Method and apparatus for filtering video data using a programmable graphics processor

• US 7,705,915 B1
• Filed: 12/14/2007
• Issued: 04/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: Amann, Garry W., Azar, Hassane S., Lew, Stephen D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Trang U
• Application Number:
  US11/957,360
• Time in Patent Office: 865 Days
• Field of Search: 348/448, 348/441, 348449-452, 348/458, 348699-701, 348/604, 345/531, 345/501, 345430-431
• US Class Current: 348/448
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/86 involving reduction of coding artifacts, e.g. of blockiness
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/01 Conversion of standards , e.g. involving analogue television standards or digital television standards processed at pixel level
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/012 Conversion between an interlaced and a progressive signal for graphics images G09G2310/0229

Abstract

Video filtering using a programmable graphics processor is described. The programmable graphics processor may be programmed to complete a plurality of video filtering operations in a single pass through a fragment-processing pipeline within the programmable graphics processor. Video filtering functions such as deinterlacing, chroma up-sampling, scaling, and deblocking may be performed by the fragment-processing pipeline. The fragment-processing pipeline may be programmed to perform motion adaptive deinterlacing, wherein a spatially variant filter determines, on a pixel basis, whether a “bob”, a “blend”, or a “weave” operation should be used to process an interlaced image.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for performing video filtering, said method comprising:

receiving an input video signal having a plurality of odd and even fields into a shading pipeline within a programmable graphics processor; and

applying a spatially variant deinterlacing function within the shading pipeline on each pixel within a frame containing an odd field and an even field to produce deinterlaced video frames, wherein the spatially variant deinterlacing function is applied, based on characteristics of video image data for a current interlaced frame, to video image data associated with a corresponding pixel within a previous interlaced frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein characteristics of the spatially variant deinterlacing function are determined using the input video signal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the spatially variant deinterlacing function is a motion adaptive deinterlacing function or a motion compensated deinterlacing function.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the spatially variant deinterlacing function applies a plurality of bob operations, a plurality of blend operations, and a plurality of weave operations.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a decision for determining whether to apply a bob operation, a blend operation, or a weave operation to a pixel is based on detected motion relative to the pixel.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein a decision for determining whether to apply a bob operation, a blend operation, or a weave operation to a pixel based on comparing data associated with the pixel in the frame to data associated with a pixel within another frame.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the video filtering method further comprises:

applying a scaling function on the deinterlaced video data to produce scaled video data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the scaling function obtains a filter kernel phase to access a plurality of filter values.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein a filter kernel phase used to access a plurality of filter values for a pixel is produced using fractional portions extracted from texture coordinates associated with the pixel.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein a filter kernel phase used to access a plurality of filter values is computed using the shading pipeline.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the video filtering method further comprises:

applying at least one of a chroma up-sampling function, a deblocking function, and a color space conversion function within the shading pipeline.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the deblocking function is a spatially dependent function.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the deblocking function is a data dependent function.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the video filtering method further comprises:

applying at least one of a reverse gamma correction function and a gamma correction function within the shading pipeline.

15. A computing system comprising:

a host processor;

a host memory, the host memory storing programs for the host processor;

a system interface configured to interface with the host processor; and

a programmable graphics processor for performing video filtering configured to;

receive an input video signal having a plurality of odd and even fields into a shading pipeline, and

apply a spatially variant deinterlacing function within the shading pipeline on each pixel within a frame containing an odd field and an even field to produce deinterlaced video frames, wherein the spatially variant deinterlacing function is applied, based on characteristics of video image data for a current interlaced frame, to video image data associated with a corresponding pixel within a previous interlaced frame.

16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the programmable graphics processor is further configured to apply a scaling function on the deinterlaced video data to produce scaled video data.

17. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the programmable graphics processor is further configured to apply at least one of a chroma up-sampling function, a deblocking function, and a color space conversion function within the shading pipeline.

18. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the programmable graphics processor is further configured to apply at least one of a reverse gamma correction function and a gamma correction function within the shading pipeline.