Video images decoder architecture for implementing a 40 ms processing algorithm in high definition televisions

Abstract: A video image decoder architecture for implementing a processing algorithm in the 40-ms mode on high-resolution TV sets, of a kind adapted to handle TV signals being received on respective transmission channels (A,C), comprises: a video signal demultiplexer (12) being input said transmission channels (A,C); respective processing blocks (13,14) for separately handling the signals from each of the channels (A,C) and comprising, a video image format converter (15), a local memory (17) connected after the converter, and at least one median filter (25) and one systolic filter (27) cascade connected after said memory for restoring, by interpolation, signal samples related to successive lines of the video image;and a summing node (11) for adding together the outputs from each processing block (13,14) by obtaining a time mean between restored samples (Ai,Ci) of the channels (A,C). This architecture allows a drastic reduction in the number of memories required for processing the restore algorithm, as well as a reduction in overall silicon area for the system, and accordingly, the possibility of having the whole 40-millisecond processing portion integrated to a single chip.

Description: Field of the Invention This invention relates to an architecture for implementing a restitution algorithm of a TV picture in the "40-millisecond" mode, within a decoder of a HD-MAC (High Definition Television Multiplexing Analog Component) system for handling a high-resolution TV signal (HDTV). As is well known, high-resolution television (HDTV) presently constitutes one of the technologically most challenging applications in the electronic field. This is to be attributed to the market potential of electronic equipment directly or indirectly associated with that kind of television. The market potential is so vast that it has become of primary interest to any of the industries involved in consumer electronics. Within this frame, considerable effort is paid by the relevant industry for offering products of ever improved quality to an ever more comprehensive public. In the HDTV field, a combine of the principal European manufacturers have proposed a standard called "High Definition Multiplexing Analog Component" (HDMAC) which provides the transmission of TV pictures with a resolution twice as high both horizontally and vertically, and in analog form. This in a manner that can still be compatible as to format with existing TV receivers preset for a low-resolution standard TV signal. This standard will be called "algorithm" hereinafter, without the term implying that processor programs are the only way of implementing the standard. Background Art The algorithm provides some image pre-processing steps before transmission, so that an image to be transmitted is adjusted to a compatible format with the existing one, that is with that of low-resolution TV. Likewise, receiver sets should be capable of so processing the received image as to restore it to its original format. For a clearer appreciation of the invention, it would seem advisable to first provide a definition of the HD (High Definition) image format in the HDMAC system. The image picked up by a TV camera is formed of 1250 lines (of which only 1152 are active) transmitted in interlaced fashion at a half-frame frequency of 50 Hz and a line sampling frequency of 54 MHz, which gives 1728 samples per line (of which only 1440 are active). The standard-resolution image format consists of half as many (625) lines and half as many (864) samples per line; additionally, the sampling frequency is 27 MHz. Accordingly, the line period will be of 64 µs. It thus appears that to reduce the format of the HD image to that of standard definition, one must reduce the number of the samples transmitted to one fourth compared to the number of the original picture samples. In other words, in the HDMAC system, the high-resolution image is undersampled by a factor of 4:1 at coding level, so that it can be transmitted within the band of the transmission channels normally used for the standard TV format. The application of that sample selection method (subsampling) also requires that the type of the image being currently handled be taken into account. Images are, in fact, classified according to their motion contents with respect to a preceding image, and at three different levels with which a number of subsampling grid patterns are associated. Specifically, they are called "stationary", "slow-motion" images, or "fast-motion" images. In practice, the number of samples transmitted would remain constant between subsampling modes, whereas the locations of the samples selected from the HD image would change. Accordingly, in that portion of the system which is to prepare the images for transmission, i.e. within the encoder, an image motion contents estimating block is provided which can decide on the subsampling mode for the current image. It should be added that the motion estimate, and hence the subsampling decision, is performed on a block of 16 x 16 samples for the HD image; consequently, each image will be divided into 6440 blocks, each to be coded separately (but for certain adjacency limitations which restrict the freedom of choice in the coding of block sequences). The three subsampling modes previously outlined are termed "20-millisecond", "40-millisecond", and "80-millisecond" mode, according to the time period required by the system to construct the subsampling grid pattern. Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings shows the three grid patterns which correspond to the aforesaid three sampling modes. As already mentioned, a reverse operation is to be carried out at the receiver for restoring the missing samples on the HD image as to obtain the image with its original resolution before it is conveyed to the display. In essence, at the decoder, the work of restoring the image to its full format is performed using median filter-based non-linear interpolation techniques. More particularly, the missing samples are restored by interpolating a given number of nearby samples through a so-called working window. In switching from one mode to another, the basic shape structure of the working window does not change, but expands according to the density of the samples present on the grid pattern. Figure 2 shows three interpolation windows for luminance in the three different modes mentioned above. Similar considerations would apply to color samples, i.e. to chrominance. Figure 3 shows in greater detail the interpolation window for the 40 ms mode. The interpolation function currently used in the HDMAC system can be analyzed with reference to that Figure. Assume, for example, that a sample to be interpolated has coordinates e8 and is obtained from the following linear formula: e8 = 0.5*mf(B) - 0.25*mf(A) - 0.25*mf(C) + 0.125*e5 + + 0.375*e7 + 0.375*e9 + 0.125*e11. Since three terms of the weighted sum are not available, (the second of these is just the same pixel to be interpolated), such terms must be obtained from actually available samples. To obtain these values, a left-hand three-point median filter is used, as shown in the Figure at A, B, C. In essence, the three missing terms of the sum are substituted by the results of the filtering operation as carried out by three median filters: A replacing e6, B replacing e8, and C replacing e10. The algorithm of the median filter on N samples will give in return, however, a sample of "medium"value from the N values subjected to filtering. As an example, the median filter result of the values 10, 23, 124 is given by 23, while that of the values 1 120 122 is 120. Anyway, at the end of this step, all of the image odd line samples, that is the whole odd field of the interlaced signal, will have been restored. And this because on the subsampling grid pattern for the "40-millisecond" mode, only samples from the odd field of the HD picture are present, as can be deduced from Figure 1. However, the even lines also require to be restored if the HD image is to be brought back to its original resolution. If the "80-millisecond" mode should have been considered, the grid patterns would have contained the samples from both image fields, and all the lines would have been restored at the end of this step. On the other hand, in the 20-millisecond mode, the pixels still missing would be obtained from the mean of two adjacent samples in the same line, an original sample and an interpolated one. Thus, the 40-millisecond mode appears to be the only one that is still incomplete after the preceding interpolation step. That coding mode is, therefore, the most demanding from the computational standpoint, because it must include a further linear time interpolation step to accommodate the motion contents of the image. The second portion of the algorithm in the 40-millisecond mode provides a time mean of samples from two odd fields following in time and restored in the first step. Figure 4 illustrates diagramatically this kind of time interpolation. It should be particularly noted that a simple homogeneous mean, that is one involving samples at the same locations but in two odd fields (A and C), would have a deleterious effect on the sequence of pictures that are presented on the display, since the time correlation of the two odd fields is insufficiently high. A low correlation is due to the presence of a certain motion rate in the image, resulting in limited correlation of the two time mean elements at homolog locations. It is for this reason that the motion contents should be taken into account when selecting the samples to be used for the averaging operation. In this respect, some control data generated by a motion estimator incorporated to the encoder is usually utilized, which data is referred to as "motion vector". The term "vector" is indicative of a vectorial information effective to univocally identify the direction of movement of the generic block in which the image had been split by the estimator device. Shown in Figure 4 are two components of the motion vector, which are symmetrical with respect to the two fields A and C. This time interpolation allows the even field of the image to be satisfactorily generated in the 40-millisecond mode, thereby enabling the image to be displayed with its original resolution. The non-linear interpolation based on the median filter, and the linear one based on the image motion estimate, operated on a pixel sequence in the raster format, which means that the image lines were conveyed to the system after one another. This involves the use of line memories (LMs) each time that an interpolation step is effected because the working window