Patent US2473932A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent EP0122094A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0122094A2
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EP
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Electronic still store with high speed sorting and method of operation
Assignee: Ampex Systems Corp
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Filing: 1984-03-30
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2004-03-30
Abstract
Abstract An eletronic still store system stores and selectively outputs video image data defining a plurality of signal frame still images. The simultenaous display of up to 16 or more reduced images for scanning or sorting by an operator is facilitated by generating a reduced sized copy of each newly received image frame and storing both together on a magnetic disk storage device (24). The reduced image can then be recalled directly for a multi-image scan or sort function in which a plurality of reduced size images are displayed simultaneously without the time delays associated with the retrieval and size reduction of the same number of full size images.
Inventors
- 👤 Daniel A. Beaulier
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 05:00
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/21; H04N1/2166; H04N1/2195; H04N1/217; H04N1/2175; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/0077; H04N2201/0089; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3201; H04N2201/3225; H04N2201/325; H04N2201/3274; H04N2201/3277
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 17
Claim 1
Independent Claim
132 words
An electronic still store system comprising: an image store (24) arranged for retrievably storing therein a plurality of frames of video images with both a full spatial resolution copy and a reduced spatial resolution copy of each image being stored; and a frame store (22) which is operable in a first mode to receive from the image store and repetitively generate a full spatial resolution output image frame and operable in a second mode to receive from the image store and store a plurality of reduced spatial resolution image frames, the frame store being further operable in the second mode to repetitively generate an output image frame having an image from each of the plurality of reduced spatial resolution image frames selectively located at a different position within the output image frame.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
132 words
An electronic still store system comprising: an image store (24) arranged for retrievably storing therein a plurality of frames of video images with both a full spatial resolution copy and a reduced spatial resolution copy of each image being stored; and a frame store (22) which is operable in a first mode to receive from the image store and repetitively generate a full spatial resolution output image frame and operable in a second mode to receive from the image store and store a plurality of reduced spatial resolution image frames, the frame store being further operable in the second mode to repetitively generate an output image frame having an image from each of the plurality of reduced spatial resolution image frames selectively located at a different position within the output image frame.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
68 words
A system according to claim 1, further comprising a size reducer (26) coupled to receive from the frame store a full spatial resolution image frame and in response thereto to return to the frame store a reduced spatial resolution image frame and wherein the frame store is operable to receive and store the reduced spatial resolution image frame while continuing to store the full spatial resolution image frame.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
36 words
A system according to claim 2, wherein the reduced spatial resolution image frames each have a spatial resolution of one-fourth the spatial resolution of the full spatial resolution image frames in each dimension of an image.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
47 words
A system according to any foregoing claim, wherein a central processing unit (16) is coupled to select in response to control by an operator which image copies are retrieved from the frame store and the location within the frame store at which each image copy is stored.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
64 words
A system according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein a central processing unit (16) is coupled to select in response to control by an operator to command the retrieval of a plurality of reduced spatial resolution images from the image store and the placement of the retrieved images as reduced size images within an output image frame generated by the frame store.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
40 words
A system according to any foregoing claim, further comprising an output digital-to-analog converter (28) coupled to receive output image frames from the frame store and in response thereto to generate an analog video signal representing the received output image frames.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
57 words
A system according to any foregoing claim, further comprising means (12) generating an analog video signal representing a sequence of video image frames and an analog-to-digital converter (14) arranged for converting the analog video signal to a digital form in which digital data representing a video image frame can be received and stored by the frame store.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
91 words
A system according to claims 5 to 7, further comprising a user console (18) coupled to receive operator commands and output received operator commands to the central processing unit, the central being a processing unit coupled to receive the operator commands output by the operator console and in response thereto to generate control signals for controlling system devices including the input analog-to-digital converter, the image store, the frame store, the size reducer, and the output digital-to-analog converter, and a system bus (20) coupling the control signals to the controlled system devices.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
173 words
An electronic still store system comprising: a size reducer which receives normal image data representing a normal video image and converts the normal image data to reduced image data; a frame store coupled to receive and store at first selected locations therein normal image data representing a video image, the frame store being coupled to communicate full image data to the size reducer, to receive back from the size reducer reduced image data, to store the reduced image data received from the size reducer in second selected locations in the frame store, and to repetitively output the full image data, the frame store being further operable to receive and store in the first selected locations image data representing a plurality of reduced images to form a single image comprised of the plurality of reduced size images; and an image store coupled to receive from the frame store, to store and to retrieve image data representing a plurality of normal images and image data representing a reduced image of each of the normal images.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
