JP2008304905A - Image quality adjustment device, method and program for image quality adjustment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image quality adjustment device capable of generating an image of the highest quality for an input image. <P>SOLUTION: The image quality adjustment device 1 which adjusts image quality of the input image by applying a plurality of different image quality settings to the input image includes: a management unit 2 which obtains and manages pieces of order information 102 each of which indicates an order for applying the plurality of image quality settings, and evaluation values 103 each of which corresponds to each piece of the order information and represents adequacy of the order; a selection unit 3 which selects a piece of optimal order information having a maximum evaluation value from among the pieces of order information; and an adjustment unit 4 which adjusts the image quality of the input image based on the optimal order information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image quality adjustment apparatus, an image quality adjustment method, and a program for executing image quality adjustment processing by applying a plurality of different image quality settings to an input image.

  In recent years, liquid crystal televisions and plasma televisions have been increased in screen size and definition, and the demand for devices capable of reproducing higher quality images has been increasing year by year.

  In such a situation, the video playback apparatus is used for video distribution using the Internet, BD (Blu-ray Disc), HD-DVD in addition to conventional video playback using VHS (Video Home System), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), and the like. Various videos such as high-definition videos such as (High-Definition Digital Versatile Disc) have been reproduced. At this time, a predetermined image quality adjustment process is often performed on the input image using an image quality adjustment device provided in the video reproduction device.

  In this case, the user sets parameters related to various image quality so that a higher quality image can be obtained. As parameters relating to various image quality, there are enormous amounts of parameters such as brightness, saturation, color balance, contrast, gamma, sharpness, UCR (Under Color Removal) processing, screen line number, noise removal processing and the like. The image quality adjustment apparatus outputs the adjusted image by sequentially applying each image quality setting to the input image based on each set parameter. Here, the image quality setting is to change the image quality of the input image in accordance with the set parameters.

The above parameter setting is complicated and troublesome for the average user because the required work is very difficult to understand. Therefore, a technique shown in Patent Document 1 has been proposed. The image quality adjustment apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 1 automatically sets each parameter, and outputs an adjusted image by performing image quality setting based on each parameter. Thereby, it is not necessary for the user to perform complicated parameter setting, and a high-quality image can be automatically obtained.
JP 2006-234869 A

  However, when performing an image quality adjustment process for executing a plurality of different image quality settings, if the image quality setting includes an irreversible process, the image quality of the final adjusted output image differs depending on the execution order of the image quality settings. For example, the image quality of an output image differs between an adjusted image obtained by performing noise removal processing after changing the contrast and an adjusted image obtained by changing contrast after performing noise removal processing. In the conventional image quality adjustment apparatus, since the application order of image quality settings for applying parameters is fixed, there is a problem that the image after adjustment is not always the optimum image quality for the input image.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an image quality adjustment apparatus and an image quality adjustment method capable of obtaining an image with the highest image quality for an input image.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image quality adjustment apparatus according to the present invention is an image quality adjustment apparatus that adjusts the image quality of an input image by applying a plurality of different image quality settings to the input image. Management means for acquiring and managing a plurality of order information indicating the application order of image quality settings and an evaluation value corresponding to the order information and indicating the appropriateness of the order, and the evaluation value is the maximum from the plurality of order information Selecting means for selecting the optimal order information, and adjusting means for adjusting the image quality of the input image based on the optimal order information.

  With this configuration, it is possible to perform image quality adjustment processing in an optimal order and obtain an image with the highest image quality for an input image.

  Further, the selection means further executes an order selection process for selecting order information not associated with the evaluation value before selecting the optimum order information, and the adjustment means performs the selected order. The image quality of the input image is adjusted based on information, and the image quality adjustment apparatus further includes an evaluation unit that evaluates an adjusted image obtained by adjusting the image quality by the adjustment unit, and the management unit includes: An evaluation result by the evaluation unit may be acquired and managed as the evaluation value. The selection means may further execute the order selection process until evaluation values corresponding to all the order information are obtained.

  With this configuration, the evaluation value of the input image can be used for determining the optimum order, and the image with the highest image quality can be obtained.

  The selection unit may further execute the order selection process until an evaluation value corresponding to a predetermined number of order information is obtained.

  With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing related to image quality adjustment processing.

  The image quality adjustment apparatus further includes a cancellation instruction unit that outputs a cancellation instruction indicating cancellation of the order selection process to the selection unit, and the selection unit cancels the order selection process based on the cancellation instruction. Then, the optimal order information may be selected from the order information obtained at the time of the cancellation.

  With this configuration, the image quality adjustment process can be stopped for an image for which improvement in image quality is not required, and the processing amount related to the image quality adjustment process can be reduced.

  Further, the stop instruction unit may output the stop instruction to the selection unit based on software or an external terminal setting.

  With this configuration, the stop instruction can be determined by setting from software or an external terminal, and the amount of processing related to image quality adjustment processing can be reduced.

  The cancellation instruction means may output the cancellation instruction to the selection means when the evaluation value of the adjusted image is input from the evaluation means and the evaluation value exceeds a predetermined threshold value. Good. In addition, the stop instruction unit receives the evaluation value of the adjusted image from the evaluation unit, and a threshold between which the difference between the evaluation value and one of the evaluation values already stored in the management unit is determined in advance When the value exceeds the value, the stop instruction may be output to the selection unit.

  With this configuration, the cancellation instruction can be determined based on the evaluation value of the input image, and the adjustment process can be stopped when an image adjusted to a sufficiently satisfactory image quality is obtained. Therefore, the processing amount related to the image quality adjustment process can be reduced.

  The stop instruction unit may output the stop instruction to the selection unit based on decoder input information input from a decoder. Further, the decoder input information may be any one of special reproduction information, chapter start information, and code amount information.

  With this configuration, it is possible to determine a stop instruction based on decoder input information input from the decoder, and it is possible to reduce the amount of processing related to unnecessary image quality adjustment processing.

  The evaluation unit may evaluate a reduced image obtained by reducing the adjusted image. The evaluation unit may evaluate a cut-out image obtained by cutting out a part of the adjusted image.

  With this configuration, the amount of image data to be evaluated can be reduced, and the amount of processing related to image quality evaluation can be reduced.

  Further, the evaluation unit may perform evaluation by switching between a first evaluation method and a second evaluation method having different evaluation accuracy.

  With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing related to image quality evaluation.

  Further, the management means stores a selection flag indicating whether or not the order information is a selection target by the selection means for each order information, and the selection means selects the order information based on the selection flag. May be.

  With this configuration, by specifying the order information to be selected, unnecessary selection processing can be omitted, and the amount of processing related to image quality adjustment processing can be reduced.

