Method and apparatus for providing on-screen displays for a multi-colorimetry receiver

• US 7,212,250 B1
• Filed: 06/26/2000
• Issued: 05/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Madison Patent Holdings (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Neal, Charles Bailey
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Trang U.
• Application Number:
  US10/030,834
• Time in Patent Office: 2,500 Days
• Field of Search: 348/569, 348/659, 348/600, 348/661, 348554-558, 348/563, 348/564, 348/565, 348/640, 348/660
• US Class Current: 348/569
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42638 involving a hybrid front-end, e.g. analog and digital tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42653 for processing graphics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/44504 Circuit details of the additional information generator, e.g. details of the character or graphics signal generator, overlay mixing circuits

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for adjusting the colors of the on-screen display graphics to match the colors of the video with which the OSD graphics are to be combined. In one aspect, a selected one of a plurality of OSD color palettes (103, 105) is used to produce graphics for a selected one of a plurality of signal sources. As such, the appropriately formatted palette is used to produce graphics for a similarly formatted input signal, i.e., an analog source would be combined with graphics produced from a palette having Y, P_I, P_Q formatted signals. Consequently, the color compensation matrices would properly compensate both the graphics and the video from each source. In another aspect, a desired one of a plurality of matrices (107, 109) operates on the OSD signal source to match the OSD colorimetry with the input signal colorimetry.

Claims

1. A video signal processing apparatus, comprising:

a first video signal source for providing a first video signal representative of a first video program and formatted according to a first color format;

a second video signal source for providing a second video signal representative of a second video program and formatted according to a second color format;

switch means that selects one of the first and second video signal sources and provides a selected video signal for processing;

means for generating an On Screen Display (OSD) signal for forming a graphics display that is overlaid onto one of the first and second video programs, the generating means capable of providing the OSD signal in any one of the first and second color formats, wherein the generated OSD signal is formatted in accordance with a selected one of the first and second color format that corresponds to a color format associated with the selected video signal, the generating means comprising

a color palette that includes color information formatted in accordance with a predetermined color format, and

a plurality of color conversion matrices for converting the color information in the color palette to provide the OSD signal, which is formatted in accordance with the selected one of the first and second color format; and

means, operatively coupled to the OSD generating means and the first and second video signal sources, for combining the OSD signal generated by the OSD generating means with the selected one of the first or second video signals.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the color palette comprises color information formatted in the RGB format.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of conversion matrices includes a conversion matrix for converting the color information in the color palette into Y, P_R, P_B format, and a conversion matrix for converting the color information in the color palette into Y, P_I, P_Q format.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first video signal is an analog television signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second video signal is a digital television signal.

6. A method of producing graphics having a color format that matches the color format of a received signal, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting a video signal source from a plurality of video signal sources to provide a selected video signal, the video being representative of a video program and formatted in accordance with one of a first color signal format and a second color signal format;

providing a color palette that includes color information formatted in accordance with a predetermined color format;

providing a plurality of color conversion matrices, wherein each color conversion matrix is adapted to convert the color information in the color palette to provide a graphics signal that is formatted in accordance with a particular color format, wherein said plurality of color conversion matrices enables providing graphics signals in any one of the first and second color formats;

selecting a desired one of the plurality of color conversion matrices that corresponds to the selected video signal source and generating a graphics signal for forming a graphics display that is overlaid onto the video programs, the graphics signal being formatted in accordance with one of the first color signal format and the second color signal format that corresponds to a color format associated with the selected video signal;

combining the graphics signal with the received signal; and

processing the combined signal to generate an output signal.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the color palette comprises color information formatted in the RGB format.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the color conversion matrices convert the color information in the color palette into one of a Y, P_R, P_B formatted signal and Y, P_I, P_Q formatted signal.