EP0796537A1

EP0796537A1 - Picture transfer process and device

Info

Publication number: EP0796537A1
Application number: EP95902768A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Zbigniew Rybczynski
Original assignee: CFB Centrum fur neue Bildgestaltung GmbH
Current assignee: RYBCZYNSKI, ZBIGNIEW, PROF.
Priority date: 1994-12-06
Filing date: 1994-12-06
Publication date: 1997-09-24
Also published as: AU1191095A; NZ277029A; AU690180B2; NO972569L; RU2139637C1; PL175571B1; JPH10509853A; HUT77158A; PL320563A1; WO1996018265A1; FI972401A; NO972569D0; US5659382A; FI972401A0; CZ171697A3

Abstract

A process is disclosed for producing a second picture sequence (target picture sequence) having a second picture frequency and a corresponding second picture interval from a first picture sequence (source picture sequence) with a first picture frequency and a corresponding first picture interval. The generated picture sequence serves in particular to give to an observer the visual impression of an event happening in time. At least part of the pictures of the target picture sequence is obtained by additive superposition of at least two pictures of the source picture sequence that follow each other in time and are evaluated with an intensity weighting factor. All pictures of the target picture sequence are obtained by superimposing at least two pictures of the source picture sequence evaluated picture by picture on the basis of individually calculated intensity weighting factors.

Description

Image transfer method and device

Background of the Invention

There are several different standards for image systems in the film and television industry, in which, among other things, it is determined how moving processes are recorded on video or film by means of a necessarily discrete number of individual images. There is a constant need to image material from a certain image system in a project. playback system that is designed for a different image standard. This image material must therefore first be prepared for the image system of projection or reproduction. This process is known as image transfer.

The present invention relates to the transfer of television, computer or film images, which were generated in a special recording system (that is to say with a special number of images per second), into a projection system, which is for another recording system is formed (has a different number of frames per second). In this application, these different recording systems are referred to as "image systems".

There are six main imaging systems. These are the following:

1. NTSC-TV: 60 fps ("American" standard), 2. PAL TV: 50 fps ("European" standard),

3. Film 16: 32 frames / s (archive films),

4. Film 24: 48 fps (cinema film standard),

5. Film 60: 120 frames / s ("showscan" system),

6. Computer images: Programmable number of images / s.

Each of these image systems is explained in more detail below.

1. NTSC television: NTSC has a nominal 30 "pictures" per second. However, each image contains two separate fields, referred to as "fields". Build these two fields an NTSC video image such that the first field supplies the image information for all lines with an odd order number, the second field provides the image information for all other lines, ie with an even order number. NTSC video images are therefore also referred to as "interlaced" (interlaced, interwoven). Therefore, because each field represents a different time interval, each field must be viewed as a separate picture. Therefore, it should be assumed that NTSC has 60 frames per second.

2. PAL television: PAL has a nominal 25 "images" per second. However, as with NTSC, each image contains two separate images called "fields" that are "interlaced" images. Again, because each field represents a different time interval, each field must be viewed as a separate picture. It should therefore be assumed that PAL has 50 frames / s.

3. Film 16: Films produced before the introduction of the sound film were photographed at 16 "frames" per second. These pictures can really be seen when you look at a filmstrip of an archive film. However, there were actually 32 image changes per second during the film recording and projection, but only 16 of these changes represented images. The other 16 changes resulted in a black "image", which was the result of a closed shutter during the transport of the Filmstrip was. They can be seen on the film material as unexposed stripes or bars between the exposed images. When analyzing the motion effect in the film, they play invisible "black pictures" the same role as visible pictures. It should therefore be assumed that the "archive film" has 16 32 frames per second.

4. Film 24: Film 24 has a nominal 24 "frames" per second. These images can actually be seen when looking at a film strip. As with film 16, however, there are actually twice the number of images during film recording and projection, in this case 48 apparent images per second. Only 24 of these changes represent new images. The other 24 changes result in a "black image", which is the result of a closure closed during film transport. It should therefore be assumed that film 24 has 48 frames per second.

5. Film 60: The "showscan" film has a nominal 60 "frames" per second. These pictures can actually be seen when looking at a film strip. During film recording and projection there are 120 changes in the image per second, but only 60 of these image changes represent images. The other 60 changes result in a black image, which is the result of a closure closed during the transport of the film strip . It should therefore be assumed that film 60 has 120 frames per second.

6. Computer images: Computer images are artificially generated images that do not "photograph" reality. The movement (animation) is a calculated process that is designed for any image or image change system that can. If computer images are designed for a special image system and are to be transferred to another image system, they must be treated as a separate image system.

High-definition television as the television of the future is an improvement of the NTSC and PAL standards and works with an exact number of images per second (exactly 60 or 50 images per second). NTSC and PAL have a slightly different frame rate from 60 and 50 frames per second. It is important for the image transfer between these two systems, however, that 60 NTSC images and 50 PAL images take exactly the same time, almost one second (exactly 1.0010 s).

As long as recorded images are reproduced in the image system in which they were originally recorded, the effect of the movement on the screen is more or less satisfactory in any case.

When recording original images, the best results with regard to the reproduction of movements with NTSC and film 60 are achieved because these image systems have the highest number of images per second. The larger the number of frames per second, the better the human eye perceives the motion effect, i.e. the movement is fluid.

The worst original image system for recording a movement is film 16. In the case of film 16, however, can the actual motion effect on original films (at 32 frames / s) can no longer be seen because the original devices for image projection no longer exist. The "acceleration" effect in archive films is the result of modern projection at 48 frames per second (Film 24). This invention offers a possibility of reconstructing the original movement in these films.

Two types of distortion or image distortion occur during movie and television playback. One type of distortion is the so-called "strobe-flicker", and the second type of distortion is called "jitter". Strobe flicker is solely due to a frame rate that is too low to achieve smooth movement when shooting or projecting. Due to the different basic technologies of film and video, different types of "strobe-flicker" appear on film screens or television monitors. However, this type of interference has nothing to do with the effects that arise when transferring images from one image system to another image system.

Image jitter, on the other hand, arises from the previously used - purely mechanical - methods of image transfer: the systematic omission or repetition of individual images of the source system in the target image system leads to interruptions in the recorded movement.

Since this disturbance repeats itself in more or less very short intervals depending on the frame rates, is the impression of a shaky, shaky picture. US Patents 1,815,455 (Waller) and 5,153,620 (Songer) attempt to remove the "strobe flicker". Although - as mentioned above - "strobe-flicker" does not result from image transfer, a brief discussion of the two patents seems necessary, since they describe methods that are only apparently related to those of the present invention.

The Waller method tries to reduce the "strobe flicker" by displaying the immediately preceding images and the immediately following images on one image. This superimposition leads to an interesting visual effect: a "fanning out" of the movement in each image.

However, this fanning-out effect does not solve the "strobe-flicker" or "jitter" problems. The Songer patent describes the superimposition of two images on one image with the same ratio as an attempt to reduce the "strobe-flicker" in film projection. Such an overlay leads to blurred images and does not solve the "strobe-flicker" nor the "jitter" problems.

The Waller and Songer methods are not aimed at reproducing the generated image material in another image system, since the number of images per unit of time is not changed. Double or multiple exposures at a constant frame rate cannot solve the image transfer problem and also lead to a literal deterioration (blurring) of the generated image material compared to the starting material.

Nowadays, images are reproduced in each image system that were originally taken in other image systems. If the original number of images is simply mechanically projected in the new image system (as in the case of the archive film 16), serious disturbances in the reproduction of movement and sound occur. For example, the playback of a video originally recorded in NTSC would appear slower in the PAL system and the playback of a video originally recorded in PAL in an NTSC system would appear to be accelerated. In order to obtain the original impression of movement, it is necessary to adapt the number of images of the recording material to the number of images required for the system on which the recorded material is reproduced. This process of setting the image number is referred to as transformation or transfer. The previous methods of transforming images from one image system into another image system lead to image tremors ("jitter"). The causes of this are explained in more detail below:

When you look at an object with the eye, you usually see one image at a time. This picture is in flowing motion. However, there is no technique to take this type of picture. Instead, motion is recorded as a series of separate still images. In order to obtain a flowing impression of a movement on the screen, an uninterrupted flow of these (preferably at least 60) still pictures must be observed in order to create the illusion of a flowing movement. This is the basis of every picture or picture change system stems. Every interruption of the image flow (for example due to missing or repeated images or an imprecise temporal assignment of an image) causes a disturbance in the visual perception of the movement. The removal of an image causes a gap in the movement, and the repetition of an image causes the movement to "freeze". In order to present these and other problems caused by the mechanical transmission technologies in a simplified manner, the example of the dial of a clock is used.

The object of consideration is the second hand of a watch. It is assumed that this second hand is filmed with an image system which takes only one image per second and that a period of four seconds is examined. Each frame of the recorded material will represent a step of the second hand. If this material is projected with a system, the projection of which requires three images of the material over a period of four seconds (in which case each image is therefore projected for 1.33 seconds) and a mechanical transfer method is used removed an image of the recorded material. This removes one step of the second hand. A jump in the movement of the second hand will appear on the screen. This jump is caused by the missing image (the step removed). Using the same example, if the original recording was made in an image system which takes three images in four seconds, each image of the recorded material represents 1.33 steps of the second hand. If this material is reproduced in a system in which four images of the material are required for the projection in a period of four seconds and a method of mechanical transformation is used, one of the images of the recorded material must be used be repeated. One step of the second hand must therefore be repeated. A "freeze" in the movement of the pointer will appear on the screen. This "freezing" is caused by the repeated step.

Apart from jumping or freezing, the remaining images in both examples also represent incorrect visual information. In the case where frames are removed (the "jump"), each frame is projected for 1.33 seconds, but the process actually shown in that frame takes only one second. In the case where images are repeated ("freezing"), each image is projected for one second, but the process shown in the image actually lasts 1.33 seconds.

Thus, when using mechanical transfer methods, none of the transformed images represent the correct time and movement. All disturbances caused by the mechanical transformation are referred to as "jitter". Although none of the existing image systems work with 1 or 1.33 frames / s, but with 32, 48, 50 or 60 frames / s, mechanical transformation processes cause the same "jitter" effects in the conventional image systems as described above.

Although various attempts have been made by many companies in the world to solve the "jitter" problem, no satisfactory solution to this problem has been found.

