AU2003264648B2

AU2003264648B2 - Deinterlacing apparatus and method

Info

Publication number: AU2003264648B2
Application number: AU2003264648A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Bong-Soo Hur
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2002-12-03
Filing date: 2003-12-02
Publication date: 2005-02-24
Anticipated expiration: 2023-12-02
Also published as: KR100484182B1; CN1505386A; CN1237782C; KR20040048478A; AU2003264648A1

Description

.1

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority Related Art: Name of Applicant: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd Actual Inventor(s): Bong-soo Hur Address for Service and Correspondence: PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 367 Collins Street Melbourne 3000 AUSTRALIA Invention Title: DEINTERLACING APPARATUS AND METHOD Our Ref: 707559 POF Code: 460249/462172 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to applicant(s): DEINTERLACING APPARATUS AND METHOD This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No.

2002-76223, filed on December 3, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a signal conversion apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a deinterlacing apparatus and method capable of compensating for the motion of a pixel value adaptively to the pixel motion with respect to a motion vector during deinterlacing in which an interlaced scanning signal is converted into a progressive scanning signal, thus reducing the occurrences of blocking artifact and judder.

2. Description of the Related Art A method of scanning an NTSC (National Television System Committee) signal adopts an interlaced scanning technique. However, the interlaced scanning technique is disadvantageous of causing the flicking and blurring of an image between lines and lowering the vertical resolution of the image. The interlaced scanning technique divides and scans a frame into two parts, whereas the progressive scanning technique scans a frame continuously. Therefore, compared to the interlaced scanning method, the progressive scanning technique prevents noise between fields of a frame on a time axis and reduces the flickering of an image between lines. A High-Definition Television (HDTV) adopts not only the interlaced scanning technique but also the progressive scanning technique. Thus, it is urgent to develop a deinterlacing technique of effectively converting an interlaced scanning signal into a progressive scanning signal. Also, a conventional deinterlacing technique using spatio-temporal interpolation causes the flickering and blurring of an image between lines. To solve this problem, a deinterlacing method and integrated circuit (IC) using motion compensation have been introduced.

t 1 FIG. 1 illustrates a basic concept of a deinterlacing method in which a field, which includes only even-numbered or odd-numbered samples in the vertical direction, is converted and output into a frame. The output frame can be defined as follows:

F

o n) (y mod 2 n mod 2) FJ (otherwise) wherein Fo(5, n) denotes the output frame, i denotes a spatial position of the output frame and is equivalent to n denotes a field number, F(2,n) denotes an input field, and F,(i,n)denotes a pixel to be interpolated.

A representative deinterlacing method that does not use motion compensation is an Edge-based Line Averaging (ELA) method. Compared to deinterlacing methods using spatio-temporal filtering, the ELA deinterlacing method is effective and easy to convert an interlaced scanning signal into a progressive scanning signal. However, the ELA deinterlacing method causes the flickering of an image in a motion picture zone.

A representative deinterlacing method using motion compensation is a Time-Recursive (TR) deinterlacing method. The TR deinterlacing method performs motion compensation for missing data of a present field on an assumption that a previous field was completely deinterlaced. In the TR deinterlacing method, a pixel to be interpolated may be either the original pixel of the previous field or an interpolated pixel of the previous field. In the TR deinterlacing method, pixels to be interpolated are continuously deinterlaced, and thus, an error in a field may propagate to another field. To prevent the propagation of errors, a median field is used.

In general, the conventional deinterlacing methods are categorized into a deinterlacing method that does not use motion information and a deinterlacing method using motion information. The former method uses a spatio-temporal filter or the directionality-based correlation between pixels, other than motion information. However, these methods cause the flickering and blurring of an image between lines in a motion picture zone. To solve this problem, the deinterlacing method using motion information has been designed but blocking artifact and judder may occur when motion compensation is performed on a block-by-block basis.

The discussion of the background to the invention herein is included to explain the context of the invention. This is not to be taken as an admission that any of the material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge in Australia as at.the priority date of any of the claims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention may provide a deinterlacing apparatus capable of compensating for a pixel value adaptively to the reliability of the pixel value with respect to a motion vector during deinterlacing in which an interlaced scanning signal is converted into a progressive scanning signal, thus reducing the occurrence of blocking artifact and judder.

The present invention may also provide a deinterlacing method capable of compensating for a pixel value adaptively to the reliability of the pixel value with respect to a motion vector during deinterlacing in which an interlaced scanning signal is converted into a progressive scanning signal, thus reducing the occurrence of blocking artifact and judder.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a deinteilacing apparatus including a motion reliability analysis means that generates a plurality of motion reliability factors using an input image signal, the value of a pixel to which a motion vector is applied and whose motion is compensated, and the value of a pixel that is spatially and temporally interpolated; and analyzes the reliability of the motion of a pixel, which is to be interpolated, with respect to the motion vector using the motion reliability factors; and an adaptive motion compensation means that selects and outputs one of first and second adaptive motion compensation values based on the analyzed motion reliability, the first adaptive motion value being obtained by adding weights to the motion-compensated pixel value and the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel value and low-pass filtering the result of addition and the second adaptive motion value being the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel value.

The deinterlacing apparatus may further include a motion compensation means that applies the motion vector to the pixel of the present block to be interpolated, detects a pixel value corresponding to the pixel value to which the motion vector is applied from a previous field, and outputs the detected pixel W:Amarie\GABNODEL\IRN707559.doc value as the value of a motion-compensated pixel of the present block, wherein the motion reliability analysis means receives a motion compensation value from the motion compensation means.

The deinterlacing apparatus may further include a spatio-temporal interpolation means that obtains the value of a spatially interpolated pixel using the values of upper and lower pixels of the present field, and the value of a temporally interpolated pixel using the values of pixels of adjacent fields corresponding to the pixel to be interpolated, wherein the motion reliability analysis means receives the spatially interpolated pixel values and the temporally interpolated pixel value from the spatio-temporal interpolation means.

The motion reliability analysis means may include a motion reliability factor operation unit that generates a first motion reliability factor that is a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and the spatially interpolated pixel value and the difference between the lower pixel value and the spatially interpolated pixel value, a second motion reliability factor that is a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and the motioncompensated pixel value and the difference between the lower pixel value and the motion-compensated pixel value, and a third motion reliability factor that is a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and a pixel value obtained by applying a motion vector for a previous block to the present block and the difference between the lower pixel value and the obtained pixel value; and a motion reliability factor determination unit that outputs a motion reliability signal to the adaptive motion compensation means, except when the difference between the first and second motion reliability factors is above a reference value and the third motion reliability factor is larger than the first motion reliability factor.

The weights may be determined by the degree of the motion of pixels between the adjacent two fields.

The adaptive motion compensation means may select and output the first adaptive motion compensation value when the motion reliability signal is received from the motion reliability analysis means, and may select and output the second adaptive motion compensation value when the motion reliability signal is not received from the motion reliability analysis means.

W:\madre\GABNODEL\IRN707559.doc According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a deinterlacing method including generating a plurality of motion reliability factors using an input image signal, the value of a pixel to which a motion vector is applied and whose motion is compensated, and the value of a pixel that is spatially and temporally interpolated; analyzing the reliability of the motion of a pixel, which is to be interpolated, with respect to the motion vector, using the motion reliability factors; and outputting a first adaptive motion compensation value or a second adaptive motion compensation value, the first adaptive motion compensation value being obtained by applying weights to the motioncompensated pixel value and the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel value based on the result of analysis and low-pass filtering the results of application, and the second adaptive motion compensation value being the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel value.

The interlacing method may further include obtaining a temporally interpolated pixel value using upper and lower pixel values of a present field, and a temporally interpolated pixel value using the values of pixels of adjacent fields that correspond to the pixel to be interpolated.

The interlacing method may further include obtaining the value of the motion-compensated pixel of a present block by applying the motion vector to the pixel of the present block which is to be interpolated and detecting a pixel value corresponding to the motion-compensated pixel value from a previous field.

During step a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and the spatially interpolated pixel value and the difference between the lower pixel value and the spatially interpolated pixel value may be generated as a first motion reliability factor, a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and the motion-compensated pixel value and the difference between the lower pixel value and the motion-compensated pixel value may be generated as a second motion reliability factor, and a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and a pixel value may be obtained by applying a motion vector for a previous block to the present block and the difference between the lower pixel value and the obtained pixel value may be generated as a third motion reliability factor.