generally encompassed several successive lines of the image. When the fact is additionally considered that the two interpolations are independently performed in succession, the need for an increased number of line memories becomes apparent. The foregoing discussion has served to broadly define the function of the coding and decoding algorithm in the HD-MAC system. A know prior art solution is disclosed in the PCT patent application No. WO-A-91/12691 which teaches about an HD-MAC television decoder comprising a 40 ms decoding branch and an 80 ms decoding branch in which demultiplexed odd and even fields/frames are stored in memories FM1 - FM3. However this solution doesn't solve the drawbacks explained above. Summary of the Invention This invention is based on the decoding algorithm, as reviewed above, and concerns a novel architecture for implementing a critical portion of the HDMAC receiver, specifically the processing channel for the luminance component of the mode known as "40-millisecond mode", which affords considerable savings in terms of silicon area and optimization of the critical portions of the algorithm itself. The technical problem that underlies this invention is to provide a decoder architecture for incorporation to a high-resolution TV receiver, which has such structural and functional features that it enables efficient handling of the restitution algorithm of a 40-millisecond mode TV image, thereby overcoming the limitations of state-of-art approaches. This problem is solved by an architecture as previously indicated and defined in the characterizing part of appended claim 1. The features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of example and not of limitation with reference to the accompanying drawings. Brief Description of the Drawings Figures 1 to 4 are respective schematic charts of processing steps of a restitution algorithm of a TV image operating according to the pertinent prior art; Figures 5 and 6 are respective diagramatic views of a TV signal decoder architecture according to the prior art; Figures 6a, 7 and 9 are respective schematic charts of further examples of algorithm processing steps according to the prior art; Figures 8 and 10 are respective diagramatic views of the architecture in Figure 5 according to the prior art; Figure 11 shows the pattern of control signals present in the architecture of Figure 5, versus time; Figure 12 is a diagramatic view of the decoder architecture according to this invention; Figure 13 is a more detailed diagramatic view of the architecture in Figure 12; Figures 14 and 15 are respective diagramatic views of details of the architecture in Figure 12; Figures 16, 17, 17a, 19 and 19a are respective diagramatic views of so-called interpolation windows of the restitution algorithm processed by the architecture according to the invention; and Figures 18, 18a, 19b and 20 to 24 are respective diagramatic detail views of the architecture according to the invention. Detailed Description With reference to the drawing figures, generally and schematically shown at 10 is an image decoder architecture embodying this invention, for implementing a processing algorithm in the 40 ms mode with high-resolution TV sets. For a better appreciation of all the aspects of the invention, it may be appropriate to first discuss an example of a decoder architecture which implements the restitution algorithm in a conventional manner. That embodiment of a TV signal decoder, for high-resolution receivers, was developed by Thomson TCE in 1989, and will be discussed hereinafter for later comparison to this invention. Figure 5 is a schematic block diagram of the architecture 50 of that decoder operated in the 40-millisecond mode for luminance defining. A first block 51 performs a non-linear filtering using a median filter whereby the signal horizontal resolution can be doubled. This block 51 receives as input samples Xi pertaining to a special grid pattern of the 40-millisecond mode, as already set forth in the preamble to this Application. Each decoder in the chain is split into portions 51 and 61, whereby it can be input, and can manage in parallel, two successive odd-field channels A, C as required to accommodate the motion. The working frequency is 27 MHz. Shown diagramatically in Figure 6 is the inner structure of one of the non-linear interpolators 51 or 61. At the input of each block, two line memories 53, 54 make three samples from three successive lines of a subsampling grid 45, e.g. three samples "A" in Figure 3, available for a successive block 55. The block 55 performs a three-point median filtering. A selector 56 is provided on a central leg 58 of the filtering block 51 or 61 to drive the introduction of a sampling time lag FF; this is necessary when moving from a working window 60 centered on odd lines (a, e) to a window centered on even lines (c, g) of the odd field (A or C). In fact, the odd lines of an odd field on the grid pattern only contain odd samples, whereas the even ones contain just even samples. With reference to Figure 3, the three samples "A" will come in simultaneously from three respective line memories 54, whereas in the dual instance, the central sample will come in a clock time in advance of the other two and must be retarded by a factor FF, as shown in Figure 6a. A signal LT is expressly provided for controlling the selector 56 so as to obtain