U.S. Patents 3,511,567 (Dejoux) and 4,889,423 (Trumbull) relate to image transformation in the cinema and television industry. The content of these patents is included in the present statements by reference. Since these transformations are based on the removal or repetition of images, these methods are referred to in this application as mechanical transformation methods. These documents describe transformation processes which are based on the following principle: If there are too many images in the originally recorded material, excess images are removed. If there are not enough pictures in the originally recorded material, certain pictures have to be repeated to provide the required number of pictures.

The transformation process described in the Dejoux patent was practiced in the television industry for many years. However, this transformation process does not solve the "itter" problem. On the contrary, the Dejoux process practically creates a "jitter".

Trumbull describes a process for transforming a motion with a high frame rate into a motion with lower frame rate. This is accomplished by overlaying some images and removing some images. Trumbull's method cannot solve the "jitter" problem because the temporal relationships or the timing of the original image system are not preserved. In comparison to the Dejoux method, the movement process represented by the transformed image material has only a quantitatively different time shift with respect to the original movement. Both methods destroy the temporal relationships of the images of the starting material during the transfer and thus produce a "trembling" moving image.

This problem will be explained using another example:

Figure 1 illustrates a sequence of four images which would be produced by film exposure of four images of a film with respect to an image field consisting of a moving circular object. For the sake of relief, the time periods are given in degrees (°), with 360 ° representing a sequence of four images, which corresponds to a time period of 1/6 s. As shown in FIG. 1, the circular moving object forms an elongated image according to its movement during the time interval of the image exposure (45 ° or 1/48 s). The centers of each of the four film images shown are spaced apart from one another by an equal time interval (or angle) which corresponds to the frame rate. Since it is assumed that the object is subject to a uniform linear movement, the 18265 PCIYDE94 / 01500

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would be the same between the center points of the object or the temporally adjacent images, and there is an equal distance between image edges in temporally adjacent images. If the images are viewed in accordance with the recording technique, an observer perceives the object as being in a uniform linear movement.

FIG. 2 shows the sequence of film images which would result if the same circular object with uniform linear movement was recorded in a video recording at 60 frames per second and transformed into cinema film (film 24) using a known method. It can be seen from FIG. 2 that the object images in each of the four images are stretched with respect to the images that would have been obtained by the original exposure using film technology, and that the images on image 1 and image 2 overlap one another, while the image in image 2 is clearly separated from the image in image 3. If this film is viewed using a Film24 projector, the viewer perceives a slower object movement during the transition between images 1 and 2 and an accelerated, uneven object movement during the transition from image 2 to image 3, which is what the viewer sees Gives the impression of a picture jitter.

Prior to the present invention, all existing ones were based

Process for image transfer, for example between NTSC and PAL, based on mechanical principles. This means that either an image is always removed or repeated. In the The most recent, improved methods for mechanical transformation concentrate all efforts on "smoothing" either the hole or the freezing. However, these smoothing methods do not adequately solve the problem. Smoothing the "jitter" leads to a reduction in sharpness quality and does not solve the problem that each image has an incorrect time relationship.

In order to obtain a correct time-movement relationship without causing "jitter", it is necessary to create a transformation method which generates images in the transformation recording medium which have properties which match the images recorded in the original system. In all cases it is necessary to create completely new images. This invention relates to transformation or transfer methods which maintain the original time-movement relationships.

Summary of the invention

The invention relates to a method for transforming images from a first image system into a second image system, which does not cause any image disturbances and time changes with regard to the moving image information, as is the case with the previously known mechanical transfer methods. A first sequence from the first image system (ie the image system of the original picture) contains a plurality of images. Analogously, a second sequence from the second image system (ie the image sequence to be newly generated) contains a plurality of images. Each The image for the newly constructed second image system is added by superimposing at least two images from the first image system in a special relationship to one another in such a way that the time intervals between the images of the first sequence and the newly constructed image are reflected by individual weighting factors ¬ builds. In this way, the images from the first image system are combined in a smooth, flowing manner to form the second image system in such a way that image jitter, freezes and jumps are excluded. This image transfer method can be used, for example, for transforming images between the following image systems: NTSC television, PAL television, film 16, film 24, film 60 ("showscan" system) and computer graphics.

In the method according to the invention, each image of the target sequence is generally completely rebuilt and none of the originally existing images as such is part of the target sequence. For this purpose, for each image of the target sequence to be generated, those two images of the original sequence must be found that are most similar to this image in terms of the time that an image represents when the image was taken. The degree of temporal correspondence between these images must also be determined. This degree of temporal correspondence defines the percentage with which an image of the initial sequence takes part in the generation of the new image of the target sequence. In contrast to the previously existing methods, this percentage is variable for the individual images of a certain sequence of images (hereinafter: basic image sequence). Come as a method of creating a new image either double exposure (film) or electronic image mixing (video) are used. In these two methods, the weighting of the output images must each be implemented using specific means.

The image transfer method of this invention also provides that individual images of the output image sequence are not taken into account when generating the target sequence. However, this happens completely in accordance with the objectives of this invention, that is to say without an interruption of the movement impression perceived during the reproduction. This is the case if these images lie completely in the time interval which is represented by a "black image" of the target system, or if they do not belong to the two images which are temporally adjacent to an image to be generated. In practice, this means that the omission of an image from an output image sequence is limited to those transfer constellations in which the output system is an image system with a high frame rate and the target system is a film image system with a low frame rate (e.g. from NTSC to Film-16).

Brief description of the pictures

The advantageous aspects of the invention will become clearer when considered in conjunction with the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, of which

1 is an illustration showing the image of a uniformly moving circular object; how it would appear in successive pictures of a movie,

2 is a representation which shows the image of the moving circular object as it would appear on cinema film if it had been transferred to it by transforming television signals using a known transfer method,

3 is an illustration showing the image of the moving circular object as it would appear on motion picture film if it was transmitted from a television recording in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

4a is a timing diagram illustrating the NTSC image system,

4b is a timing diagram illustrating the PAL image system,

5 is a "rotating wedge" diagram, which shows the NTSC and PAL image system and the time sequence relationship between them,

6 is a "rotating wedge" diagram illustrating the NTSC and film 24 image system and the timing relationship between them;

7 is a "rotating wedge" diagram illustrating the film 60 and film 24 image systems and the timing relationship between them. Figure 8 is a "rotating wedge" diagram illustrating the film 60 and film 16 imaging system and the time series relationship between them.

Figure 9 is a "rotating wedge" diagram illustrating the film 60 and PAL image system and the time sequence relationship between them.

Fig. 10 is a "rotating wedge" diagram illustrating the film 24 and film 16 imaging system and the timing relationship between them.

Figure 11 is a "rotating wedge" diagram illustrating the NTSC and Film 16 imaging system and the timing relationship between them.

Fig. 12 is a "rotating wedge" diagram illustrating the PAL and film 16 image system and the timing relationship between them, and

13 is a "rotating wedge" diagram illustrating the PAL and Film 24 image system and the timing relationship between them;

Figure 14 is a "rotating wedge" diagram illustrating the NTSC and film 60 imaging system and the timing relationship between them.

15 is a "rotating wedge" diagram showing the NTSC and PAL image system with a timing relationship changed by an offset of the start times. 16 is a simplified block diagram of a device according to a first embodiment of the invention, and

17 is a simplified block diagram of a device according to a second embodiment of the invention.

(In FIGS. 6 to 14, the vertically hatched circle segments represent black, unexposed "images".)

Description of the invention

There is no "jitter" in images that have been transformed by the mechanical transfer process if there is no recorded motion on the film or tape, i.e. if there is no movement. The image jitter ("jitter") is only visible when movement occurs. This explains why certain projected scenes give a good or bad visual impression. As a result of many varying influences (e.g. panning, tilting, zooming the camera, etc.), it is very difficult to determine the intensity of the "jitter". Subsequent correction is difficult because the recorded images are individual still images that contain no "visible" mathematical information about movement and time.

Figure 3 is an illustration of a method according to a first embodiment of the invention, in which the

Exposure intensities of temporally neighboring NTSC Television pictures were varied in accordance with the overlap of the time interval of each of the television field pictures with respect to the corresponding corresponding time interval of the cinema picture to be produced (film 24). According to this embodiment of the invention, the motion picture images are produced using the following image intensities:

Image 1 = 87.5% 1A + 12.5% 1B

Image 3 = 37.5% 2A + 62.5% 2B

Image 5 = 87.5% 3B + 12.5% 4A

Image 7 = 37.5% 4B + 62.5% 5A

Fields 5A and 7B are not used.

It should be noted that, for the sake of simplicity, these intensities were determined on the assumption that the film image 1 is to be assigned to a time interval which begins at the same time as the television image interval 1A. The person skilled in the art will recognize that there are also other possibilities by simply shifting the starting point of the film picture 1 with respect to the television picture 1A, which leads to different percentages, but the same principle of the proportional assignment of the field picture intensity according to the degree of overlap follows the time interval of the fields with respect to the relevant film exposure time interval.

According to the method shown in Figure 3, each of the motion picture images is made using the image information generated from the temporally adjacent television images with a weighted image intensity, the weighting of the intensity of each television image corresponding to the temporal overlap of the time interval of the television video field with the time interval of the cinema film.

The resulting cinema film image 1 shown in FIG. 3 contains a relatively dark, elongated image of the moving circular object within the positions that correspond to the television field 1A and a relatively weak image in positions that correspond to the television field 1B. which creates an elongated image with a "shadow". The inventor has found that viewing this image with the "shadow" in the viewer produces the same perceptual effect with regard to the detected position of the moving object as would be produced by the film image shown in FIG. 1. In a similar way, the television images of the fields 2A and 2B are combined according to the invention with exposure intensities which correspond to the temporal overlap of the television fields 2A and 2B with the cinema film image 2. The result of the "double image" thus generated is the generation of an impression of the object in a position closer to the position corresponding to field 2B.

As already mentioned above, the essence of the invention is therefore that each image of an image sequence to be produced in a predetermined standard is synthesized from images which were recorded in another standard, the original and the image to be produced follow a common timeline or scale become. In each case, the image contents of the images of the original image sequence which overlap in time with a new image to be generated or which are next to it are processed in the new image. Each image used in the original image sequence is assigned a weighting factor with which it is incorporated into the new image. This weighting factor depends on the degree of temporal overlap or the distance of the respective original image from the new image to be generated on the time scale.

The first step in deriving these weighting factors is to set up a common time base for the source and target image systems. An essential idea here is the knowledge that the temporal relationships of the individual images of a source and target image system need only be examined for the duration between the two times at which a synchronous image change takes place. The entire transfer process can thus be regarded as a periodic repetition of the rules derived on the basis of these “elementary” image sequences, which are referred to below as the basic image sequence. The weighting factors calculated for a basic image sequence are to be applied cyclically for all periods of the transfer. The duration of a basic image sequence and the weighting factors are specific for a transfer constellation.

