Edge enhancement for television images

A method of enhancing the edges of video images displayed on a cathode ray tube having electron gun means for generating at least one electron beam which is caused to scan a phosphor screen at a nominal velocity v.sub.1 in line-by-line fashion and which has a spot size which grows with increasing beam current, said method causing a sharp transition edge to occur at a position on the screen which corresponds approximately to the position at which the mid-region of the unenhanced transition would occur, comprising:

• increasing the scan velocity of the beam above v.sub.1 prior to a video amplitude transition which causes an increase in spot size so as to cause the beam spot to jump ahead to a position where said sharp transition edge is to be established;
• deflecting the beam in the direction of normal scan at a rate which corresponds to the rate of growth of the diameter of the spot so as to substantially arrest the trailing edge of the spot;
• and
• when the spot size substantially ceases to grow, holding the spot center substantially stationary for a predetermined interval.

A method of enhancing the edges of video images displayed on a cathode ray tube having electron gun means for generating at least one electron beam which is caused to scan a phosphor screen at a nominal velocity of v.sub.1 in line-by-line fashion and which has a spot size which grows with increasing beam current, said method causing a sharp transition edge to occur at a position on the screen which corresponds substantially to the position at which the mid-region of the unenhanced transition would occur, comprising:

• increasing the scan velocity of the beam above v.sub.1 prior to a video amplitude transition which causes an increase in spot size so as to cause the beam spot to jump ahead to said position where said sharp transition edge is to be established;
• deflecting the beam in the direction of normal scan at a rate which corresponds to the rate of growth of the diameter of the spot size so as to substantially arrest the trailing edge of the spot;
• when the spot size of the beam substantially ceases to grow, holding the spot center substantially stationary for an interval which corresponds to the total time thus gained over a beam travelling at a uniform velocity v.sub.1 ;
• and
• resuming the scan at the nominal velocity v.sub.1, thus forming a sharper and brighter edge on each such video amplitude transition.

A system for enhancing, on a cathode ray tube screen, the edges of video images where video amplitude transitions occur, said system causing a sharp transition edge to occur at a position on the screen which corresponds substantially to the position at which the mid-region of the unenhanced transition would occur, comprising:

• a cathode ray tube having a front panel on which a phosphor screen is deposited, a funnel section which mates with the front panel and which terminates in a neck portion, electron gun means positioned in the neck portion of the funnel for generating three electron beams and deflection means for causing the beams to scan the phosphor screen at a nominal velocity v.sub.1 ;
• a television video signal source;
• circuit means receiving the video signal for developing therefrom a control signal to increase the scan velocity of the electron beam above v.sub.1 prior to a video amplitude transition which causes an increase in spot size, so as to cause the beam spot to jump ahead to a position where said sharp transition edge is to be established, and to deflect the beam in the direction of normal scan at a rate which corresponds to the rate of growth of the diameter of the spot size so as to substantially arrest the trailing edge of the spot;
• a pair of auxiliary deflection plates situated within the neck portion of the cathode ray tube for receiving said control signal and for generating an electric field in response to said control signal, said plates being spaced from each other so as to permit the electron beams to pass between them and being positioned so as to deflect all beams substantially uniformly in the normal direction of the scan so as to vary the scan velocity of the electron beams and enhance the edges of displayed images in accordance with said control signal, and said auxiliary deflection plates being serrated to reduce eddy currents and having end portions which are bent toward the electron beam so as to create a more uniform electric field between said plates;
• and
• signal coupling means receiving said control signal for coupling it through the funnel section of the cathode ray tube, said coupling means including at least one external conductive coating on the outer side of the funnel section and a corresponding number of internal conductive coatings on the inside of the funnel section, the respective inner and outer coatings being positioned so as to form at least one capacitor for coupling said control signal from a location outside the funnel section to said internal conductive coatings and further including conductor means for conducting said control signal from said inner conductive coating to said auxiliary deflection plates.