line parity in the odd field. The selector is to switch over at the start of a new grid line, that is every 64 µs. At the output of the median filter 55, there is a network 57 composed of sample retarding elements FF (clock period at 27 MHz, i.e. 37 ns) and adders (+) which allow a linear interpolation function to be implemented which comprises seven elements and provides a so-called non-linear interpolation working window. In addition, between the selector 56 and the median filter block 55, there is extracted an original sample from the subsampling grid pattern to be output along with the interpolated sample. Thus, at each clock period, two samples will be output for each new sample input. In this way, the horizontal resolution is doubled. Two selectors, not shown because conventional, are connected at the two outputs and allow the samples to be addressed, in accordance with the line parity in the odd field, such that the even samples will appear at a first output 49 and the odd samples at a second output 59. This separation is necessary to maintain a working frequency of 27 MHz on the connecting buses. The above signal LT is adequate to control these two selectors as well. At this point, the image odd fields will have been fully restored, as is apparent from Figure 7. But to complete the restitution in the even fields of the image, a time mean of the fields A and C is now needed, with the so-called motion vectors 47 also in mind. To this end, a buffer storage structure 67 is used which comprises RAM stores 46 and is shown in Figure 5. The structure 67 has at least four connection routes between the interpolators 51 and 61, and the memories 46, two for the odd samples and two for the even ones. Such connection routes relate to the two fields (A and C), and supply each a structure 70 shown in Figure 8. A shift register (SR8) 40 operated with eight samples functions to assemble the samples into sets of eight within storage words of sixty four bits, which words are alternately written to two RAM stores 46 via a selector 44. The samples are led one at a time to the serial input of the shift register 40, and a word of sixty four bits is written to the memory every eight oncoming samples. The capacity of each memory is of 540 words, that is five lines of 864 samples being each an eight-bit sample. As a result, the memory write rate will be of 1.6875 MHz (i.e. 27/16 MHz). Two pairs 63, 64 of shift registers are provided at the output of each memory 46 to record two words of sixty four bits obtained from each memory by a read operation. The second register 65 of each pair 63 or 64 allows the sample to be shifted to the serial output of the other shift register; this enables the eight samples of a current word to be pipelined with those of a previously read word. After the register pairs 63, 64, a cascade of FF sample retarding elements 66 are provided which have varying length. Each series is controlled by the horizontal component of the motion vector, thereby selecting the horizontal offset required for accommodating the motion. The vertical component of the motion vector is instead used to set the memory address of the sixty four-bit word for a read operation. Thus, at each clock period, four different samples will be available at the output of each memory. Figure 9 allows this feature to be appreciated by comparison to Figure 4; it can be seen, in fact, that in the absence of the even fields of A and C (lines b, d, f), a further interpolation operation is needed wherein the value of the motion vector requires a sample from the missing field, namely a sample of the horizontal component of the motion vector, in this case equal to 2, for the time mean. This further interpolation is performed on four samples made available from the memory, all in the same column. Conversely, when the sample is actually present, e.g. in the instance of the vertical component of the motion vector being an odd value, it will be sufficient that the sample be sent on the four outputs to cancel the effect of the vertical interpolation weighted sum (in fact, the sum of the weights would be 1). Figure 10 completes the structure of the decoder architecture operating in accordance with the prior art. The block 75 shown therein implements the time mean of the two fields A and C to generate an intermediate field (designated B). This structure is repeated for the even samples. The four inputs to the block 75 (even and odd ones for A and C) are first multiplied by a selectable coefficient (0.5 or 1 for A, and 0.5 or 0 for C), and then conveyed as appropriate to an adder 69 which will output the samples. The selection of the multiplier coefficients is carried out with field periodicity (50 Hz) by a signal FF enabling the time mean to be executed with coefficients 0.5, where an even field is to be produced, or with coefficients 1 for A and 0 for C, where an odd field is to be produced. The latter case is the same as performing no mean. Shown in Figure 11 are by comparison the patterns versus time of the two timing signals LT and FP used in the system. Detailed Description of the Invention The decoder architecture of this invention will now be described in detail with reference, in particular, to Figure 12 and following. Figure 12 itself shows, in block diagram form, a processing channel pertaining to the luminance 40-millisecond mode, in accordance with