JPH0983920A - Picture processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a picture signal whose copyright should be protected from being printed and displayed. SOLUTION: A copy guard detection part 220 detects whether a copy guard signal for protecting copyright is superimposed to the picture signal inputted from a signal generator 1 such as VTR. When the copy guard signal is not detected, after the input picture signal is processed by a picture processing part 207, the signal is printed out to a paper by a recording part 208 and displayed on a monitor 3. When the copy guard signal is detected, the picture processing part 207 prohibits the output of the picture signal and outputs another picture signal such as characters to the recording part 208 and the monitor 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus suitable for use in processing an image signal and printing it by a video printer or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional image processing apparatus used in a video printer. In the figure,
Reference numeral 1 is a signal generator such as a VTR for generating a video signal, 2 is an image processing apparatus, 3 is an image temporarily stored in a memory of the image processing apparatus 2 or an image input from the signal generator 1 is confirmed. It is a monitor.

In the image processing apparatus 2, 201 is an input section including a connector, a buffer circuit, a terminating resistor and the like necessary for inputting a video signal, and 202 is for separating a synchronizing signal included in the video signal and And 203 is a phase separation unit for generating a sampling signal for converting the video signal into a discrete value in synchronization with a color burst signal included in the video signal. Loop part (hereinafter PLL
And 204 are A / D converters including a sampling and holding circuit that converts an analog video signal into a discrete value in synchronization with the sampling signal generated by the PLL unit 203. The sampling signal is also input to the image processing unit 207 and supplied as a system clock necessary for the processing performed therein.

Reference numeral 205 denotes a memory for temporarily storing a video signal discretely converted by the A / D converter 204, which stores a frame image of the video signal, but stores a few frame images as long as the capacity permits. Good. 207 is a discrete RG based on the discrete video signal stored in the memory 205.
An image processing unit that generates a B signal, and 206 is an image processing unit 20.
Reference numeral 7 is a memory prepared to obtain a work area required for generating discrete RGB signals. Memory 2
05 and the memory 206 may be integrated as long as a necessary address area is secured.

Reference numeral 208 denotes a recording unit that prints the discrete RGB signals generated by the image processing unit 207 on paper, and reference numeral 209 denotes D prepared for confirming the discrete video signal, that is, the video image, stored in the memory 205 on the monitor 3. / A
A conversion unit 210 is a synchronization signal addition unit that adds the synchronization signal separated by the synchronization separation unit 202 to the image signal obtained from the D / A conversion unit 209 to generate a video signal, and 211 is stored in the memory 205. Video image and signal generator 1
A switch prepared so that the monitor 3 can check the video image input from the switch 3 and a buffer for converting the video image selected by the switch 211 into a signal necessary for the monitor 3 to input. Is an output unit including.

A control unit 213 controls the operation of the image processing apparatus 2 as a whole, and includes a CPU and the like. 214
Is a ROM that stores programs and the like necessary for the control unit 213 to operate, and 215 is an operation unit that interfaces between the image processing unit 2 and the user. Video image and memory 2
The control unit 213 is instructed to switch to the video image stored in 05. The memories 205 and 206 may use either dynamic RAM or NV-RAM. Further, even if the image processing unit 207 and the control unit 213 are operated by different clocks, respectively, the PLL
The operation may be performed by the sampling signal generated by the unit 203.

Next, the operation will be described. Signal generator 1
From the video signal sent from the input unit 201 and the sync separation unit 202, only the image signal is separated, and the A / D conversion unit 204 converts the video signal into discrete values. This discrete value, that is, image data is stored in the memory 20 by the image processing unit 207.
Stored in 5. Further, this image data is stored in the operation unit 215.
An image is printed by being sent as image data to the recording unit 208 in response to a command from the. At this time, the image processing unit 207 performs some image processing on the data from the memory 205 and converts it into data required by the recording unit 208.

Further, the image data stored in the memory 205 is converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 209 and passed through the sync signal adder 210, the switch 211 and the output unit 212 as a video signal to the monitor 3. Sent to. Thereby, the image stored in the memory 205 can be confirmed on the monitor 3. Further, as the recording unit 208, a sublimation printer, a thermal fusion printer, B
Various types of printers such as a J printer are used.

