CHROMINANCE SIGNAL PROCESSING CIRCUITS

Abstract: A chrominance signal processing circuit has N, where N is equal to or greater than two, band-pass filters (41 to 43) for dividing a chrominance signal into N regions, N signal processing circuit (51 to 53) respectively having different noise eliminating characteristics from each other and each being connected in series to a different one of the N band-pass filters (41 to 43), and means (6) for synthesizing the outputs from the N signal processing circuits (51 to 53) to obtain a chrominance signal wherein noise and cross-colour interference are suppressed.

Description: This invention relates to chrominance signal processing circuits. Recently, various techniques have been proposed for achieving a high resolution in a television image, for example, by widening the band of the luminance signal. With such a tendency to require higher resolution, the definition of the colour of an image is also desired to be higher. Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a frequency spectrum of a composite video signal of the NTSC system. The frequency spectrum is formed of a luminance signal Y and chrominance signals I and Q. As is well known, the luminance signal Y and the chrominance signals I and Q are composed in a frequency interleaved relation. It can be seen from Figure 1 that the signal I has a band of 1.5MHz, and the signal Q a band of 0.5MHz. If the signals I and Q are reproduced with high fidelity while these bands are maintained, the definition of the colour of the image can be made high. Incidentally, the band of a chrominance signal is limited to 0.5MHz for presently manufactured television receivers so as to avoid complicated chrominance signal reproducing circuits. As described above, in order to reproduce the signals I and O with high fidelity, it is required to widen the band of thechrominance signal separated from a composite video signal. However, so-called wide band demodulation, which is effected by separating a wide band chrominance signal by the use of a comb filter or the like, causes a lot of noise and cross-colour interference. PCT specification WO-A-85 02081 discloses a system for coring an image-representing signal and having features corresponding to those of the pre-characterizing part of claim 1. According to the present invention there is provided a chrominance signal processing circuit comprising: N band-pass filters, where N is an integer equal to or greater than two, for dividing an image signal into N regions; N signal processing circuits coupled to said band-pass filters and having respective different signal attenuating characteristics; and means for synthesizing signals passed by said signal processing circuits to obtain an output signal; characterized in that: said band-pass filters pass respective contiguous non-overlapping portions of a chrominance signal band; and the characteristics of said signal processing circuits are selected to effect greater suppression of noise components and luminance signal components of said image signal at higher frequencies in said chrominance signal band. The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, throughout which like parts are referred to by like references, and in which: Figure 1 shows a frequency spectrum of a composite video signal; Figure 2 is a block circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 is a graph showing pass bands of band-pass filters in Figure 2; Figures 4A to 4C are graphs showing input/output characteristics of respective limiters in Figure 2; Figures 5 to 7 are respective block circuit diagrams showing other embodiments of the present invention; Figure 8 is a circuit block diagram showing the circuit arrangement of Figure 7 in detail; Figures 9A to 9C are graphs showing frequency characteristics of respective separating filters in Figure 8; Figure 10 is a graph for explaining the embodiment of Figure 8; and Figure 11 is a block diagram showing a further embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of Figure 2, a terminal 1 is supplied with a composite video signal SV (Figure 1) of the NTSC system. The video signal SV is supplied from the terminal 1 to one input of a subtractor 3 and to a delay line 2 having a delay of one horizontal line period (1H). A C-type comb filter 20C comprises the delay line 2 and the subtractor circuit 3. A chrominance signal C from the C-type comb filter 20C is supplied to band-pass filters 41, 42 and 43. The band-pass filters 41, 42 and 43 respectively have, for example, a pass band (I) = 3.08 MHz to 4.08 MHz, a pass band (II) = 2.58 MHz to 3.08 MHz and a pass band (III) = 2.08 MHz to 2.58 MHz. Output signals from the band-pass filters 41, 42 and 43 are respectively supplied to limiters 51, 52 and 53. Figures 4A, 4B and 4C show input/output characteristics of the limiters 51, 52 and 