this invention. It matters to observe that, in this architecture 10, the maximum working frequency is 54 MHz, rather than 27 MHz as in the prior art. A major consequence of this choice is that the original 27 MHz channels of the prior architecture (Thomson TCE) can here be addressed on a single bus at the 54 MHz frequency. The first block in the structure 10 is a demultiplexer 12 separating the two original channels A and C and conveying them to two identical sub-blocks 13 and 14. Identical will be, therefore, the processing that is carried out on both channels. The two split channels supply the two processing blocks 13 and 14, which will output the two respective sample sequences Ai, Ci as restored by a median filter non-linear interpolation and a compensation for motion. Such output sequences are added together at a node 11, thereby obtaining the time mean of A and C and outputting the final samples Oi in the 40-millisecond mode. Shown best, and still in diagramatic form, in Figure 13 is the internal structure of each processing block 13 or 14 for handling each of the two input channels. A format converter 15 is provided at the input of each block 13 or 14 which consists of a register SR8 selector (demultiplexer) 16 having at least six outputs and capable of supplying six banks 18 of a local memory 17 after one another with samples from the input of the respective block 13 or 14. Each bank 18 shift occurs concurrently with a video line shift, so as to store into a given bank 18 all the samples of a certain video line. The word length of each storage bank 18 is of sixty four bits (eight contiguous samples of eight bits each) and the capacity of each bank 18 is of 180 words, i.e. two active video lines of 720 eight-bit samples (namely, 11,520 bits per bank). Based on the word length selected and because of the supply bus being formed by eight bits, it becomes necessary to use a shift register 20 comprising eight cells SR8 of eight bits each and capable of performing the series/parallel conversion at the input of the memory 17. A hardware schematics for the format converter 15 is shown in Figure 14. The overall capacity of the local memory 17 (combined channels A and C) is of twelve banks, which is the equivalent of 2140 sixty four-bit words (i.e. 138,240 bits). The memory write rate is, due to the selected word structure and the division into banks, of 3.375 MHz, which corresponds to an available time for write access of more than 290 nanoseconds during the active period of a given bank 18. The selection of the various banks 18 is driven through a modulo-six counter 19 which is incremented by shifts of a signal LT. Shown in Figure 15 are the various banks 18 of the memory 17. Each memory bank 18 is actually set up with two twin-gate RAM stores which allows concurrently of a read and a write operation, though not at the same memory address. Both memories have a capacity of ninety words, and are used for writing in an alternate manner (interleaving), so that nearly twice the time (approximately 510 nanoseconds) becomes available for accessing the RAM store. Advantageously, one RAM store contains the odd-located samples on a given video line, and the other contains the even-located samples. While the memory bank write operation is characterized by a low rate (3.375 MHz), the data read operation should be carried out at a suitable clock frequency to ensure updating of the available data at each clock period (54 MHz). Thus, by utilizing the possibility of accessing two contiguous words from two different memories (i.e. in parallel), as many as sixteen samples can be made available at the output of each bank 18 with a single read cycle. This allows these sixteen samples to be updated by a fresh reading every 288 nanoseconds, that is at every change in value of a motion vector. The bank address and word address within the bank are determined from the vertical component 29 of the motion vector. A part of the bank 18 smooth enable feature that prevailed during the write operation is therefore lost (polling). With the channel structure comprising six banks 18 of two video lines each, any of the eight-sample blocks can be addressed from six different contiguous video lines at one time, and these six continuous lines can be selected on a window 30 of twelve successive lines. This faculty allows samples Ai, Ci to be output from the memory 17 as required to construct the so-called working window 30 for the median filter section 25 which comes after this local memory section 17. Present at the output of the memory 17 are selectors 22 which will route five out of the six selected blocks in the required order by the working window of the median filters 25 placed after the memory section 17. The working window 30 for the subject mode is shown in Figure 16. Immediately noticeable is that this working window 30 is considerably wider than the window 60 used in the prior architecture disclosed by Thomson TCE. This increased complexity of the window 30 obviously burdens its handling hardware, but affords, as explained hereinafter, significant memory savings for the processing sections after the local memory 17. As can be gathered from Figure 16, the window 30 encompassess no less than five contiguous lines of the subsampling grid pattern. The sixth addressable line by the selected division into banks is needed because of the next working window 31 after the one shown, namely the window that appears after one clock timing (18 ns), no longer includes the first line, but includes the sixth. This alternation appears after each clock period. Shown in Figure 17 are two discrete working windows 31, 32 pertaining to two successive clock timings. It matters to observe that the location of the sample to be interpolated is at all times on the same logic line, i.e. the line to be restored, of the original image. With reference now to Figure 18, there is shown the median filter section 25 placed after the local memory 17. The filter action is applied to the working window 30 to effect six discrete parallel averaging operations to prepare the samples Yi for the two following constant-coefficient systolic filtering sections 27. Systolic filtering is performed on seven samples subsequently to the median filtering operation. Specifically, a constant-coefficient systolic array 27 carries out the interpolation for generating a sample denoted by "H" in Figure 16, while a second array concurrently carries out the interpolation for a sample denoted by "K". Both interpolations are needed to generate useful samples for the vertical interpolation to be later carried out on five samples of the window 30 in the same column as "H" and "K", in a similar manner to that previously explained in connection with motion compensation. Shown diagramatically in Figure 19 is the vertical interpolation step. Note that, due to the alternation of the overall window of five video lines out of the six available, the vertical interpolation requires five coefficients instead of four, which means that one of them will be null. In addition, the interpolation coefficients must be shifted according to the alternation characteristic of the working window 30, as explained hereinafter in connection with the variable-coefficient systolic filtering section. Shown in Figure 18a is the structure implementing the median filtering block 25. Three comparators 24 carry out all of the possible comparisons between the three inputs INi of the median filter 25 (three possible comparisons) and issue on their output Si a bit having a logic value of 0 when the upper input is higher than or equal to the lower input, and of 1 when lower than that. These three output bits constitute the inputs to a combinatory network 35 which will generate two control signals C0, C1 to a selector 36 having three inputs, each of eight bits. This allows the median sample of the three input Sis to be addressed to the output. The structure of the combinatory network 35 which generates such control signals C0, C1 to the selector 36 is shown in Figure 19b. Shown in Figure 20 is the structure 27 of the constant-coefficient systolic array effecting the interpolation on seven samples, of which four are available and three are obtained from the median filtering operation. To each processing element PEi in the array 27 is input a suitably retarded sample I(i), so that it can be phased back to those associated with the same working window 30 and processed by the other elements, along with the sum carryover from the preceding element in the chain. A suitable timing signal, such as the 54 MHz clock signal, synchronizes the operation of each element PEi to that of the others, thereby making for a successful interpolation step. A suitable rephasing network 34 with increasing sample delays FF allows the various samples (Ii) of a given interpolation window 30 to be phase added to the carryover from the preceding elements in the chain; all this being illustrated by Figure 21. The sample I(i) being input to the element is coded with eight bits, whilst the result of its multiplication by the coefficient a(i) requires ten bits, and the carryover from one cell to the next requires eleven bits, adequate to cover the entire dynamic range of the partial product sums. The structure of a generic processing element 38 in the constant-coefficient systolic array 27 is shown in Figure 22. The generic input sample I(i) is multiplied by its assigned interpolation coefficient a(i) and then added to the carryover S(i-1) from the preceding cell. A flip-flop 33 enables the cell 38 to be synchronized to the preceding one, thereby imposing a time lag per cell which is exactly equal to the clock period and is the same for all cells 38. The result will ultimately be input to the next cell. In this way, the time lag which occurs between any one of the inputs and the output of the array will be the same, thereby ensuring that the device is properly timed. The implementation of the coefficients is quite simple and no multipliers are required. In fact, such coefficients are all multiples or submultiples of 2, or in any event amenable to sums of multiples and submultiples of 2. In this way, appropriate simple connections of the leads of the input bus on which the sample is present are enough to permit the multiplication to be effected in a most efficient and simple manner. Thus, all the coefficients needed for the interpolation can be provided. In Figure 23, there are shown all the values required for the interpolation coefficients and respective hardware. It should be noted that all of the coefficients involved in the interpolations are amenable to multiples of 0.125 (i.e. 1/8). In this way, the (fractional) coefficients can be conveniently implemented by multiplying them by