JP3177564B2 - Image feature detection device, image adjustment system, subtitle editing system, and television receiver - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television signal processing apparatus in a television receiver or the like, and more particularly, to a non-picture area when a so-called letterbox video or a video having subtitles is displayed on a screen by a video signal. Alternatively, the present invention relates to an image feature detection device that automatically detects a subtitle position.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, attempts have been made to improve the video signal of a television receiver in terms of luminance and color tone according to the content of the video. In a recent example, the image displayed on the screen is divided into predetermined regions, and the image quality of each region is independently adjusted according to the input video signal,
There is a method for always obtaining good image quality. As an example of such a method of adjusting the image quality of a television receiver,
A method described in JP-A-3-154478 is exemplified.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional image quality adjusting device for a television receiver. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 1 denotes an automatic image quality adjustment device for adjusting the image quality of a video signal. Reference numeral 2 denotes an antenna for receiving a signal. Reference numeral 3 denotes a tuner which selects a desired reception channel from received signals. 4 is a video intermediate frequency circuit (VI
F) to detect the intermediate frequency of the video signal. Reference numeral 5 denotes a level conversion circuit for converting the level of a video signal. 6
Is an analog-to-digital (A / D) converter, which converts an analog signal into a digital value. 7 is a microcomputer, and 8 is a level detector, which detects a level based on a digital signal. Reference numeral 9 denotes a control unit that adjusts the amplification degree in the level conversion circuit based on the level detected by the level detection unit 8. Reference numeral 10 denotes a sampling signal generator, which is an analog / digital (A / A /
D) Supply a sampling signal to the converter. 11
Denotes a picture tube, which captures a video signal.

Next, the operation of the block diagram shown in FIG. 6 will be described. Antenna 2, tuner 3, video intermediate frequency circuit 4
, A video signal is input to the automatic image quality adjustment device 1.

[0005] The automatic image quality adjustment device 1 performs image quality adjustment such as brightness, contrast, color density, and color tone on the input video signal, and supplies the video signal to the picture tube 11.

Here, the operation of the automatic image quality adjusting device 1 will be described.

[0007] The video signal output from the video intermediate frequency circuit 4 is sampled by the A / D converter 6 based on the sampling signal from the sampling signal generator 10 and supplied to the level detector 8. The level detector 8 captures sampling data from the A / D converter 6 for, for example, one frame, detects a signal level, and stores a detection result for one frame in a memory (not shown).

[0008] The control unit 9 selects, from among the data stored in the memory, the signal levels of the six areas A, B, C, D, E and F of the image displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. The data is sequentially read out, and the conversion parameters of the level conversion circuit 5 are set so that the optimum image quality corresponding to the signal level is reproduced for each area. The conversion parameters for the six regions set in this way are output as control signals for the level conversion circuit 5.

The level detector 8, the sampling signal generator 10 and the controller 9 are constituted by microcomputers.

[0010] The level conversion circuit 5 independently adjusts the image quality of the above-mentioned six regions with respect to the input video signal according to the conversion parameter supplied from the control unit 9, and supplies the adjusted image quality to the picture tube 11.

By performing the above operation, the image quality of each area displayed on the screen can be independently adjusted.

[0012]

In the above conventional example, the image displayed on the screen is divided into predetermined regions, and the image quality of each region is adjusted independently. However, when a video signal, which is a so-called letterbox video, which has a non-image area above and below the video, is input, it is originally divided into a video area and a non-image area, and image adjustment can be performed independently. Although it is desirable, in the above-described conventional example, each area in which the image quality can be independently adjusted is predetermined, and does not correspond to the type or change of an image such as a letterbox image. Therefore, it is not possible to independently adjust the image quality in the video area and the non-image area. In addition, when the predetermined area and the video area or the non-image area do not coincide with each other as an area, by performing the above-described image quality adjustment, an unnatural image may be reproduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and when an image having a non-image area above and below the image area is input as a video signal, the image area and the non- It is an object of the present invention to provide an image feature detection device capable of detecting a boundary position with an image area. It is another object of the present invention to provide an image adjustment system that performs image quality adjustment independently for a video area and a non-image area. Further, the present invention provides an image feature detection device capable of detecting a subtitle area including subtitle information from a video signal including subtitle information. Further, a subtitle editing system for editing a detected subtitle area is provided. Further, a television receiver having these functions is provided.

