Slow motion converter for field sequential color television signals

Claim 2

A slow motion converter for field sequential color television signals supplied from a video helical tape recording thereof, the field sequential signals comprising an odd field signal and an even field signal for each primary color, related as odd and even sets, respectively, of primary color field signals, said converter comprising: a ratio selector for selecting a motion conversion factor, means for controlling the tape drive of helical video tape playback apparatus to effect reading of field sequential signals from the video tape recording thereof individually and in sequence at the field rate, said drive control means being responsive to the ratio selector to effect repetitive reading from the tape of each field signal in accordance with the selected motion conversion factor; recording means for selectively recording the field sequential signals of each successive sequence thereof read from the tape in respectively corresponding recording bands, said recording means being responsive to said ratio selected to provide a recording of only one of the repetitive readings at each field signal in the corresponding band, means for selectively and simultaneously reading in an alternating sequence the odd and even sets of the recorded field signals from the corresponding recording bands, said reading means being responsive to said ratio selector for reading said preselected recorded field signals of each set repetitively in accordance with the motion conversion factor.

Claim 3

A slow motion converter as recited in claim 1 wherein there is further provided signal processing means responsive to said reading means for processing the alternating sets of simultaneously read color field signals to a color signal format for network broadcasting.

Claim 4

A slow motion converter as recited in claim 1 wherein said ratio selector comprises a counter responsive to a reference frequency signal at the vertical field rate and set to overflow and reset at a count of the motion conversion factor to provide a control output having a frequency corresponding to the reference frequency times the ratio defined by the conversion factor.

Claim 5

A slow motion converter as recited in claim 3 wherein said tape drive control means includes: a sync separator for separating vertical sync pulses at the vertical field rate from the television signal derived from reading the video tape recording, a further counter set by said ratio selector to overflow at a count of the motion conversion factor and responsive to the pulse train output of said sync separator for producing a further control output having a frequency corresponding to the frequency of the separated sync pulses times the ratio defined by the motion conversion factor, and servo control means responsive to the control output of said ratio selector and the further control output of said counter of said tape drive control means to synchronize the tape drive for reading of the field sequential signals at the field rate and repetitively in accordance with the selected motion conversion factor.

Claim 6

A slow motIon converter as recited in claim 1 wherein said recording means comprises: a magnetic drum having a plurality of recording bands respectively corresponding to the sequence of odd and even primary color fields of the color television signal and magnetic recording means for selectively recording the field sequential signals in the corresponding recording bands, and said selective reading means of said magnetic drum includes magnetic recording heads communicating with said recording bands and means for simultaneously receiving the outputs of the reading heads for the alternately selected odd and even sets of primary color field recording bands.

Claim 7

A slow motion converter for field sequential color television signals supplied from a video helical tape recording thereof and including odd and even sets of odd primary color fields and even primary color fields, respectively, comprising: a ratio selector for selecting a motion conversion factor, helical video tape playback apparatus including a tape drive for the video tape and a head drive for a rotating read head, said head drive being driven in rotation at the field rate and said tape drive driving the video tape past said read head in synchronized relationship to the rotation of the read head to effect synchronized reading of the field sequential signals individually and at the field rate from the tape, recording means including a magnetic recording drum, a plurality of recording heads for recording field sequential signals read from the tape in respectively corresponding recording bands of said drum and for reading the recorded field signals from the corresponding recording bands, and a plurality of terminals connected to the recording heads, first switching means for selectively engaging said terminals in succession and controlled by said ratio selector for engaging each of said terminals for a period defined by the field rate times the conversion factor, said first switching means being connected to said read head of said tape playback apparatus and supplying the field sequential read from said tape through said successively engaged terminals to said recording heads of said drum to effect recording of each field signal in its corresponding recording band repetitively in accordance with the motion conversion factor, and second switching means for selectively and alternately engaging said terminals in first and second sets thereof in accordance with the corresponding odd and even color field signal recording bands, for simultaneously receiving the primary color field signals read from the corresponding bands in an alternating succession of the odd and even sets thereof, said second switching means being controlled by said ratio selector to engage each of said first and second sets of terminals for a period defined by the field rate times the conversion factor to simultaneously read out the color field signals alternately for said odd and even sets thereof and repetitively in accordance with the conversion factor.