For use in a television receiver which converts a video signal to a displayed television image on a cathode ray tube which generates at least one electron beam for scanning a luminescent screen at a nominal velocity v.sub.1 in line-by-line fashion, a method of peaking the video signal without causing excessive spot size growth of the cathode ray tube electron beam and of enhancing the vertical edges of video images displayed on the cathode ray tube to compensate for large electron beam spot sizes which are generated by large amplitude video transitions, comprising:

• non-linearly amplifying said video signal such that the large amplitude components of the video signal are amplified to a lesser extent than the small amplitude components so as to produce a compressed video signal;
• passing said compressed video signal through a high pass peaking circuit to generate high frequency peaking components;
• adding the output of said high pass peaking circuit to the video signal to produce a selectively peaked video signal;
• applying said selectively peaked video signal to the cathode ray tube to modulate said electron beam;
• increasing the scan velocity of the beam above v.sub.1 prior to a video amplitude transition so as to cause the beam to jump ahead to a position where a sharp transition edge is to be established;
• reducing the scan velocity of the beam from the time when the beam arrives at the position where the sharp transition edge is to be established until the video amplitude transition has passed;
• and
• thereafter resuming the nominal scan velocity v.sub.1 of the beam, thus providing the cathode ray tube with selectively peaked video signals for producing sharp television images without excessive electron beam spot size growth and also increasing the sharpness of the images thus produced by modulating the electron beam scan velocity to compensate for the blurring effect of spot size growth which is associated with large amplitutde video transitions.

For use in a television receiver which converts a video signal to a displayed television image on a cathode ray tube which generates at least one electron beam for scanning a luminescent screen at a nominal velocity v.sub.1 in line-by-line fashion, a method of peaking the video signal without causing excessive spot size growth of the cathode ray tube electron beam and of enhancing the vertical edges of video images displayed on the cathode ray tube to compensate for large electron beam spot sizes which are generated by large amplitude video transitions, comprising:

• passing said video signal through a high pass peaking circuit for generating high frequency peaking components;
• non-linearly amplifying the output of said high pass peaking circuit such that the large amplitude peaking components are amplified to a lesser extent than the small amplitude peaking components to generate a compressed peaking signal;
• adding said compressed peaking signal to said video signal to produce a selectively peaked video signal;
• applying said selectively peaked video signal to the cathode ray tube to intensity modulate said electron beam;
• increasing the scan velocity of the beam above v .sub.1 prior to a video amplitude transition so as to cause the beam to jump ahead to a position where a sharp transition edge is to be established;
• reducing the scan velocity of the beam from the time when the beam arrives at the position where the sharp transition edge is to be established until the video amplitude transition has passed;
• and
• thereafter resuming the nominal scan velocity v.sub.1 of the beam, thus providing the cathode ray tube with selectively peaked video signals for producing sharp television images without excessive electron beam spot size growth and also increasing the sharpness of the images thus produced by modulating the electron beam scan velocity to compensate for the blurring effect of spot size growth which is associated with large amplitude video transitions.

For use in a television receiver which converts a video signal to a displayed television image on a cathode ray tube which generates at least one electron beam for scanning a luminescent screen at a nominal velocity v.sub.1 in line-by-line fashion, a system for peaking the video signal without causing excessive spot size growth of the cathode ray tube electron beam and for enhancing the vertical edges of video images displayed on the cathode ray tube to compensate for large electron beam spot sizes which are generated by large amplitude video transitions, comprising:

• circuit means receiving the video signal for non-linearly amplifying the video signal such that the large amplitude components of the video signal are amplified to a lesser extent than the small amplitude components so as to produce a compressed video signal;
• a high pass peaking circuit receiving said compressed video signal for generating high frequency peaking components;
• means for adding said video signal to said high frequency peaking components to produce a selectively peaked video signal;
• means for applying said selectively peaked video signal to the cathode ray tube for modulating the electron beam;
• means for increasing the scan velocity of the beam above v .sub.1 prior to a video amplitude transition so as to cause the beam to jump ahead to a position where a sharp transition edge is to be established;
• means for reducing the scan velocity of the beam from the time when the beam arrives at the position where the sharp transition edge is to be established until the video amplitude transition has passed;
• and
• means for thereafter resuming the nominal scan velocity v.sub.1 of the beam, thus providing the cathode ray tube with selectively peaked video signals for producing sharp television images without excessive electron beam spot size growth and also increasing the sharpness of the images thus produced by modulating the electron beam scan velocity to compensate for the blurring effect of spot size growth which is associated with large amplitude video transitions.

