream and said descriptive information in a second output data stream.

17. The compositor/scaler of claim 14, wherein at least one of said plurality of input video streams is captured at a first frame rate and at least one of said plurality of input video streams is captured at a second frame rate.

18. A video processing system comprising:

a compositor/scaler capable of receiving a plurality of video input streams and maintaining descriptive information about said plurality of video input streams, wherein said compositor/scaler outputs a single video output stream and transmits said descriptive information; and

a frame rate converter that receives said single video output stream and said descriptive information, wherein said descriptive information is used by said frame rate conversion processor to make frame rate conversion decisions.

19. A machine readable storage medium having a stored set of instructions executable by a machine, the instructions comprising:

instructions to create a composited video stream from a plurality of input video streams;

instructions to maintain descriptive information relating to and for each input video stream in the plurality of input video streams; and

instructions to create a final video output stream having a different frame rate than the composited video stream using the descriptive information.

20. The machine readable storage medium of claim 19 further comprising instructions to transmit the descriptive information and the composited video stream in a single output stream.

21. The machine readable storage medium of claim 19 further comprising instructions to transmit the descriptive information in a first data stream and the composited video stream in a second data stream.

22. The machine readable storage medium of claim 19 further comprising instructions to use the descriptive information to disable frame rate conversion for the video stream relating to the descriptive information.

23. A computer-readable medium containing a set of instructions adapted to create a processor, wherein the processor is configured to:

create a composited video stream from a plurality of input video streams;

maintain descriptive information for each input video stream in the plurality of input video streams; and

create a final video output stream using the descriptive information and having a different frame rate than the composited video stream.