53, respectively. The dead zones of the limiters 51, 52 and 53 become wider in the order shown in Figures 4A, 4B and 4C, starting with zero for the limiter 51. Levels shown by broken lines in Figure 3 are the dead zone levels of the respective limiters 51, 52 and 53. The separate output signals from the limiters 51, 52 and 53 are all supplied to an adder circuit 6 to be added to each other. An output signal from the adder circuit 6 is supplied to a terminal 7 as a chrominance signal C*. The video signal SV supplied to the terminal 1 is also supplied to an adder 8. A Y-type comb filter 20Y is formed of the delay line 2 and the adder 8. A luminance signal Y separated by the Y-type comb filter 20Y is supplied to a terminal 10 through a delay line 9. The delay line 9 is provided to adjust the timing of the luminance signal Y corresponding to the delay to the chrominance signal C* caused by the band-pass filters 41 to 43 and the limiters 51 to 53. In this circuit, the band-pass filters 41, 42 and 43 respectively supply chrominance signals (containing the luminance signal components and noise components) of the band (I) = 3.08 MHz to 4.08 MHz, the band (II) = 2.58 MHz to 3.08 MHz and the band (III) = 2.08 MHz to 2.58 MHz. These chrominance signals in turn are supplied to the limiters 51, 52 and 53, respectively. The limiters 51, 52 and 53 set signals within the respective dead zone levels determined for each of the limiters 51 to 53 to zero. By the operation described above, the chrominance signal C* supplied to the terminal 7 has a band in the whole range from 2.08 MHz to 4.08 MHz. Moreover, a higher frequency band of the chrominance signal, that is, a band which is located further away from the chrominance sub-carrier (3.58 MHz), has its low level components limited in a larger degree. In other words, in the higher band of the chrominance signal, noise components and luminance signal components included in the chrominance signal are limited (that is removed) to a larger degree. It is therefore possible to widen a chrominance signal band while suppressing the occurrence of noise and cross-colour interference by virtue of the use of the chrominance signal C* supplied to the terminal 7. In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, each of the band-pass filters 41 to 43 and the corresponding limiters 51 to 53 have their positions interchanged with each other as compared with the embodiment of Figure 1. In a modification of this embodiment, as shown in Figure 6, the limiters 51 and 53 are connected in series. Also, in the embodiments of Figures 5 and 6, the chrominance signal C* supplied from the adder circuit 6 to the terminal 7 has a band in the whole range from 2.08 MHz to 4.08 MHz, and the chrominance signal in the higher band has its low level components limited to a large degree. it will therefore be understood that the circuit arrangements in Figures 5 and 6 can also achieve the same effects as that of Figure 2. Incidentally, in the above embodiments, the chrominance signal band in the range of 2.08 MHz to 4.08 MHz are divided into three regions. However, the chrominance signal band may be divided into two or into many more regions. With the embodiments described above, the chrominance signal processing circuit divides the chrominance signal band into a plurality of regions and limits the lower region signal components to a larger degree than in the higher regions by the zone levels from each other in the respective regions, whereby the chrominance signal band can be made wide, while the occurrence of noise and cross-colour interference is suppressed. In the embodiment of Figure 7, a terminal 101 is supplied with a composite video signal SV (Figure 1) of the NTSC system. The video signal SV is then supplied in common to band-pass filters 121, 122 and 123 which respectively have the pass band (I) = 3.08 MHz to 4.08 MHz, the pass band (II) = 2.58 MHz to 3.08 MHz and the pass band (III) = 2.08 MHz to 2.58 MHz, as in the embodiment of Figure 3. Output signals from the band-pass filters 121, 122 and 123 are respectively supplied to luminance signal/chrominance signal separating filters 131, 132 and 133 which are constructed, for example, as shown in Figure 8. The separating filter 131 is a so-called 1H comb filter which is formed of a serial circuit of a C-type comb filter comprising a delay line 131a having a delay time of one horizontal period (1H) and a subtractor 131b, whose inputs are the output and the input of the delay line 131a, and a level regulator 131c for reducing the signal level output from the subtractor 131b to one-half. The separating filter 132 is a so-called 2H-comb filter which is formed of a serial circuit of a C-type comb filter comprising a delay line 132a having a delay time of one horizontal period (1H) and a subtractor 132b, whose inputs are the input