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CA2187267A1 - Cropping picture system - Google Patents

Cropping picture system

Info

Publication number
CA2187267A1
CA2187267A1 CA002187267A CA2187267A CA2187267A1 CA 2187267 A1 CA2187267 A1 CA 2187267A1 CA 002187267 A CA002187267 A CA 002187267A CA 2187267 A CA2187267 A CA 2187267A CA 2187267 A1 CA2187267 A1 CA 2187267A1
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
signal
video
cropped
set forth
main
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
CA002187267A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
J. Dwidjaya Setiabudi
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
P T Hartono Istana Electronics
Original Assignee
P T Hartono Istana Electronics
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by P T Hartono Istana Electronics filed Critical P T Hartono Istana Electronics
Priority to CA002187267A priority Critical patent/CA2187267A1/en
Priority to IDP970964A priority patent/ID19582A/en
Publication of CA2187267A1 publication Critical patent/CA2187267A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04NPICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N5/00Details of television systems
    • H04N5/222Studio circuitry; Studio devices; Studio equipment
    • H04N5/262Studio circuits, e.g. for mixing, switching-over, change of character of image, other special effects ; Cameras specially adapted for the electronic generation of special effects
    • H04N5/272Means for inserting a foreground image in a background image, i.e. inlay, outlay
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04NPICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/43Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
    • H04N21/431Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
    • H04N21/4312Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
    • H04N21/4316Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04NPICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N5/00Details of television systems
    • H04N5/44Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04NPICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N5/00Details of television systems
    • H04N5/44Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards
    • H04N5/445Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards for displaying additional information
    • H04N5/45Picture in picture, e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04NPICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00Television systems
    • H04N7/01Conversion of standards, e.g. involving analogue television standards or digital television standards processed at pixel level
    • H04N7/0117Conversion of standards, e.g. involving analogue television standards or digital television standards processed at pixel level involving conversion of the spatial resolution of the incoming video signal
    • H04N7/0122Conversion of standards, e.g. involving analogue television standards or digital television standards processed at pixel level involving conversion of the spatial resolution of the incoming video signal the input and the output signals having different aspect ratios

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Marketing (AREA)
  • Computer Graphics (AREA)
  • Studio Circuits (AREA)

Abstract

A cropping system where the user may select a portion of a second video signal for merger or insertion into a main picture. The cropped or second signal is not altered in any way in terms of compression or other digital processing technique, but rather simply comprises user selected portion of the second image which can be selected from any position on the second image and inserted into the main picture at any position thereon. The system and method have advantages over existing PIP and POP technology in that no sophisticated and expensive electronics are required.

Description

The present invention relates to a clopping picture system and more particularly, the present invention relates to an analog system and method for clol)pillg a picture element from one signal source to be inserted into a second single source.

Picture-in-picture (PIP) technology and picture-out-of-picture (POP) have been previously proposed in this art and are subject matter of several dirrerent patents.
Typically, in PIP technology, the user may activate the PIP circuit by means of the 10 television remote control and receive a second selected channel in full size on a significantly reduced scale. The picture does an inset into the main picture that the user is watching. In this manner, two video signals can be observed simultaneously with one of the signals simply being a duplicate reduced scale image of what is on the other selected charmel not forming the main channel. These systems are quite useful, however, they employ sophisticated digital electronics which are used to com~less the image of the smaller selected picture. This, in turn, adds a significant cost to the television monitor and generally speaking, the cost is significant enough to comprise a quarter to a third of a television monitor lacking the PIP feature.

United States patent art which is relevant to the overall subject matter includes, for example, U.S. Patent No. 5,420,642, issued May 30, 1995 to Baek. The reference provides apparatus and method aspects to the invention for searching an input picture in a receiver. The apparatus provides first and second intermediate frequency circuits for proposing signals detected by first and second tuners, a video signal processing circuit for processing such a signal from the first intermediate frequency processing circuit so that it can be displayed as a main picture. The key matrix unit having a key for selecting a PIP mode and a key for selecting a stop mode are also provided together with amicroprocessor for oul~)ullillg a plurality of signals to perform the POP mode selected by the key matrix unit. A switching circuit is provided for selecting one of a video signal from a second intermediate frequency processing circuit and an external input video signal under control of a microprocessor inter alia.
2 21~37267 Saeger et al., in U.S. Patent No. 5,430,494, issued July 4, 1995, discloses an apparatus and method for generating side-by-side pictures independently on one television screen. The circuit employs compression and expansion elements for altering the signal, therefore, modifies the signal digitally.