  The input image includes a first input image and a second input image, and the image quality adjustment device further includes at least one of an evaluation value of the first input image and the second input image. A similarity determination unit that determines similarity with an evaluation value and outputs order-combined information indicating that the order information can be combined when similarity is recognized to the management unit, the management unit includes: When the combined order information is input, the evaluation value of the first input image may be associated as the evaluation value of the second input image. The input image includes a first input image and a second input image, and the image quality adjustment device further includes at least one of an evaluation value of the first input image and the second input image. A similarity determination unit that determines similarity with an evaluation value and outputs order combination information indicating that the order information can be combined when similarity is recognized to the selection unit, the selection unit includes: When adjusting the image quality of the second input image based on the combined order information, the optimal order information for the first input image may be selected.

  With this configuration, when similarities are detected in the image quality evaluation values of a plurality of input images, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing related to the image quality adjustment processing by also using the order information.

  In addition, the image quality adjustment apparatus further compares the sizes of two input images, determines a small-sized image as the first input image, and determines a large-sized image as the second input image. A comparison unit; and the selection unit further executes the order selection process on the first input image, and does not execute the order selection process on the second input image. Also good. The picture quality adjusting apparatus further detects a picture-in-picture image, determines a picture-in-picture inner image as the first input image, and determines a picture-in-picture outer image as the second input image. An in-picture determination unit, and the selection unit further executes the order selection process on the first input image, and executes the order selection process on the second input image. It does not have to be.

  With this configuration, image quality adjustment can be preferentially performed on an image with a smaller amount of data, and the amount of processing related to image quality adjustment can be reduced.

  The video reproduction apparatus of the present invention is a video reproduction apparatus that includes the image quality adjustment device and a recording device that records image data, and reproduces an image recorded in the recording device, wherein the image quality adjustment device includes: Adjusting the image quality of the image being played back, and the video playback device includes a data storage means for storing a flag indicating that the optimal order information at the time of previous playback is valid or invalid, and the optimal order information, and the selection means Write information holding means for holding the optimal order information to be notified, and when the content held by the write information holding means reaches a predetermined capacity, the write information holding means is placed at a predetermined position in the data storage means. Write control means for controlling to record the held contents and the flag.

  In addition, the video reproduction apparatus further reads out the flag from the data storage unit at the time of reproduction this time, determines whether the flag is valid or invalid, and a determination result by the flag determination unit And reading control means for reading out the optimum order information from the data storage means when the flag is valid. The data storage means is included in the recording device and stores the flag and the optimum order information in association with the reproduced image, and the flag determination means is reproducing during reproduction of a new image. The flag corresponding to the image may be read to determine whether the flag is valid or invalid.

  With this configuration, the input image whose image quality adjustment order has already been determined and the optimal order information are stored in association with each other, and the next image is output by performing image quality adjustment processing using the stored optimal order information at the next image output time. The amount of processing related to image quality adjustment processing during output can be reduced.

  Further, the data storage means further stores synchronization information indicating that the optimum order information is synchronized with the image, and the read control means further inputs to the image quality adjustment device based on the synchronization information. The optimal order information may be read out in synchronization with the input image to be processed.

  With this configuration, the input image with the image quality adjustment order determined and the optimum order information are stored in the recording device, and the image quality adjustment process is performed using the corresponding optimum order information while synchronizing with the image at the next image output. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the processing amount related to the image quality adjustment processing at the next image output.

  In addition, the image quality adjustment apparatus of the present invention can be realized not only as an apparatus, but also as an image quality adjustment method using processing means constituting the apparatus as steps, or as a program for causing a computer to execute the steps, It can be realized as a recording medium such as a computer-readable CD-ROM in which the program is recorded.

  According to the image quality adjustment apparatus of the present invention, an image with the highest image quality can be obtained with respect to an input image.

  Hereinafter, an image quality adjustment apparatus of the present invention will be described based on embodiments with reference to the drawings. In addition, since the component which attached | subjected the same code | symbol in embodiment performs the same operation | movement, description may be abbreviate | omitted again.

(Embodiment 1)
The image quality adjustment apparatus according to the present embodiment is an image quality adjustment apparatus that can perform image quality adjustment processing on an input image in an optimal order and obtain an image with the highest image quality.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image quality adjustment apparatus in the present embodiment. The image quality adjustment apparatus 1 in FIG. 1 includes a management unit 2, a selection unit 3, an adjustment unit 4, a parameter holding unit 5, an evaluation unit 6, an input buffer 7, and an output buffer 8.

  The management unit 2 acquires and manages the management information 101.

  The management information 101 is information in which a plurality of pieces of order information 102 are associated with an evaluation value 103 of adjusted image data obtained by performing image quality adjustment based on each order information. An example of the management information 101 is shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.

  The order information 102 is information indicating the order in which a plurality of image quality settings are applied. Here, the image quality setting is to change the image quality of the input image in accordance with the set parameters. When an irreversible image quality setting is included in a plurality of image quality settings to be applied to an image, if the order of the image quality settings is different, the adjusted image data obtained in each order is different.

  The evaluation value 103 is obtained by evaluating the adjusted image data. Using evaluation items such as graininess, sharpness, gradation characteristics, and color reproducibility, the total image quality felt by humans is expressed by human senses. It is an evaluation value that is well correlated. Details are described in Patent Document 1.

  When the evaluation value 103 is obtained for all of the plurality of pieces of order information 102 in the management information 101, the selection unit 3 selects the optimum order information that maximizes the evaluation value. If there is order information in which the evaluation value 103 is not obtained in the management information 101, one of the order information for which no evaluation value is obtained is selected.

  The adjustment unit 4 acquires the parameter 104 necessary for image quality setting from the parameter holding unit 5 based on the order information 102 selected by the selection unit 3, and performs image quality adjustment on the original image data 100 from the input buffer 7. To do. In the present embodiment, the image quality adjustment is to execute a plurality of image quality settings in a predetermined order.

  The parameter holding unit 5 holds a plurality of parameters 104 corresponding to a plurality of different image quality settings. Here, the parameter 104 is automatically set by a user operation or the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1.

  Examples of the parameter 104 include parameters corresponding to various settings such as brightness, saturation, color balance, contrast, gamma, sharpness, UCR processing, number of screen lines, and noise removal processing.

  The evaluation unit 6 evaluates the image quality of the adjusted image data 105 obtained by performing the image quality adjustment by the adjustment unit 4. Then, the evaluation value 103 obtained by evaluating the image quality is output to the management unit 2.

  The input buffer 7 stores original image data 100 acquired from the recording device 9.