and the output of the delay line 132a, a C-type comb filter comprising a delay line 132c having a delay time of 1H and a subtractor 132d, whose inputs are the input and the output of the delay line 132c, and a level regulator 132e for reducing the signal level output by the subtractor 132d to one-quarter. The separating filter 133 is a so-called 3H-comb filter which is formed of a serial circuit of a C-type comb filter comprising a delay line 133a having a delay time of one horizontal period (1H) and a subtractor 133b, whose inputs are the input and the output of the delay line 133a, a C-type comb filter comprising a delay line 133c having a delay time of 1H and a subtractor 133d, whose inputs are the input and the output of the delay line 133c, a C-type comb filter comprising a delay line 133e having a delay time of 1H and a subtractor 133f, whose inputs are the input and the output of the delay line 133e, and a level regulator 133g for reducing the signal level output by the subtractor 133f to one-eighth. The frequency-to-amplitude characteristics of the separating filters 131, 132 and 133 are respectively shown in Figures 9A, 9B and 9C wherein reference fh designates the horizontal frequency. As is apparent from Figures 9A to 9C, the comb characteristics of the separating filters 131, 132 and 133 are such that the separating filter 132 has a pass band narrower than that of the separating filter 131, and the separating filter 133 has a pass band narrower than that of the separating filter 132. Output signals from the separating filters 131, 132 and 133 are all supplied to an adder circuit 104 to be added to each other. The output signal from the adder circuit 104 is supplied to a terminal 105 as a chrominance signal C*. A subtractor circuit 107 is supplied with the video signal SV from the terminal 101 through a delay line 106 as well as the output signal from the adder circuit 104. The output signal from the subtractor circuit 107 is supplied to a terminal 108 as a luminance signal Y. The delay line 106 is provided to adjust the timing of the video signal SV corresponding to a delay of the chrominance signal C* caused by the band-pass filters 121 to 123 and the separating filters 131 to 133. When he separating filters 131 to 133 are arranged as shown in Figure 8, the delay time of the delay line 106 is set to be 1H + α where α designates the delay time caused by the band-pass filters 121 to 123. In the circuits of Figures 7 and 8, the band-pass filters 121, 122 and 123 respectively supply video signals with a band (I) = 3.08 MHz to 4.08 MHz, a band (II) = 2.58 MHz to 3.08 MHz and a band (III) = 2.08 MHz to 2.58 MHz, as shown in Figure 3. These signals are in turn supplied to the separating filters 131, 132 and 133, respectively. As will be understood from the frequency-to-amplitude characteristics of the separating filters 131, 132 and 133 as shown in Figures 9A to 9C, the total frequency-to-amplitude characteristic of the band-pass filters 121 to 123 and the separating filters 131 to 133 become as shown in Figure 10. More specifically, Figure 10 shows the C-type comb characteristics wherein a higher hand, that is, a band which is located further away from the chrominance sub-carrier (3.58 MHz) has a narrower pass band. Thus, the chrominance signal C* supplied to the terminal 105 covers the entire band from 2.08 MHz to 4.08 MHz. Moreover, in a higher band of the chrominance signal wherein the luminance signal has a larger energy, the band in the vertical direction is limited so that the luminance signal component is limited and the noise component is reduced, too. Therefore, by virtue of the use of the chrominance signal C* supplied to the terminal 105, the chrominance signal band can be made wide while the occurrence of noise and cross-colour interference is suppressed. In the circuit arrangement of Figure 7, the positions of the band-pass filters 121 to 123 and their corresponding separating filters 131 to 133 may be interchanged with each other. Figure 11 shows a further embodiment of the present invention in which the separating filters are formed of three C-type comb filters. The video signal SV supplied to the terminal 101 is supplied to a C-type comb filter 191 comprising a delay line 191a having a delay time of 1H and subtractor 191b. The output signal from the C-type comb filter 191 is supplied to a C-type comb filter 192 comprising a delay line 192a having a delay time of 1H and a subtractor 192b. The output from the C-type comb filter 192 is supplied to a C-type comb filter 193 comprising a delay line 193a having a delay time of 1H and a subtractor 193b. The output signal from the C-type comb filter 193 is supplied to the adder circuit 104 through a serial circuit of a level regulator 133g and the band-pass filter 123. The output signal from the C-type comb filter 192 