For use in a television receiver which converts a video signal to a displayed televison image on a cathode ray tube which generates at least one electron beam for scanning a luminescent screen at a nominal velocity v.sub.1 in line-by-line fashion, a system for peaking the video signal without causing excessive spot size growth of the cathode ray tube electron beam and for enhancing the vertical edges of video images displayed on the cathode ray tube to compensate for large electron beam spot sizes which are generated by large amplitude video transitions, comprising:

• a high pass peaking circuit receiving said video signal for developing therefrom high frequency peaking components;
• circuit means receiving said high frequency peaking components for non-linearly amplifying said peaking components such that the large amplitude components are amplified to a lesser extent than the small amplitude peaking components to generate a compressed peaking signal;
• means for adding the compressed peaking signal to the video signal to produce a selectively peaked video signal;
• means for applying said selectively peaked video signal to the cathode ray tube for modulating the electron beam;
• means for increasing the scan velocity of the beam above v.sub.1 immediately prior to a video amplitude transition so as to cause the beam to jump ahead to a position where a sharp transition edge is to be established;
• means for reducing the scan velocity of the beam from the time when the beam arrives at the position where the sharp transition edge is to be established until the video amplitude transition has passed;
• and
• means for thereafter resuming the nominal scan velocity v.sub.1 of the beam, thus providing the cathode ray tube with selectively peaked video signals for producing sharp televison images without excessive electron beam spot size growth and also increasing the sharpness of the images thus produced by modulating the electron beam scan velocity to compensate for the blurring effect of spot size growth which is associated with large amplitude video transitions.

In a televison receiver having a cathode ray tube for converting a video signal to a television image by scanning a luminescent screen with an electron beam modulated by video information, a method of enhancing the sharpness of the horizontal edges in the displayed televison image comprising:

• delaying the video signal for an interval equal to one horizontal line time to generate a first delayed video signal;
• applying said first delayed video signal to the cathode ray tube to modulate the scanning electron beam;
• delaying the first delayed video signal for an interval equal to one horizontal line time to generate a second delayed video signal;
• comparing the video signal with said second delayed video signal to generate a difference signal whose amplitude is representative of the amplitude difference between said video signal and said second delayed video signal;
• modulating said first delayed video signal by said difference signal to obtain a correction signal representative of the product of said first delayed video signal and said difference signal;
• and
• applying said correction signal in synchronism with said first delayed video signal to cathode ray tube deflection means for vertically deflecting the electron beam by an amount and in a direction corresponding to the amplitude and polarity, respectively, of said correction signal so as to enhance the horizontal edges of the television image.

In a televison receiver having a cathode ray tube for converting a video signal to a television image by scanning a luminescent screen with an electron beam modulated by video information, a horizontal edge enhancement system for enhancing the sharpness of the horizontal edges in the displayed television image, comprising:

• a video signal source;
• a first delay means connected to said video signal source for delaying the video signal by one horizontal line time, thus generating a first delayed video signal at the output of said first delay means;
• means for applying said first delayed video signal to the cathode ray tube for intensity modulating the scanning electron beam;
• a second delay means receiving the first delayed video signal for delaying it an additional one horizontal line time so as to generate a second delayed video signal at the output of said second delay means;
• means for comparing the video signal from said video signal source with the output of said second delay means to generate a difference signal whose amplitude is representative of the amplitude differences between said video signal and said second delayed video signal;
• means receiving said difference signal and said first delayed video signal for modulating said first delayed video signal by said difference signal to obtain a correction signal representative of the product of said signals;
• and
• means for applying said correction signal in synchronism with said first delayed video signal to cathode ray tube deflection means for vertically deflecting the electron beam by an amount and in a direction corresponding to the amplitude and polarity, respectively, of said correction signal so as to enhance the horizontal edges of the television image.

