Patent ID: 7941001

Claim:
A multi-purpose scaler, comprising: a line buffer for temporarily storing data associated with an image; a horizontal scaler that is configured to process the data when horizontal scaling of the image is selected, wherein the horizontal scaler is coupled in a first position for processing the data before the line buffer when horizontal reduction of the image is selected, and the horizontal scaler is coupled in a second position for processing the data after the line buffer when horizontal expansion is selected; and a vertical scaler that is coupled to the output of the line buffer, wherein the vertical scaler is configured to process the data when vertical scaling of the image is selected, and wherein the line buffer, horizontal scaler, and vertical scaler are further configured to selectively de-interlace lines of the image, selectively interlace lines of the image, and selectively scale the image non-linearly in at least one of a horizontal and vertical direction, wherein selectively de-interlacing lines of the image further comprises generating a first output frame from a first field, wherein the first output frame has output line positions shifted up by one-half an input line with respect to those of a second output frame generated from a second field.