  The output buffer 8 stores the adjusted image data 105 output from the adjustment unit 4.

  The management unit 2, the selection unit 3, the adjustment unit 4, and the evaluation unit 6 are usually configured from an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), a memory, and the like. The processing procedure of each unit is realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM (Read Only Memory). Each unit may be configured by hardware (a dedicated circuit).

  The parameter holding unit 5, the input buffer 7, and the output buffer 8 are preferably non-volatile recording media, but can also be realized by volatile recording media.

  Here, an example is shown in which the evaluation value 103 of the adjusted image data 105 is different when the order of the plurality of image quality settings executed by the adjustment unit 4 is different.

  For example, the order information 102 includes noise removal processing and contour enhancement processing, and the image input from the input buffer 7 has a clear contour and includes noise to be removed. State. An image having a clear outline and including noise to be removed is, for example, an animation image or CG (Computer Graphics).

  At this time, when the contour enhancement process is executed before the noise removal process, there is a possibility that noise is erroneously detected when the contour line that is the target of the contour enhancement is detected. Therefore, by detecting noise as a contour line and emphasizing the detected noise, the image quality may be deteriorated. That is, the evaluation value 103 is lowered.

  Conversely, when the noise removal process is executed before the contour emphasis process, the noise is not emphasized because the noise has already been removed when the contour line is detected. Therefore, the image quality is improved and the evaluation value 103 is increased.

  Note that these are merely examples, and for example, when it is difficult to discriminate between an image and noise as in a landscape photograph, the evaluation value 103 is almost the same regardless of the image quality setting order.

  As described above, the evaluation value 103 may be different depending on the image quality setting order. According to the image quality adjustment apparatus of the present embodiment, an image with the highest image quality can be obtained by selecting an optimal order of image quality settings.

  Next, the operation of the image quality adjustment apparatus in the present embodiment will be described along the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The selection unit 3 determines whether or not the evaluation value 103 is obtained for the order information in the management information 101 stored in the management unit 2 (S301).

  When the evaluation values 103 are not obtained for all the order information 102 (No in S301), the selection unit 3 performs an order selection process (S302). The order selection process selects one piece of order information 102 for which the evaluation value 103 is not obtained from the management information 101 stored in the management unit 2, and outputs the selected order information 102 to the adjustment unit 4. That is. The adjustment unit 4 acquires the parameter 104 from the parameter holding unit 5 based on the order information 102. Then, image quality adjustment is performed on the original image data 100 input from the recording device 9 via the input buffer 7, and the adjusted image data 105 is stored in the output buffer 8 (S303).

  The evaluation unit 6 acquires the adjusted image data 105 from the output buffer 8 via the input buffer 7, evaluates the image quality of the acquired adjusted image data 105, and outputs the evaluation value 103 to the management unit 2 (S304). .

  The image quality evaluation method is as follows. First, image quality is evaluated for each property using an evaluation function for evaluating items such as graininess, sharpness, gradation characteristics, and color reproducibility. Next, by using the evaluation result for each item, an evaluation value 103 that represents the overall image quality felt by humans with a good correlation with human senses is calculated. Details are described in Patent Document 1.

  The management unit 2 stores management information 101 in which the order information 102 is associated with the evaluation value 103 input from the evaluation unit 6 (S305). When the evaluation value 103 is newly added to the management information 101, the process returns to the determination process of the presence / absence of the evaluation value (S301), and the management information is stored from the order selection process (S302) until all the evaluation values 103 are obtained. The processes up to the process (S305) are repeated.

  When the evaluation value 103 is obtained for all the order information 102 (Yes in S301), the selection unit 3 selects the optimum order information that maximizes the evaluation value from the obtained evaluation values 103. The selected optimal order information is output to the adjustment unit 4 (S306). Here, if there is a plurality of pieces of optimum order information, one of them is selected. Then, the adjustment unit 4 performs image quality adjustment based on the optimal order information (S307), and outputs the adjusted image data 105 to the image output device 10 via the output buffer 8 (S308).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the image quality adjustment processing can be performed in the order in which the highest quality image is obtained for the input image.

  In this embodiment, the order selection process, the image quality adjustment process, and the evaluation process are performed until evaluation values are obtained for all the order information. However, the order selection process, the image quality adjustment process, and the evaluation process are not necessarily performed. Order information to be selected in advance may be limited by setting.

  For example, a selection flag 107 may be stored in the management information 101 in association with the order information 102 in order to limit the order information to be selected.

  The selection flag 107 is a flag indicating whether or not the corresponding order information is a selection target of the selection unit 3. As shown in FIG. 2B, only the order information for which the selection flag is valid (circled in the figure) is the target of the order selection process by the selection unit 3.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the evaluation unit 6 may be configured to evaluate the image quality of the original image data 100 and store the evaluation value 103 while evaluating the image quality of the adjusted image data 105.

  According to this configuration, the evaluation value of the original image data can be stored, and it can be calculated how high the image quality of the adjusted image data is compared with the original image data.

(Embodiment 2)
The image quality adjustment apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured to limit the order selection process shown in the first embodiment to the minimum necessary and to reduce the processing amount. In other words, the image quality adjustment apparatus according to the first embodiment executes the image quality adjustment process until evaluation values corresponding to all the order information to be subjected to the order selection process are obtained. The adjustment device can obtain a high-quality image without necessarily obtaining all evaluation values.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the image quality adjustment apparatus 1a in the present embodiment. The configuration of FIG. 4 is different from the configuration of FIG. 1 in that a stop instruction unit 20 and a determination unit 21 are further added. Hereinafter, description of the same points will be omitted, and different points will be mainly described.

  The cancellation instruction unit 20 outputs a cancellation instruction 110 for instructing cancellation of the process of selecting the order information 102 from the management information 101 to the selection unit 3. The cancellation instruction 110 is created based on the determination information 111 indicating whether cancellation is possible.

  The determination unit 21 includes a software setting acquisition unit 22 as illustrated in FIG. 5A. The software setting acquisition unit 22 acquires setting data 112 indicating whether cancellation is possible from software, and outputs determination information 111 to the cancellation instruction unit 20 based on the setting data 112.

  When the cancel instruction 110 is input, the selection unit 3 cancels the selection of the order information 102, and among the order information whose evaluation values are obtained at the time of the stop, the order information having the maximum evaluation value is selected as the optimum order. The information is selected and output to the adjustment unit 4.

  The stop instruction unit 20 and the determination unit 21 are usually configured by an MPU, a memory, and the like. The processing procedure of each unit is realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. Each unit may be configured by hardware (a dedicated circuit).

  Next, the operation of the image quality adjustment apparatus in this embodiment will be described.