[0014]

In order to solve the problem] was to achieve the above purpose
Therefore , the present invention is an image feature detection apparatus for detecting a boundary position between a video area containing image information and the non-picture area from a video signal containing a non-picture area containing no image information, based on the signal level, whether the video signal is a signal belonging to the non-picture area, a plurality of times and determines the amplitude direction determination unit per one horizontal scanning period, the determination result from the amplitude direction determination means Input the signal shown , one horizontal
During the period, the result of the determination that
The number of signals and the amount of distribution set in advance for the number of signals
A horizontal direction determining unit that determines whether the line is a line belonging to a video region or a line belonging to a non-image region by comparing the value with a value , based on a determination result by the horizontal direction determining unit. Vertical direction determining means for determining the boundary position between the video area and the non-image area in the vertical direction.

[0015]

The amplitude direction determining means determines a plurality of times per one horizontal scanning period whether or not the signal belongs to the non-image area based on the signal level of the input video signal. For example, when the signal level of the video signal is lower than a predetermined reference level, the amplitude direction determination means can determine that the signal belongs to the non-image area.

The horizontal direction judging means judges whether or not it is a horizontal scanning period belonging to the non-image area based on the judgment result of the amplitude direction judging means. For example, when the number of signals determined to belong to the non-image area by the amplitude direction determination unit is larger than a predetermined distribution amount set value, the signal is determined to be a line belonging to the non-image area. Can be.

The vertical direction judging means judges a boundary position between the image area and the non-image area in the vertical direction of the image based on the judgment result of the horizontal direction judging means.

When the apparatus further includes a time direction judging means, the time direction judging means integrates the judgment result by the vertical direction judging means in a time direction, and divides the obtained result into a video area and a non-picture area. It can be output as a detection result of the boundary position.

As described above, even when a video having a non-image area above, below, or both above and below the video area is input as a video signal, the boundary position between the video signal and the non-image area is detected from the video signal. can do.

Further, when a video having a caption is input as a video signal, the position of the caption can be detected. Therefore, by using these detection results, the image quality can be independently adjusted in the video area and the non-picture area, and the subtitle can be moved to an arbitrary position. Move to a location,
Further, when the image is enlarged in the vertical direction, it is possible to enlarge the image without cutting the image up and down.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an image feature detecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 101 is a video signal input terminal, 102 is a clock signal input terminal, 103 is a level comparison circuit, 104 is a comparison level setting unit, 105 is a counter, 106 is a count value comparison circuit, 107 is a comparison value setting unit, 108 Is the storage unit, 109
Is a boundary determination circuit, 110 is a boundary output circuit, 111 is a horizontal synchronization signal input terminal, 112 is a vertical synchronization signal input terminal, 1
Reference numeral 13 denotes a vertical synchronization signal counter (hereinafter referred to as a V counter); 114, an area determination circuit; 115, a position S output terminal; 116, a position E output terminal; 117, an amplitude direction determination unit; 118, a horizontal direction determination unit; A vertical direction determination unit, 120 is a time direction determination unit, 121 is a counter control signal generation circuit, 122 is a control signal input terminal, and 208 is a CP.
U.

In the present embodiment, the input video signal is processed in the order of the amplitude direction, the horizontal direction, the vertical direction, and the time direction.
It is determined whether or not the signal is a non-picture part (non-picture area) that does not include image information, and a boundary position between the non-picture part and the video area is detected. For this reason, the image feature detection device includes the amplitude direction determination unit 117, the horizontal direction determination unit 118, and the vertical direction determination unit 11
9 and a time direction determination unit 120, and a CPU 208 as a control unit for controlling them.

The amplitude direction judging section 117 judges whether or not the input video signal is a signal belonging to the non-picture portion. At this time, the signal level of the input video signal is set to a predetermined reference luminance. When the signal is lower than the level L (hereinafter, referred to as level L), it is determined that the signal belongs to the non-picture part. When the luminance level is equal to or higher than L, the signal does not belong to the non-picture part, that is, the signal belongs to the video area. judge. The amplitude direction determination unit 117 includes a comparison level setting unit 104 that sets and stores the luminance level L, and a video input terminal 1
And a level comparison circuit 103 for comparing the luminance level of the video signal input from S01 with the luminance level L set in the comparison level setting unit 104.

