Subtitle detection apparatus, subtitle detection method and pull-down signal detection apparatus

Abstract

An integration circuit divides a screen, which is composed of an input video signal, into regions, integrates absolute values of inter-field differences that are included the respective regions, and provides an intra-region integration value SDA. A dynamic range calculation circuit divides the screen into regions and calculates a dynamic range SDR of luminance in each of the regions. If the intra-region integration value SDA is greater than a comparison threshold value FDT and if the dynamic range SDR of luminance in each of the regions is greater than a comparison threshold value DCT, the region is determined to be a subtitle region.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

A general architecture that implements the various feature of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that shows the structure of a subtitle detection apparatus 10A according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B show examples of a subtitle in a field signal;

FIG. 3 shows a dynamic range calculation circuit 16A as a first embodiment of a dynamic range calculation circuit 16;

FIG. 4 shows a dynamic range calculation circuit 16B as a second embodiment of the dynamic range calculation circuit 16;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram that shows the structure of a subtitle detection apparatus 10B according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram that shows the structure of a subtitle detection apparatus 10C according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram that shows the structure of a subtitle detection apparatus 10D according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows an example of a progressive-scan apparatus 40 to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 9A to FIG. 9C illustrate how an interlaced-scan 2-3 pull-down signal is delayed;

FIG. 10 shows an interlaced-scan 2-2 pull-down signal as another system of the pull-down signal;

FIG. 11 shows a first embodiment of a pull-down signal detection circuit 47 according to the invention;

FIG. 12A to FIG. 12E show an example of determination results of an inter-field correlation and an inter-frame correlation of a 2-3 pull-down signal; and

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the structure of a second embodiment of the pull-down signal detection circuit 47.

Claims

1. A subtitle detection apparatus comprising: a difference unit to provide an inter-field difference between a current field signal of an input video signal and the current field signal delayed by at least one field period;an integration unit to divide a screen into a plurality of regions, integrate the inter-field difference that is included in each of the plurality of regions, and provide an intra-region integration value; anda first comparison unit to compare the intra-region integration value from the integration unit with a first comparison value in order to detect if a subtitle is detected in at least one of the plurality of regions.

2. The subtitle detection apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a dynamic range calculation unit to divide the screen into regions and calculates a dynamic range of luminance in each of the regions;a second comparison unit to compare the dynamic range calculated by the dynamic range calculation unit with a second comparison value, and to provide a dynamic range comparison result in units of the region; andan arithmetic unit to perform a logical operation between an integration value comparison result being a result produced by a comparison of the intra-region integration value and the first comparison value and the dynamic range comparison result, and to provide a result of the logical operation as a subtitle region detection signal.

3. The subtitle detection apparatus according to claim 2 further comprising a monitoring unit coupled to the arithmetic unit, the monitoring unit to determine that the region is a subtitle region when the subtitle region detection signal indicates that the subtitle region is continuously detected with respect to a predetermined number of fields.

4. The subtitle detection apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: accounting unit to divide the screen into regions and to count a number of pixels with high luminance in each of the regions; anda third comparison unit coupled to the counting unit, the third comparison unit to compare the number of pixels with a predetermined threshold value, and to provide a high-luminance-pixel-number comparison result, andthe arithmetic unit performing a logical operation between the integration value comparison result, the dynamic range comparison result, and the high-luminance-pixel-number comparison result.

5. The subtitle detection apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a first filter to remove a high frequency noise component of the current field signal, and a second filter to remove a high frequency noise component of the delayed current field signal, the current field signal, the noise component of which is removed by the first filter, being supplied to the difference unit and the dynamic range calculation unit, and the delayed current field signal, the noise component of which is removed by the second filter, being supplied to the difference unit.

6. The subtitle detection apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a first filter to remove a high frequency noise component of the current field signal, and a second filter to remove a high frequency noise component of the delayed current field signal, wherein the current field signal, the noise component of which is removed by the first filter, being supplied to the difference unit and the dynamic range calculation unit, and the delayed signal, the noise component of which is removed by the second filter, being supplied to the difference unit.

7. The subtitle detection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the dynamic range calculation unit provides, as a dynamic range, a difference between a maximum luminance and a minimum luminance in the region in the current field.

8. The subtitle detection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the dynamic range calculation unit provides, as a dynamic range, a difference between a mean value of luminances of a pixel with a first highest luminance to a pixel with an nth highest luminance in the region and a mean value of luminances of a pixel with a first lowest luminance to a pixel with an nth lowest luminance in the region.

9. A pull-down signal detection apparatus comprising: a first difference unit to provide an inter-frame difference between a current field signal of an input video signal and a 2-field delay signal of the current field signal;a first integration unit coupled to the first difference unit, the first integration unit to (i) divide a screen, composed of the input video signal, into a plurality of regions, (ii) integrate the inter-frame difference that is included in the regions, and (iii) provide an intra-region first integration value;a subtitle detection unit;an inter-frame correlation detection unit coupled to the subtitle detection unit, the inter-frame correlation detection unit to detect a level of inter-frame correlation based on the subtitle region detection signal output from the subtitle detection unit;an inter-field correlation detection unit coupled to the subtitle detection unit, the inter-field correlation detection unit to detect a level of inter-field correlation on the basis of the subtitle region detection signal, which is output from the subtitle detection unit, and the second integration value from the second integration unit; anda determination unit coupled to the inter-frame correlation detection unit and the inter-field correlation detection, the determination unit to determine whether the input video signal is a pull-down signal.

10. A pull-down signal detection apparatus of claim 9, wherein the subtitle detection unit comprises (a) a second difference unit to provide an inter-field difference between the current field signal of the input video signal and a delayed signal of the current field signal,(b) a second integration unit to divide the screen into a plurality of regions, integrate the inter-field difference that is included in each of the regions, and provide an intra-region second integration value;(c) a first comparison unit to compare the inter-region second integration value from the second integration unit with a first comparison value, and provide an integration value comparison result,(d) a dynamic range calculation unit to divide a screen, which is composed of the current field signal, into regions and calculate a dynamic range of luminance in each of the regions,(e) a second comparison unit to compare the dynamic range calculated by the dynamic range calculation unit with a second comparison value, and provide a dynamic range comparison result, and(f) a first arithmetic unit to perform a logical operation between the integration value comparison result of the first comparison unit and the dynamic range comparison result, and to provide a result of the logical operation as a subtitle region detection signal;

11. The pull-down signal detection apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the subtitle detection unit includes a plural-field monitoring unit to determine that the region is a subtitle region in a case where the subtitle region detection signal indicates that the subtitle region is continuously detected with respect to a predetermined number of fields.

12. The pull-down signal detection apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the subtitle detection unit further includes: a counting unit to divide the screen into regions and count a number of pixels with high luminance in each of the regions; anda third comparison unit to compare the number of pixels counted by the counting unit with a predetermined threshold value, and to provide a high-luminance-pixel-number comparison result,the first arithmetic unit executing a logical operation between the integration value comparison result of the first comparison unit, the dynamic range comparison result, and the high-luminance-pixel-number comparison result.

13. The pull-down signal detection apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the subtitle detection unit further includes: a second dynamic range calculation unit to divide a screen, which is composed of the delayed signal, into regions and calculates a dynamic range of luminance in each of the regions;a third comparison unit to compare the dynamic range calculated by the second dynamic range calculation unit with a third comparison value, and provide a second dynamic range comparison result;a second arithmetic unit to perform a logical operation between the integration value comparison result of the first comparison unit and the second dynamic range comparison result, and to provide a result of the logical operation; anda third arithmetic unit to perform a logical operation between the result of the logical operation of the first arithmetic unit and the result of the logical operation of the second arithmetic unit, and to provide a result of the logical operation as a subtitle region detection signal.

14. A subtitle detection method comprising: generating an inter-field difference between a current field signal of an input video signal and a delayed signal of the current field signal;dividing a screen, which is composed of the input video signal, into regions, integrating the inter-field difference that is included in each of the regions, and providing an intra-region integration value;comparing the intra-region integration value with a first comparison value, and providing an integration value comparison result;dividing the screen into regions and calculating a dynamic range of luminance in each of the regions;comparing the dynamic range with a second comparison value, and providing a dynamic range comparison result; andperforming a logical operation between the integration value comparison result and the dynamic range comparison result to produce a result, and providing the result as a subtitle region detection signal.

15. The subtitle detection method according to claim 14, further comprising determining that the region is a subtitle region in a case where the subtitle region detection signal indicates that the subtitle region is continuously detected with respect to a predetermined number of fields.

16. The subtitle detection method according to claim 14, further comprising: dividing the screen into regions and counting a number of pixels with high luminance in each of the regions; andcomparing the number of pixels with high luminance with a predetermined threshold value, and providing a high-luminance-pixel-number comparison result,wherein the logical operation is performed between the integration value comparison result, the dynamic range comparison result, and the high-luminance-pixel-number comparison result.