  Before or during the operation of the image quality adjustment apparatus 1a, the determination unit 21 outputs determination information 111 based on the setting from the software to the stop instruction unit 20. The cancellation instruction unit 20 outputs a cancellation instruction 110 to the selection unit 3 based on the determination information 111.

  If the cancel instruction 110 has already been input to the selection unit 3 when the image quality adjustment process is started, the image quality adjustment apparatus 1a according to the present invention stores management information from the evaluation value presence / absence determination process (S301) in FIG. The processing from the optimal order information selection processing (S306) to the adjusted image output processing (S308) is executed without performing the processing up to processing (S305). In the selection process of the optimal order information (S306), the selection unit 3 selects any one of the plurality of pieces of order information when no evaluation value is obtained and the optimum order information cannot be selected. select.

  If the cancel instruction 110 is input while the image quality adjustment apparatus 1a is performing the image quality adjustment processing (S301 to S305) according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the selection unit 3 cancels the selection of the order information 102. Then, the order information having the maximum evaluation value is selected as the optimum order information from the order information for which the evaluation value is obtained at the time of stopping, and is output to the adjustment unit 4. Here, if there is a plurality of pieces of optimum order information, one of them is selected. If there is no optimal order information, one of the order information 102 in the management information 101 is selected.

  The adjustment unit 4 performs image quality adjustment on the original image data 100 based on the optimal order information, and outputs the adjusted image data 105 to the image output device 10 via the output buffer 8.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, for the original image data for which improvement in image quality is not required, unnecessary processing related to image quality adjustment is performed by outputting the stop instruction 110 to the selection unit 3 by software setting. Can be reduced.

  Note that the above software is programmed to determine the determination information 111 indicating whether cancellation is possible under various conditions. For example, it may be set to stop when the time taken for image quality adjustment exceeds a certain time.

  Further, as illustrated in FIG. 5B, the determination unit 21 may include an external terminal setting acquisition unit 23. The external terminal setting acquisition unit 23 acquires the external terminal setting level 113, and outputs the determination information 111 to the cancellation instruction unit 20 based on the setting level 113.

  According to this configuration, the order selection process is stopped based on the setting of the external terminal, not the setting by software, and unnecessary processing related to image quality adjustment can be reduced.

  5C to 5E are diagrams illustrating specific examples of the determination unit 21. The determination unit 21 may be configured to determine the determination information 111 based on decoder input information input from the external decoding device 24. Here, the decoding device 24 is, for example, a device for decoding the encoded image data in the recording device 9 and outputting it to the image quality adjusting device 1a.

  The decoder input information includes special reproduction information 114, chapter start information 115, code amount information 116, and the like. Here, the special reproduction information 114 is information indicating fast-forward reproduction, rewind reproduction, slow reproduction, and the like. The chapter start information 115 is information indicating the start of a chapter. The code amount information 116 is information indicating the code amount of the image data.

  As in the example illustrated in FIG. 5C, the determination unit 21 may include a special reproduction information detection unit 25. The special reproduction information detection unit 25 detects special reproduction information 114 in the decoder input information input from the decoding device 24. The determination unit 21 determines the determination information 111 based on the detected special reproduction information 114. Based on the determination information 111 determined by the special reproduction information 114, the cancellation instruction unit 20 outputs a cancellation instruction 110 to the selection unit 3. According to this configuration, for example, at the time of fast-forward playback or rewind playback, the cancellation instruction unit 20 can output a cancellation instruction 110 for canceling the image quality adjustment of the present embodiment to the selection unit 3.

  As in the example illustrated in FIG. 5D, the determination unit 21 may include a chapter start information detection unit 26. The chapter start information detection unit 26 detects chapter start information 115 in the decoder input information input from the decoding device 24. The determination unit 21 determines the determination information 111 based on the detected chapter start information 115. Based on the determination information 111 determined by the chapter start information 115, the cancellation instruction unit 20 outputs a cancellation instruction 110 to the selection unit 3. According to this configuration, for example, when an image of a designated chapter is input, the cancellation instruction unit 20 can output a cancellation instruction 110 for canceling the image quality adjustment processing of the present invention to the selection unit 3.

  As in the example illustrated in FIG. 5E, the determination unit 21 may include a code amount information detection unit 27. The code amount information detection unit 27 detects the code amount information 116 in the decoder input information input from the decoding device 24. The determination unit 21 determines the determination information 111 based on the detected code amount information 116. Based on the determination information 111 determined by the code amount information 116, the cancellation instruction unit 20 outputs the cancellation instruction 110 to the selection unit 3. According to this configuration, for example, when an image having a certain code amount or more is input, the cancellation instruction unit 20 can output a cancellation instruction 110 for canceling the image quality adjustment processing of the present invention to the selection unit 3. .

  According to these configurations, it is possible to set to stop the image quality adjustment process when it is not necessary to adjust the image quality of the input image, and the processing amount related to the image quality adjustment process can be reduced.

(Embodiment 3)
The image quality adjustment apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured to determine the stop instruction shown in the second embodiment based on the obtained evaluation value.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the image quality adjustment apparatus 1b in the present embodiment. The configuration of FIG. 6 differs from the configuration of FIG. 4 in that a determination unit 21 a is added instead of the determination unit 21. Hereinafter, description of the same points will be omitted, and different points will be mainly described.

  The determination unit 21 a receives the evaluation value 103 from the evaluation unit 6 and outputs the determination information 111 to the cancellation instruction unit 20. For example, when an evaluation value exceeding the threshold is obtained, the determination unit 21 a outputs the determination information 111 to the stop instruction unit 20. The cancellation instruction unit 20 outputs a cancellation instruction 110 to the selection unit 3 based on the determination information 111. The selection unit 3 selects, as the optimal order information, the order information having the maximum evaluation value from the order information for which the evaluation value is obtained when the cancellation instruction is input, and outputs the selected order information to the adjustment unit 4. The adjustment unit 4 adjusts the image quality of the input image based on the input optimal order information.

  According to this configuration, the image quality adjustment process can be terminated when a sufficiently satisfactory evaluation value is obtained, and the processing amount related to the image quality adjustment process can be reduced.

  Further, the determination unit 21a calculates a difference (increase) between the evaluation value of the adjusted image data based on the first selected order information and the evaluation value of the adjusted image data different from the evaluation value, and the difference exceeding the set threshold value If (increase) is obtained, the image quality adjustment process may be terminated. Note that a difference (increase) between the evaluation value of the original image data and the evaluation value of the adjusted image data may be calculated.

  According to this configuration, the image quality adjustment process can be terminated when the image quality improvement of a certain level or more is obtained, and the processing amount related to the image quality adjustment process can be reduced.

