Interactive video distribution systems – Operator interface – To facilitate tuning or selection of video signal
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-31
2002-05-28
Faile, Andrew (Department: 2611)
Interactive video distribution systems
Operator interface
To facilitate tuning or selection of video signal
C725S043000, C348S565000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06397386
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to graphical/video display systems and methods, and in particular to methods and systems for optimizing graphical/video displays, such as Picture-In-Guide (“PIG”) windows and their memory requirements.
Generally, televisions and television systems, such as computers to operate as televisions, provide information to a user through a display. One example is an electronic program guide (“EPG”). An EPG provides a user or television viewer with updatable television schedule information in the form of an on-screen graphical display. The EPG may provide scheduling information for current and future broadcast programs as well as summaries of television program content for a particular program. The EPG may also provide one or more regions (windows) for previewing different television programs simultaneous with the displayed schedule information or with broadcast of the television program. Often the EPG divides the display into multiple portions or regions of varying size and resolution to provide multiple types of information.
Conventionally, most television systems do not optimally use their available resources, such as memory space or processor bandwidth to effectively and efficiently provide information through the PIG window to a user. Therefore, there is a need for a method and system for providing a real-time and high quality video in a smaller PIG screen with minimum memory requirement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a decimation system and method for providing video data to a PIG window. One video pixel for every several video pixels is output, in real time, for the PIG window based on some (pixel) averaging algorithms. In one embodiment, only the two previous pixel lines are buffered, eliminating the need for buffering of the entire frame. This system produces real-time and high quality video in a smaller PIG screen with minimum memory requirement.
In one embodiment, the system of the present invention includes an EPG system having a picture in guide window, a tuner to generate a video signal, a decoder coupled to the tuner to receive the video signal and generate pixels based on the received signal, a PIG generator coupled to the decoder that performs a real time weighted averaging to select a subset of the pixels; and a display generator to display the subset of the pixels in the PIG window on a monitor.
Many of the features of this invention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description and considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.
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Ng Arthur Y.
O'Connor Daniel C.
Christie Parker & Hale LLP
Faile Andrew
Index Systems, Inc.
Tran Hai V.
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