Robert Preston Ferrell

US Patent:

6480231, Nov 12, 2002

Filed:

Mar 24, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/535138

Inventors:

John Bernstein - San Jose CA
Robert Douglas Ferrell - Los Gatos CA

Assignee:

FlashPoint Technology, Inc. - Peterborough NH

International Classification:

H04N 701

US Classification:

348448, 348714

Abstract:

A method and apparatus for de-interlacing a buffer of image data, wherein scan lines from an image sensor have been transferred to the buffer and stored in a group of even scan lines and a group of odd scan lines. The method for de-interlacing the buffer includes providing a first table to indicate current storage locations of each scan line in the buffer and providing a second table to indicate which scan line is currently stored in each storage location. The first table and a temporary line buffer are then used iteratively swap pairs of scan lines that are stored out of numerical order in the buffer, such that after a swap, one of the scan line in the pair is stored in numerical order in the buffer. After each swap, the first table is updated using the second table, and then second table is updated, such that the first and second tables reflect a change of storage locations for the scan lines, whereby the buffer is de-interlaced in place without using a duplicate buffer.