  If the evaluation value of the adjusted image data adjusted with different order information is substantially constant, the cancellation instruction unit 20 regards that the evaluation value of the adjusted image data does not change regardless of which order information is used. The stop instruction 110 may be output to the selection unit 3.

(Embodiment 4)
The image quality adjustment apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured to determine the stop instruction shown in the second embodiment based on the obtained evaluation value.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the image quality adjustment apparatus 1c in the present embodiment. The configuration of FIG. 7 differs from the configuration of FIG. 4 in that an evaluation control unit 28 is added instead of the stop instruction unit 20 and a determination unit 21b is added instead of the determination unit 21. Hereinafter, description of the same points will be omitted, and different points will be mainly described.

  The determination unit 21b outputs determination information 111b for determining an evaluation target and an evaluation method to the evaluation control unit 28. The evaluation control unit 28 controls the evaluation target and the evaluation method based on the determination information 111b input from the determination unit 21b. The decision information 111b includes information for instructing image clipping, information for instructing image reduction, information for instructing switching of an evaluation method, and the like.

  8A to 8C are diagrams illustrating specific examples of the evaluation control unit 28.

  As in the example illustrated in FIG. 8A, the evaluation control unit 28 includes an image cutout unit 29. The image cutout unit 29 cuts out a part of the adjusted image data 105 acquired from the output buffer 8 based on the determination information 111b including information instructing image cutout, and outputs the cut out image data to the evaluation unit 6. . The evaluation unit 6 evaluates the cutout image data 117 cut out by the image cutout unit 29.

  According to this configuration, the amount of data of the cut-out image is smaller than that of the original image, so that the processing amount related to the image quality adjustment process can be reduced.

  Further, as in the example illustrated in FIG. 8B, the evaluation control unit 28 may include an image reduction unit 30. The image reduction unit 30 reduces the adjusted image data 105 acquired from the output buffer 8 based on the determination information 111 b including information for instructing image reduction, and outputs the reduced image data to the evaluation unit 6. The evaluation unit 6 evaluates the reduced image data 118 reduced by the image reduction unit 30.

  According to this configuration, since the data amount of the reduced image is smaller than that of the original image, the processing amount related to the image quality adjustment process can be reduced.

  In addition, as in the example illustrated in FIG. 8C, the evaluation control unit 28 includes an evaluation method switching unit 31. The evaluation method switching unit 31 outputs the evaluation method switching information 119 to the evaluation unit 6 based on the determination information 111b including information instructing switching of the evaluation method. The evaluation unit 6 switches the evaluation method based on the evaluation method switching information 119 and evaluates the target adjusted image. At this time, the evaluation unit 6 holds at least two evaluation methods having different accuracies.

  According to this configuration, the processing amount related to the image quality evaluation process can be reduced by switching to a less accurate evaluation method.

  The determination unit 21b determines whether or not to perform image cutting, image reduction, and switching of the evaluation method according to the data amount of the input image. Note that the determination unit 21b may determine whether to perform the image quality adjustment according to the time required for image quality adjustment. Further, the determination unit 21b may be configured to determine based on settings of external terminals and software.

  Further, the determination units 21 and 21b may be provided, and both the stop instruction unit 20 and the evaluation control unit 28 may be controlled by the determination information 111 and 111b.

(Embodiment 5)
The image quality adjustment apparatus according to the present embodiment determines the similarity of a plurality of images when image quality adjustment is performed simultaneously, such as in the case of two-screen display, and when there is similarity, the order information of one is adjusted for the other image quality. It is a configuration that reduces the amount of processing by using it sometimes.

  FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the image quality adjustment apparatus 1d in the present embodiment. The configuration of FIG. 9 is different from the configuration of FIG. 1 in that a similarity determination unit 40 is further added and a plurality of input images are provided. Hereinafter, description of the same points will be omitted, and different points will be mainly described.

  The similarity determination unit 40 determines the similarity of each input image when performing image quality adjustment of two original image data simultaneously, such as when displaying two screens, and if it is determined that there is similarity, The combined order information 122 indicating that the optimum order information for the input image can also be used for the other input image is output to the management unit 2. Here, the evaluation value for the first image data and the evaluation value for the second image data are compared to determine similarity.

  Regarding the determination of similarity, for example, using an image quality evaluation method as shown in Patent Document 1, when evaluation results by evaluation items such as graininess, sharpness, gradation characteristics, and color reproducibility are close, It is determined that the original image data has similarity. The evaluation results are close if the difference between the evaluation results for each evaluation item is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value.

  The similarity determination unit 40 is usually composed of an MPU, a memory, and the like. The processing procedure of each unit is realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. Each unit may be configured by hardware (a dedicated circuit).

  Next, the operation of the image quality adjustment apparatus 1d in the present embodiment will be described along the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The image quality adjustment apparatus 1d performs processes from the order selection process (S302) to the management information storage process (305) shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 for the first original image data 120 and the second original image data 121, respectively. This is performed (S901). Thereby, the management unit 2 obtains an evaluation value of each image.

  Next, the similarity determination unit 40 compares the two evaluation values obtained in the above process (S901), and determines the similarity between the two original image data (S902). If it is determined that there is similarity (Yes in S902), the combined order information 122 is output to the management unit 2.

  Furthermore, the image quality adjustment apparatus 1d executes image quality adjustment processing (S301 to S308) shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 on the first original image data 120 (S903). As a result, the evaluation value and the optimal order information for the first original image data 120 are stored in the management unit 2 (S904). Here, when the order combination information 122 is input, the management unit 2 uses the first original image data 120 obtained in the image quality adjustment process (S903) as the first original image data 120 and the evaluation value 103. Management is performed by regarding the evaluation value not only for the image data 120 but also for the second original image data 121. Therefore, the optimal order information for the second original image data 121 is the same as the optimal order information for the first original image data 120.

  The selection unit 3 selects the order information regarded as the optimum order information of the second original image data 121 by the management unit 2 and outputs the selected order information to the adjustment unit 4. The adjustment unit 4 adjusts the image quality of the second original image data 121 based on the input optimum order information, and outputs the adjusted image data 105 to the image output device 10 via the output buffer 8. (S905).

  If it is determined that there is no similarity (No in S902), the image quality adjustment processing (S301 to S308) shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is performed on the first original image data 120 and the second original image data 121. Then, the adjusted image data 105 is output (S906).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when image quality adjustment processing is performed simultaneously on two original image data such as two-screen display, when it is determined that each original image data is similar, the first original image The optimum order information for the data is obtained, and the optimum order information is also used for the second original image data. That is, it is not necessary to perform the order selection process described in the first embodiment for the second original image data, and the processing amount can be reduced.