The number of images in a basic image sequence in each image system and in each transfer constellation is simply calculated as follows: Determine the smallest common multiple of the image rates of the two image systems involved in the transfer and divide this number by the image rate values. The two resulting numbers specify the number of images of the basic image sequence of the relevant image systems. In the calculation, those frame rates are to be used which contain a statement about the actual number of frame changes per unit of time. These are the images which take into account the time properties of the "interlaced" images in the case of video and the time aspects of both the exposed ("fra es") and the unexposed ("black frames") images in the case of film. When calculating the duration of the basic image sequences, an important special feature should be noted: for all transfer constellations in which an uneven number of frames of the basic image sequence results for at least one film image system, the duration of the basic image sequence must be doubled, otherwise two successive basic image sequences would have a different number of effective (non-black) film images. This rule must actually be applied to all transfers between film image systems.

The image numbers of the base image sequences for the practically important transfer constellations are listed in the following table:

As already mentioned above, the essence of the invention is therefore that each image of an image sequence to be produced in a given standard is synthesized from images that were recorded in another standard, the original and the image to be produced follow a common timeline or scale. In each case, the image contents of those which overlap with a new image to be generated or this the next neighboring images of the original image sequence are processed in the new image. An intensity weighting factor is assigned to each image used in the original image sequence, with which this factor is incorporated into the new image. This weighting factor depends on the degree of temporal overlap or the distance of the respective original image from the new image to be generated on the time scale.

The first step in deriving these weighting factors is to set up a common time base for the source and target image systems. An essential idea here is the knowledge that the temporal relationships of the individual images of a source and target image system need only be examined for the duration between the two times at which a synchronous image change takes place. The entire transfer process can thus be viewed as a periodic repetition of the rules derived on the basis of these “elementary” image sequences, which are referred to below as the basic image sequence. The weighting factors calculated for a basic image sequence are to be applied cyclically for all periods of the transfer. The duration of a basic image sequence and the weighting factors are specific for a transfer constellation.

The number of images in a basic image sequence in each image system and in each transfer constellation is simply calculated as follows: Determine the largest common divisor (PGD) of the image rates fs, T of the two image systems involved in the transfer and divide the image rate values by this number: ⁿ s, t = ^f s, τ ^{x gg} τ (f _{S / T} )

The two resulting values n _s , T specify the number of images of the basic image sequence of the relevant image systems. When calculating, use those frame rates that contain information about the actual number of frame changes per unit of time. These are the frame rates which take into account the time characteristics of the "interlaced" images in the case of video and the time aspects of both the exposed ("frames") and the unexposed ("black frames") images in the case of film. When calculating the duration of the basic image sequences, an important special feature should be noted: for all transfer constellations in which an uneven number of images of the basic image sequence results for at least one film image system, the duration of the basic image sequence must be doubled, otherwise two successive basic image sequences would have a different number of effective (non-black) film images. This rule must actually be applied to all transfers between film image systems.

In the case of the synthesis of a new i-th image F τ ( _j -) ^{for the} time t ^ of the target image sequence T, these relationships can be made up of two neighboring ones occurring at the times t ^ and t-: ₊₁ (transmitted or reproduced) images F .: _s (t _j ) and - _{j + 1> s} (t- < ₊₁ ) of the source image sequence S mathematically express the following equation: ^F i, T ^ i) ^{= C} j, S ^x ^ S ^ j) ^{+ C} j + l, S ^x Fj + S ^ j + l) '

where i and j are integers and C_- _s , C- _{j + 1 s are} the weighting coefficients for the j-th or (j + l) th original (source) image and are, for example, normalized Have weighting factors calculated with

^c j, S = ^{! "(} i ^" V ^{) / (t} : + ι ^" tj ⁾ -

The procedure for the synthesis of a new image thus comprises the following basic steps:

1. A timer defines a common time scale for the first image sequence (source image sequence) and the second image sequence to be produced (target image sequence).

2. The position of each image of the source, as well as that of each image of the target image sequence to be produced, represented by a characteristic point (preferably the center point) of the time interval of the occurrence of the image during transmission or reproduction in the associated standard the common time scale is determined.

3. For each image of the target image sequence to be produced, the images of the source image sequence corresponding to its intended position on the time scale or closest to the position of its image interval center are determined. 4. The distance between the characteristic points (preferably the center points) of the respective time interval of the determined corresponding images of the first image sequence and the center of the time interval of the image of the target image sequence to be produced is determined.

5. For each of the corresponding images of the source image sequence, an image-specific, standardized intensity or amplitude weighting factor is calculated, which depends on the distance of the characteristic point of its image interval from that of the image interval of the image of the target image sequence to be produced depends.

6. The image content of each image of the target image sequence to be produced is formed by additive superimposition of the corresponding images of the source image sequence multiplied by the respective weighting factor.

The target image sequence is formed from a sequence of base image sequences or sequences of the same length, each of the same type (but of course each having specific content), the duration of which - as mentioned above - is determined in such a way that it is as possible as possible minimum integer number of images of both the first and the second image sequence. The image-specific weighting factors are calculated for the heart position of each image of the target base sequence according to the above, taking into account the presence of "black" image intervals and / or interlaced images in the starting and / or target image sequence. In order to further explain the principle of the method according to the invention, a simple conceptual "device" was developed, which is referred to below as the "rotating wedge". Using the rotating wedge, a mathematical value is assigned to each image in the new image system. This represents a way which leads to the required calculation results for accomplishing the image transformation.

The rotating wedge uses the clockwise principle, which was mentioned above. In the two different image systems, a "sequence" is the amount of images or time period within which the smallest possible integer number of images expires in both systems. For example, when comparing PAL and NTSC - as shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b - the first full sequence comprises six pictures in NTSC (FIG. 4a) and five pictures in PAL (FIG. 4b). The duration of the sequence is 0.1 seconds both in NTSC (0.0167 s / image, multiplied by 6 images = 0.1 s) and in PAL (0.02 s / image, multiplied by 5 images = 0.1 s).

In the transformation process, new images have to be built up for the duration of a sequence and the procedure has to be repeated consistently in the subsequent sequences. In the example mentioned above, five new images in PAL (also corresponding to 0.1 s) must be built up from six original images in NTSC (in 0.1 s) during the transmission from NTSC to PAL. Conversely, when transferring from PAL to NTSC, six new pictures in NTSC must be built up from five original pictures in PAL. To this In this way, new images have to be built up and the procedure has to be repeated consistently for each film sequence.

To understand the principle of the rotating wedge, one may imagine a white clock hand rotating on a black surface at a speed of 360 ° per row. If this clock hand is recorded in NTSC, the full revolution is recorded in six pictures. During the exposure of each image, the white pointer will sweep a 60 ° wedge (360 ° divided by six images), see Fig. 4a. If this clock is recorded in PAL, the complete revolution is recorded in five pictures. The clock hand will draw a 72 "wedge on each recorded image (360 °, divided by five images), see FIG. 4b.

In this way, each image in the sequence has a mathematical value, and it is possible to express the relationship between the images mathematically in a way that is easy to visualize.

NTSC-PAL: the duration of the sequence is 0.1 s.

NTSC- from Fig. 4a

Image # 1 = from 0 to 60 ° Image # 2 = from 60 to 120 ° Image # 3 = from 120 to 180 ° Image # 4 = from 180 to 240 "Image # 5 = from 240 to 300 ^β Image # 6 = from 300 to 360 ° (360 ° = 0 °) PAL - from Fig. 4b

(a = previous sequence; b = subsequent sequence)

Image # 5a = from 288 to 360 ° (360 ° = 0 °) - the last image of the previous episode) Image # 1 = from 0 to 72 ° Image # 2 = from 72 to 144 ° Image # 3 = from 144 to 216 ° Image # 4 = from 216 to 288 °

Image # 5 = from 288 to 360 ° (360 ° = 0 °)

Image # lb = from 0 to 72 ° (the first image in the following series).

Using these mathematical values for each image, it is now possible to specify a "center" or a central timing factor of each image in the following manner:

NTSC image centers (from FIG. 4a):

Image # 1 = 30 ° Image # 2 = 90 ° Image # 3 = 150 ° Image # 4 = 210 "Image # 5 = 270 ° Image # 6 = 330 °

PAL image centers (from Fig. 4b):

Image # 5A = -36 ° (324 ° from the beginning of the previous episode; Image # 1 = 36 ° Image # 2 = 108 ° Image # 3 = 180 ° Image # 4 = 252 ° Image # 5 = 324 ° Image #lb = 396 "(36 ° from the beginning of the next episode).

With these numerical values, the prerequisites have been created for establishing the temporal relationships between individual images of both image systems and for calculating the associated weighting factors. For the graphical representation of this process, the principle "rotating wedge" is expanded in such a way that the transfer-specific wedge diagrams of the two image systems involved in the transfer are combined into a single concentric wedge diagram. Such a diagram immediately shows which two images of the source system can be temporally assigned to a specific image of the target system within a basic image sequence. In Fig. 5 this was done for the transfer NTSC <-> PAL. Using this example, the image assignment between the image systems and the calculation of the weighting factors are described below.

The centers of each image in one system can now be viewed from the perspective of the other system. This view of the image system perspectives between NTSC and PAL is easier to see in FIG. 5, which shows the PAL sequence and the NTSC sequence superimposed on the same circular scale. For example, from the NTSC perspective, the NTSC image # 2 (with its center at 90 °) is 18 ° before (or earlier than) the PAL image # 2 (with its center at 108 °), but by 54 ° in time later than the PAL image # 1 (which has its center at 36 °). In this way, all images of the NTSC system can be analyzed as follows:

A. NTSC # 1 (with the center at 30 °) is 6 ° before PAL # 1 (with the center at 36 °), but 66 ° later than PAL # 5a (with the center at -36 ° - from the previous sequence ),

B. NTSC # 2 (with the center at 90 °) is 18 ° before PAL # 2 (with the center at 108 °), but 54 ° later than PAL # 1 (with the center at 36 °),

C. NTSC # 3 (with the center at 150 °) is 30 ° before PAL # 3 (with the center at 180 °), but 42 ° later than PAL

# 2 (with the center at 108 °),

D. NTSC # 4 (with the center at 210 °) is 42 ° before PAL # 4 (with the center at 252 °), but 30 ° later than PAL # 3 (with the center at 180 °),

E. NTSC # 5 (with the center at 270 °) is 54 ° before PAL # 5 (with the center at 324 °), but 18 ° later than PAL # 4 (with the center at 252 °), and

F. NTSC # 6 (with the center at 330 °) is 66 ° before PAL

#lb (with the center at 396 ° (36 ° in the next

Episode)), but 6 ° later than PAL # 5 (with the center at 324 °).