eight, to obtain integers only, and the division by eight can be performed on the end result of the interpolation, so as to avoid intermediate truncations (due to divisions) which would generate a heavy error in the ultimate computation of the interpolation formula. This division by eight is simply obtained by discarding the three least significant bits of the output bus from the last element in the chain. Output from the first constant-coefficient systolic array are the samples of the line containing the sample "H" of Figure 16, and from the second, the samples of the line containing "K". again at a frequency of 54 MHz. These two samples are input to a variable-coefficient systolic array 39 which will carry out the vertical interpolation. This variable-coefficient systolic array 39 is basically a variable-coefficient systolic filter having a thoroughly similar structure to that of the filter 27, but operating on five coefficients instead of seven and with the additional difference that the implementing structure of the various coefficients is more complex, it including in particular a selector 23 for coefficient selection purposes. The various coefficient values required are shown in Figure 24 along with their implementing architecture. Performed at the output of this systolic filtering block 39 is the division by eight of the interpolation result, as by just discarding the three least significant bits of the eleven-bit bus. Then, two samples are generated, an original one from the subsampling grid pattern and another obtained by systolic interpolation. The sampling rate is 27 MHz for each output. Finally, a multiplexer 37 combines the two outputs into a single channel operated at a frequency of 54 MHz which represents the sequence of samples Yi related to the channel A (or C) to be conveyed to the adder 11 which will produce the time mean of the two odd fields transmitted (A and C, respectively). All these considerations equally apply to both channels A and C. The architecture described above provides several advantages over prior approaches. First, the amount of memory required for implementation throughout its blocks is greatly reduced. In particular, the architecture disclosed by Thomson TCE uses two 720-sample memory lines to implement the non-linear interpolator (hence, four lines, since the structure is split between the channels A and C), and ten 720-sample memory lines for the motion accommodating buffer (hence, another forty lines, since there are two sub-channels for the even samples and the odd samples, for each channel A and C). In all, forty four memory lines are therefore required in the Thomson TCE's architecture. Likewise, the architecture disclosed in this Patent Application uses six banks with two 720-sample lines for each of the channels A and C, totalling twenty four memory lines. Thus, for the architecture of this Patent Application, we have choosen to abandon the raster format within the system, while retaining it of necessity at the input and the output for reasons of compatibility, and to merge the non-linear interpolation based on the median filter with the linear interpolation for accommodating the motion, so as to reduce the number of line memories required. As aconsequence, a modest amount of added complication to the working window management has to be accepted. This decrease in memory lines results directly from the fact that, while in Thomson TCE's disclosure lines already restored in the non-linear interpolator (hence, with 1440 samples) must be stored in order to accommodate for motion, in the present architecture motion is accommodated along with the non-linear interpolation, that is using a single working window, that is by just storing video lines with halved horizontal resolution (720 video samples) into the local memory. This saving in memory lines brings about great savings in the silicon area required for fabricating the chips, when it is considered that the line memories and the motion-accommodating buffer store would occupy most of the silicon physical area. The reduced number of memories affords a significant reduction in the silicon area requirements of the system as a whole, and consequently, also the possibility of integrating the entire processing portion for the 40-millisecond mode to a single chip. Secondarily, the structure has been expressly re-designed to maintain a sample rate of 54 MHz, thereby eliminating any duplicated processing structures and connection buses for handling even samples and odd samples, as are instead present in the prior art; consider, for instance, the duplicated motion-accommodating memory for both channels A and C. Another advantage of this invention comes from the systolic structure-based interpolating window implementation ensuring highly modular characteristics and simple re-configurability features for the interpolation step, according to the requirements of the algorithm being implemented. The modest increase in silicon area involved surely will not prevent the circuit from being made on a single chip. The use of systolic structures allows an interpolative filtering structure to be designed which is extensively modular and easy to re-design in the event of future modifications to the form of the interpolating window or the interpolation coeffficients by just changing the number or type of the processing elements in the systolic array.