U.S. Patent No. 5,363,143 issued to Duffield, November 8, 1994, provides a side-by-side picture display with reduced clo~pillg system. Similar to the above discussed referellces, this arrangement involves the use of compression circuitry and, therefore, employs electronics which are sophisticated and significantly add to the cost of the television monitor incorporating such features.

Part of the appeal of PIP technology is that it provides the user with the luxury of knowing what is being broadcast on a second channel at the same time. Although this is the case, it will be appreciated that typically the PIP system is simply employed to monitor for unwanted television broadcasts, e.g. advertisements, etc. Considering the fact that the PIP feature is fairly expensive, it would be desirable to have all of the general features of PIP at a significantly reduced cost while having a system which is fairly simple in terms of electronic components. The present invention is directed to satisfying these needs.
One object of the present invention is to provide an improved cropped picture system for pelmil~ g a user to view a portion of a selected second station with simultaneously viewing of a main station.

According to a broad aspect of the present invention is to provide a method of generating a composite video signal, comprising the steps of:
providing a first main signal;
providing a second signal to be cropped;
cloppillg a portion of the second signal to provide a cropped signal; and combining the cropped signal with the first main signal to produce a simultaneously combined signal having the cropped signal positioned on the main signal.
3 21872Ç7 Advantageously, by providing a method where the user can slmply select a certaincomponent of a second bro~dc~t the result is a fairly inexpensive system.

As a particularly advantageous feature according to the present invention, the method and apparatus facilitate selection of a second video source signal in terms of what portion of the picture will be cropped and inserted into the main picture signal.

Another advantage according to the apparatus and method of the present invention can be realized with the fact that the arrangement employs analog components as opposed to digital arrangements and further, that the selected portion of the second signal is not compressed or otherwise modified electronically.

A still further aspect of the present invention is to provide a video display system for simultaneously observing at least two video signals, comprising:
a video display means for receiving at least a first video signal and at least asecond video signal;
first video separator circuit means for separating a vertical synchronization signal component, a horizontal synchloni~tion component, and a first video output signal from the first video signal;
a second video separator circuit means for separating a vertical synchl-olli~tion signal component, a horizontal synchronization component, and a second video output signal from the second video signal;
selector means for selecting signal components from the first video separator circuit means and the second video separator circuit means to be cropped; and cropping generator circuit means for inserting a cropped video signal from the selector means.

Having thus described the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating preferred embodiments and in which:
Figure 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.
4 21~7267 Similar numerals in the drawing denote similar elements.

Referring now to Figure 1, shown is a block diagram of one embodiment of the apparatus according to the present invention. Numeral 10 designates the overall circuit.
Numeral 12 is representative of the main video signal and block 14 is representative of the secondary video signal which will be cut or cropped. The signal from 12 is fed into a first synchronization and video separator circuit 16 for processing of the main video signal from 12. The first synchronization circuit separates the main signal into a vertical synchronization pulse, a horizontal synchronization pulse and a video signal, the latter being represented by numerals 18, 20 and 22, respectively. The signal from block 14 is fed into a second synchronization and video separator circuit 24 employed to separate the signal into a vertical synchronization pulse, a horizontal synchro~ ation pulse and a video signal pulse as represented by numerals 26, 28 and 30, respectively. Signal components 18, 20, 22, 26, 28 and 30 are then introduced into a ClO~pil~g generating circuit 32. The cropping generator circuit 32 functions as a switching circuit for the system 10. In this circuit, video signals are separated into those which will be required and those which will not be required. The video signal 30 from block 24 will be cut or cropped according to the user through a suitable controller, broadly represented by block 34. To this end, any portion of the picture of the signal 30 can be selected in terms of 20 size and the location of the clop~ g portion. A trigger switching pulse (not shown) in block 32 can be selected using a synchronization pulse from block 16 or block 24depending on the user's requirement. The user can select the synchroni~ation pulse by using block 36 for trigger block 32 to select a clopping picture synchrolli~tion between the signal from 16 or 24.

The position of the cropped picture is positionable at any position on the PIP
screen, i.e. the main picture generator from block 12. This is facilitated by clol)pillg position controller, broadly denoted by numeral 38 in Figure 1.

Unnecessary picture content from the main signal at 12 is effectively "trapped" by circuit represented by block 32. This avoids picture llliX~UlC; between signal to signal at block 12 and the signal in block 14. The main or composite video signal is denoted by 2 1 ~7~67 numeral 40 in Figure 1 and is composed of a selected croppillg or portion of thesecondary signal which is inserted into the main video signal.