The horizontal direction judging unit 118 belongs to the non-image portion every one horizontal scanning period (one horizontal scanning line) based on the number of data judged as the signal belonging to the non-image portion by the amplitude direction judging unit 117. It is determined whether or not it is a horizontal scanning period (horizontal scanning line / line). At this time, the number of data determined to be a signal belonging to the non-image portion by the amplitude direction determining unit 117 is one horizontal scanning period ( When the set value C (hereinafter referred to as comparison value C) of the predetermined distribution amount per one horizontal scanning line is larger than the predetermined value, the horizontal scanning period (horizontal scanning line) belongs to the non-image portion. / Line). For this reason, the horizontal direction determination unit 11
Reference numeral 8 denotes a counter 105 that counts, for each horizontal scanning period, the number of data determined to be a signal belonging to a non-image portion by the amplitude direction determination unit 117, a comparison value setting unit 107 that sets and stores a comparison value C. A count value comparison circuit 106 for comparing a count value for each horizontal scanning period output from the counter 105 with a comparison value C output from the comparison value setting unit 107, and a counter 105 for setting a count operation period. A counter control signal generation circuit 121 for generating an operation control signal and a clock;

The vertical direction judging section 119 determines a horizontal scanning period (horizontal scanning line) determined to be a horizontal scanning period (horizontal scanning line) belonging to the non-image area by the horizontal direction judging section 118.
And other horizontal scanning periods (horizontal scanning lines), that is, horizontal scanning periods (horizontal scanning lines) belonging to the video area,
Where is the vertical boundary of, in other words,
It is determined where the vertical boundary position between the image area and the non-image area is. Therefore, the vertical direction determination unit 119 includes a storage unit 108 that stores the comparison result output from the count value comparison circuit 106, a boundary determination circuit 109 that determines the boundary position between the video area and the non-image part, and a vertical synchronization Signal input terminal 1
A V counter 113 that counts the number of horizontal synchronization signals H input from a horizontal synchronization signal input terminal 111 with a vertical synchronization signal V input from the start point as a starting point, and a boundary determination circuit 1
And a boundary output circuit 110 that outputs a boundary position based on the result of the determination in step 09 and the output of the V counter 113.

The time direction determining section 120 includes an amplitude direction determining section 117, a horizontal direction determining section 118, and a vertical direction determining section 119.
Since the boundary position between the video area and the non-picture part according to each of the above determinations may be erroneously detected due to a small difference in luminance between the video area and the non-picture part or due to noise, the amplitude direction determination unit 117 Judgment unit 118 / vertical direction judgment unit 119
Are integrated in the time direction (field direction), and the final determination is made. For this reason, the time direction determination unit 120 integrates the boundary determination result in the time direction to perform the determination.
4 is provided.

In the case where a highly accurate detection result can be expected for the boundary position between the video area and the non-picture part obtained by the determination by the amplitude direction determination unit 117, the horizontal direction determination unit 118, and the vertical direction determination unit 119. In the case where it is not necessary to desire detection with such high accuracy, the time direction determination unit 120 can be omitted.

Next, the operation of the image feature detecting apparatus will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

In the amplitude direction judging section 117, when the state of the clock signal MCLK input from the clock input terminal 102 changes, the level comparison circuit 103 compares the state of the clock signal MCLK with the signal level of the video signal input from the video signal input terminal 101. The level of the input video signal is compared with the level L output from the level setting unit 104, and if the signal level of the input video signal is lower than the level L, it is determined that the input video signal is a signal belonging to the non-image portion and the high level is determined. Is output. Conversely, if the signal level of the input video signal is higher than level L,
The input video signal is determined to be a signal belonging to the video area, and a low level is output. Comparison level setting unit 1
The level L output from 04 may be a fixed value or a variable value. In this case, the CPU 20
The value of the level L may be set from 8. The comparison level setting unit 104 can be realized by a microcomputer. The clock signal MCLK is a clock having a frequency sufficiently faster than the horizontal synchronizing signal, and is defined in advance.