Claims: A video image decoder architecture for implementing a processing algorithm in the 40-ms mode on high-resolution TV sets of HDMAC systems, comprising: a video signal demultiplexer (12) receiving as an input an A field and a C field, wherein the A field and the C field are successive odd fields of a series of fields of a video signal a first and a second processing block (13,14) for separately handling the signals from each of the fields (A,C), characterised in that each block comprises : a video image format converter (15) for receiving a respective field (A, C), and comprising a demultiplexer having a plurality of outputs connected to corresponding banks (18) of a local memory (17) for selecting samples of the input signal and providing a series to parallel conversion on said plurality of outputs, a local memory (17) connected after the converter for receiving and storing digital words of the sampled signal, and median filter means (25) placed after the local memory (17) and receiving as first inputs data from the local memory for concurrently providing a first plurality of median values based on a received second plurality of inputs which are selected from the local memory (17) in accordance with a working window (30) of interpolation; and systolic filter means (27) cascade connected after said median filter means (25) for performing a horizontal interpolation using a fixed coefficient systolic array, thereby recovering missing samples of said fields (A, C), and a vertical interpolation using a variable coefficient systolic array for recovering missing samples of the video image; and a summing node (11) for adding together the outputs from each processing block (13, 14) by obtaining a time mean between the restored samples (Ai,Ci) of the fields (A,C). An architecture according to Claim 1, characterized in that said local memory (17) comprises individually addressable memory banks (18), each for storing all the samples (Ai,Ci) of two corresponding horizontal video lines. An architecture according to Claim 2, characterized in that the word length of each memory bank (18) is sixty four bits. An architecture according to Claim 1, characterized in that the selection from the various banks (18) is driven through a counter (19) which is incremented by shifts of a synchronization signal (LT). An architecture according to Claim 2, characterized in that each memory bank is formed of two twin-gate RAM stores wherein write and read operations are performed alternately, one RAM store containing the odd-located samples of a given video line and the other containing even-located samples. An architecture according to Claim 1, characterized in that said median filter means (25) comprises a selector (36) and comparators (24), which are respectively connected to the inputs of a combinatory network (35) and are operative to generate a pair of control signals (C0,C1) to the selector (36) for addressing a median sample from the input ones (INi) to the filter output. An architecture according to Claim 1, characterized in that said systolic filter comprises: an array of elements (PEi), each receiving as input a signal sample (I(i)) suitably retarded for resyncronizing with signals related to the same working window (30), and a sum carryover from a preceding element in the array chain, and a phasing network (34) which comprises increasing sample time lags (FF) for enabling the various samples (I(i)) of a predetermined interpolating window (30) to be summed in phase with the carryover from the preceding elements in the array chain. An architecture according to Claim 7, characterized in that said array of elements (PEi) is a constant-coefficient systolic array (27) and the structure of each generic processing element (PEi) comprises an interpolation coefficient multiplier (a(i)), an adder after the multiplier, and a storage cell connected, in turn, to the adder for transferring a carryover (S(i- 1)) received from a preceding element (PEi- 1) in the chain. An architecture according to Claim 7, characterized in that the working frequency is set at 54 MHz.

Inventors: POLUZZI RINALDO, SCALISE FABIO, POLUZZI, RINALDO, SCALISE, FABIO
Applicants: ST MICROELECTRONICS SRL, STMICROELECTRONICS S.R.L.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: H04N7
IPC codes: H04N7