W: marte\GABNODEL\IRN707559.doc During step a motion reliability signal may be output as the result of analyzing motion reliability except when the difference between the first and second motion reliability factors is above a reference value and the third motion reliability factor is larger than the first motion reliability factor.

During step the weights may be determined by the degree of the motion of pixels between the adjacent two fields.

Step may include selecting and outputting the first adaptive motion compensation value when the motion reliability signal is received; and selecting and outputting the second adaptive motion compensation value when the motion reliability signal is not received.

W:\arie\GABNODEL\IRN707559.doc BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which: FIG. 1 illustrates a basic concept of deinterlacing; FIG. 2 is:a block diagram illustrating a structure of a deinterlacing apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 illustrates the operation of a motion estimator of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 illustrates the operation of a motion compensator of FIG. 2; FIG. 5 illustrates the operation of a spatio-temporal interpolator of FIG. 2; FIG. 6 is a detailed block diagram illustrating a structure of a motion reliability analyzer of FIG. 2; FIG. 7 is a detailed block diagram illustrating a structure of an adaptive motion compensator of FIG. 2; and FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a deinterlacing method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a deinterlacing apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the deinterlacing apparatus includes a motion estimator 200, a motion compensator 201, a spatio-temporal interpolator 202, a motion reliability analyzer 203, and an adaptive motion compensator 204.

FIG. 3 illustrates the operation of a motion estimator of FIG. 2.

FIG..4 illustrates the operation of a motion compensator of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 illustrates the operation of a spatio-temporal interpolator of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a detailed block diagram illustrating a structure of a motion reliability analyzer, shown in FIG. 2, which includes an operation unit 203-1 and a motion reliability determination unit 203-2.

FIG. 7 is a detailed block diagram illustrating a structure of an adaptive motion compensator, shown in FIG. 2, which includes a low-pass filter (LPF) 204-1 and a selector 204-2.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a deinterlacing method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 8, the method includes estimation of pixel motion on a block-by-block basis (action 800), pixel motion compernsation (action 801), temporal and spatial compensation for the motion of a pixel to be interpolated (action 802), calculation of motion reliability values a, 3, and y (action 803), determination of motion reliability (action 804), selection of an adaptive motion compensation value based on the motion reliability (action 805).

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in greater detail with reference to FIGs. 2 through 8.

The motion estimator 200 estimates a motion vector of blocks, of a present field, which is to be interpolated, using a pixel block of a previous field. FIG. 3 is a diagram explaining the operation of the motion estimator 200. Referring to FIG. 3, the motion estimator 200 estimates pixel motion between continuously input previous field n-1 and present field n. The motion estimator 200 divides the present field n into several blocks of predetermined sizes and computes errors in the divided blocks while moving the respective blocks within a predetermined search zone of the previous field n-l. Next, the motion estimator 200 detects a point of the previous field n-1 where a minimum error is obtained and estimates the detected point as a motion vector of a present block.

If the motion vector estimated by the motion estimator 200 is 7 the motion compensator 201 compensates for the motion of a pixel as illustrated in FIG. 4 and computes a motion compensation value fMC using the following equation: fMc V) (2) The value of a pixel, of the present block, whose motion is compensated for as shown in FIG. 4 is computed by combining the value of a pixel of the previous block and the motion vector shown in Equation That is, the value of the motion-compensated pixel of the present block is obtained by adding the estimated motion vector V to a position value xo of the pixel, of the present field, which is to be interpolated. Next, the pixel value combined with the motion vector is detected and output from the previous field n-l.

The spatio-temporal interpolator 202 calculates a value f2D of a pixel that is spatially interpolated, using the values of upper and lower pixels adjacent to the pixel to be interpolated; and calculates a value ft of a pixel that is temporally interpolated, using the value of a pixel of a field adjacent to the pixel to be interpolated. A value f3D of a pixel that is spatially and temporally interpolated by the spatio-temporal interpolator 202 can be calculated using the following equation: f 3 Z (3) FIG. 5 illustrates the operation of the spatio-temporal interpolator 202.