One of the advantages with the present arrangement, is that all of the elements of which the circuit is made, are relatively inexpensive and do not involve colllpression techniques typically associated with picture-in-picture or picture-out-of-picture technology.
In addition, all of the elements are analog ins~ lllents thus facilitating lower cost and ease of repair in the event of failure. Typically, the synchrolli;~ation selector 36 simply include typical microcontroller integrated circuits and a transistor diode resistor group -10 (none of which is shown).

Regarding the ClOppillg position controller 38, the same simply includes convention elements such as the transistor, resblor capacitor and potentiometer. Various designs are possible to achieve this function and suitable designs will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

In addition to the above enumerated advantages, further advantages are realized in that the method and apparatus according to the invention provides a system ofproviding picture-in-picture like characteristics without the colllpression circuilly and 20 digital processing and further, without the use of memory and the associated costs with such elements. The present invention simply incorporates known electrical elements into a system which permits a user to select a portion of a second video signal for merger or composition with a main video signal in order to facilitate watching two broadcasts simultaneously.

In terms of the size of the cropped picture, a cropped picture may colll~lise anywhere from 1% to 99% of the second signal. This will depend on the amount of information that the user requires in order to clearly identify the nature of the subject matter of the second broadcast. Further still, a particularly convenient feature by 30 m~king use of the invention described herein, is realized in that the user may simply reverse the cropped picture as the main picture and the main picture as the cropped picture. This facilitates a similar advantage to picture-in-picture, however, this is done without signal compression or other digital processing techniques tvpically encountered in the PIP and POP technologies.

Although embodiments of the invention have been described above, it is not limited thereto and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous modifications form part of the present invention insofar as they do not depart from the spirit, nature and scope of the claimed and described invention.

Claims (11)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A method of generating a composite video signal, comprising the steps of:
providing a first main signal;
providing a second signal to be cropped;
cropping a portion of said second signal to provide a cropped signal; and combining said cropped signal with said first main signal to produce a simultaneously combined signal having said cropped signal positioned on said main signal.
2. The method as set forth in claim 1, further including the step of selecting a portion of said second signal to be cropped.
3. The method as set forth in claim 1, further including the step of selecting a position for positioning said cropped signal on said main signal.
4. The method as set forth in claim 1, further including the step of selecting a size of said cropped signal.
5. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cropped signal is inserted into said main signal.
6. The method as set forth in claim 5, further including the step of reversing a cropped video signal with a main video signal.
7. A video display system for simultaneously observing at least two video signals, comprising:
a video display means for receiving at least a first video signal and at least asecond video signal;
first video separator circuit means for separating a vertical synchronization signal component, a horizontal synchronization component, and a first video output signal from said first video signal;

a second video separator circuit means for separating a vertical synchronizationsignal component, a horizontal synchronization component, and a second video output signal from said second video signal;
selector means for selecting signal components from said first video separator circuit means and said second video separator circuit means to be cropped; and cropping generator circuit means for inserting a cropped video signal from said selector means.
8. The method as set forth in claim 7, further including a first control means for controlling picture size.
9. The method as set forth in claim 8, further including positioning means for positioning said cropped video signal into said main signal.
10. The method as set forth in claim 9, wherein said system includes a pluralityof electrical circuits, said circuits composed of analog components.
11. The method as set forth in claim 10, wherein said cropped video signal is a non-compressed video signal.
CA002187267A 1996-10-07 1996-10-07 Cropping picture system Abandoned CA2187267A1 (en)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA002187267A CA2187267A1 (en) 1996-10-07 1996-10-07 Cropping picture system
IDP970964A ID19582A (en) 1996-10-07 1997-03-25 IMAGING SYSTEM AND METHOD OF IMAGING

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA002187267A CA2187267A1 (en) 1996-10-07 1996-10-07 Cropping picture system

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA2187267A1 true CA2187267A1 (en) 1998-04-07

Family

ID=4159038

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA002187267A Abandoned CA2187267A1 (en) 1996-10-07 1996-10-07 Cropping picture system

Country Status (2)

Country Link
CA (1) CA2187267A1 (en)
ID (1) ID19582A (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0961232A3 (en) * 1998-05-29 2001-06-27 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Mosaic image generation

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0961232A3 (en) * 1998-05-29 2001-06-27 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Mosaic image generation
US6720971B1 (en) 1998-05-29 2004-04-13 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Image processing method and apparatus, and storage medium

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
ID19582A (en) 1998-07-23

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
FZDE Discontinued
FZDE Discontinued

Effective date: 19991007

FZDE Discontinued

Effective date: 19991007