The centers of each image can also be analyzed from the PAL "perspective". For example the PAL image # 2 (with its center at 108 °) 18 ° "late" compared to the NTSC image # 2 (with its center at 90 °), but 42 ° temporally "premature" compared to the NTSC image # 3 (with its center at 150 °). All images from the PAL system can be analyzed in this way as follows:

A. PAL # 1 (with its center at 36 °) is 6 ° later than an NTSC # 1 (with its center at 30 °), but 54 ° "before" NTSC # 2 (with its center at 90 °),

B. PAL # 2 (with its center at 108 °) is 18 ° later than NLTSC # 2 (with its center at 90 °), but 42 ° before NTSC # 3 (with its center at 150 °),

C. PAL # 3 (with its center at 180 °) is 30 ° later than NTSC # 3 (with its center at 150 °), but 30 ° before NTSC # 4 (with its center at 210 °),

D. PAL # 4 (with its center at 252 °) is 42 ° later than NTSC # 4 (with its center at 210 °), but 18 ° before NTSC # 5 (with its center at 270 °), and

E. PAL # 5 (with its center at 324 °) is 54 ° later than NTSC # 5 (with its center at 270 °), but 6 ° before NTSC # 6 (with its center at 330 °).

In order to be able to specify the temporal correspondences between corresponding images as a percentage, these must be standardized, ie related to the range of degrees represented by an image of the original image system. In the case of transfer PAL to NTSC, the newspapers different corresponding images can thus be divided by 72 ^B. In the opposite case, the divisor is 60 ^! This results in the following values:

NTSC from PAL:

A. NTSC # 1 is 8.3% before PAL # 1, but 91.7% later than PAL # 5a,

B. NTSC # 2 is 25% before PAL # 2, but 75% later than PAL

#1,

C. NTSC # 3 is 41.7% before PAL # 3, but 58.3% later than PAL # 2,

D. NTSC # 4 is 58.3% ahead of PAL # 4, but 41.7% later than PAL # 5

E. NTSC # 5 is 75% before PAL # 5, but 25% later than PAL # 5,

Q. NTSC # 6 is 91.7% ahead of PAL #lb, but 8.3% later than PAL # 5.

PAL from NTSC:

A. PAL # 1 is 10% later than NTSC # 1, but 90% before NTSC # 2,

B. PAL # 2 is 30% later than NTSC # 2 but 70% before NTSC # 3, C. PAL # 3 is 50% later than NTSC # 3 but 50% before NTSC # 4,

D. PAL # 4 is 70% later than NTSC # 4, but 30% before NTSC # 5, and

E. PAL # 5 is 90% later than NTSC # 5, but 10% ahead of NTSC # 6.

These data indicate the extent to which two images of a source image system differ in their time properties from the image of a target image system, the synthesis of which is used proportionally. It is easy to see that a slight difference in the represented point in time between the original image and the image to be newly synthesized results in a high weighting of the former. Analogously, a large difference results in a correspondingly small weighting. The weighting factor of an image thus results as a complementary value of the percentage of the time shift between the starting image and the target image to the full 100%. In this way, the formula given above can be used to calculate the weighting factors, which only requires the time centers of the two source images (j, j + 1) and the target image (i) as input variables.

The resulting values (in percent) for each image of the (basic) sequence for the transformation between PAL and NTSC are:

NTSC from PAL: A. NTSC # 1 is made up of 91.7% PAL # 1 and 8.3% PAL # 5a,

B. NTSC # 2 is made up of 75% PAL # 2 and 25% PAL # 1,

C. NTSC # 3 is made up of 58.3% PAL # 3 and 41.7% PAL # 2,

D. NTSC # 4 is made up of 41.7% PAL # 4 and 58.3% PAL # 3,

E. NTSC # 5 is made up of 25% PAL # 5 and 75% PAL # 4,

F. NTSC # 6 is made up of 8.3% PAL #lb and 91.7% PAL # 5,

PAL from NTSC:

A. PAL # 1 is made up of 90% NTSC # 1 and 10% NTSC # 2,

B. PAL # 2 is made up of 70% NTSC # 2 and 30% NTSC # 3,

C. PAL # 3 is made up of 50% NTSC # 3 and 50% NTSC # 5,

D. PAL # 4 is made up of 30% NTSC # 4 and 70% NTSC # 3, E. PAL # 5 is made up of 10% NTSC # 5 and 90% NTSC # 6,

These percentages relate to the superimposed rotating wedge diagram shown in FIG. 5.

Film or image transformation processes based on the present invention do not produce an "itter" effect, and each image of the new image system represents the correct time (in a time sequence).

Using the mathematical principles set out above, specific relationships, in particular for an image transformation, can be derived between the following systems: from NTSC to PAL (as explained above), from PAL to NTSC (as explained above), from film 16 to NTSC , from NTSC in film 16, from film 24 in NTSC, from NTSC in film 24, from film 16 in film 24, from film 24 in film 16, from film 16 in film 60, from film 60 in film 16, from film 24 in film 60, from film 60 in film 24, from PAL in film 24, from film 24 in PAL, from film 16 in PAL, from PAL in film 16, from PAL in film 60, from film 60 in PAL from NTSC in film 60 and from film 60 in NTSC. It is obvious that the person skilled in the art can obtain further transformation regulations for similar transmissions of other systems - including computer graphics generated with different frame rate - from the principles explained above.

The transformation method for the systems mentioned here is shown below in analogy to the NTSC-PAL transfer. For example, a transformation between Film 24 and NTSC is possible. A rotating wedge representation of the image sequences for the transformation is shown in FIG. 6. The duration of the basic image sequences is 0.0833 seconds. There are 5 NTSC pictures and 4 film 24 pictures (of which 2 pictures with picture content and 2 black "pictures" are) in this time interval.

The data for NTSC in this image sequence are as follows:

A. Image # 1 = from 0 ° to 72 °, with the center at 36 °,

B. Image # 2 = from 72 ° to 144 °, with the center at 108 °,

C. Image # 3 = from 144 ° to 216 °, with the center at 180 °,

D. Image # 4 = from 216 ° to 288 °, with the center at 252 °,

E. Image # 5 = from 288 ° to 360 °, with the center at 324 °.

The data for film 24 in this image sequence is as follows (a = previous sequence, b = next sequence):

A. Image # 3a = from 180 ° to 270 °, with the center at 225 ° (i.e. -135 °, this is the last image of the previous sequence),

B. Image # 1 = from 0 ° to 90 °, with the center at 45 °,

C. Image # 2 = from 90 ° to 180 °, with the center at 135 ° (a black "image"), D. Image # 3 = from 180 ° to 270 °, with the center at 225 °,

E. Image # 4 = from 270 ° to 360 °, with the center at 315 ° (360 ° = 0 ° - a black "image") and

F. Image #lb = from 0 ° to 90 °, with the center at 45 ° (the first image of the next episode).

The following relationships between NTSC and film 24 - written as "film" in the following tables - can be derived from FIG. 6:

NTSC from film 24 (in degrees):

A. NTSC # 1 is 9 ° before film # 1, but 171 ° later than film # 3a,

B. NTSC # 2 is 117 ° before film # 3, but 63 ° later than film # 1,

C. NTSC # 3 is 45 ° before film # 3, but 135 ° later than film # 1,

D. NTSC # 4 is 153 ° before film #lb, but 27 ° later than film # 3, and

E. NTSC # 5 is 81 ° before film #lb, but 99 ° later than film # 3,

Film 24 from NTSC (in degrees): A. Film # 1 is 9 ° later than NTSC # 1, but 63 ° before NTSC # 2,

B. Film # 2 should be a black "picture".

C. Film # 3 is 45 ° later than NTSC # 3 but 27 ° before NTSC # 4,

D. Film # 2 should be a black "picture". (NTSC # 5 is not required.)

The conversion of the degree representation into percentages of the "earlier" or "later" provides the following values:

NTSC from film 24:

A. NTSC # 1 is 5% before film # 1, but 95% later than film # 3a,

B. NTSC # 2 is 65% before film # 3, but 35% later than film # 1,

C. NTSC # 3 is 25% before film # 3, but 75% later than film # 1,

D. NTSC # 4 is 85% before film #lb, but 15% later than film # 3, and

E. NTSC # 5 is 45% before film #lb, but 55% later than film # 3. Film 24 from NTSC:

A. Film # 1 is 12.5% later than NTSC # 1, but 87.5 ° ahead of NTSC # 2,

B. Film # 2 should be a black "picture".

C. Film # 3 is 62.5% later than NTSC # 3, but 37.5% ahead of NTSC # 4,

D. Film # 4 should be a black "picture". (NTSC # 5 is not required.)

On the basis of these percentages, the final value for each image in a sequence when the material is transferred between NTSC and film 24 is as follows:

NTSC from film 24:

A. NTSC # 1 is made up of 95% film # 1 and 5% film # 3a,

B. NTSC # 2 is made up of 35% film # 3 and 65% film # 1,

C. NTSC # 3 is made up of 75% film # 3 and 25% film # 1,

D. NTSC # 4 is made up of 15% film #lb and 85% film # 3, and E. NTSC # 5 is made up of 55% film #lb and 45% film # 3.

Film 24 from NTSC:

A. Film # 1 is made up of 87.5% NTSC # 1 and 12.5% NTSC # 2,

B. Film # 2 should be a black "picture".

C. Film # 3 is constructed from 37.5% NTSC # 3 and 62.5% NTSC # 4,

D. Film # 4 should be a black "picture". (NTSC # 5 is not required.)

The superimposed rotating wedge diagrams for the image transformation between film 60 and film 24 are shown in FIG. 7. The duration of the basic image sequence is 0.0833 seconds. There are 4 frames of film 24 (of which two are frames and two black "frames") and 10 frames of film 60 (of which five frames and five black "frames" are) within this time interval. The exception mentioned above must be applied here: A smaller basic picture sequence combination with 2 film-24 and 5 film-60 pictures could be set up. For Film-60, however, this would mean that two successive basic image sequences had different numbers of exposed images, which would result in different image assignments. For this reason, the number of images must be doubled for both systems. The data for film 60 in this image sequence is as follows:

A. Image # 1 = from 0 ° to 36 °, with the center at 18 °,

B. Image # 2 = from 36 ° to 72 °, with the center at 54 ° (black "image"),

C. Image # 3 = from 72 ° to 108 °, with the center at 90 °,

D. Image # 4 = from 108 ° to 144 °, with the center at 126 ° (black "image"),

E. Image # 5 = from 144 ° to 180 °, with the center at 162 °.

F. Image # 6 = from 180 ° to 216 °, with the center at 198 ° (black "image"),

G. Image # 7 = from 216 ° to 252 °, with the center at 234 °,

H. Image # 8 = from 252 ° to 288 °, with the center at 270 ° (black "image"),

I. Image # 9 = from 288 ° to 324 °, with the center at 306 °,

J. Image # 10 = from 324 ° to 360 °, with the center at 342 ° (360 ° = 0 ° - black "image").

The data for film 24 in this image sequence is as follows (a = previous sequence, b = next sequence): A. Picture # 3a = from 180 ° to 270 °, with the center at 225 ° (-135 ° - the last picture from the previous episode),

B. Image # 1 = from 0 ° to 90 °, with the center at 45 °,

C. Image # 2 = from 90 ° to 180 °, with the center at 135 ° (black "image"),

D. Image # 3 = from 180 ° to 270 °, with the center at 225 °,

E. Image # 4 = from 270 ° to 360 °, with the center at 315 ° (360 ° = 0 ° - black "image"), and

The following relationship between film 60 and film 24 can be seen from FIG. 7:

Film 60 from film 24 (in degrees):

A. Film 60 # 1 is 27 ° before film 24 # 1, but 153 ° later than film 24 # 3a,

B. Film 60 # 2 should be a black "picture"

C. Film 60 # 3 is 135 ° before film 24 # 3, but 45 ° later than film 24 # 1,

D. Film 60 # 4 should be a black "picture", E. Film 60 # 5 is 63 ° before film 24 # 3, but 117 ° later than film 24 # 1,

F. Film 60 # 6 should be a black "picture",

G. Film 60 # 7 is 171 ° before film 24 #lb, but 9 ° later than film 24 # 3,

H. Film 60 # 8 should be a black "picture",

I. Film 60 # 9 is 99 ° before film 24 #lb, but 81 ° later than film 24 # 3,

H. Film 60 # 10 should be a black "picture",

A. Film 24 # 1 is 27 ° later than film 60 # 1, but 45 ° before film 60 # 3,

B. Film 24 # 2 should be a black "picture"

C. Film 24 # 3 is 63 ° as film 60 # 5, but 9 ° before film 60 # 7, and

D. Film 24 # 4 should be a black "picture" (film 60 # 9 is not required).

The conversion of these degrees into percentages gives the following results:

Film 60 from film 24: A. Film 60 # 1 is 15% before film 24 # 1, but 85% later than film 24 # 3a,

B. Film 60 # 2 should be a black "picture"

C. Film 60 # 3 is 75% before film 24 # 3, but 25% later than film 24 # 1,

D. Film 60 # 4 should be a black "picture",

E. Film 60 # 5 is 35% before film 24 # 3, but 65% later than film 24 # 1,

F. Film 60 # 6 should be a black "picture",

G. Film 60 # 7 is 95% before film 24 #lb, but 5% later than film 24 # 3,

H. Film 60 # 8 should be a black "picture",

I. Film 60 # 9 is 55% before film 24 #lb, but 45% later than film 24 # 3, and

J. Film 60 # 10 should be a black "picture".

Film 24 from film 60:

A. Film 24 # 1 is 37.5% later than film 60 # 1, but 62.5% before film 60 # 3,

B. Film 24 # 2 should be a black "picture" C. Film 24 # 3 is 87.5% later than film 60 # 5, but 12.5% before film 60 # 7, and

D. Film 24 # 4 should be a black "picture" (film 60 # 9 is not required).

The final percentages of the weighting factors for each image in the sequence for transformation between film 60 and film 24 are as follows:

Film 60 from film 24 (in percent):

A. Film 60 # 1 is made up of 85% film 24 # 1 and 15% film 24 # 3a,

B. Film 60 # 2 is a black "picture",

C. Film 60 # 3 is made up of 25% film 24 # 3 and 75% film 24 # 1,

D. Film 60 # 4 is a black "picture",

E. Film 60 # 5 is made up of 65% film 24 # 3 and 35% film 24 # 1,

F. Film 60 # 6 is a black "picture",

G. Film 60 # 7 is made up of 5% film 24 #lb and 95% film 24 # 3,

H. Film 60 # 8 is a black "picture", Film 60 # 9 is made up of 45% film 24 #lb and 55% film 24 # 3, and

J. Film 60 # 10 is a black "picture".

Film 24 from film 60 (in percent):

A. Film 24 # 1 is made up of 62.5% film 60 # 1 and 37.5% film 60 # 3,

B. Film 24 # 2 is a black "picture",

C. Film 24 # 3 is made up of 12.5% film 60 # 5 and 87.5% film 60 # 7 and

D. Film 24 # 4 is a black "picture" (film 60 # 9 is not required).

FIG. 8 shows the superimposed rotating wedge diagram for transforming the image sequences between film 16 and film 60. With this transformation, the duration of the sequences is 0.25 seconds. There are 8 pictures from film 16 (including 4 pictures with picture content and 4 black "pictures") and 30 pictures from film 60 (including 15 pictures with picture content and 15 black "pictures"). The regulation also applies here that the number of images of both base image sequences must be doubled in order to obtain a constant number of actually exposed frames.

The resulting percentage values for each image in the image sequence for the transformation between film 60 and film 16 result from the following: Film 60 from film 16 (in percent):

A. Film 60 # 1 is made up of 81.7% film 16 # 1 and 18.3% film 16 # 7a,

B. Film 60 # 2 is a black "picture",

C. Film 60 # 3 is made up of 8.3% film 16 # 3 and 91.7% film 16 # 1,

D. Film 60 # 4 is a black "picture",

E. Film 60 # 5 is made up of 35% film 16 # 3 and 65% film 16 # 1,

F. Film 60 # 6 is a black "picture",

G. Film 60 # 7 is made up of 61.7% film 16 # 3 and 38.3% film 16 # 1,

H. Film 60 # 8 is a black "picture",

I. Film 60 # 9 is made up of 88.3% film 16 # 3 and 11.7% film 16 # 1,

J. Film 60 # 10 is a black "picture",

K. Film 60 # 11 is made up of 15% film 16 # 5 and out

85% film 16 # 3,

L. Film 60 # 12 is a black "picture", M. Film 60 # 13 is made up of 41.7% film 16 # 5 and 58.3% film 16 # 3,

N. Film 60 # 14 is a black "picture",

0. Film 60 # 15 is made up of 68.3% film 16 # 5 and 31.7% film 16 # 3,

P. Film 60 # 16 is a black "picture",

Q. Film 60 # 17 is made up of 95% film 16 # 5 and 5% film 16 # 3,

R. Film 60 # 18 is a black "picture",

S. Film 60 # 19 is made up of 21.7% film 16 # 7 and 78.3% film 16 # 5,

T. Film 60 # 20 is a black "picture",

U. Film 60 # 21 is made up of 48.3% film 16 # 7 and 51.7% film 16 # 5,

V. Film 60 # 22 is a black "picture",

W. Film 60 # 23 is made up of 75% film 16 # 7 and 25% film 16 # 5,

X. Film 60 # 24 is a black "picture"

Y. Film 60 # 25 is made up of 1.7% film 16 #lb and 98.3% film 16 # 7, Z. Film 60 # 26 is a black "picture",

AA. Film 60 # 27 is made up of 28.3% film 16 #lb and 71.7% film 16 # 7,

BB. Film 60 # 28 is a black "picture",

CC. Film 60 # 29 is made up of 55% film 16 #lb and 45% film 16 # 7, and

DD. Film 60 # 30 is a black "picture".

Film 16 from film 60 (in percent):

A. Film 16 # 1 is made up of 31.25% film 60 # 1 and 68.75% film 60 # 3,

B. Film 16 # 2 is a black "picture" (Film 60 # 5 and Film 60 # 7 are not required),

C. Film 16 # 3 is made up of 56.25% film 60 # 9 and 43.75% film 60 # 11,

D. Film 16 # 4 is a black "picture" (Film 60 # 13 and Film 60 # 15 are not required),

E. Film 16 # 5 is made up of 81.25% film 60 # 17 and 18.75% film 60 # 19,

F. Film 16 # 6 is a black "picture" (Film 60 # 21 is not required), G. Film 16 # 7 is made up of 6.25% film 60 # 23 and 93.75% film 60 # 25, and

H. Film 16 # 8 is a black "picture" (Film 60 # 27 and Film 60 # 29 are not required).

From Fig. 8 it can be seen that some frames of the film 16 base sequence on the time scale (the "dial") are overlapped by three frames of the film 60 base sequence, for example film 16 # 7 from film 60 # 23 , # 25 and # 27.

Here - and in similar cases, such as in the case of the transformation NTSC in film 16 or PAL in film 16 - it is also within the scope of the invention to have more than two temporally adjacent images of the original image sequence for the synthesis of an image of the to use a new image sequence, the weighting factors also being dependent on the distance between the image interval centers of the images used and the center of the image to be generated. A corresponding device (cf. the description of FIGS. 16 and 17 below) is then designed in such a way that the image contents of three or more original images can be mixed to form a new image.

FIG. 9 shows the rotating wedge diagram for the image transformation between film 60 ("showscan") and the PAL system. The duration of the sequence shown in Figure 12 is 0.1 seconds. This corresponds to 5 PAL pictures and 12 films 60 pictures (including 6 pictures with picture content and 6 black "pictures") in the sequence. Here, too, the data of the time intervals and their centers that form the starting point for the calculation of the image-specific weighting factors and their centers can be obtained immediately from the respective number of images per sequence and the relationships are illustrated in the figure. This in turn also results in the temporal relationships between the images of the source and target image sequences according to the method generally described above and explained using the examples PAL-NTSC, NTSC-PAL and other methods.

The following values then result as valid values of the weighting factors for the structure of the individual images of the image sequences during the transformation between PAL and film 60:

Film 60 from PAL:

A. Film 60 # 1 is made up of 70.8% PAL # 1 and 29.2% PAL # 5a,

B. Film 60 # 2 is a black "picture",

C. Film 60 # 3 is made up of 54.2% PAL # 2 and 45.8% PAL # 1,

D. Film 60 # 4 is a black "picture",

E. Film 60 # 5 is made up of 37.5% PAL # 3 and 62.5% PAL # 2,

F. Film 60 # 6 is a black "picture", G. Film 60 # 7 is made up of 20.8% PAL # 4 and 79.2% PAL # 3,

H. Film 60 # 8 is a black "picture",

I. Film 60 # 9 is made up of 4.2% PAL # 5 and 95.8% PAL # 4,

J. Film 60 # 10 is a black "picture",

K. Film 60 # 11 is made up of 87.5% PAL # 5 and 12.5% PAL # 4, and

L. Film 60 # 12 is a black "picture".

PAL from film 60:

A. PAL # 1 is made up of 65% film 60 # 1 and 35% film 60 # 3,

B. PAL # 2 is made up of 45% film 60 # 3 and 55% film 60 # 5,

C. PAL # 3 is made up of 25% film 60 # 5 and 75% film 60 # 7,

D. PAL # 4 is made up of 5% film 60 # 7 and 95% film 60 # 9, and

E. PAL # 5 is made up of 85% film 60 # 11 and 15% film 60 #lb. FIG. 10 is the rotating wedge diagram for the image transformation between the film 24 and the film 16 system. The duration of the basic image sequence is 0.125 seconds. 6 pictures from film 24 (including 3 pictures with picture content and 3 black "pictures") and 4 pictures from film 16 (including 2 pictures with picture content and 2 black "pictures") lie within this basic picture sequence.

The time intervals relevant for the transformation and their centers result again from the number of images per image sequence and can generally be read from FIG. 10. This results in the following rules for the structure of the individual images of the respective image sequences during the transformation between film 24 and film 16:

Film 24 from film 16:

A. Film 24 # 1 is made up of 91.7% film 16 # 1 and 8.3% film 16 # 3a,

B. Film 24 # 2 is a black "picture",

C. Film 24 # 3 is made up of 58.3% film 16 # 3 and 41.7% film 16 # 1,

D. Film 24 # 4 is a black "picture",

E. Film 24 # 5 is made up of 25% film 16 #lb and 75% film 16 # 3, and

F. Film 24 # 6 is a black "picture". Film 16 from film 24:

A. Film 16 # 1 is made up of 87.5% film 24 # 1 and 12.5% film 24 # 3,

B. Film 16 # 2 is a black "picture",

C. Film 16 # 3 is made up of 37.5% film 24 # 3 and 62.5% film 24 # 5, and

D. Film 16 # 4 is a black "picture".

FIG. 11 shows the "rotating wedge diagram" for the transformation between the NTSC and the film 16 image change system. The duration of a sequence here is 0.25 seconds. Within the sequence there are 15 NTSC pictures and 8 film 16 pictures (under the influence of 4 pictures with picture content and 4 black "pictures"). The image intervals on the time axis (here circular as in all rotating wedge diagrams), the position of their centers and the temporal relationships between them again result directly from the number of images per image sequence and can be seen in the figure.

According to the above-mentioned regulation and analogous to the examples discussed in detail, this results in the regulations for the structure of the individual images of the image sequences for the transformation between NTSC and film 16 as follows:

NTSC from film 16 A. NTSC # 1 is made up of 88.3% film 16 # 1 and 11.7% film 16 # 7a,

B. NTSC # 2 is made up of 15% film 16 # 3 and 85% film 16 # 1,

C. NTSC # 3 is made up of 41.7% film 16 # 3 and 58.3% film 16 # 1,

D. NTSC # 4 is made up of 68.3% film 16 # 3 and 31.7% film 16 # 1,

E. NTSC # 5 is made up of 95% film 16 # 3 and 5% film 16 # 1,

F. NTSC # 6 is made up of 21.7% film 16 # 5 and 78.3% film 16 # 3,

G. NTSC # 7 is made up of 48.3% film 16 # 5 and 51.7% film 16 # 3,

H. NTSC # 8 is made up of 75% film 16 # 5 and 25% film 16 # 3,

I. NTSC # 9 is made up of 1.7% film 16 # 7 and 98.3% film 16 # 5,

J. NTSC # 10 is made up of 28.3% film 16 # 7 and 71.7% film 16 # 5,

K. NTSC # 11 is made up of 55% film 16 # 7 and 45% film 16 # 5, L. NTSC # 12 is made up of 81.7% film 16 # 7 and 18.3% film 16 # 5,

M. NTSC # 13 is made up of 8.3% film 16 #lb and 91.7% film 16 # 7,

N. NTSC # 14 is constructed from 35% film 16 lb and 65% film 16 # 7, and

0. NTSC # 15 is constructed from 61.7% film 16 #lb and 38.3% film 16 # 7.

Film 16 from NTSC:

A. Film 16 # 1 is made up of 56.25% NTSC # 1 and 43.75% NTSC # 2,

B. Film 16 # 2 is a black "picture" (NTSC # 3 and NTSC # 4 are not required),

C. Film 16 # 3 is made up of 81.25% NTSC # 5 and 18.75% NTSC # 6,

D. Film 16 # 4 is a black "picture" (NTSC # 7 is not required),

E. Film 16 # 5 is made up of 6.25% NTSC # 8 and 93.75% NTSC # 9,

F. Film 16 # 6 is a black "picture" (NTSC # 10 and NTSC # 11 are not required), G. Film 16 # 7 is made up of 31.25% NTSC # 12 and 68.75% NTSC # 13, and

H. Film 16 # 8 is a black "picture" (NTSC # 14 and NTSC # 15 are not required).

The rotating wedge diagram for the transformation between PAL and film 16 is shown in FIG. The duration of the picture sequence is 0.5 seconds. Within this episode there are 25 PAL pictures and 16 film 16 pictures (of which 8 are pictures with picture content and 8 are black "pictures").

The data relating to the image intervals and their centers as well as the temporal relationships between them in the image sequences in both systems result in the manner explained further above from the number of images per sequence (a full sequence always corresponding to 360 ° in the selected representation) and can be seen from the figure.

The following regulations then result as the educational regulation for the individual pictures of the respective basic picture sequence for the transformation between PAL and film 16:

PAL from film 16

A. PAL # 1 is made up of 91% film 16 # 1 and 9% film 16 # 15a.

B. PAL # 2 is made up of 23% film 16 # 3 and 77% film 16 # 1, C. PAL # 3 is made up of 55% film 16 # 3 and 45% film 16 # 1,

D. PAL # 4 is constructed from 87% film 16 # 3 from 13% film 16 # 1,

E. PAL # 5 is made up of 19% film 16 # 5 and 81% film 16 # 3,

F. PAL # 6 is made up of 51% film 16 # 5 and 49%

Film 16 # 3,

G. PAL # 7 is made up of 83% film 16 # 5 and 17%

Film 16 # 3,

H. PAL # 8 is made up of 15% film 16 # 7 and 85%

Film 16 # 5,

I. PAL # 9 is made up of 47% film 16 # 7 and 53% film 16 # 5,

J. PAL # 10 is made up of 79% film 16 # 7 and 21% film 16 # 5,

K. PAL # 11 is made up of 11% film 16 # 9 and 89% film 16 # 7,

L. PAL # 12 is made up of 43% film 16 # 9 and 57%

Film 16 # 7,

M. PAL # 13 is made up of 75% film 16 # 9 and 25%

Film 16 # 7, N. PAL # 14 is made up of 7% film 16 # 11 and 93% film 16 # 9,

0. PAL # 15 is made up of 39% film 16 # 11 and 61% film 16 # 9,

P. PAL # 16 is made up of 71% film 16 # 11 and 29% film 16 # 9,

Q. PAL # 17 is made up of 3% film 16 # 13 and 97% film 16 # 11,

R. PAL # 18 is made up of 35% film 16 # 13 and out

65% film 16 # 11,

S. PAL # 19 is constructed from 67% film 16 # 13 and from

33% film 16 # 11,

T. PAL # 20 is made up of 99% film 16 # 13 and 1% film 16 # 11,

U. PAL # 21 is made up of 31% film 16 # 15 and 69% film 16 # 13,

V. PAL # 22 is made up of 63% film 16 # 15 and 37% film 16 # 13,

W. PAL # 23 is made up of 95% film 16 # 15 and 5%

Film 16 # 13,

X. PAL # 24 is made up of 27% film 16 #lb and

73% film 16 # 15, and Y. PAL # 25 is made up of 59% film 16 #lb and 41% film 16 # 15.

Film 16 from PAL:

A. Film 16 # 1 is made up of 71.9% PAL # 1 and 28.1% PAL # 2,

B. Film 16 # 2 is a black "picture" (PAL # 3 is not required),

C. Film 16 # 3 is made up of 59.4% PAL # 4 and 40.6% PAL # 5,

D. Film 16 # 4 is a black "picture" (PAL # 6 is not required)

E. Film 16 # 5 is made up of 46.9% PAL # 7 and 53.1% PAL # 8,

F. Film 16 # 6 is a black "picture" (PAL # 9 is not required),

G. Film 16 # 7 is made up of 34.4% PAL # 10 and 65.6% PAL # 11,

H. Film 16 # 8 is a black "picture" (PAL # 12 is not required)

I. Film 16 # 9 is made up of 21.9% PAL # 13 and out

78.1% PAL # 14, J. Film 16 # 10 is a black "picture" (PAL # 15 is not required)

K. Film 16 # 11 is made up of 9.4% PAL # 16 and 90.6% PAL # 17,

L. Film 16 # 12 is a black "picture" (PAL # 18 and PAL # 19 are not required),

M. Film 16 # 13 is made up of 96.9% PAL # 20 and 3.1% PAL # 21,

N. Film 16 # 14 is a black "picture" (PAL # 22 is not required),

0. Film 16 # 15 is made up of 84.4% PAL # 23 and out

15.6% PAL # 24, and

P. Film 16 # 16 is a black "picture" (PAL # 25 is not required).

FIG. 13 shows the rotating wedge diagram for the conversion between the PAL and the film 24 image change system. The duration of the basic image sequence here is 0.5 s. In the episode there are 25 PAL pictures and 24 film 24 pictures (of which 12 pictures with picture content and 12 black "pictures").

The time intervals and associated center points again result from the division of the image sequences into the specified number of images, and from this it can be in accordance with the pictorial representation in FIG. 13 - also determine the temporal relationships of the individual images of an image sequence to be generated to the temporally adjacent or overlapping images of the output image sequence.

The regulations for the structure of the respective basic picture sequences in the transformation between PAL and film 24 result from the following:

PAL from film 24 (in percent):

A. PAL # 1 is made up of 99% film 24 # 1 and 1% film 24 # 23a,

B. PAL # 2 is made up of 47% film 24 # 3 and 53% film 24 # 1,

C. PAL # 3 is made up of 95% film 24 # 3 and 5% film 24 # 1,

D. PAL # 4 is made up of 43% film 24 # 5 and 57% film 24 # 3,

E. PAL # 5 is made up of 91% film 24 # 5 and 9% film 24 # 3,

F. PAL # 6 is made up of 39% film 24 # 7 and 61% film 24 # 5,

G. PAL # 7 is made up of 87% film 24 # 7 and 13% film 24 # 5, H. PAL # 8 is made up of 35% film 24 # 9 and 65% film 24 # 7,

I. PAL # 9 is made up of 83% from film 24 # 9 and 17% film 24 # 7,

J. PAL # 10 is made up of 31% film 24 # 11 and 69% film 24 # 9,

K. PAL # 11 is made up of 79% film 24 # 11 and 21% film 24 # 9,

L. PAL # 12 is made up of 27% film 24 # 13 and out

73% film 24 # 11,

M. PAL # 13 is made up of 75% film 24 # 13 and out

25% film 24 # 11,

N. PAL # 14 is made up of 23% film 24 # 15 and 77% film 24 # 13,

0. PAL # 15 is made up of 71% film 24 # 15 and 29% film 24 # 13,

P. PAL # 16 is made up of 19% film 24 # 17 and 81% film 24 # 15,

Q. PAL # 17 is made up of 67% film 24 # 17 and out

33% film 24 # 15,

R. PAL # 18 is made up of 15% film 24 # 19 and out

85% film 24 # 17, S. PAL 19 is made up of 63% film 24 # 19 and 37% film 24 # 17,

T. PAL # 20 is made up of 11% film 24 # 21 and 89% film 24 # 19,

U. PAL # 21 is made up of 59% film 24 # 21 and 41% film 24 # 19,

V. PAL # 22 is made up of 7% film 24 # 23 and 93% film 24 # 21,

W. PAL # 23 is made up of 55% film 24 # 23 and 45% film 24 # 21,

X. PAL # 24 is made up of 3% film 24 #lb and 97% film 24 # 23, and

Y. PAL # 25 is made up of 51% film 24 #lb and 49% film 24 # 23.

Film 24 from PAL (in percent):

A. Film 24 # 1 is made up of 97.9% PAL # 1 and 2.1% PAL # 2,

B. Film 24 # 2 is a black "picture",

C. Film 24 # 3 is made up of 89.6% PAL # 3 and 10.4% PAL # 4, D. Film 24 # 4 is a black "picture",

E. Film 24 # 5 is made up of 81.2% PAL # 5 and 18.8% PAL # 6,

F. Film 24 # 6 is a black "picture",

G. Film 24 # 7 is made up of 72.9% PAL # 7 and 27.1% PAL # 8,

H. Film 24. # 8 is a black "picture",

I. Film 24 # 9 is made up of 64.6% PAL # 9 and 35.4% PAL # 10,

J. Film 24 # 10 is a black "picture",

K. Film 24 # 11 is made up of 56.2% PAL # 11 and 43.8% PAL # 12,

L. Film 24 # 12 is a black "picture",

M. Film 24 # 13 is made up of 47.9% PAL # 13 and 52.1% PAL # 14,

N. Film 24 # 14 is a black "picture",

0. Film 24 # 15 is made up of 39.6% PAL # 15 and 60.4% PAL # 16,

P. Film 24 # 16 is a black "picture", Q. Film 24 # 17 is made up of 31.3% PAL # 17 and 68.7% PAL # 18,

R. Film 24 # 18 is a black "picture",

S. Film 24 # 19 is made up of 22.9% PAL # 19 and 77.1% PAL # 20,

T. Film 24 # 20 is a black "picture",

U. Film 24 # 21 is made up of 14.6% PAL # 21 and 85.4% PAL # 22,

v. Film 24 # 22 is a black "picture",

W. Film 24 # 23 is made up of 6.3% PAL # 23 and 93.7% PAL # 24, and

X. Film 24 # 24 is a black "picture" (PAL # 25 is not required).

Fig. 14 shows the combined "rotating wedge" diagram for the transfer between the NTSC and the film 60 image change system. The basic picture sequences comprise 1 picture (field) for NTSC and 2 pictures (frames) for film 60, the latter basic picture sequence alternating between an actually exposed and a "black" picture. The size of the image intervals, the position of the centers and the temporal relationships between the images of the two basic image sequences result directly from the combination of the number of images of the basic image sequences and can be easily recognized in FIG. 14. This results in the regulations for the structure of the individual images of the target sequence in question from the relevant source sequence as follows:

NTSC from film-60:

NTSC # 1 is made up of 75.0% Film-60 # 1 and 25% Film-60 #lb.

Film-60 from NTSC:

A. Film-60 # 1 is made up of 75% NTSC # 1 and 25%

B. NTSC #la, Film-60 # 2 becomes a black picture.

Since the two basic image sequences in the combined "rotating wedge" diagrams previously used for the calculations were started synchronously, a special case of their relative assignment was assumed, which should however be aimed at, since only it ensures the synchronicity of the film start before and after the transfer guaranteed. However, it should also be possible to assume a slightly changed mutual assignment of the basic image sequences in order, for example, B. to achieve a different kind of optimization for a certain transfer constellation. The resulting offset of the two basic image sequences in turn results in new image centers and thus also changed weighting factors (the assignment between the first image of a target basic image sequence and the temporally corresponding images of the initial image sequence - determined on the basis of the synchronously started image sequences - on the other hand must not be changed) The formula given above for calculating the weighting factors can be used unchanged if the image centers flowing into this formula are determined using a combined "rotating wedge" diagram, that takes into account the offset between the two basic image sequences. Such a diagram for the transfer NTSC-PAL is shown in FIG.

Alternatively, the image centers determined above can be retained and the weighting factors can be calculated using a formula that takes the offset into account. It is:

'D ^ l - | tj - (t _± + d) | / (t _{j + 1} - tj)

'j + l, S = 1 - tj + i - (ti + d ⁾ | (t _{1 + l} - t,)

where d = offset

The offset d is defined as the displacement of the starting point of the basic image sequence of the target system compared to that of the starting system. A positive sign describes a clockwise offset. In Fig. 15 the offset of the PAL basic picture sequence compared to the NTSC basic picture sequence is + 24 °. Such an offset must not lead to the assignment to the images of the output image sequence itself changing for the first image of the basic image sequence to be generated. The displacement of the image center of the first image of the target system can therefore only take place within the range defined by the image centers of the two temporally corresponding images of the output system. In the transfer constellation shown in Fig. 15, the offset is thus limited to the range from -6 ° to + 54 °.

The images in the original image system are each transferred to the new image system in the proportions specified above for the individual schemes. The transfer between the image systems can comprise two steps: the preparation of the image to be transferred and the actual image transfer.

The preparation of the material to be transferred is a reconstruction of missing visual information in the material. With the "interlaced" video image, because each video image contains an "interlaced" (nested) image, it is necessary to reconstruct the missing part in the black lines before the transformation. For this purpose, there are known methods of reconstructing the missing image, which are used when a freeze frame is obtained from a video image sequence (in this application, a video field is also referred to as a video image).

There are at least two transfer methods for the image transfer step: one method is the double exposure method. When transforming from one imaging system to another imaging system, two successive images of the original imaging system can be made using an optical printer using different exposures (Exposure time or density - according to the weighting factors or proportions given above) are exposed on an image area of the new image system.

When transferring from a video image system to another video image system, two successive reconstructed video images from the output video image system are electronically converted into an image of the new video image system with different signal levels (corresponding to the calculations or proportions described above) mixed.

16 shows a transformation device 100 operating on a digital basis for producing a second image sequence T on a second recording medium M _τ with a second frame rate f _τ from a first image sequence S recorded on a first recording medium M _s the first frame rate f _{s is shown} schematically as a block diagram of function modules.

The starting point is a video recording S generated on an videotape using an NTSC video camera 101 with a frame rate of nominally 30 (real 60) frames per second. This is transferred to the transformation device 100.

This includes a playback device (a first video recorder) 102 also operating according to the NTSC standard, with a control module 102a, a central timer 103, the output of which has control inputs of the other modules (with the exception of 108 and 109 and the video camera 101) and the playback device 112, which do not belong to the device 100), a central processing unit (microcontroller) 104, a first serial frame memory 105 connected on the input side to the data output of the video recorder 102 and a second one on the input side serial frame memory 106 connected to the data output of the first memory 105. Furthermore, it comprises a digital mixing device 107, known as such, with two separately controllable channels 107a, 107b, connected to the data outputs of the memories 105 and 106 and to an output of the processing unit 104 third serial full-frame memory 110 connected on the input side to the data output of the mixing device 107, an input keyboard 108 connected to an input of the processing unit 104 and a monitor 109 connected to an output of the calculation unit 104 as well as a recording device operating according to the PAL standard (a second video rec order) lll with a control module purple.

A video tape M _τ recorded in this video recorder 111 in PAL standard with a nominal 25 (real 50) frames per second with a target image sequence T is finally available - after output from the transformation device 100 - for playback of the recording via a PAL playback device 112 .

Before the start of a transformation procedure, the video tape M _{s is} inserted into the video recorder 102, and the input unit 108 programs the calculation unit 104 for the transformation process in accordance with the conversion scheme NTSC-PAL described in detail above made and, if necessary, control data (offset or the like) entered. Then the timer 103 and (synchronized via this) the video recorders 102 for playback and 111 for recording are started.

The playback operation of the video recorder 102 - in an operating mode which allows single image processing with the calculation unit 104 and the image memories 105, 106, 110 - is controlled by the processing unit 104 (in cooperation with the external timer 103). From the video recorder 102 - also clocked by the processing unit 104 - a (j-th) image is transferred to the first frame memory 105. As soon as the next required ([j + l] th) image of the source image sequence appears on the video recorder 102, this is reloaded into the second frame memory 106, and at the same time the (j + l) th image is stored in the memory 105 . Two images of the source video recording S required for the synthesis of the i-th target image are thus available at any time in a form suitably stored for digital processing.

After both memories 105 and 106 have been loaded, the processing unit 104 determines, based on a clock signal from the timer 103, based on the value of j and the program data of the transformation program for the synthesis of the i-th image stored in table form in the memory 104a PAL standard sets the weighting coefficients C- < _s and C _{j + 1 s} for the j-th and (j + l) -th picture in the NTSC standard and adjusts the signal levels of channels 107a and 107b accordingly. The contents of the memories 105 and 106 are then because weighted with the set level, added 107 pixel by pixel in the mixing device and the result stored in the third frame memory 110. From there, the i-th image of the PAL image sequence synthesized in this way is recorded by the second video recorder 111 in response to a clock signal from the timer 103.

The synthesized images can be observed on the monitor 109, and the transformation can be influenced manually via the keyboard 108 if this appears to be necessary.

The procedure described is repeated until the entire image sequence (a "film") present in the NTSC standard has been re-recorded in the PAL standard. The transformation in the opposite direction PAL-NTSC proceeds analogously, likewise - taking into account the special transformation variables to be determined in the program - the transformation from or into a computer graphics mode.

FIG. 17 shows a transformation device 200 which partly uses conventional photo-technical methods for producing a second image sequence T 'on a second recording medium F _τ . with a second frame rate f _τ . and a second corresponding image interval IIII from a first image sequence S 'recorded on a first recording medium F _s ι with a first frame rate fg. and a first corresponding image interval l _s . shown schematically as a block diagram of function modules. The starting point is, for example, an archive film recording S 'generated by means of a film 16 camera 201 with a frame rate of 16 frames per second on cinema film F _s '. This is transferred to the transformation device 200.

Similar to the device 100 according to the embodiment described above, this comprises a timer 202, a central processing unit (microcontroller) 203, a transformation table memory 203a, an input keyboard 204 connected to an input of the processing unit 203 and one with an output of the processing unit Unit 203 connected monitor 205, via which the transformation process can be controlled and tracked. The device 200 also has a photo-technical mixed-copy or double exposure device 206, which is known as such and has two separately time-controllable exposure devices 206a, 206b, a transport device 206c for the original film, which is connected via two control inputs to an output of the calculation unit 203 F _p . and a transport device 206d for the copy film F _τ . on.

A film F _τ 'exposed in the mixed copying device, for example in film 24 standard with 24 frames per second with a target picture sequence T', is finally - after output from the transformation device 200 - available for reproduction via a film 24 projector 207.

Before the start of a transformation procedure, the original film F _s ' is inserted into the mixed copying device 206 and the input unit 204 programs the processing unit 203 for the transformation process (corresponding to the conversion scheme Film-16-Film-24 described in detail above). The timer and (synchronized via this) the transport devices 206c and 206d for the original film or the film to be exposed in accordance with the Film-24 standard are then started.

The film feed of the two films is controlled in such a way that photo-technical single image processing in the mixing copier device 206 is possible in such a way that two adjacent images B -, - _S ι and BJ ₊₁ g. of the original film F _s ' on a picture B _j _ _τ . of the film to be exposed. The mixed copier is constructed in such a way that one of two successive images of the original film is in an exposure device 206a or 206b at any time. It is assigned a two-channel exposure time control 206e, which is connected to the output of the processing unit 203.

The processing unit 203 calls for a clock signal from the timer 202, starting from the value for j and the stored value, determined by an internal image counter (not shown in the figure) or transmitted by a counter on the transport device 206c or 206d ¬ saved program data of the transformation program for the synthesis of the i-th picture in film 24 standard the intensity weighting coefficients Cπ _s stored in the memory 203a. and C-: _{+1 s} , for the jth and (j + l) th images in Film 16 standard and determines the exposure times of the exposure devices 206a, 206b accordingly. Thereupon, exposure of the ith image of the target sequence T 'takes place via the exposure time control 206e and the exposure devices 206a, 206b, and the films are transported further.

The procedure described is repeated until the entire image sequence present in Film 16 standard has been re-recorded in Film 24 standard. The transformation in the opposite direction proceeds analogously, likewise - taking into account the special transformation variables to be determined in the program - the transformation of material present as a cinema film and to be produced as such from or into the ShowScan standard.

In the device described, a video recording device for recording the synthesized images and their reproduction via the monitor 205 and a control with an operating keyboard for optionally manually influencing the mixing process can additionally be provided.

An intensity-controlled device, in which the weighting factors are implemented by light attenuation corresponding to their numerical value, can also be provided as the exposure device.

For both devices according to FIG. 16 and FIG. 17, the processing unit with associated periphery, possibly including the timer, can be a microprocessor-controlled assembly, such as a personal computer. The processing and / or the production of image sequences present on photo material (including the transfers video-film, film-video and film-film including) is also possible digitally with a device similar to that shown in FIG. 17. For this purpose, this device is possibly on the input side around an A / D image converter (for example a film projector and a video camera or a CCD array with an image recording surface for recording the projected images in the projection area) and / or on the output side around a film recording device To add a film recording of the synthesized image sequence, for example from a monitor (with the highest possible resolution). For applications that include a D / A conversion, the use of a digitally controlled laser or holographic exposure apparatus or an optical printer (also known as such) or an optical printer can be expedient.

* * * * *

Claims

Expectations

1. Method for producing a second image sequence (target image sequence) with a second image change frequency and a second corresponding image interval from a, in particular for generating the visual impression of an event having a temporal dimension for an observer first image sequence (source image sequence) with a first image change frequency and a first corresponding image interval, in which at least some of the images of the target image sequence by additive superimposition of at least two temporally adjacent images of the images evaluated with an intensity weighting factor Source image sequence is obtained

d a d u r c h g e k e n n z e i c h n e t that

all images of the target image sequence are obtained by superimposing at least two images of the source image sequence, which are evaluated with individually calculated intensity weighting factors.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the position of an image over time is represented by the position of a characteristic point of the time interval in which the image occurs during transmission or reproduction with a transmission or reproduction standard assigned to the respective image sequence.

3. The method of claim 2, d a d u r c h g e k e n n z e i c h n e t that the characteristic point is the center of the time interval.

4. The method of claim 2 or 3, d a d u r c h g e k e n n z e i c h n e t that

a common starting time and time sequence for the source and the target image sequence to be produced is determined by a timer,

the position of each image of the source as well as that of each image of the target image sequence to be produced is determined over time,

For each image of the target image sequence to be produced, its position over time, in particular two next neighboring images of the source image sequence, are determined.

the time interval or offset of the time intervals of the next adjacent images of the source image sequence to the time interval of the image of the target image sequence to be produced is determined based on their characteristic points,

for each of the next adjacent images of the source image sequence, an image-specific, standardized intensity weighting factor is determined, which depends on the time interval or offset of its time interval from the time interval of the image of the target image sequence to be produced, and the image of the target image sequence to be produced is formed by additively superimposing the next adjacent images of the source image sequence multiplied by the respective intensity weighting factor.

5. The method as claimed in one of the preceding claims, that the source image sequence is stored on a recording medium and / or the target image sequence is stored on a recording medium.

6. The method as claimed in one of the preceding claims, that the additive superimposition is carried out by pixel-by-pixel addition of the images present in digital form, the levels of the signals to be added being set in accordance with the respective intensity weighting factor.

7. The method according to claim 5 and 6, ie, that images in an analog form, in particular as a recording produced by photochemical means, are subjected to digitization before the additive superimposition.

8. The method according to any one of claims l to 5, d a - d u r c h g e k e n n z e i c h n e t that the additives

Superimposition by multiple exposure of an image area nes recording medium with the next adjacent images of the source image sequence takes place, the exposure intensity and / or time being adjusted according to the intensity weighting factors.

9. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 8, a ¬ characterized in that in the case of a synthesis of a new i-th image F ^ _ _τ (t ^) for a time interval with the characteristic point t ^ of the target image sequence T. two images F- _j g (t- _j ) and F- _{j + 1} s ^ i + _l ) of ^the source image sequence S that are adjacent to this time and have the characteristic times t .: and t- _{j + 1} this picture according to the relationship

results in which i and j are integers and C- _js , - _{j + 1 ^ s are} the intensity weighting _coefficients for the jth or (j + l) th source image and can be calculated as standardized weighting factors with

^c j, S = * ~ - ^t _± - tj /) / {t ₊₁ - j),

10. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the second image sequence is formed from a sequence of base sequences of the same length, each produced in the same way, the duration of which is determined in such a way that it comprises the smallest possible integer number of images of both the first and the second image sequence, and that the image-specific weighting factors for producing each image of the second basic sequence are based on the first and second frame rate or the first and second picture intervals, taking into account the presence of "black" picture intervals and / or interlaced pictures in the first and / or second picture sequence.

11. Device for producing, in particular for generating the visual impression of an event having a temporal dimension for an observer, the second image sequence (target image sequence) with a second image refresh rate and a second corresponding image interval from a first image sequence (Source image sequence) with a first image change frequency and a first corresponding image interval, in which at least some of the images of the second image sequence are obtained by additively superimposing at least two images of the first image sequence, each of which is weighted with an intensity weighting factor

a transmission or playback device for the transmission or playback of the source image sequence with the first image change frequency or the first image intervals,

a blending device for selectively superimposing images of the source image sequence onto a blended image as an image of the target image sequence, a recording or transmission device for recording or transmission of the target picture sequence as a result of pictures reproduced via the mixing device at the second frame rate or the second picture intervals and

a timer and synchronization device for synchronous control of the transmission or playback, mixing and recording or transmission device

d a d u r c h g e k e n n z e i c h n e t that

a calculation unit connected to the timer and synchronization device for calculating image-specific intensity weighting factors for superimposing the images of the source image sequence on the basis of signals from the timer and synchronization device is provided and

the mixing device is provided with control means for the image-specific setting of the weighting factors in each mixing process, these control means being connected to the output of the calculation unit.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, dadurchge ¬ indicates that at least one electronic image memory is provided for temporary storage of at least one of the two images of the source image sequence, the data output being connected to the mixing device, and that the mixing device for pixel-by-pixel addition of the image contents present in digital form.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 or 12, so that the mixing device or the electronic image memory is preceded by a digitizing device for digitizing images recorded in an analog manner.

14. The apparatus according to claim 11, dadurchge ¬ indicates that the mixing device is designed as an optical copying device with two separately controllable exposure units, the control inputs are connected to the output of the calculation unit, and through the successive, introduced on a first recording medium in the copying device , Images of the source image sequence are exposed to a second recording medium with exposure intensity and / or time set according to the respective weighting factor.

15. Device according to one of claims 11 to 13, d a - d u r c h g e k e n n z e i c h n e t that an electronic image mixing device is provided with a downstream optical printer.

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