  Note that the selection unit 3 may receive the combined order information 122. In this case, the selection unit 3 selects the optimum order information for the first original image data 120 obtained in the image quality adjustment process (S903) as the optimum order information for the second original image data 121.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 11, the image quality adjustment apparatus 1d of the present embodiment may be configured to include a picture-in-picture determination unit 41. Here, the picture-in-picture is an image in which a small screen (child screen) is inserted into a normal screen (parent screen). An image displayed on the parent screen is an outer image, and an image displayed on the child screen is an inner image.

  The picture-in-picture determination unit 41 detects the picture-in-picture image information 124 from the decoding device 42 and outputs the inner image priority information 123 to the management unit 2 and the similarity determination unit 40.

  The similarity determination unit 40 to which the inner image priority information 123 has been input recognizes the inner image as the first input image and the outer image as the second input image. When the processing of FIG. 10 is performed, the management unit 2 manages the evaluation value so that the image quality adjustment processing is performed with priority given to the inner image as the first input image.

  As described above, the selection unit 3 performs the order selection process on the inner image and does not perform the order selection process on the outer image via the management unit 2. For the outer image, image quality adjustment is performed using the optimal order information of the inner image. If it is determined that there is similarity between the inner image and the outer image, an adjusted image with high image quality can be obtained for the outer image.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 12, the image quality adjustment apparatus 1 d of the present embodiment may be configured to include a size comparison unit 43.

  The size comparison unit 43 compares the image sizes of the first original image data 120 and the second original image data 121 from the input buffer 7 and outputs the small size image priority information 125 to the management unit 2 and the similarity determination unit 40. To do.

  The similarity determination unit 40 to which the small size image priority information 125 is input recognizes the small size image as the first input image and the large size image as the second input image. When the processing of FIG. 10 is performed, the management unit 2 manages the evaluation value so that the image quality adjustment processing is performed preferentially using the small-size image as the first input image.

  As described above, the selection unit 3 performs the order selection process on the small size image and does not perform the order selection process on the large size image. For a large image, image quality adjustment is performed using the optimal order information of the small image. If it is determined that there is a similarity between the small size image and the large size image, an adjusted image with high image quality can be obtained even for the large size image.

  According to these configurations, when it is determined that an image having a small size is given priority and similar, it is not necessary to perform an order selection process for an image having a large size, and the required processing amount is reduced. .

  Note that the similarity determination unit 40 may determine the similarity between the first original image data 120 and the second original image data 121 instead of determining the similarity of the evaluation values.

(Embodiment 6)
A video reproduction apparatus including the image quality adjustment apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. The video playback device stores information about an image that has been subjected to image quality adjustment once, and uses the previous image quality adjustment information to reduce the amount of processing related to image quality adjustment processing when the image is output again. It is.

  FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the video playback device 60 in the present embodiment. The video reproduction device 60 in FIG. 1 includes an image quality adjustment device 1e, a recording device 61, and an image output device 10. The image quality adjustment device 1e is further provided with a write information holding unit 51, a write control unit 52, a flag determination unit 53, and a read control unit 54 in addition to the image quality adjustment device shown in the first embodiment. The recording device 61 includes a data storage unit 50.

  The data storage unit 50 stores the original image data of the input image that has been reproduced once, and stores the optimum order information 131 and the flag 132 at the time of previous reproduction in association with each other.

  The write information holding unit 51 holds the optimal order information 131 used for the input image once reproduced.

  When the write information holding unit 51 reaches a predetermined capacity, the write control unit 52 instructs to write the content held in the write information holding unit 51 and the flag 132 in a predetermined position of the recording device 61. The flag 132 is a flag indicating whether the optimal order information 131 is valid or invalid.

  The flag determination unit 53 reads the flag 132 from the input buffer 7 and determines whether the read flag 132 is valid or invalid. This flag determination process is executed at the next reproduction (at the second and subsequent reproductions).

  The read control unit 54 controls the read process from the input buffer 7 based on the determination result output from the flag determination unit 53. Specifically, when a determination result indicating that the flag 132 is valid is received, the optimum order information 131 corresponding to the flag 132 is read from the input buffer 7 and the read optimum order information 131 is output to the selection unit 3. .

  The write control unit 52, the flag determination unit 53, and the read control unit 54 are usually configured by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of each unit is realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. Each unit may be configured by hardware (a dedicated circuit).

  The data storage unit 50 and the write information holding unit 51 are preferably non-volatile recording media.

  Next, the operation of the video playback device 60 in the present embodiment will be described. The video playback device 60 according to the present embodiment adjusts the image quality of an image, operates until the obtained optimal order information is stored in the data storage unit 50, and the optimal order information stored in the data storage unit 50. Is used to perform image quality adjustment. The video reproduction device 60 executes the former operation mainly at the time of the first reproduction of the image (when the optimal sequence information is not associated with the original image data).

  FIG. 14A is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of first reproduction of an input image.

  When the original image data 130 is input from the recording device 61 to the input buffer 7, the image quality adjustment device 1e performs image quality adjustment processing on the original image data 130 according to the flowchart of FIG. 3 (S1301). By executing the image quality adjustment process, the management unit 2 manages the optimal order information 131. The write information holding unit 51 acquires the optimal order information 131 from the management unit 2 via the selection unit 3, and holds the acquired optimal order information 131 (S1302).

  When the write information holding unit 51 reaches a predetermined capacity (Yes in S1303), the write control unit 52 performs control for writing the content held in the write information holding unit 51, and the data storage unit 50 is placed at a predetermined position. The optimum order information 131 and the flag 132 held in the writing information holding unit 51 are stored in association with the original image data 130 (S1304).

  If the write information holding unit 51 does not reach the predetermined capacity (No in S1304), the image quality adjustment device 1e continues the image quality adjustment process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 (S1301).

  FIG. 14B is a flowchart showing the operation at the next reproduction of the input image.

  The recording device 61 determines whether the image to be reproduced this time has been reproduced before. In the present embodiment, it is determined whether the optimal order information 131 and the flag 132 are associated with the original image data 130 of the input image in the data storage unit 50.

  The flag determination unit 53 reads the flag 132 from the input buffer 7 and determines whether the flag 132 is valid or invalid (S1311). Then, the obtained determination result 133 is output to the read control unit 54.

  When the flag 132 is valid (Yes in S1311), the read control unit 54 reads the optimal order information 131 from the input buffer 7 and outputs it to the selection unit 3 (S1312).

