Processing of redundant fields in a moving picture to achieve synchronized system operation

A method of restoring a processed signal representing a moving picture which is divided into a plurality of frames such that each respective frame is formed of one odd field and one even field, the processed signal obtained by detecting a redundant field from an input signal generated according to a 3:2 pull-down process where each respective redundant field is repeated after two respective frames for converting a motion picture film to a moving pictures video, by combining the odd and even fields to form the respective frames such that the redundant field is eliminated from the input signal, by inserting a predetermined invalid frame into the input signal to obtain an output signal for processing at a substantially the same clock rate as a predetermined clock rate of the input signal, and by adding supplemental data to the output signal, wherein the supplemental data includes a first flag for specifying whether the odd field precedes the even field in the respective frame of the input signal, a second flag for specifying whether the respective frame of the input signal contains two fields or three fields, and a third flag for specifying whether a current frame of the output signal is the predetermined invalid frame, said method comprising the steps of:

• separating from the processed signal the supplemental data which indicates which of the respective odd and even fields were combined to form the respective frames and further indicates where the predetermined invalid frame was inserted;
• removing the predetermined invalid frame from the processed signal based on the supplemental data;
• and
• repeating a respective field in the processed signal at a portion from which the predetermined invalid frame was removed for generating the redundant field, whereby the processed signal is substantially the same as the input signal.

An apparatus for processing a signal representing a moving picture which is divided into a plurality of frames such that each respective frame is formed of one odd field and one even field, the signal generated according to a 3:2 pull-down process where each respective redundant field is repeated after two respective frames for converting a motion picture film to a moving pictures video and supplied at a predetermined clock rate from a moving picture source for input to a signal processing device for predetermined processing operations on the input signal, said apparatus comprising:

• means for detecting redundant field from the input signal;
• means for combining the odd and even fields to form the respective frames such that the redundant field is eliminated from the input signal;
• means for inserting a predetermined invalid frame into the input signal to obtain an output signal for processing at a substantially the same clock rate as the predetermined clock rate of the input signal such that the moving picture source and signal processing device are synchronized to operate at substantially the same clock rate;
• and
• means for adding supplemental data to the output signal for indicating which of the respective odd and even fields are combined to form the respective frames and for indicating where the predetermined invalid frame is inserted, wherein the supplemental data includes a first flag for specifying whether the odd field precedes the even field in the respective frame of the input signal, a second flag for specifying whether the respective frame of the input signal contains two fields or three fields, and a third flag for specifying whether a current frame of the output signal is the predetermined invalid frame.

An apparatus for restoring a processed signal representing a moving picture which is divided into a plurality of frames such that each respective frame is formed of one odd field and one even field, the processed signal obtained by detecting a redundant field from an input signal generated according to a 3:2 pull-down process where each respective redundant field is repeated after two respective frames for converting a motion picture film to a moving pictures video, by combining the odd and even fields to form the respective frames such that the redundant field is eliminated from the input signal, by inserting a predetermined invalid frame into the input signal to obtain an output signal for processing at a substantially the same clock rate as a predetermined clock rate of the input signal, and by adding supplemental data to the output signal, wherein the supplemental data includes a first flag for specifying whether the odd field precedes the even field in the respective frame of the input signal, a second flag for specifying whether the respective frame of the input signal contains two fields or three fields, and a third flag for specifying whether a current frame of the output signal is the predetermined invalid frame, said apparatus comprising:

• means for separating from the processed signal the supplemental data which indicates which of the respective odd and even fields had been combined to form the respective frames and further indicates where the predetermined invalid frame has been inserted;
• means for removing the predetermined invalid frame from the processed signal based on the supplemental data;
• and
• means for repeating a respective field in the processed signal at a portion from which the predetermined invalid frame had been removed for generating the redundant field, whereby the processed signal is substantially the same as the input signal.