Referring to FIG. 5, a dotted circle denotes a pixel xoto be interpolated. A value f2D of a spatially interpolated pixel is computed using values and B(x.i) of upper and lower pixels adjacent to the pixel xo. A value ft of a temporally interpolated pixel is computed using values and D(fn+(xo)) of pixels of fields adjacent to the pixel xo. That is, the value of the spatially interpolated pixel and the value of the temporally interpolated pixel can be computed as follows: f2D(Xo)= f (f f. (4) f, The motion reliability analyzer 203 calculates motion reliability factors a, 3, and y, using an input signal, a motion vector V output from the motion estimator 200, a value fMc of a motion-compensated pixel output from the motion compensator 201, and a value f3D of a spatially and temporally interpolated pixel output from the spatio-temporal interpolator 202. Also, the motion reliability analyzer 203 determines the reliability of a pixel to be interpolated with respect to the motion vector, using the motion reliability factors a, 0, and y.

FIG. 6 is a detailed block diagram illustrating a structure of the motion reliability analyzer 203. The motion reliability analyzer 203 includes the operation unit 203-1 and the motion reliability determination unit 203-2. The operation unit 203-1 calculates the motion reliability factors a, P, and y as follows: a min (I f 1 fD I, I fn -f 2

D)

S= min(I I, I f(x)-fMc I) r min( f, fMCpr, I, I f (XI) fMCpr, I) In Equation the first motion reliability factor a is a small value of the difference between the value x 1 of an upper pixel of the present field n and a spatially interpolated pixel value f2o and the difference between the value xl of a lower pixel of the present field n and the spatially interpolated pixel value f2D. The second motion reliability factor p is a small value of the difference between the value x_ 1 of the upper pixel and the value fMc of the motion-compensated pixel and the difference between the value xl of the lower pixel and the value fMC of the motion-compensated pixel. The third motion reliability factor yis a small value of the difference between the value x.

1 of the upper pixel and a pixel value fMcpe obtained by applying a motion vector of a previous block to a present block and the difference between the value xi of the lower pixel and the pixel value fMCpre.

The reliability of the motion vector V output from the motion estimator 200 is closely related to the structure and precision of the motion estimator 200. The motion vector V is likely to contain an error according to the characteristics of the motion estimator 200. The error in the motion vector V causes blocking artifact and judder to occur in an image and generates an eyesore image, thus lowering the quality of the image. The blocking artifact and judder are caused by motion compensation using an unreliable motion vector V and destroy the spatial relationship between a motion-compensated pixel value and the original feed pixel value of an output image. Based on the spatial relationship, the compensation reliability decision unit 203-2 determines the reliability of the motion vector using the motion reliability factor values a, P, and y calculated by the operation unit 203-1.

The reliability of the motion vector can be determined as follows: motion reliability, y 0, if (f8 a) e and (a y) 1, (otherwise) wherein E denotes a reference value (or a threshold) and the motion reliability W=O denotes a case where the movement of a pixel, which is to be interpolated, with respect to the motion vector is not reliable. For instance, the movement of the pixel is determined to be reliable except when the difference between the values a and 0 is above the reference value and the value y is larger than the value a. The motion reliability J=1 indicates where the movement of the pixel is reliable.

The adaptive motion compensator 204 includes the LPF 204-1 and the selector 204-2. The LPF 204-1 applies weights to the motion-compensated pixel value fMc output from the motion compensator 201 and the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel value f3D output from the spatio-temporal interpolator 202, and then low-pass filters these values. Here, the weights are determined by the degree of the movement of pixels between the adjacent two fields n-1 and n. The selector 204-2 selects an output of the LPF 204-1 when the motion reliability 4J=l and selects the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel value f3D output from the spatio-temporal interpolator 202 when the motion reliability LP=0, as expressed in the following equation: fMc+ kfD, ifD (7) f3D, (otherwise) A deinterlacing method according to the present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 8. First, the motion estimator 200 estimates the motion of a present pixel on a block-by-block basis (action 800). In detail, the motion estimator 200 divides a present field n into blocks of predetermined sizes and measures errors while moving the divided blocks within a predetermined search zone of a previous field n-1. Then, the motion estimator 200 detects a point of the previous field n-1 where a minimum error is obtained and estimates the detected point as a motion vector for a present block.

