Takahiko Fukinuki

Extended Definition TV Fully Compatible with Existing Standards

An extended definition TV (EDTV) system which is fully compatible with the existing standards is proposed. Full compatibility implies receiver and transmission compatibility: both existing and EDTV receivers can receive existing and EDTV signals which have the same bandwidth, without adaptors. In order to insert high resolution information, vacant frequency bands are found in those areas in the first and third quadrants that conjugate with the modulated color components in the second and fourth quadrants when the signal is analyzed in the temporal-vertical frequency domain. Resolution can be improved both horizontally, by inserted high resolution information, and vertically, by progressive scanning and line interpolation. An alternate scheme is also proposed. These schemes are applicable to CATV, CCTV, video storages, broadcasting, and direct broadcasting satellites, without any modification of existing facilities.

Digital video recording

Through mutual technology transfer between consumer and professional video recorders, the last 20 years has witnessed a rapid evolution from analog to digital recording. Each new digital videotape recorder (VTR) uses different channel coding. This implies that improving the recording density involves the development of new channel-coding schemes together with evolutionary magnetic tapes and heads. As a result, professional digital VTRs offer the best features for video recording. This paper reviews state-of-the-art magnetic recording devices, signal processing techniques for digital recording. It also describes the specifications for home-use digital recorders for current television systems, and discusses disk recording technology in the future. >

A Motion-Adaptive High-Definition Converter for NTSC Color TV Signals

In a conventional NTSC monitor, such impairments as cross-color, cross-luminance, line flicker, and line crawl limit both picture quality and resolution. A newly developed high-resolution converter removes impairments caused by composite, interlaced scanning signals. It includes two new processing circuits. The input NTSC signal is decoded into component signals by a new motion-adaptive YC separator. Then, the component signals are converted into a sequential scanning format by a new motion-adaptive scan line interpolator. By utilizing these two kinds of motion-adaptive processing, the impairments mentioned above are reduced considerably.

Experiments on Proposed Extended-Definition TV with Full NTSC Compatibility

Le systeme propose offre une haute definition a la fois verticale et horizontale, est applicable a la television par câble, a la television en circuit ferme, au stockage video et a la diffusion directe par satellite

Intraframe Image Coding by Cascaded Hadamard Transforms

Various image coding schemes have been studied for digital transmission of videophone signals. The Hadamard transform, which is now studied for the transmission of pictures such as those from satellites, has been considered too complicated for public use, though the characteristics such as the ratio of bit-rate reduction are more desirable than those of differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM). We have found a very simple scheme of the transform, where digitized videophone signals are transformed to Hadamard components all digitally just by n digital adders and some shift registers for 2nth-order transform. For example, three adders are necessary for eighth-order transform. It is extendable to two-dimensional transform with ease. We have made an experimental model running in real time. Experiments and theoretical calculation have shown that 3 bits/sample are required for good picture quality in the case of two-dimensional (4 \times 2) th transform and 0.5 bits more for one-dimensional eighthorder transform.

Improved synthetic motion signal for perfect motion-adaptive pro-scan conversion in IDTV receivers

A synthetic motion signal was previously proposed to perfect proscan conversion (see N. Suzuki et al., J. ITE, vol.42, no.9, p.966-972, 1988). Good conversion characteristics were obtained without any modification of current IDTV (NTSC) receivers, and new standards were not required. This signal was found to be only slightly visible in highly saturated image areas. An improved multiplexing method is proposed for reducing the disturbance caused by the synthetic motion signal, especially in such areas. This is accomplished by adding the signal to a linear main signal. Hence, the synthetic motion signal does not leak to other components on the display, and disturbance is minimized. Subjective assessment showed that this method is clearly effective. >

Facsimile Signal Decoding Which Localizes the Effect of Run-Length Code Errors

A new run-length decoding method for facsimile signal transmission is described. In this method, if an error code is detected in a received signal, the effect is localized in the runs corresponding to the error instead of the whole line to obtain better picture quality. The error immunity in this method can be used to shorten the transmission time.

Notchless Bi-Level Quantizer for Facsimile and Its Effect on Coding Efficiency

With a facsimile bi-level quantizer, notches often occur along the white and black borders of a document when the output of a photosensor goes up and down around a threshold. The objects of this work are, first, to present a notchless bi-level quantizer, and secondly, to improve coding efficiency by using the quantizer. It is pointed out that quantization is comprised of many important aspects from aesthetic as well as coding efficiency standpoints, and that significant improvement is achieved in coding efficiency through the use of the notchless bi-level quantizer.

Optimization of D-PCM for TV Signals with Consideration of Visual Property

A study is made of differential PCM (D-PCM), which is a relatively simple but efficient coding system for TV signals. The purpose of this paper is to optimize the D-PCM system with special consideration of the visual property, that is, to obtain the optimum prediction coefficient and the optimum companding characteristics with consideration of the contract sensitivity used in D-PCM. It is found that when the visual property is considered, the optimum prediction coefficient a approaches 1.0 or complete integration (i.e., integration with an infinite leak time constant), although when the visual property is not considered, the optimum prediction coefficient a is the ratio of autocovariances, as we know from previous presentations.

Television: Past, Present, And Future

When I was invited to write a companion paper to Zworykin’s, I initially expected to be writing about either the iconoscope or kinescope or about the television (TV) system using both devices. Zworykin is known as the father of TV, perhaps for these epoch-making devices that he invented. Even I, a specialist not in devices but in TV signal processing, know his name very well. When I read the copy of his paper [3], however, I found that it was about a transmission experiment. In late 1931, an experimental TV system was built by RCA Victor in New York, and in the first half of 1932, a practical experiment on TV transmission was done. Based on this, five papers [1]–[5] were published in the PROCEEDINGS OF THEIRE in December 1933. The third of those papers was “Description of an Experimental Television System and the Kinescope” by V. K. Zworykin [3]. This paper is reprinted now in this P ROCEEDINGS perhaps because it recognizes the father of TV to be one of the twentieth-century contributors. These days, computers are no longer just machines that compute numbers. In the same way, TV is no longer just a means of seeing scenes of far-away places. It is a key device in the coming multimedia era. As shown in Fig. 1, I have tried to divide the history of TV technologies into six generations: