Pulse or digital communications – Bandwidth reduction or expansion – Television or motion video signal
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-10
2001-03-13
Britton, Howard (Department: 2713)
Pulse or digital communications
Bandwidth reduction or expansion
Television or motion video signal
C348S401100, C348S699000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06201833
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motion determining apparatus, a motion determining method, and a picture information converting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a picture signal converting apparatus that converts an input digital picture signal into a picture signal with a different scanning line structure or in a picture process using a highly efficient code for compressing a digital picture signal, a motion determining process for determining whether or not a considered portion of a picture has a motion is used. In a conventional motion determining apparatus, the sum of the absolute values of differences between a picture portion (for example, a block) of one frame and the same picture portion of an adjacent frame. When the sum is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that the picture portion has a motion. In contrast, when the sum is smaller than the predetermined threshold value, it is determined that the picture portion does not have a motion.
However, in the conventional motion determining process, since it is determined whether a picture is a moving picture or a still picture, at the boundary of a picture portion that has been processed as a still picture and another picture portion that has been processed as a moving picture, there is a remarkable difference in the picture quality. In addition, when the motion determining process is performed with only a frame difference, an incorrect result may be obtained. In other words, even if a frame difference of a picture is large, if there is a large intra-field activity, the picture may be close to a still picture. In contrast, even if a frame difference of a picture is small, if there is no intra-field activity, the picture may be close to a moving picture. As a motion determining method using the fact that the relation between a frame difference and an intra-field activity is linear, slope method is known. However, in the slope method, the motion determining process cannot be flexibly performed corresponding to the value of the intra-field activity.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a motion determining apparatus, a motion determining method, and a picture information converting apparatus that suppress the probability of occurrences of errors in the motion determining process and allow a plurality of stages of determined results to be obtained.
A first aspect of the present invention is a motion determining apparatus for detecting a motion of a partial picture of an input picture signal, comprising a first detecting means for detecting a frame difference of the partial picture, a second detecting means for detecting a spatial activity of the partial picture, a threshold value generating means for generating a first threshold value, a second threshold value, and a third threshold value, a comparing means having at least a first comparing portion for comparing the frame difference detected by said first detecting means with the first threshold value and a second comparing portion for comparing the frame difference detected by said first detecting means with the second threshold value, a third comparing means for comparing the spatial activity detected by said second detecting means with the third threshold value, and a motion class determining means for receiving the compared results of said first comparing portion, said second comparing portion, and said third comparing means and determining the motion of the partial picture in at least three levels.
A second aspect of the present invention is a motion determining method for detecting a motion of a partial picture of an input picture signal, comprising the steps of (a) detecting a frame difference of the partial picture, (b) detecting a spatial activity of the partial picture, (c) generating a first threshold value, a second threshold value, and a third threshold value, (d) comparing the frame difference detected by at step (a) with at least the first threshold value and the second threshold value, (e) comparing the spatial activity detected by step (b) with the third threshold value, and (f) receiving the compared results obtained at steps (d) and (e) and determining the motion of the partial picture in at least three levels.
A third aspect of the present invention is a picture information converting apparatus for converting an input picture signal into a plurality of output picture signals with different scanning line structures, comprising a first data selecting means for selecting a plurality of first pixels of the input picture signal, the positions of the first pixels being present in the vicinity of pixels of an output picture signal to be generated, a second data selecting means for selecting a plurality of second pixels of the input picture signal, the positions of the second pixels being present in the vicinity of pixels of an output picture signal to be generated, a third data selecting means for selecting a plurality of third pixels of the input picture signal, the positions of the third pixels being present in the vicinity of pixels of an output picture signal to be generated, a memory means for storing pre-obtained estimation expression coefficients, a signal generating means for generating pixels of an output picture signal with the plurality of first pixels selected by said first data selecting means and a linear estimation expression of the estimation expression coefficients, a class determining means for forming a spatial class corresponding to the plurality of second pixels selected by said second data selecting means, forming a motion class corresponding to the plurality of third pixels selected by said third data selecting means, and supplying the estimation coefficients to said signal generating means corresponding to class information as a combination of the spatial class and the motion class, a scanning line structure converting means, connected to said signal generating means, for converting the input picture signal into an output picture signal with a designated scanning line structure, and a motion determining portion for forming the motion class, wherein said motion determining portion has a first detecting means for detecting a frame difference of the partial picture composed of the plurality of third pixels, a second detecting means for detecting a spatial activity of the partial picture, a threshold value generating means for generating a first threshold value, a second threshold value, and a third threshold value, a comparing means having at least a first comparing portion for comparing the frame difference detected by said first detecting means with the first threshold value and a second comparing portion for comparing the frame difference detected by said first detecting means with the second threshold value, a third comparing means for comparing the spatial activity detected by said second detecting means with the third threshold value, and a motion class determining means for receiving the compared results of said first comparing portion, said second comparing portion, and said third comparing means and determining the motion of the partial picture in at least three levels.
According to the present invention, since a motion determining process is performed using a spatial activity as well as a frame difference, an accurate result can be obtained. Even if a frame difference is large, since an intra-field activity is large, a picture close to a still picture can be detected. In addition, even if a frame difference is small, when there is no activity, information close to a moving picture can be detected. Moreover, since a motion of a picture is determined in three or more levels rather than two levels of a moving picture and a still picture, when a picture is processed corresponding to the motion determining process, the resultant picture can be prevented from becoming unnatural.
In the picture information converting apparatus according to the present invention, classes ar
Ando Kazutaka
Asakura Nobuyuki
Inoue Satoshi
Kondo Tetsujiro
Morimura Takuo
Britton Howard
Diep Nhon T
Frommer William S.
Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP.
Sony Corporation
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