In a television receiver having a cathode ray tube for converting a video signal to a television image by scanning a luminescent screen with an electron beam modulated by video information, a method of improving the sharpness of low amplitude video transitions in the video signal and of enhancing the sharpness of the horizontal edges in the displayed television image comprising:

• non-linearly amplifying said video signal such that the large amplitude components of the video signal are amplified to a lesser extent than the small amplitude components so as to produce a compressed video signal;
• passing said compressed video signal through a high pass peaking circuit to generate high frequency peaking components;
• adding the output of said high pass peaking circuit to the video signal to produce a selectively peaked video signal;
• applying said selectively peaked video signal to the cathode ray tube to intensity modulate the electron beam;
• delaying the video signal for an interval equal to one horizontal line time to generate a first delayed video signal;
• applying said first delayed video signal to the cathode ray tube to modulate the scanning electron beam;
• delaying the first delayed video signal for an interval equal to one horizontal line time to generate a second delayed video signal;
• comparing the video signal with said second delayed video signal to generate a difference signal whose amplitude is representative of the amplitude differences between said video signal and said second delayed video signal;
• modulating said first delayed video signal by said difference signal to obtain a correction signal representative of the product of said first delayed video signal and said difference signal;
• and
• applying said correction signal in synchronism with said first delayed video signal to the cathode ray tube deflection means for vertically deflecting the electron beam by an amount and in a direction corresponding to the amplitude and polarity, respectively, of said correction signal so as to enhance the horizontal edges of the television image.

In a television receiver having a cathode ray tube for converting a video signal to a television image by scanning a luminescent screen with an electron beam modulated by video information, a method of improving the sharpness of low amplitude video transitions in the video signal and of enhancing the sharpness of the horizontal edges in the displayed television image comprising:

• passing said video signal through a high pass peaking circuit for generating high frequency peaking components;
• non-linearly amplifying the output of said high pass peaking circuit such that the large amplitude peaking components are amplified to a lesser extent than the small amplitude peaking components to generate a compressed peaking signal;
• adding said compressed peaking signal to said video signal to produce a selectively peaked video signal;
• applying said selectively peaked video signal to the cathode ray tube to intensity modulate said electron beam;
• delaying the video signal for an interval equal to one horizontal line time to generate a first delayed video signal;
• applying said first delayed video signal to the cathode ray tube to modulate the scanning electron beam;
• delaying the first delayed video signal for an interval equal to one horizontal line time to generate a second delayed video signal;
• comparing the video signal with said second delayed video signal to generate a difference signal whose amplitude is representative of the amplitude differences between said video signal and said second delayed video signal;
• modulating said first delayed video signal by said difference signal to obtain a correction signal representative of the product of said first delayed video signal and said difference signal;
• and
• applying said correction signal in synchronism with said first delayed video signal to cathode ray tube deflection means for vertically deflecting the electron beam by an amount and in a direction corresponding to the amplitude and polarity, respectively, of said correction signal so as to enhance the horizontal edges of the television image.

In a television receiver having a cathode ray tube for converting a video signal to a televison image by scanning a luminescent screen with an electron beam modulated by video information, a system for improving the sharpness of low amplitude video transitions in the video signal and for enhancing the sharpness of the horizontal edges in the displayed television image comprising:

• a video signal source;
• circuit means receiving the video signal for non-linearly amplifying the video signal such that the large amplitude components of the video signal are amplified to a lesser extent than the small amplitude components so as to produce a compressed video signal;
• a high pass peaking circuit receiving said compressed video signal for generating high frequency peaking components;
• means for adding said video signal high frequency peaking components to produce a selectively peaked video signal;
• means for applying said selectively peaked video signal to the cathode ray tube for intensity modulating the electron beam;
• first delay means connected to said video signal source for delaying the video signal by one horizontal line time, thus generating a first delayed video signal at the output of said first delay means;
• means for applying said first delayed video signal to the cathode ray tube for modulating the scanning electron beam;
• second delay means receiving the first delayed video signal for delaying it an additional one horizontal line time so as to generate a second delayed video signal at the output of said second delay means;
• means for comparing the video signal from said video signal source with the output of said second delay means to generate a difference signal whose amplitude is representative of the amplitude differences between said video signal and said second delayed video signal;
• means receiving said difference signal and said first delayed video signal for modulating said first delayed video signal by said difference signal to obtain a correction signal representative of the product of said signals;
• and
• means for applying said correction signal in synchronism with said first delayed video signal to cathode ray tube deflection means for vertically deflecting the electron beam by an amount and in a direction corresponding to the amplitude and polarity, respectively, of said correction signal so as to enhance the horizontal edges of the television image.

In a television receiver having a cathode ray tube for converting a video signal to a television image by scanning a luminescent screen with an electron beam modulated by video information, a system for improving the sharpness of low amplitude video transition in the video signal and for enhancing the sharpness of the horizontal edges in the displayed television image comprising:

• a video signal source;
• a high pass peaking circuit receiving said video signal for developing therefrom high frequency peaking components;
• circuit means receiving said high frequency peaking components for non-linearly amplifying said peaking components such that the large amplitude peaking components are amplified to a lesser extent than the small amplitude peaking components to generate a compressed peaking signal;
• means for adding the output of said non-linear amplifier to said video signal to produce a selectively peaked video signal;
• means for applying said selectively peaked video signal to the cathode ray tube for intensity modulating the electron beam;
• first delay means connected to said video signal source for delaying the video signal by one horizontal line time, thus generating a first delayed video signal at the output of said first delay means;
• means for applying said first delayed video signal to the cathode ray tube for modulating the scanning electron beam;
• second delay means receiving the first delayed video signal for delaying it an additional one horizontal line time so as to generate a second delayed video signal at the output of said second delay means;
• means for comparing the video signal from said video signal source with the output of said second delay means to generate a difference signal whose amplitude is representative of the amplitude differences between said video signal and said second delayed video signal;
• means receiving said difference signal and said first delayed video signal for modulating said first delayed video signal by said difference signal to obtain a correction signal representative of the product of said signals;
• and
• means for applying said correction signal in synchronism with said first delayed video signal to cathode ray tube deflection means for vertically deflecting the electron beam by an amount and in a direction corresponding to the amplitude and polarity, respectively, of said correction signal so as to enhance the horizontal edges of the television image.

For use in a television receiver which converts a video signal to a displayed television image on a cathode ray tube which generates at least one electron beam for scanning a luminescent screen at a nominal velocity v.sub.1 in line-by-line fashion, a method of enhancing the sharpness of horizontal and vertical edges of video amplitude transitions in the television image by auxiliary horizontal and vertical deflection of the cathode ray tube electron beam, comprising:

• For Enhancing the Sharpness of Vertical Edges:
• increasing the scan velocity of the beam above v.sub.1 prior to a video amplitude transition so as to cause the beam to jump ahead to a position where a sharp transition edge is to be established;
• reducing the scan velocity of the beam from the time when the beam arrives at the position where the sharp transition edge is to be established until the video amplitude transition has passed;
• and
• thereafter resuming the nominal scan velocity v.sub.1 of the beam;
• and
• For Enchancing the Sharpness of Horizontal Edges:
• deflecting the electron beam vertically when the beam scans a high brightness region which is vertically adjacent to a region of lower brightness so as to cause the electron beam spot to move away from the region of lower brightness and thereby keep said vertically adjacent regions visibly distinct.

