IP Library Granted Patent US 8,305,498
Granted Patent B2
US 8,305,498 · App. 12/759,665 · Granted Nov 6, 2012

Apparatus and method for equalizing analog TV signals

Assignee: Newport Media, Inc.
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,305,498
App. No.
12/759,665
Granted
Nov 6, 2012
Kind
B2
Abstract

An apparatus and method for equalizing analog TV signals includes an antenna that receives the signal data, wherein the signal data comprises a luminance carrier comprising a luminance channel and a chrominance carrier comprising a chrominance channel; an analog-to-digital converter coupled to receiving antenna that converts the received signal data to digital signal data; an instruction memory storing digital equalizer instructions; and a digital equalizer system, coupled to the memory and the analog-to-digital converter, wherein the digital equalizer system processes the digital equalizer instructions to estimate a noise variation of the luminance channel; equalize the luminance channel; and equalize the chrominance channel, wherein the equalization of the chrominance channel is separate and distinct from the equalization of the luminance channel.

Claims (99)

1. A system for equalizing signal data, said system comprising:

an antenna that receives said signal data, wherein said signal data comprises a luminance carrier comprising a luminance channel and a chrominance carrier comprising a chrominance channel;

an analog-to-digital converter coupled to said antenna that converts the received signal data to digital signal data;

an instruction memory storing digital equalizer instructions; and

a digital equalizer system, coupled to said memory and said analog-to-digital converter, wherein said digital equalizer system processes said digital equalizer instructions to:

estimate a noise variation of said luminance channel;

equalize said luminance channel; and

equalize said chrominance channel, wherein the equalization of said chrominance channel is separate and distinct from the equalization of said luminance channel

wherein said signal data comprises an analog television signal and said analog television signal comprises a blanking period and said blanking period comprises an Hsync, a front porch, and a back porch,

wherein said Hsync, said front porch, and said back porch comprise an amplitude of said analog television signal at a predetermined value for a predetermined amount of time,

wherein said digital equalizer comprises a luminance equalizer, wherein said luminance equalizer equalizes said luminance channel, and

wherein said luminance equalizer:

samples said blanking period;

accumulates said samples;

calculates a received sample mean by calculating a mean of said samples; and

calculates a channel estimate by dividing said received sample mean by a stored sample mean.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an automatic gain controller coupled to said antenna, wherein said automatic gain controller automatically adjusts said received signal data and said analog-to-digital converter converts the adjusted signal data to digital video signal data.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein said luminance equalizer repeats the calculated channel estimate.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein said luminance equalizer interpolates said channel estimate by linearly interpolating said channel estimate with said stored channel estimate and storing the interpolated channel estimate as said stored channel estimate.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an automatic gain controller coupled to said analog-to-digital converter.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein said digital equalizer comprises a chrominance equalizer to equalize said chrominance channel.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein said chrominance equalizer comprises at least one of an Root-Mean-Square (“RMS”) equalizer and a V-demod equalizer, wherein said V-demod equalizer comprises a demodulator, and wherein said V-demod equalizer equalizes said chrominance channel based on an output of said demodulator.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein said RMS equalizer:

samples said color burst;

accumulates said color burst;

calculates a mean of said color burst;

subtracts said color burst mean from the received color burst producing a color-burst-without-dc signal;

calculates a square of said color-burst-without-dc signal;

calculates a root-mean-square of said color-burst-without-dc signal; and

equalizes said chrominance channel by an equalized chrominance channel obtained by dividing the calculated root-mean-square of said color-burst-without-dc signal by

(

A

2

)

,

where A is an amplitude of a transmitted color burst.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein said signal data comprises a composite analog television signal and said composite analog television signal comprises a V channel.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein said V-demod equalizer:

demodulates said V channel;

estimates a chroma channel from the demodulated V channel; and

equalizes the received signal data by the estimated chroma channel.

11. A system for equalizing signal data, said system comprising:

an antenna that receives said signal data, wherein said signal data comprises a luminance carrier comprising a luminance channel and a chrominance carrier comprising a chrominance channel, and wherein said signal data comprises an analog television signal and said analog television signal comprises a color burst, and;

an analog-to-digital converter coupled to receiving antenna that converts the received signal data to digital signal data;

an instruction memory storing digital equalizer instructions; and

a digital equalizer system, coupled to said memory and said analog-to-digital converter, wherein said digital equalizer comprises a chrominance equalizer to equalize said chrominance channel, and wherein said digital equalizer system processes said digital equalizer instructions to:

estimate a noise variation of said luminance channel;

equalize said luminance channel; and

equalize said chrominance channel, wherein the equalization of said chrominance channel is separate and distinct from the equalization of said luminance channel,

wherein said chrominance equalizer comprises at least one of an Root-Mean-Square (“RMS”) equalizer and a V-demod equalizer, wherein said V-demod equalizer comprises a demodulator, and wherein said V-demod equalizer equalizes said chrominance channel based on an output of said demodulator.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein said RMS equalizer:

samples said color burst;

accumulates said color burst;

calculates a mean of said color burst;

subtracts said color burst mean from the received color burst producing a color-burst-without-dc signal;

calculates a square of said color-burst-without-dc signal;

calculates a root-mean-square of said color-burst-without-dc signal; and

equalizes said chrominance channel by an equalized chrominance channel obtained by dividing the calculated root-mean-square of said color-burst-without-dc signal by

(

A

2

)

,

where A is an amplitude of a transmitted color burst.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein said signal data comprises a composite analog television signal and said composite analog television signal comprises a V channel, and wherein said V-demod equalizer:

demodulates said V channel;

estimates a chroma channel from the demodulated V channel; and

equalizes the received signal data by the estimated chroma channel.