Claim 8

A slow motion converter for field sequential color television signals supplied from a video helical tape recording thereof and including odd and even sets of odd primary color fields and even primary color fields, respectively, comprising: a ratio selector for selecting a motion conversion factor, helical video tape playback apparatus including a tape drive for the video tape and a head drive for a rotating read head, said head drive being driven in rotation at the field rate and said tape drive driving the video tape past said read head in synchronized relationship to the rotation of the read head to effect synchronized reading of the field sequential signals individually and at the field rate from the tape, recording means including a magnetic recording drum, a plurality of recording heads for recording field sequential signals read from the tape in respectively corresponding recording bands of said drum and for reading the recorded field signals from the corresponding recording bands, and a plurality of terminals connected to the recording heads, first switching means for selectively engaging said terminals in succession and controlled by said ratio selector for engaging each of said terminals for a period defined by the field rate times the conversion factor, said first switching means being connected to said read head of said tape playback apparatus and supplying the field sequential read from said tape through said successively engaged terminals to said recording heads of said drum to effect recording of each field signal in its corresponding recording band repetitively in accordance with the motion conversion factor, and second switching means for selectively and alternately engaging said terminals in first and second sets thereof in accordance with the corresponding odd and even color field signal recording bands, for simultaneously receiving the primary color field signals read from the corresponding bands in an alternating succession of the odd and even sets thereof, said second switching means being controlled by said ratio selector to engage each of said first and second sets of terminals for a period defined by the field rate times the conversion factor to simultaneously read out the color field signals alternately for said odd and even sets thereof and repetitively in accordance with the conversion factor.

Claim 9

A slow motion converter as recited in claim 6 wherein said ratio selector controls said first and second switching means to effect simultaneous reading of the color field signals of one of said odd and even sets during the recording of a color field signal of the other of said sets.

Claim 10

A slow motion converter as recited in claim 6 wherein: said ratio selector is responsive to a reference frequency source to provide a tape drive control signal to said tape drive at the reference frequency times the ratio defined by the frequency conversion factor, said head drive responds to the reference frequency source to drive the head in rotation at the field rate, and said magnetic recording drum includes drum drive means responsive to the reference frequency source for driving said drum in rotation at the field rate and in synchronism with the reading of the field sequential signals by the rotating read head of said video tape playback apparatus.

Claim 11

Apparatus for processiNg field sequential signals to provide slow motion images thereof, said apparatus comprising: first storage means for storing and upon actuation for reading-out in sequence first and second field sequential signals, indicative respectively of first and second primary colors; control means for actuating said storage means in accordance with a selected reduction factor to read the first and second field sequential signals from said first storage means in sequence at the field rate and to effect the repetitive readout of each of the field sequential signals in accordance with the selected reduction factor; second storage means for recording thereon the first and second field sequential signals of each sequence thereof derived from said first storage means onto recording bands corresponding to the first and second primary colors; and means for selectively and simultaneously reading out a set of recorded field signals corresponding to each of the first and second primary colors, said reading means being responsive to said control means to read the recorded field signals of the set repetitively in accordance with the selected reduction factor.

Claim 12

Apparatus for processiNg field sequential signals to provide slow motion images thereof, said apparatus comprising: first storage means for storing and upon actuation for reading-out in sequence first and second field sequential signals, indicative respectively of first and second primary colors; control means for actuating said storage means in accordance with a selected reduction factor to read the first and second field sequential signals from said first storage means in sequence at the field rate and to effect the repetitive readout of each of the field sequential signals in accordance with the selected reduction factor; second storage means for recording thereon the first and second field sequential signals of each sequence thereof derived from said first storage means onto recording bands corresponding to the first and second primary colors; and means for selectively and simultaneously reading out a set of recorded field signals corresponding to each of the first and second primary colors, said reading means being responsive to said control means to read the recorded field signals of the set repetitively in accordance with the selected reduction factor.

Claim 13

Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said second storage means includes means for erasing any signal previously recorded in one of said recording bands simultaneously with the recording of a new field sequential signal thereon.

Claim 14

Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first and second field sequential signals comprise an odd field signal and an even field signal, and wherein said second storage means includes first, second, third and fourth recording bands for storing thereon the odd and even field signals of the first and second field sequential signals and said reading means for reading simultaneously from the first and third recording band odd field signals of the first and second field sequential signals and alternatingly in sequence, for reading simultaneously from said second and fourth recording bands the even field signals of the first and second field sequential signals.