For use in a television receiver which converts a video signal to a displayed television image on a cathode ray tube which generates at least one electron beam for scanning a luminescent screen at a nominal velocity v.sub.1 in line-by-line fashion, a method of enhancing the sharpness of horizontal and vertical edges of video amplitude transitions in the television image by auxiliary horizontal and vertical deflection of the cathode ray tube electron beam, comprising:

• For Enhancing the Sharpness of Vertical Edges:
• increasing the scan velocity of the beam above v.sub.1 immediately prior to a video amplitude transition so as to cause the beam to jump ahead to a position where a sharp transition edge is to be established;
• reducing the scan velocity of the beam when the beam arrives at the position where the sharp transition edge is to be established;
• and
• resuming the nominal scan velocity v.sub.1 of the beam after the video amplitude transition has passed;
• and
• For Enhancing the Sharpness of Horizontal Edges:
• delaying the video signal for an interval equal to one horizontal line time to generate a first delayed video signal;
• applying said first delayed video signal to the cathode ray tube to intensity modulate the scanning electron beam;
• delaying the first delayed video signal for an interval equal to one horizontal line time to generate a second delayed video signal;
• comparing the video signal with said second delayed video signal to generate a difference signal whose amplitude is representative of the amplitude differences between said video signal and said second delayed video signal;
• modulating said first delayed video signal by said difference signal to obtain a correction signal representative of the product of said first delayed video signal and said difference signal;
• and
• applying said correction signal in synchronism with said first delayed video signal to cathode ray tube deflection means for vertically deflecting the electron beam by an amount and in a direction corresponding to the amplitude and polarity, respectively, of said correction signal so as to enhance the horizontal edges of the television image, whereby both the vertical and horizontal edges of television images are sharpened so as to present a clearer and more pleasing television picture.

For use in a television receiver which converts a video signal to a displayed television image on a cathode ray tube which generates at least one electron beam for scanning a luminescent screen at a nominal velocity v.sub.1 in line-by-line fashion, a method of peaking the video signal without causing excessive spot size growth of the cathode ray tube electron beam and of enhancing the sharpness of the vertical and horizontal edges of video images by auxiliary horizontal and vertical deflection of the cathode ray tube electron beam so as to compensate for large electron beam spot sizes which are generated by large amplitude video transitions, comprising:

• For Enhancing the Sharpness of Vertical Edges:
• increasing the scan velocity of the beam above v.sub.1 prior to a video amplitude transition so as to cause the beam to jump ahead to a position where a sharp transition edge is to be established;
• reducing the scan velocity of the beam when the beam arrives at the position where the sharp transition edge is to be established;
• and
• resuming the nominal scan velocity v.sub.1 of the beam after the video amplitude transition has passed;
• and
• For Enchancing the Sharpness of Horizontal Edges:
• delaying the video signal for an interval equal to one horizontal line time to generate a first delayed video signal;
• applying said first delayed video signal to the cathode ray tube to intensity modulate the scanning electron beam;
• delaying the first delayed video signal for an interval equal to one horizontal line time to generate a second delayed video signal;
• comparing the video signal with said second delayed video signal to generate a difference signal whose amplitude is representative of the amplitude differences between said video signal and said second delayed video signal;
• modulating said first delayed video signal by said difference signal to obtain a correction signal representative of the product of said first delayed video signal and said difference signal;
• and
• applying said correction signal in synchronism with said first delayed video signal to cathode ray tube deflection means for vertically deflecting the electron beam by an amount and in a direction corresponding to the amplitude and polarity, respectively, of said correction signal so as to enhance the horizontal edges of the television image;
• and
• For Peaking the Video Signal:
• generating, from the amplitude transitions of said video signal, peaking components whose amplitudes are non-linearly related to the amplitudes of the video transitions from which they are derived;
• and
• adding said peaking components to the video signal to generate a peaked video signal with which to intensity modulate the cathode ray tube electron beam, the nonlinear relationship between the amplitude of said peaking components and their respective video signal amplitude transitions being such that the large amplitude video transitions are peaked relatively less than the small amplitude video transitions, thus providing the cathode ray tube with selectively peaked video signals for producing sharp television images without excessive electron beam spot size growth and providing for increased sharpness of the images thus produced by modulating the electron beam scan velocity and position to compensate for the blurring effect of spot size growth which is associated with large amplitude video transitions.