In the horizontal direction judging section 118, the counter 105 operates based on the clock and the operation control signal from the counter control signal generating circuit 121, and counts the number of data judged to belong to the non-image area by the level comparing circuit 103. It counts and outputs a count value per one horizontal scanning period to the count value comparison circuit 106 every one horizontal scanning period. As the count value per one horizontal scanning period is higher,
This indicates that the horizontal scanning period (horizontal scanning line) is highly likely to belong to the non-image area. Counter control signal generation circuit 121
Outputs the clock signal MCLK as a clock of the counter 105, and resets the counter 105 every one horizontal scanning period as an operation control signal.

The count value comparison circuit 106 includes a counter 1
When the count value for each horizontal scanning period output from 05 is larger than the comparison value C output from the comparison value setting unit 107, it is determined that the horizontal scanning period (horizontal scanning line) belongs to the non-image portion. It outputs a high level, and otherwise outputs a low level as belonging to the video area. The comparison value C, which is a criterion at this time, may be a fixed value or a variable value. In this case, CPU2
The value of level C may be set from 08. The comparison value setting unit 107 can be realized by a microcomputer.

In this case, the counter control signal generation circuit 121 determines that the counter 105
The control is performed so that the count value per one horizontal scanning period is output to the count value comparison circuit 106. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, several horizontal scanning periods (two horizontal scanning periods, three horizontal scanning periods, or Reset is performed for each horizontal scanning period, and a count value per several horizontal scanning periods is output.
In step 06, a determination may be made as to whether the pixels belong to the non-image area for several horizontal scanning periods. Further, the counter control signal generation circuit 121
5 is operated every several horizontal scanning periods (one horizontal scanning period, two horizontal scanning periods, or more horizontal scanning periods), and the count value per one horizontal scanning period is counted every several horizontal scanning periods. May be output.

Next, in the vertical direction judging section 119,
The storage unit 108 stores the comparison result output from the count value comparison circuit 106 for a certain period, for example, several horizontal scanning periods as data. Note that the storage unit 108 can be realized by a shift register, a RAM (random access memory), a microcomputer, or the like.

The boundary determining circuit 109 determines a boundary position between the video area and the non-image part based on the data stored in the storage unit 108.

Before describing the determination of the boundary position, an example of the boundary position between the image area and the non-image portion when an image is displayed on a screen will be described with reference to FIG. 2 (a) is an image having a non-image portion above and below the image region, FIG. 2 (b) is an image having a non-image portion only above the image region, and FIG. 2 (c) is only an image below the image region. FIG. 2D shows an image having no image portion and FIG. 2D shows an image having no image portion only in the image area. In addition,
In these figures, position S and position E indicate the boundary position between the image area and the non-image area, position S indicates the horizontal scanning line position where the image area starts, and position E indicates the horizontal scanning line position where the image area ends. In the case where the position S and the position E are each represented by the value of the number of horizontal scanning lines, in the case of a video having only a video area and no non-image portion as shown in FIG. It may be represented by a value indicating that there is no non-image portion in the screen.

Therefore, the boundary determination circuit 109 determines each of the position S and the position E as the boundary position between the video area and the non-image part based on the data stored in the storage unit 108.

Next, a specific example of a method of determining the boundary position between the video area and the non-image portion in the boundary determination circuit 109 will be described below.

The storage circuit 108 stores one horizontal scanning period (1
Data for each horizontal scanning line is stored, and for a horizontal scanning period determined by the count value comparison circuit 106 to be a horizontal scanning period belonging to a non-image portion, high-level data is stored in the video area. Low-level data is stored in each of the horizontal scanning periods determined to belong to the horizontal scanning period. The boundary determination circuit 109
From the storage circuit 108 in which such data is stored, data is sequentially fetched from the upper end to the lower end of the screen, for example, every 10 horizontal scanning lines. Then, when the data of eight horizontal scanning lines out of the data of ten horizontal scanning lines sequentially taken in is low-level data, the low-level data of the first of the ten horizontal scanning lines appears. It is determined that the position of the horizontal scanning line corresponding to the data is the position S at the upper end of the video area. Similarly, when the data of 8 horizontal scanning lines among the data of 10 horizontal scanning lines sequentially taken in is high-level data, the first high-level data of the 10 horizontal scanning lines appears. It is determined that the position of the horizontal scanning line corresponding to the data is the position E at the lower end of the video area.

Here, an example has been shown in which the decision is made by majority decision of 8 horizontal scanning lines out of 10 horizontal scanning lines.
The number of data to be taken into the device and the set value of majority decision can be arbitrarily changed.

