Patent · US Expired

Automatic gain control based on multiple input references in a video decoder

US7443455B2 · kind B2 · utility

8Cited by
36References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateDec 30, 2003
Grant dateOct 28, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 11, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03G3/3078
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A video decoder (10) for receiving an input video signal and producing output signals for a digital display (12), and involving automatic gain control (AGC) functions (20, 28), is disclosed. For each of the front-end and back-end AGC functions (20, 28), the AGC gain value applied is modified according to measurements of several attributes of the video signal, such as sync height, color burst amplitude, composite signal peak amplitude, and luma signal peak amplitude. The measurements are made, and the AGC gains are modified, on a frame-by-frame basis. Preferably, the AGC is modified using the one of the signal attributes that indicates the lowest gain. The back-end AGC function (28) modifies its gain to unity if the front-end AGC function (20) selected the luma signal peak amplitude for modifying its gain. A method for adjusting the rate of change of the AGC gain is also disclosed, in which gain increases are delayed and slowed following an AGC gain decrease because of an image-dependent signal attribute.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.