  The selection unit 3 outputs the read optimum order information 131 to the adjustment unit 4. The adjustment unit 4 acquires the parameter 104 from the parameter holding unit 5 based on the input optimum order information 131 and executes image quality adjustment on the original image data 130. Then, the adjusted image data 105 is output to the image output device 10 via the output buffer 8 (S1313).

  When the flag 132 is invalid (No in S1311), the image quality adjustment apparatus 1e performs the image quality adjustment process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 on the original image data 130 (S1314).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the optimal order information 131 used for the initial reproduction of the original image data 130 is stored, and when the original image data 130 is reproduced again, the original image is stored using the stored optimal order information 131. Image quality adjustment processing can be executed on the data 130, and unnecessary image quality adjustment processing can be reduced.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, you may make it a form as shown in FIG. The video reproduction apparatus shown in FIG. 15 differs from that shown in FIG. 13 in that a read-only recording apparatus 62 and a data recording apparatus 63 are provided instead of the recording apparatus 61. Furthermore, the image quality adjustment apparatus 1 e includes a synchronization processing unit 55. Hereinafter, description of the same points will be omitted, and different points will be mainly described.

  The read-only recording device 62 records only the original image data 130. The data recording device 63 stores optimum order information 131, a flag 132, and corresponding image information 135. Here, the corresponding image information 135 is information for identifying an image, and is, for example, an image identifier or the like, and is represented in a format as shown in FIG.

  The image quality adjusting device 1 e reads the original image data 130 from the read-only recording device 62 to the input buffer 7, and reads the optimum order information 131, the flag 132, and the corresponding image information 135 from the data recording device 63 to the input buffer 7.

  The synchronization processing unit 55 analyzes and synchronizes each piece of information of the optimum order information 131, the flag 132, and the corresponding image information 135 read into the input buffer 7, for example, as the synchronization information 134 in the format shown in FIG. The read control unit 54 is notified.

  The read control unit 54 reads the optimal order information 131 based on the determination result 133 and the synchronization information 134 of the flag determination unit 53 and outputs the optimal order information 131 to the selection unit 3.

  The selection unit 3 outputs the input optimum order information 131 to the adjustment unit 4. The adjustment unit 4 performs image quality adjustment on the original image data 130 based on the input optimum order information 131, and outputs the adjusted image data 105 to the image output device 10 via the output buffer 8. .

  Note that the optimum order information 131 read from the input buffer 7 by the read control unit 54 may be input to the adjustment unit 4. In this case, the adjustment unit 4 adjusts the image quality of the original image data 130 based on the input optimum order information 131.

  As described above, the image quality adjustment apparatus and the video reproduction apparatus according to the present invention have been described based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. Unless it deviates from the gist of the present invention, various modifications conceived by those skilled in the art are applied to this embodiment, and forms constructed by combining components in different embodiments are also included in the scope of the present invention. .

  For example, in each of the above embodiments, each process (each function) may be realized by centralized processing by a single device (system), or by distributed processing by a plurality of devices. May be.

  Further, the computer that executes the program may be singular or plural. That is, centralized processing may be performed, or distributed processing may be performed.

  In addition, the image quality adjustment processing and the video playback device according to the present invention can be realized not only as a device, but also as a method that uses processing means constituting the device as steps, or as a program that causes a computer to execute these steps. It can be realized as a recording medium such as a computer-readable CD-ROM in which the program is recorded, or can be realized as information, data, or a signal indicating the program. These programs, information, data, and signals may be distributed via a communication network such as the Internet.

  As described above, the image quality adjustment apparatus according to the present invention has an effect that the image quality adjustment execution processing can be performed in the optimum order for the input image, and the video recording apparatus and the video reproduction apparatus provided with the image quality adjustment apparatus. Useful as such.

It is a block diagram of the image quality adjustment apparatus of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of management information. It is a figure which shows an example of management information. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image quality adjustment apparatus of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the image quality adjustment apparatus of Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the specific example of the determination part with which the image quality adjustment apparatus of this invention is provided. It is a block diagram which shows the specific example of the determination part with which the image quality adjustment apparatus of this invention is provided. It is a block diagram which shows the specific example of the determination part with which the image quality adjustment apparatus of this invention is provided. It is a block diagram which shows the specific example of the determination part with which the image quality adjustment apparatus of this invention is provided. It is a block diagram which shows the specific example of the determination part with which the image quality adjustment apparatus of this invention is provided. It is a block diagram of the image quality adjustment apparatus of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the image quality adjustment apparatus of Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the specific example of the evaluation control part with which the image quality adjustment apparatus of this invention is provided. It is a block diagram which shows the specific example of the evaluation control part with which the image quality adjustment apparatus of this invention is provided. It is a block diagram which shows the specific example of the evaluation control part with which the image quality adjustment apparatus of this invention is provided. It is a block diagram of the image quality adjustment apparatus of Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image quality adjustment apparatus of Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the image quality adjustment apparatus of Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the image quality adjustment apparatus of Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the video reproduction apparatus of Embodiment 6 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the 1st reproduction | regeneration of the video reproduction apparatus of Embodiment 6 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the next reproduction | regeneration of the video reproduction apparatus of Embodiment 6 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the different form of the video reproduction apparatus of Embodiment 6 of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of each information of Embodiment 6 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e Image quality adjustment device 2 Management unit 3 Selection unit 4 Adjustment unit 5 Parameter holding unit 6 Evaluation unit 7 Input buffer 8 Output buffer 9, 61 Recording device 10 Image output device 20 Cancel instruction unit 21 , 21a, 21b determination unit 22 software setting acquisition unit 23 external terminal setting acquisition unit 24, 42 decoding device 25 special reproduction information detection unit 26 chapter start information detection unit 27 code amount information detection unit 28 evaluation control unit 29 image cutout unit 30 image Reduction unit 31 Evaluation method switching unit 40 Similarity determination unit 41 Picture-in-picture determination unit 43 Size comparison unit 50 Data storage unit 51 Write information holding unit 52 Write control unit 53 Flag determination unit 54 Read control unit 55 Synchronization processing unit 62 Read only Recording device 63 Data recording device 100, 120, 121, 130 Original image Data 101 Management information 102 Order information 103 Evaluation value 104 Parameter 105 Adjusted image data 106 Image data 107 Selection flag 110 Cancel instruction 111, 111b Determination information 112 Setting data 113 Setting level 114 Special reproduction information 115 Chapter start information 116 Code amount information 117 Cutout image data 118 Reduced image data 119 Evaluation method switching information 122 Order combined information 123 Inner image priority information 124 Picture-in-picture image information 125 Small-size image priority information 131 Optimal order information 132 Flag 133 Determination result 134 Synchronization information 135 Corresponding image information