The determination of the boundary position between the video area and the non-image part by the boundary determination circuit 109 is performed based on the continuity of data of several horizontal scanning lines stored in the storage unit 108 in addition to the majority decision method. The position may be determined. That is, for example, the data stored in the storage unit 108 is viewed in order from the upper end to the lower end of the screen. If there is no change in the content of the data of the horizontal scanning line, the position of the horizontal scanning line corresponding to the data whose content has changed is determined as the boundary position between the video area and the non-image portion. Here, the continuity of data for five horizontal scanning lines has been described, but the number of horizontal scanning lines for which continuity of data is considered can be arbitrarily changed.

The boundary determination circuit 109 and the area determination circuit 114 can be realized by, for example, a microcomputer.

Next, the V counter 113 counts the number of horizontal synchronizing signals H input from the horizontal synchronizing signal input terminal 111 with the vertical synchronizing signal V input from the vertical synchronizing signal input terminal 112 as a starting point. Output the count value.

The boundary output circuit 110 is provided with the boundary determination circuit 10
9 and the output of the V counter 113 are supplied, and the number of horizontal scanning lines corresponding to the positions S and E in FIG. Output to

Next, in the time direction determination unit 120,
The area determination circuit 114 integrates the determination result output from the boundary output circuit 110 in the time direction,
The boundary position is determined again by checking the stability and frequency of each field and whether the boundary is at a correct position. As a result, it is possible to avoid a case where the luminance difference between the video area of the input signal and the non-image area is small, or erroneous detection due to noise.

The position S and the position E determined as the boundary between the video area and the non-image area by the area determination circuit 114 are output to an S output terminal 115 and an E output terminal 116, respectively.

In FIG. 1, signals indicating the position S and the position E output from the boundary output circuit 110 and the area determination circuit 114 are shown in parallel. However, these two output signals may be serial outputs. .

By performing the above processing, the boundary between the video area and the non-image area can be determined.

As shown in FIG. 3, when there is a caption in a non-picture portion, a signal having a high signal level (luminance level) is present in the character portion of the caption.
The character portion is not determined by the level comparison circuit 117 to be a signal belonging to the non-image portion, and becomes an obstacle to the non-image portion determination. Therefore, the operation of the counter 105 and the control of the counter control signal generation circuit 121 in the horizontal direction determination unit 118, which are effective when there is a caption in the non-image portion, will be described.

For example, when there is a caption in a non-picture portion, the counter 105 is operated only in the portion indicated by oblique lines in FIG. 3, and is not operated in other portions. That is, the counter 105 sets the position from the upper end of the screen to the position β1 and the position β2 to the lower end of the screen.
In each horizontal scanning period, the level comparison circuit 103 does not operate during only one horizontal scanning period during a period corresponding to a portion from the left end of the screen hatched in FIG. 3 to the position α1 and a portion from the position α2 to the right end of the screen. The number of data determined to be a signal belonging to the image section is counted, and the count value is output to the count value comparison circuit 106.

The counter control signal generating circuit 12 in this case
1 is shown in FIG. 12, a counter control signal generation circuit 121 includes a counter (hereinafter, referred to as an H counter) 130 that counts the number of clock signals MCLK per one horizontal scanning period, and a vertical synchronization signal input from a vertical synchronization signal input terminal 112. Is a starting point, and a counter that counts horizontal synchronization signals (referred to as a V counter)
131; decoders 132 and 133 for decoding the count value of the counter 130 or 131;
A circuit 134; a counter control signal output terminal 135 for outputting a control signal to the counter 105;
And a decode value switching circuit 136 for switching a value to be set for 2 and 133. The decode value switching circuit 136 sets a decode value for the decoder 132 and the decoder 133. The decode value switching circuit 136 sets values corresponding to the positions α1 and α2 shown in FIG. 3 for the decoder 132, and sets values corresponding to the positions β1 and β2 to the decoder 133. .