Next, the motion compensator 201 compensates for the motion of a pixel to be interpolated using the estimated motion vector (action 801). The motion compensator 201 adds the motion vector to a position value of the pixel, of the present field n, which is to be interpolated, and detects and outputs a pixel value corresponding to the pixel value combined with the motion vector from the previous field n-1.

The spatio-temporal interpolator 202 spatially and temporally compensates for the motion of the pixel to be interpolated and outputs the value of the pixel that is interpolated spatially and temporally (action 802). In detail, the spatio-temporal interpolator 202 obtains a value f2D of the pixel, which is spatially interpolated, using the values of upper and lower pixels adjacent to the pixel to be interpolated, and

S.

obtains a value ft of the pixel, which is temporally interpolated, using the values of pixels of fields adjacent to the pixel to be interpolated.

Next, the motion reliability analyzer 203 calculates first through third motion reliability factors a, A, and y so as to analyze the reliability of the value of the pixel, which is to be interpolated, with respect to the motion vector (action 803). As expressed in Equation the first motion reliability factor a is a small value of the difference between the value x.

1 of the upper pixel of the present field n and the value f2D of the spatially interpolated pixel and the difference between the value x, of the lower pixel of the present field n and the value f2D. The second motion reliability factor /3 is a small value of the difference between the value x.

1 of the upper pixel and the value fMC of the motion-compensated pixel and the difference between the value x, of the lower pixel and the value fMc. The third motion reliability factor y is a small value of the difference between the value x_ 1 of the upper pixel and the pixel value fMcp' obtained by applying the motion vector of a previous block to a present block and the difference between the value x, of the lower pixel and the value fMcp.

The motion reliability analyzer 203 determines the reliability of the motion of the pixel, which is to be interpolated, with respect to the motion vector using the calculated motion reliability factors a, and y (action 804). The motion reliability of the pixel, which is to be interpolated, with respect to the motion vector is determined to be reliable except when the difference between the first and second motion reliability factors a and 3 is above a reference value and the third motion reliability vector y is larger than the first motion reliability factor a. If the motion of the pixel, which is to be interpolated, with respect to the motion vector is not reliable, the motion reliability analyzer 203 outputs the motion reliability F=0. If the motion of the pixel is reliable, the motion reliability analyzer 203 outputs the motion reliability V=1.

Next, the adaptive motion compensator 204 selects an adaptive motion compensation value based on the motion reliability (action 805). Upon receiving the motion reliability L=1 from the motion reliability analyzer 203, the adaptive motion compensator 204 selects a value, a first adaptive motion compensation value, which is obtained by low-pass filtering the value fMC of the motion-compensated pixel, output from the motion compensator 201, to which a weight is applied and the value f3oof the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel, output from the spatio-temporal interpolator 202, to which a weight is I. 0 applied. Here, the weights are determined by the degree of the motion of the pixels between the adjacent two fields. When receiving the motion reliability Y=0 from the motion reliability analyzer 203, the adaptive motion compensator 204 selects the'value f 3 o of the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel output from the spatio-temporal interpolator 202.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the occurrences of blocking artefacts and judder during deinterlacing by compensating for the value of a pixel adaptively to the motion reliability of the pixel with respect to a motion vector.

While this' invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A deinterlacing apparatus including: a motion reliability analysis means that generates a plurality of motion reliability factors using an input image signal, the value of a pixel to which a motion vector is applied and whose motion is compensated, and the value of a pixel that is spatially and temporally interpolated; and analyzes the reliability of the motion of a pixel, which is to be interpolated, with respect to the motion vector using the motion reliability factors; and an adaptive motion compensation means that selects and outputs one of first and second adaptive motion compensation values based on the analyzed motion reliability, the first adaptive motion value being obtained by adding weights to the motion-compensated pixel value and the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel value and low-pass filtering the result of addition and the second adaptive motion value being the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel value.

2. The deinterlacing apparatus of claim 1, further including a motion compensation means that applies the motion vector to the pixel of the present block to be interpolated, detects a pixel value corresponding to the pixel value to which the motion vector is applied from a previous field, and outputs the detected pixel value as the value of a motion-compensated pixel of the present block, wherein the motion reliability analysis means receives a motion compensation value from the motion compensation means.