14. A method of equalizing signal data, said method comprising:

receiving said signal data, wherein said signal data comprises a luminance carrier comprising a luminance channel and a chrominance carrier comprising a chrominance channel;

converting said signal data to digital signal data;

estimating a noise variation of said luminance channel;

equalizing said luminance channel; and

equalizing said chrominance channel, wherein said equalization of said chrominance channel is separate and distinct from said equalization of said luminance channel, and wherein said equalizing said chrominance channel comprises: demodulating said V channel; estimating a chroma channel from the demodulated V channel; and equalizing said chrominance channel to the estimated chroma channel.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein said signal data comprises an analog television signal and said analog television signal comprises a blanking period and said blanking period comprises an Hsync, a front porch, and a back porch, and wherein said Hsync, said front porch and said back porch comprise an amplitude of said analog television signal at a predetermined value for a predetermine amount of time.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein equalizing said luminance channel comprises:

sampling said blanking period;

accumulating said samples;

calculating a received sample mean by calculating a mean of said samples; and

calculating a channel estimate by dividing said received sample mean by a stored sample mean.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein equalizing said luminance channel comprises at least one of:

repeating the calculated channel estimate, and

linearly interpolating said channel estimate with the stored channel estimate and storing the interpolated channel estimate as said stored channel estimate.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein said signal data comprises an analog television signal and said analog television signal comprising a color burst.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein equalizing said chrominance channel comprises:

sampling said color burst;

accumulating said color burst;

calculating a mean of said color burst;

subtracts said color burst mean from the received color burst producing a color-burst-without-dc signal;

calculating a square of said color-burst-without-dc;

calculating a root-mean-square of said color-burst-without-dc; and

equalizing said chrominance channel by an equalized chrominance channel obtained by dividing the calculated root-mean-square of said color-burst-without-dc signal by

(

A

2

)

,

where A is an amplitude of a transmitted color burst.

20. The method of claim 14 , further comprising automatically adjusting said received signal data.

Assignments (31)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 14, 2022
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 060894/0437 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 11, 2022
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 059363/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 10, 2022
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 059863/0400 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 9, 2022
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 059358/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 28, 2022
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: ATMEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 059262/0105 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 25, 2022
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 059333/0222 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 4, 2021
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 057935/0474 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 24, 2020
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 055671/0612 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 5, 2020
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INC.; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 053468/0705 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 30, 2020
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INC.; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 053466/0011 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Apr 24, 2020
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INC.; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 053311/0305 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 18, 2018
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 047103/0206 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 25, 2018
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 046426/0001 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 10, 2017
From: ATMEL CORPORATION
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 041715/0747 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT COLLATERAL Recorded Apr 6, 2016
From: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC.
To: ATMEL WIRELESS MCU TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 038364/0615 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT COLLATERAL Recorded Apr 6, 2016
From: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC.
To: NEWPORT MEDIA, INC.
Reel/Frame 038364/0659 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 24, 2014
From: NEWPORT MEDIA, INC.
To: ATMEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 034705/0090 →
TERMINATION OF SECURITY Recorded Oct 7, 2014
From: BRIDGE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: ATMEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 033907/0517 →
TERMINATION OF SECURITY Recorded Oct 7, 2014
From: PINNACLE VENTURES, L.L.C.
To: ATMEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 033908/0435 →
TERMINATION OF SECURITY Recorded Oct 7, 2014
From: PINNACLE VENTURES, L.L.C.
To: ATMEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 033908/0379 →
TERMINATION OF SECURITY Recorded Oct 7, 2014
From: NEWPORT MEDIA, INC.
To: ATMEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 033908/0242 →
TERMINATION OF SECURITY Recorded Oct 7, 2014
From: NEWPORT MEDIA, INC.
To: ATMEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 033907/0775 →
TERMINATION OF SECURITY Recorded Oct 7, 2014
From: NEWPORT MEDIA, INC.
To: ATMEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 033907/0748 →
TERMINATION OF SECURITY Recorded Oct 7, 2014
From: HORIZON TECHNOLOGY FINANCE CORPORATION
To: ATMEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 033907/0702 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 5, 2014
From: NEWPORT MEDIA, INC.
To: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 033689/0195 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 5, 2014
From: ATMEL WIRELESS MCU TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
To: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 033689/0214 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Mar 1, 2013
From: NEWPORT MEDIA, INC.
To: HORIZON TECHNOLOGY FINANCE CORPORATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 029956/0891 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Feb 15, 2013
From: NEWPORT MEDIA, INC., A DELAWARE CORPORATION; NEWPORT MEDIA, INC., A CALIFORNIA CORPORATION
To: PINNACLE VENTURES, L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 029818/0138 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Dec 31, 2012
From: NEWPORT MEDIA, INC.
To: BRIDGE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 029554/0118 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded May 31, 2012
From: NEWPORT MEDIA, INC.
To: PINNACLE VENTURES, L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 028299/0903 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 13, 2010
From: ELSHERIF, AHMED RAGAB; ALI, MOHAMED ABD EL-SALAM; WASILY, NABIL YOUSEF
To: NEWPORT MEDIA, INC.
Reel/Frame 024227/0470 →
Continuity (1)
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