173 words
An electronic still store system comprising: a size reducer which receives normal image data representing a normal video image and converts the normal image data to reduced image data; a frame store coupled to receive and store at first selected locations therein normal image data representing a video image, the frame store being coupled to communicate full image data to the size reducer, to receive back from the size reducer reduced image data, to store the reduced image data received from the size reducer in second selected locations in the frame store, and to repetitively output the full image data, the frame store being further operable to receive and store in the first selected locations image data representing a plurality of reduced images to form a single image comprised of the plurality of reduced size images; and an image store coupled to receive from the frame store, to store and to retrieve image data representing a plurality of normal images and image data representing a reduced image of each of the normal images.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
263 words
A video still store system comprising: a size reducer coupled to receive full image data representing a frame of a full image and produce reduced image data representing a frame of a corresponding reduced image in response thereto; an image store for storing full image data representing a plurality of frames of full images and reduced image data representing a plurality of reduced images, each corresponding to one of the full images; and a frame store operably coupled to selectively receive from either an external source or the image store and store a frame of full image data representing a full image, to repetitively retrieve and output a stored frame of the full image data, to retrieve and communicate to the size reducer the stored frame of full image data, to receive from the size reducer and store a frame of reduced image data representing a reduced image corresponding to the stored full image, to selectively retrieve and output to the image store both the frame of full image data and the frame of reduced image data, and to receive from the image store and store a plurality of frames of reduced image data with the reduced image data for each different reduced image being stored in a different location within the frame store such that when the frame store operates to repetitively retrieve and output a stored frame of full image data, the reduced images represented by the reduced image data are disposed at different selected locations within an image represented by the repetitively retrieved and output frame of full image data.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
263 words
A video still store system comprising: a size reducer coupled to receive full image data representing a frame of a full image and produce reduced image data representing a frame of a corresponding reduced image in response thereto; an image store for storing full image data representing a plurality of frames of full images and reduced image data representing a plurality of reduced images, each corresponding to one of the full images; and a frame store operably coupled to selectively receive from either an external source or the image store and store a frame of full image data representing a full image, to repetitively retrieve and output a stored frame of the full image data, to retrieve and communicate to the size reducer the stored frame of full image data, to receive from the size reducer and store a frame of reduced image data representing a reduced image corresponding to the stored full image, to selectively retrieve and output to the image store both the frame of full image data and the frame of reduced image data, and to receive from the image store and store a plurality of frames of reduced image data with the reduced image data for each different reduced image being stored in a different location within the frame store such that when the frame store operates to repetitively retrieve and output a stored frame of full image data, the reduced images represented by the reduced image data are disposed at different selected locations within an image represented by the repetitively retrieved and output frame of full image data.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
102 words
A method of operating a video still store system having an image store (24) and a frame store (22) coupled for bidirectional communication of video data with the image store comprising the steps of: writing into the image store video data representing a plurality of full resolution images; writing into the image store for each said full resolution image video data representing a reduced resolution copy thereof; and transferring from the image store to the frame store, for assembly in the frame store as a single composite image, data representing a reduced resolution copy of each of a selected plurality of images.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
102 words
A method of operating a video still store system having an image store (24) and a frame store (22) coupled for bidirectional communication of video data with the image store comprising the steps of: writing into the image store video data representing a plurality of full resolution images; writing into the image store for each said full resolution image video data representing a reduced resolution copy thereof; and transferring from the image store to the frame store, for assembly in the frame store as a single composite image, data representing a reduced resolution copy of each of a selected plurality of images.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method according to claim 11, wherein each reduced resolution copy has a spatial resolution of one-fourth the spatial resolution of the corresponding full resolution image in each of two display dimensions.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
50 words
A method according to claim 11 or claim 12 in which the transferred video data is stored in the frame store in locations selected to produce a composite image having each of the images represented by the transferred video data positioned at a selected different position within the composite image.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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