[0009]

In the information society of recent years, the number of types of information is increasing and the quality is constantly improving, and anyone can easily obtain high-quality information easily. ing. For example, information in communication, digital audio, video signals, etc. can be obtained with high quality. In such a situation, copyright protection has become an important issue, and various methods for copyright protection have been proposed for this reason, but at present, protection measures are taken for all copyrighted works. That is not the case, and this problem must be solved even in video printers.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to prevent an image whose copyright is to be protected from being recorded on a sheet.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided detection means for detecting whether or not a protection signal for protecting copyright is superimposed on an input image signal, and the detection means. A prohibition unit that prohibits the output of the image signal based on the detection is provided.

[0012]

According to the present invention, when the detecting means detects the protection signal from the input image signal, the inhibiting means inhibits the image signal from being output to the printer or the like.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. Substantially the same parts as in FIG. The contents described below are of an image processing apparatus equipped with means for converting a video signal into discrete values, means for temporarily storing the discrete values, and means for image-processing the temporarily stored discrete values and printing on a sheet. This is one of the embodiments and is applied to all the image processing apparatuses provided with the above means. 1 is different from FIG. 6 in that the copy guard detection unit 220 is provided in the synchronization separation unit 202. The copy guard detection unit 220 detects that a copy guard signal as a protection signal for copyright protection is superimposed on a video signal input from the signal generator 1 such as a VTR via the input unit 201. At this time, the detection signal of "L" (low level) is sent to the image processing unit 207.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the image processing unit 207 of FIG. In FIG. 2, A /
The components other than the D conversion unit 204, the memory 205, the memory 206, and the recording unit 208 are included in the image processing unit 207.

A ROM 2001 stores predetermined image data such as characters, and the image data is stored in the memory 20.
5 is arranged in the same address area. An AND gate 2003 takes a negative logic between the write permission signal WE from the image processing control unit 2002 and the detection signal P obtained from the copy guard detection unit 220, and its output is input to the ROM 2001 as a data output permission signal OE. It ROM2
An address I from the image processing control unit 2002 is given to 001 as in the memory 205 that stores image data.

Reference numeral 2002 denotes an image processing control unit for controlling image processing performed inside the image processing unit 207, and 2006.
Is a gate unit which takes the logical product of the image data DAD sent from the A / D conversion unit 204 and the data ROD from the ROM 2001. Reference numeral 2007 denotes a selector which is switched when the write enable signal WE from the image processing control unit 2002 is L and outputs the output data GD of the gate unit 2006 to the memory 20.
Store in 5. The memory 205 is an image processing control unit 2002
Are controlled by the above signals WE and OE. The memory 206 is also controlled by the status of the image processing control unit 2002. A data bus 2008 stores data of the memory 205, the memory 206, the recording unit 208, and the image processing control unit 2002.

Next, the operation of each part of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG. In step 1 of FIG. 3, the copy guard detection unit 220 detects the copy guard signal from the input video signal, so that the copy guard detection signal P becomes L. In step 2, the image data DA from the A / D converter 204 is supplied by the clock signal from the PLL unit 203.
D is output. At the same time, the address I is the image processing control unit 2
It is output from 002. In step 3, since the write enable signal WE becomes L, the AND gate 2003
The output of is logically ANDed with the copy guard detection signal P and becomes L. Therefore, the output permission signal OE of the ROM 2001
Becomes L, and the data ROD of the ROM 2001 is output.

In step 4, the gate unit 2006 takes the logical product of the image data ROD and DAD and outputs the data GD. The selector 2007 is selected by the signal WE so that the data GD is supplied to the memory 205. This data is stored in the memory 205 as the data RMD by the L signal WE. In step 5, the address I and the signal WE are negated to negate the output of the AND gate 2003, so that the data ROD of the ROM section 2001 becomes invalid.
The output of the selector 2007 is the output data RM from the memory 205 when the signal WE is negated.
D will be sent to the bus 2008. As the data DAD from the A / D conversion unit 204, the next pixel data is output by the system clock from the PLL unit 203.

