Advanced television system
DCFirst Claim
1. A method of receiving and decoding a television signal representing an input video source, wherein the television signal has been encoded using a method comprising the steps ofencoding a first set of bits using a first transmission standard, the first set of bits representing images at a first quality and being capable of being decoded to provide an output at a first quality, andencoding a second set of bits using a second transmission standard, the second set of bits representing enhancement information that can be decoded and used in the receiver with the first set of bits to provide an output at a second quality greater than the first quality,wherein the second transmission standard comprises the steps of decoding the first set of bits to produce an estimate of the decoded images at a first quality, and comparing the estimate to the input video source and using the results of the comparison to produce the second set of bits,the method of receiving and decoding comprising the steps of:
- decoding the first set of bits according to a first decoding procedure to provide information representative of images at the first quality;
decoding the second set of bits according to a second decoding procedure to provide the enhancement information; and
combining the enhancement information with the information representative of the images at the first quality to provide output at the second quality.
0 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for incorporating future developments in video compression technology to migrate toward a better television system in a receiver-compatible manner. The invention uses enhancement data that can be combined with standard video data. Standard HDTV receivers will utilize standard video data, ignoring the enhancement data. More advanced HDTV receivers will combine the enhancement data with standard data. The television signal is transmitted in a format comprising a first set of bits that represents images at a first quality (e.g., first resolution) and that can be decoded to provide an output at the first resolution, and a second set of bits that represents enhancement information and that can be decoded and used in conjunction with the first set of bits to provide an output at a second resolution greater than the first resolution. The first set of bits is decoded according to a first decoding procedure to provide information representative of images at the first resolution. The second set of bits is decoded according to a second decoding procedure to provide the enhancement information. And at least some of the enhancement information and at least some of the information representative of images at the first resolution are used to provide the output at the second resolution.
-
Citations
56 Claims
-
1. A method of receiving and decoding a television signal representing an input video source, wherein the television signal has been encoded using a method comprising the steps of
encoding a first set of bits using a first transmission standard, the first set of bits representing images at a first quality and being capable of being decoded to provide an output at a first quality, and encoding a second set of bits using a second transmission standard, the second set of bits representing enhancement information that can be decoded and used in the receiver with the first set of bits to provide an output at a second quality greater than the first quality, wherein the second transmission standard comprises the steps of decoding the first set of bits to produce an estimate of the decoded images at a first quality, and comparing the estimate to the input video source and using the results of the comparison to produce the second set of bits, the method of receiving and decoding comprising the steps of: -
decoding the first set of bits according to a first decoding procedure to provide information representative of images at the first quality; decoding the second set of bits according to a second decoding procedure to provide the enhancement information; and combining the enhancement information with the information representative of the images at the first quality to provide output at the second quality. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A method of receiving and decoding an audio signal, the audio signal representing an input audio source, wherein the audio signal has been transmitted in a format comprising a first set of bits that represents audio at a first quality and that can be decoded to provide an output at the first quality, and a second set of bits that represents enhancement information and that can be decoded and used in conjunction with the first set of bits to provide an audio output at a second quality greater than the first quality, the method of receiving and decoding comprising the steps of:
-
decoding the first set of bits according to a first decoding procedure to provide information representative of audio at the first quality; decoding the second set of bits according to a second decoding procedure to provide the enhancement information; using at least some of the enhancement information and at least some of the information representative of audio at the first quality to provide the output at the second quality. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
-
-
20. A system for receiving and decoding a television signal representing an input video source, wherein the television signal has been encoded by
encoding a first set of bits using a first transmission standard, the first set of bits representing images at a first quality and being capable of being decoded to provide an output at a first quality, and encoding a second set of bits using a second transmission standard, the second set of bits representing enhancement information that can be decoded and used in the receiver with the first set of bits to provide an output at a second quality greater than the first quality, wherein the second transmission standard comprises the steps of decoding the first set of bits to produce an estimate of the decoded images at a first quality, and comparing the estimate to the input video source and using the results of the comparison to produce the second set of bits, the system for receiving and decoding comprising: -
means for decoding the first set of bits according to a first decoding procedure to provide information representative of images at the first quality; means for decoding the second set of bits according to a second decoding procedure to provide the enhancement information; and means for combining the enhancement information with the information representative of the images at the first quality to provide output at the second quality. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
-
-
34. A system of receiving and decoding an audio signal, the audio signal representing an input audio source, wherein the audio signal has been transmitted in a format comprising a first set of bits that represents audio at a first quality and that can be decoded to provide an output at the first quality, and a second set of bits that represents enhancement information and that can be decoded and used in conjunction with the first set of bits to provide an audio output at a second quality greater than the first quality, the system of receiving and decoding comprising:
-
means for decoding the first set of bits according to a first decoding procedure to provide information representative of audio at the first quality; means for decoding the second set of bits according to a second decoding procedure to provide the enhancement information; means for using at least some of the enhancement information and at least some of the information representative of audio at the first quality to provide the output at the second quality. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
-
-
37. A method of encoding a television signal representing an input video source, comprising the steps of:
-
using a first transmission standard to encode the input video source to produce an encoded signal, the encoded signal being of a lower quality than the quality of the input video source; using a second transmission standard to encode enhancement bits to permit the decoder to enhance the signal decoded from the encoded signal; the second transmission standard comprising the steps of decoding the encoded signal using a plurality of prediction methods to produce a plurality of estimates of the input video source, each estimate differing from the input video source by a residual; selecting a prediction method from the plurality of prediction methods by one of the following steps; selecting a prediction method based on the degree to which the estimate approaches the quality of the input video source; selecting a prediction method based on the efficiency by which the residual can be encoded using the second transmission standard; encoding information representative of the prediction method for use by the decoder. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
-
-
47. A system for encoding a television signal representing an input video source, comprising:
-
means for using a first transmission standard to encode the input video source to produce an encoded signal, the encoded signal being of a lower quality than the quality of the input video source; means for using a second transmission standard to encode enhancement bits to permit the decoder to enhance the signal decoded from the encoded signal; the second transmission standard comprising the steps of decoding the encoded signal using a plurality of prediction methods to produce a plurality of estimates of the input video source, each estimate differing from the input video source by a residual; selecting a prediction method from the plurality of prediction methods by one of the following steps; selecting a prediction method based on the degree to which the estimate approaches the quality of the input video source; selecting a prediction method based on the efficiency by which the residual can be encoded using the second transmission standard; encoding information representative of the prediction method for use by the decoder. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
-
Specification