Method and apparatus for telecine image conversion

A telecine image conversion method for inversely converting a telecine image to a film image comprising the steps of:

• inputting a telecine image signal being successive in time series,
• calculating the absolute value of a difference between a pixel value represented by a luminance of a pixel in a field and a pixel value of the previous field by one frame period with respect to a first field and a second field in said telecine image signal, and calculating a correlation value of said first field and a correlation value of said second field of said telecine video signal by summing the respective absolute values,
• determining the image of said first field as an image of a duplicated field in the case that a relative value of the correlation value of said second field with respect to the correlation value of said first field of the same frame exceeds a predetermined reference value, and
• determining the image of said second field as an image of a duplicated field in the case that a relative value of the correlation value of said first field with respect to the correlation value of said second field of the same frame exceeds said reference value.

A telecine image conversion method for inversely converting a telecine image to a film image comprising the steps of:

• inputting a telecine image signal being successive in time series,
• calculating the absolute value of a difference between a pixel value represented by a luminance of a pixel in a field and a pixel value in the previous field by one frame period with respect to a first field and a second field in said telecine image signal, and calculating a correlation value of said first field and a correlation value of said second field in said telecine image by summing the respective absolute values,
• determining the image of said first field as an image of a duplicated field in the case that said correlation value of said first field is smaller than a predetermined reference value,
• determining the image of said second field as an image of a duplicated field in the case that said correlation value of said second field in smaller than said predetermined reference value,
• searching arrangement of said duplicated fields in time series with respect to said inputted telecine image signal,
• selecting a specific combination as a decided phase from combinations of arrangements of entire duplicated fields attained by conversion by a 3:2 pulldown method of telecine conversion methods, and
• starting inverse conversion of said inputted telecine image by synchronizing with said decided phase.

A telecine image conversion method for inversely converting a telecine image to a film image comprising the steps of:

• inputting a telecine image signal being successive in time series,
• calculating the absolute value of a difference between a pixel value represented by a luminance of a pixel in a field and a pixel value of the previous field by one frame period with respect to a first field and a second field in said telecine image signal, and calculating a correlation value of said first field and a correlation value of said second field of said telecine video signal by summing the respective absolute values,
• determining the image of said first field as an image of a duplicated field in the case that a relative value of the correlation value of said second field with respect to the correlation value of said first field of the same frame exceeds a predetermined reference value,
• determining the image of said second field as an image of a duplicated field in the case that a relative value of the correlation value of said first field with respect to the correlation value of said second field of the same frame exceeds said reference value,
• searching arrangement of said duplicated fields in time series with respect to said inputted telecine image signal,
• selecting a specific combination as an decided phase from combinations of arrangements of entire duplicated fields attained by conversion by a 3:2 pulldown method of telecine conversion methods, and
• starting inverse conversion of said inputted telecine image by synchronizing with said decided phase.

A telecine image conversion apparatus comprising:

• a field memory for holding a telecine image having successive plural frames each including a first field and a second field,
• plural correlation value calculation circuits for calculating the absolute value of a difference between a pixel value representing a luminance of a pixel in a field of a telecine image and a pixel value in the previous field by one frame period from the image held by said field memory, and outputting correlation values of the fields in said telecine image by summing said absolute values in the case that said absolute values exceed a predetermined threshold value,
• plural comparison circuits for comparing said correlation values output from said correlation value calculation circuits with a reference value, and determining the image of each field as a duplicated field in the case that said correlation value is smaller than said reference value, and
• a control unit for controlling input and output of an image with respect to said field memory, and converting inversely the inputted telecine image on the basis of comparison results of said comparison circuits.

A telecine image conversion apparatus comprising:

• a field memory for holding a telecine image having successive plural frames each including a first field and a second field,
• plural correlation value calculation circuits for calculating the absolute value of a difference between a pixel value representing a luminance of a pixel in a field of a telecine image and a pixel value in the previous field by one frame period from the image held by said field memory, and outputting correlation values of the fields in said telecine image by summing said absolute values in the case that said absolute values exceed a predetermined threshold value,
• correlation value comparison circuits for comparing the correlation values output from said plural correlation value calculation circuits with each other, and for determining the image of one field as a duplicated field in the case that a relative value of the correlation value of the other field to the correlation value of one field of the same frame exceeds a reference value, and
• a control unit for controlling input and output of an image with respect to said field memory, and converting inversely the inputted telecine image on the basis of comparison results of said correlation value comparison circuits.