3. The deinterlacing apparatus of claim 1 or 2, further including a spatlo- temporal interpolation means that obtains the value of a spatially interpolated pixel using the values of upper and lower pixels of the present field, and the value of a temporally interpolated pixel using the values of pixels of adjacent fields corresponding to the pixel to be interpolated, wherein the motion reliability analysis means receives the spatially interpolated pixel values and the temporally interpolated pixel value from the spatio-temporal interpolation means. W:\narte\GABNODEL\IRN707559.doc 14

4. The deinterlacing apparatus of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the motion reliability analysis means includes: a motion reliability factor operation unit that generates a first motion reliability factor that is a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and the spatially interpolated pixel value and the difference between the lower pixel value and the spatially interpolated pixel value, a second motion reliability factor that is a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and the motion-compensated pixel value and the difference between the lower pixel value and the motion-compensated pixel value, and a third motion reliability factor that is a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and a pixel value obtained by applying a motion vector for a previous block to the present block and the difference between the lower pixel value and the obtained pixel value; and a motion reliability factor determination unit that outputs a motion reliability signal to the adaptive motion compensation means, except when the difference between the first and second motion reliability factors is above a reference value and the third motion reliability factor is larger than the first motion reliability factor.

The deinterlacing apparatus of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the weights are determined by the degree of the motion of pixels between the adjacent two fields.

6. The deinterlacing apparatus of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the adaptive motion compensation means selects and outputs the first adaptive motion compensation value when the motion reliability signal is received from the motion reliability analysis means, and selects and outputs the second adaptive motion compensation value when the motion reliability signal is not received from the motion reliability analysis means.

7. A deinterlacing method including: generating a plurality of motion reliability factors using an input image signal, the value of a pixel to which a motion vector is applied and whose W:Varde\GABNODEL\IRN707559.doc motion is compensated, and the value of a pixel that is spatially and temporally interpolated; analyzing the reliability of the motion of a pixel, which is to be interpolated, with respect to the motion vector, using the motion reliability factors; and outputting a first adaptive motion compensation value or a second adaptive motion compensation value, the first adaptive motion compensation value being obtained by applying weights to the motion-compensated pixel value and the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel value based on the result of analysis and low-pass filtering the results of application, and the second adaptive motion compensation value being the spatially and temporally interpolated pixel value.

8. The interlacing method of claim 7, further includes obtaining a temporally interpolated pixel value using upper and lower pixel values of a present field, and a temporally interpolated pixel value using the values of pixels of adjacent fields that correspond to the pixel to be interpolated.

9. The interlacing method of claim 7 or 8, further includes obtaining the value of the motion-compensated pixel of a present block by applying the motion vector to the pixel of the present block which is to be interpolated and detecting a pixel value corresponding to the motion-compensated pixel value from a previous field.

10. The interlacing method of claim 9, wherein during step a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and the spatially interpolated pixel value and the difference between the lower pixel value and the spatially interpolated pixel value is generated as a first motion reliability factor, a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and the motion- compensated pixel value and the difference between the lower pixel value and the motion-compensated pixel value is generated as a second motion reliability factor, and a small value of the difference between the upper pixel value and a pixel value obtained by applying a motion vector for a previous block to the W:Vmarie\GABNODEL\[RN707559.doc present block and the difference between the lower pixel value and the obtained pixel value is generated as a third motion reliability factor.

11. The interlacing method of claim 10, wherein during step a motion reliability signal is output as the result of analyzing motion reliability except when the difference between the first and second motion reliability factors is above a reference value and the third motion reliability factor is larger than the first motion reliability factor.

12. The interlacing method of claim 9, 10 or 11, wherein during step the weights are determined by the degree of the motion of pixels between the adjacent two fields.

13. The interlacing method of claim 11 or 12, wherein step includes: selecting and outputting the first adaptive motion compensation value when the motion reliability signal is received; and selecting and outputting the second adaptive motion compensation value when the motion reliability signal is not received.

14. A deinterlacing apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 2 to 8 of the accompanying drawings. A deinterlacing method substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 2 to 8 of the accompanying drawings. DATED: 25 November, 2003 PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Attorneys for: SANSUNG ELECTRONICS CO. LTD. W:mare\GABNODEL\IRN707559.doc