Claims (25)

An image quality adjustment device that adjusts the image quality of the input image by applying a plurality of different image quality settings to the input image,
Management means for acquiring and managing a plurality of order information indicating an application order of the plurality of image quality settings, and an evaluation value corresponding to the order information and indicating the appropriateness of the order;
Selecting means for selecting optimal order information having the maximum evaluation value from the plurality of order information;
An image quality adjusting apparatus comprising: adjusting means for adjusting the image quality of the input image based on the optimal order information. The selection means further performs an order selection process for selecting order information not associated with the evaluation value before selecting the optimum order information,
The adjusting means adjusts the image quality of the input image based on the selected order information,
The image quality adjustment apparatus further includes an evaluation unit that evaluates an adjusted image obtained by the adjustment unit adjusting the image quality.
The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management unit acquires an evaluation result obtained by the evaluation unit and manages the result as the evaluation value. The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the selection unit further executes the order selection process until evaluation values corresponding to all the order information are obtained. The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the selection unit further performs the order selection process until an evaluation value corresponding to a predetermined number of order information is obtained. The image quality adjustment apparatus further includes a stop instruction means for outputting a stop instruction indicating stop of the order selection process to the selection means,
5. The image quality according to claim 4, wherein the selection unit stops the order selection process based on the stop instruction, and selects the optimum order information from the order information obtained at the time of the stop. Adjustment device. The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the stop instruction unit outputs the stop instruction to the selection unit based on software or an external terminal setting. The stop instruction means receives the evaluation value of the adjusted image from the evaluation means, and outputs the stop instruction to the selection means when the evaluation value exceeds a predetermined threshold value. The image quality adjusting apparatus according to claim 5. The stop instruction means receives the evaluation value of the adjusted image from the evaluation means, and the difference between the evaluation value and any evaluation value already stored in the management means exceeds a predetermined threshold value. The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 5, wherein, in the event of a failure, the stop instruction is output to the selection unit. 6. The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the stop instruction unit outputs the stop instruction to the selection unit based on decoder input information input from a decoder. The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the decoder input information is any one of special reproduction information, chapter start information, and code amount information. The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the evaluation unit evaluates a reduced image obtained by reducing the adjusted image. The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the evaluation unit evaluates a cutout image obtained by cutting out a part of the adjusted image. The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the evaluation unit performs evaluation by switching between a first evaluation method and a second evaluation method having different evaluation accuracy. The management means stores, for each order information, a selection flag indicating whether or not the order information is a target of selection by the selection means,
The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the selection unit selects order information based on the selection flag. The input image includes a first input image and a second input image,
The image quality adjustment apparatus further determines the similarity between the evaluation value of the first input image and at least one evaluation value of the second input image, and if the similarity is recognized, the order information is also used. A similarity determination means for outputting to the management means the combined order information indicating that it is possible,
The image quality adjustment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the combined order information is input, the management unit associates the evaluation value of the first input image as the evaluation value of the second input image. The image quality adjustment apparatus further compares the sizes of two input images, determines a small image as the first input image, and determines a large image as the second input image. With
The said selection means further performs the said order selection process with respect to a said 1st input image, and does not perform the said order selection process with respect to a said 2nd input image. 15. The image quality adjusting device according to 15. The picture quality adjusting apparatus further detects a picture-in-picture image, determines a picture-in-picture inner image as the first input image, and determines a picture-in-picture outer image as the second input image. With judgment means,
The said selection means further performs the said order selection process with respect to a said 1st input image, and does not perform the said order selection process with respect to a said 2nd input image. 15. The image quality adjusting device according to 15. The input image includes a first input image and a second input image,
The image quality adjustment apparatus further determines the similarity between the evaluation value of the first input image and at least one evaluation value of the second input image, and if the similarity is recognized, the order information is also used. A similarity determining means for outputting to the selecting means combined order information indicating that it is possible;
3. The image quality according to claim 2, wherein the selection unit selects the optimal order information for the first input image when adjusting the image quality of the second input image based on the order combination information. Adjustment device. An image quality adjusting device according to claim 2;
A video playback device that plays back an image recorded in the recording device, comprising: a recording device that records image data;
The image quality adjustment device adjusts the image quality of the image being reproduced,
The video playback device
A data storage means for storing a flag indicating that the optimum order information at the time of previous reproduction is valid or invalid and the optimum order information;
Write information holding means for holding the optimal order information notified from the selection means;
Write control for performing control to record the content held in the write information holding unit and the flag at a predetermined position of the data storage unit when the content held by the write information holding unit reaches a predetermined capacity A video playback device. The video playback device further includes:
At the time of reproduction this time, the flag is read from the data storage means, and flag determination means for determining whether the flag is valid or invalid;
The video playback apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising: a read control unit that receives a determination result by the flag determination unit and reads the optimum order information from the data storage unit when the flag is valid. The data storage means is included in the recording device, stores the flag and the optimal order information in association with the reproduced image,
The said flag determination means reads the said flag corresponding to the said image during reproduction | regeneration at the time of reproduction | regeneration of a new image, and determines whether the said flag is effective or invalid. Video playback device. The data storage means further stores synchronization information indicating that the optimal order information is synchronized with the image,
The video reproduction device according to claim 20, wherein the read control unit further reads out the optimum order information while synchronizing with an input image input to the image quality adjustment device based on the synchronization information. An image quality adjustment method for adjusting the image quality of the input image by applying a plurality of different image quality settings to the input image,
Acquiring and managing a plurality of order information indicating an application order of the plurality of image quality settings, and an evaluation value corresponding to the order information and indicating the appropriateness of the order;
Selecting optimal order information having the maximum evaluation value from the plurality of order information; and
Adjusting the image quality of the input image based on the optimal order information. An image quality adjustment program for causing a computer to execute an image quality adjustment method for adjusting the image quality of the input image by applying a plurality of different image quality settings to the input image,
Obtaining and managing a plurality of pieces of order information indicating an application order of the plurality of image quality settings, and an evaluation value corresponding to the order information and indicating appropriateness of the order;
Selecting optimal order information having the maximum evaluation value from the plurality of order information; and
Adjusting the image quality of the input image based on the optimal order information. A computer-readable recording medium for recording a program for causing a computer to execute an image quality adjustment method for adjusting the image quality of the input image by applying a plurality of different image quality settings to the input image,
The program is
Acquiring and managing a plurality of pieces of order information indicating an application order of the plurality of image quality settings and an evaluation value corresponding to the order information and indicating appropriateness of the order;
Selecting optimal order information having the maximum evaluation value from the plurality of order information; and
Adjusting the image quality of the input image based on the optimal order information.

Images