Multi-directional non-linear stretch of video

1 . A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving video images having a first aspect ratio;

detecting subtitles in the received video images; and

adding a subtitle area for display of subtitles outside of the display of the video images by modifying a size of the displayed video images, wherein modifying the size of the displayed video images comprises performing a nonlinear stretch to at least one of horizontal or vertical aspects of the received video images to optimize display of the video images on the display device, and wherein video image pixels nearer to an edge than a center of each image are stretched more than pixels nearer to the center than an edge of each image.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the displayed video images are displayed on a display device having a second aspect ratio different than the first aspect ratio.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the nonlinear stretch is applied to both horizontal and vertical aspects of the received video images as a function of the first and second aspect ratios.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the nonlinear stretch comprises:

expanding the video images in one of the horizontal and vertical directions; and

compressing the video image in the other one of the horizontal and vertical directions.

5 . The method of claim 4 wherein performing a nonlinear stretch comprises:

comparing the first aspect ratio and a second aspect ratio to a table of aspect ratios; and

selecting parameters from the table for the expanding and compressing.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the subtitle area comprises a black bar area having a size that is minimized to fit the detected subtitle while using the nonlinear stretch to reduce or remove black bar areas that do not contain subtitles.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein modifying the size of the displayed video images is dynamic.

8 . The method of claim 7 and further comprising removing the subtitle area and after a configurable amount of time since detecting at least one subtitle.

9 . A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving an image having a first aspect ratio;

performing a nonlinear stretch to at least one of horizontal or vertical aspects of the received image as a function of a second aspect ratio different than the first aspect ratio, wherein the nonlinear stretch applies a variable scaling ratio that changes continuously across the image such that video image pixels nearer to an edge than a center of each image are stretched more than pixels nearer to a center than an edge of each image; and

displaying the images on a display screen having the second aspect ratio.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the nonlinear stretch comprises:

expanding the image in one of the horizontal and vertical directions; and

compressing the image in the other one of the horizontal and vertical directions.

11 . The method of claim 10 wherein performing the nonlinear stretch comprises:

comparing the first and second aspect ratios to a table of aspect ratios; and

selecting parameters from the table for the expanding and compressing.

12 . The method of claim 9 and further comprising:

detecting subtitles in the received image; and

displaying only a minimal black bar area required to fit the subtitles, while using nonlinear stretch to reduce or remove black bar areas that do not contain subtitles.

13 . The method of claim 12 wherein displaying only a minimal black bar area required to fit the subtitles comprises dynamically modifying a size of the displayed video images.

14 . The method of claim 13 and further comprising removing the subtitle area and after a configurable amount of time since detecting at least one subtitle.

15 . The method of claim 9 and further comprising preserving image sharpness per pixel.

16 . A device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory device coupled to the processor and having a program stored thereon for execution by the processor to perform operations to perform a method comprising:

receiving video images having a first aspect ratio;

detecting subtitles in the received video images; and

adding a subtitle area for display of subtitles outside of a display of the video images by modifying a size of the displayed video images, wherein modifying the size of the displayed video images comprises performing a nonlinear stretch to at least one of horizontal or vertical aspects of the received video images to optimize display of the video images on a display device, and wherein video image pixels nearer to an edge than a center of each image are stretched more than pixels nearer to the center than an edge of each image.

17 . The device of claim 16 wherein the displayed video images are displayed on a display device having a second aspect ratio different than the first aspect ratio.

18 . The device of claim 17 wherein modifying the size of the displayed video images comprises performing a nonlinear stretch to both horizontal and vertical aspects of the received video images as a function of the first and second aspect ratios to optimize display of the video images on the display device.

19 . The device of claim 17 wherein the nonlinear stretch comprises:

expanding the video images in one of the horizontal and vertical directions; and

compressing the video image in the other one of the horizontal and vertical directions.

20 . The device of claim 19 wherein performing a nonlinear stretch comprises:

comparing the first and second aspect ratios to a table of aspect ratios; and

selecting parameters from the table for the expanding and compressing.

21 . The Method of claim 1 wherein modifying the size of the displayed video images comprises linearly resampling to calculate final output pixels.