is also supplied to the adder circuit 104 through a series circuit of a level regulator 131e and the band-pass filter 122. The output signal from the delay line 192a is supplied to the adder circuit 104 through a series circuit of a level regulator 131c and the band-pass filter 121. The rest of the circuit of Figure 11 is the same as that of Figures 7 and 8. In the embodiment of Figure 11, the comb filter 191 and the level regulator 131c form the separating filter 131 which has the frequency-to-amplitude characteristic shown in Figure 9A. The comb filters 191 and 192 and the level regulator 132e form the separating circuit 132 which has the frequency-to-amplitude characteristic shown in Figure 9B. The comb filters 191, 192 and 193 and the level regulator 133g form the separating filter 133 which has the frequency-to-amplitude characteristic shown in Figure 9C. Therefore, the total frequency-to-amplitude characteristic of the separating filters 131 to 133 and the band-pass filters 121 to 123 is a C-type comb characteristic wherein a higher band has a narrower pass band, as shown in Figure 10. Thus, the chrominance signal C* supplied to the terminal 105 covers the entire band from 2.08 MHz to 4.08 MHz. Moreover, in the higher band of the chrominance signal wherein the luminance signal has a large energy, the band in the vertical direction is limited so that the luminance signal components are limited and noise components are reduced. It will therefore be understood that the embodiment of Figure 11 can produce the same effects as that of Figure 7. In the above-described embodiments, the chrominance signal band ranging from 2.08 MHz to 4.08 MHz is divided into three regions. However, the band may be divided into two or many more regions. For example, if the band is divided into N regions, it is sufficient that the relationship N is equal to or greater than two is established. In the embodiments described in connection with Figures 7 to 11, the chrominance signal band is divided into a plurality of regions, a higher band of the chrominance signal has the band in the vertical direction limited by luminance signal/chrominance signal separating filters which respectively have different frequency-to-amplitude characteristics from each other and are provided for the respective divided regions, so that the luminance signal is limited and also noise is reduced, whereby the chrominance signal band can be made wide while the occurrence of noise and cross-colour interference is suppressed.

Claims: A chrominance signal processing circuit comprising: N band-pass filters (41 to 43), where N is an integer equal to or greater than two, for dividing an image signal into N regions; N signal processing circuits (51 to 53) coupled to said band-pass filters (41 to 43) and having respective different signal attenuating characteristics; and means (6) for synthesizing signals passed by said signal processing circuits (51 to 53) to obtain an output signal; characterized in that: said band-pass filters (41 to 43) pass respective contiguous non-overlapping portions of a chrominance signal band; and the characteristics of said signal processing circuits (51 to 53) are selected to effect greater suppression of noise components and luminance signal components of said image signal at higher frequencies in said chrominance signal band. A circuit according to claim 1 wherein each of said signal processing circuits (51 to 53) is connected in series with a different one of said band-pass filters (41 to 43). A circuit according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein N is three. A circuit according to claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3 wherein said N signal processing circuits are respective limiters (51 to 53), each of which operates with a different dead zone level from the other or others. A circuit according to claim 4 further comprising a comb filter (2, 3) for separating said chrominance signal from a composite video signal. A circuit according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said N signal processing circuits are respectively N luminance signal/chrominance signal separating circuits (121 to 133), each of which has a different frequency-to-amplitude characteristic from the other or others. A circuit according to claim 6 wherein said N luminance signal/chrominance signal separating circuits (131 to 133) are respectively comb filters each using a 1H delay line. A circuit according to claim 6 wherein N is three, and said N luminance signal/chrominance signal separating circuits (131 to 133) are a 1H comb filter, a 2H comb filter and a 3H comb filter, respectively.

Inventors: MATSUNAGA, OSAMU C/O PATENTS DIVISION, TANAKA, YUTAKA C/O PATENTS DIVISION
Applicants: SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1987
Main classification: H04N9
IPC codes: H04N9