According to the above operation, when the copy guard detection signal P is L, that is, when the copy guard signal is superimposed on the video signal, the image data DAD from the A / D converter 204 is the data from the ROM 2001. Masked by ROD. Therefore, as an effect of the present embodiment, when the data stored in the ROM 2001 is given so as to form a character “invalid” and the image data is recorded in the recording unit 208, the image on the paper is The word "invalid" is drawn on the, and the original image cannot be reproduced. Further, since the character "invalid" is displayed on the screen of the monitor 3, it is possible to give a copyright protection warning to the user of the printer. Moreover, the character "invalid" may be a mosaic instead. In other words, it is sufficient if the original image is distorted data.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining the second embodiment. Description of the same parts as in FIG. 2 will be omitted. 4, 2010 is a counter which replaces the ROM 2001 of FIG. 2 and is synchronously driven by a system clock (not shown), and the count enable / EN signal is the AND gate 200.
3 is the output. The ripple carry signal RP of the counter 2010 is input to the gate unit 2006 via the AND gate 2009 of negative logic. Counter 201
When the number of bits of 0 is W and the width of the address I generated from the image processing control unit 2002 is V, W << V, and the value is a plurality of mask pixels on the image obtained from the A / D conversion unit 204. Is set to appear. One input of the AND gate 2009 is the output of the AND gate 2003.

Next, the operation of each part in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG. In step 1, the copy guard detection unit 220 detects the copy guard signal, so that the copy guard detection signal P becomes L. In step 2, P
The A / D conversion unit 2 is driven by the clock signal from the LL unit 203.
Image data DAD is output from 04. At the same time, the address I is output from the image processing control unit 2002. In step 3, when the signal WE becomes L, AND
The output of the gate 2003 is logically ANDed with the copy guard detection signal P and becomes L. Therefore, the signal EN of the counter 2010 becomes L, and counting up is performed in synchronization with the rise of the system clock (not shown) (in particular, FIG. 5 shows the situation when the ripple carry signal RP is generated).

In step 4, the signal RP becomes L. In the gate unit 2006, the image data DAD and the signal RP are logically ANDed so that all the data GD becomes L. The selector 2007 outputs the data GD to the memory 2 in response to the signal WE.
Selected to be given to 05. This data is stored in the memory 205 by the signal W of L as data RMD.
Stored in. In step 5, the address I and the signal WE are negated, whereby the AND gate 200
When the output of 3 is negated, the output of the AND gate 2009 is negated, the signal RP becomes invalid, and the data GD becomes the same as the image data DAD. Also, the selector 200
With respect to the output of No. 7, the output data RMD from the memory 205 is sent to the bus 2008 by negating the signal WE. Data D from A / D converter 204
In AD, the next pixel data is output by the system clock from the PLL unit 203.

According to the above operation, when the copy guard detection signal P is L, that is, when the copy guard signal is superimposed on the video signal, the image data DAD from the A / D converter 204 is output from the counter 2010. It is masked by the signal RP. By setting the position where the / RP mask of the counter 2010 is made so as not to be correlated with the image, the image data stored in the memory 205 contains noise. Therefore, as an effect of the second embodiment, when the image data is recorded in the recording unit 208, the image on the paper contains noise and the original image cannot be reproduced. Furthermore, the counter 2 is also displayed on the screen of the monitor 3.
Since the noise caused by the signal RP of 010 is displayed, it is possible to give a copyright protection warning to the user of the printer.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, an image is not recorded even if one screen of a video signal on which a copy guard signal is superimposed is recorded on a sheet by a printer, the original image is not recorded. I can not reproduce the image,
The copyright can be protected, and further, since the image cannot be displayed on the screen of the monitor, the user can be warned of the copyright protection.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that best illustrates the features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the image processing unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the image processing unit in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a conventional image processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 201 input unit 205 memory 207 image processing unit 220 copy guard detection unit 2001 ROM 2002 image processing control unit 2003, 2009 negative logic AND gate 2006 gate unit 2010 counter

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A detection means for detecting whether or not a protection signal for protecting copyright is superimposed on an input image signal, and prohibiting the output of the image signal based on the detection by the detection means. An image processing apparatus provided with a prohibition unit. 2. The image output means for outputting a predetermined image signal different from the image signal when the inhibition means prohibits the output of the image signal based on the detection of the detection means. The image processing device described. 3. The image according to claim 1, further comprising noise output means for outputting the image signal including noise when the inhibiting means inhibits the output of the image signal based on the detection of the detecting means. Processing equipment.