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the decode value switching circuit 136 sets the positions β1 and β2 inside the screen of several lines from the boundary position detected in the previous field. If these several lines are 5 lines,
The position β1 can be a value obtained by adding 5 lines to the horizontal scanning line position where the video area starts, and the position β2 can be a value obtained by subtracting 5 lines from the horizontal scanning line position where the video area exists. When the boundary position is not detected in the previous field, the positions of the positions β1 and β2 used for the detection of the previous field are changed by several lines, for example, one line at a time to the inside of the screen, and the boundary position is changed. Detection can be performed.
Therefore, until the boundary position is detected, the value is set to the inside one line at a time for each field. If the boundary position is detected, five lines are added to the detected boundary position as described above. The value set inside can be set value. In this way, the position β1 and the position β2 can be set based on the boundary position detected in the previous field. In addition, the positions of the positions α1 and α2 may be set in advance, or when the boundary position in the vertical direction of the screen is further detected, the values may be sequentially set similarly to the positions β1 and β2. You may make it change. .

In FIG. 12, the counter 131 counts the horizontal synchronization signal input from the horizontal synchronization signal input terminal 111, with the vertical synchronization signal input from the vertical synchronization signal input terminal 112 as the starting point. The decoder 133 decodes the count value of the counter 131, and outputs a high level from the count value 0 to the value corresponding to the position β1, and from the value corresponding to the position β2 to the maximum value of the count value.

The counter 130 counts the number of clock signals MCLK input from the clock signal input terminal 102, starting from the horizontal synchronization signal input from the horizontal synchronization signal input terminal 111. Decoder 132
Decodes the count value of the counter 130 and outputs a high level from the count value 0 to the value corresponding to the position α1, and from the value corresponding to the position α2 to the maximum value of the count value.

When the output signals of the decoder 132 and the decoder 133 are input and both inputs are at a high level, the AND circuit 134 supplies a clock signal input from the clock signal input terminal 102 to the counter control signal output terminal 135. MCLK is output.

The control signal input terminal 122 has a CP
The output signal from U208 is input. CPU 208
Sets a period for detecting a boundary position, that is, an operation period of the counter 105 based on image information one field before obtained from the boundary position detection circuit 207, and outputs a control signal to the control signal input terminal 122, for example. I do.

The decode value switching circuit 136 sets the decode values of the decoder 132 and the decoder 133 according to the signal input from the control signal input terminal 122.

As described above, the counter control signal generation circuit 1
The control of the counter 105 by the control unit 21 allows the counter 105 to operate only in the hatched portion in FIG. In this way, since the data of the character portion is not counted by the counter 105, it is possible to cope with the case where there is a caption in the non-picture portion which is an obstacle to the non-picture portion determination, and it is possible to detect the non-picture portion with high accuracy. Can be. In this case, the value of the comparison value C is
A value smaller than the maximum value of the counter 105 is set for comparison with the count value of the hatched portion.

Another embodiment in which subtitles are present in the non-image portion will be described. In the present embodiment, the comparison value setting unit 1 in the horizontal direction determination unit 118 when there is a caption in the non-image portion
07 will be described.

FIG. 4 shows comparison value setting section 107 in FIG.
It is a block diagram which shows one specific example. In the above description,
The comparison value setting unit 107 outputs a fixed value as the comparison value C. However, in this embodiment, if there is no caption in the non-image portion, the preset “setting value A” is output as the comparison value C without any change. When there is a caption in the non-image portion, a value obtained by removing the data of the character portion from the “setting value A” is output as the comparison value C. The value of the “set value A” is set to a value obtained by multiplying a certain ratio with respect to the total number of data in one horizontal scanning period.
Also, it is determined based on the luminance level of the video signal whether or not there is a caption in the non-image portion.

Next, a specific configuration and operation of the circuit shown in FIG. 4 will be described.

In FIG. 4, 601 is a level G input terminal, 602 is a comparison circuit, 603 is a counter, 604 is a set value input terminal, 605 is a subtractor, 606 is a comparison value output terminal, and the same numbers as those in FIG. Is shown.

The comparison circuit 602 is connected to the clock input terminal 10
2 changes the state of the clock signal MCLK input from the level 2 and compares the level G input from the level G input terminal 601 with the signal level of the video signal input from the video signal input terminal 101, and determines the signal level of the video signal. Is level G
If it is higher, it will output a high level assuming that there is subtitles,
Otherwise, it outputs a low level.

The value of the level G input from the level G input terminal 601 may be set to a level containing a large amount of data of a character portion, for example, a level of about 90 IRE (IRE is a level unit of a luminance level).

The counter 603 counts the number of times that the output signal of the comparison circuit 602 is at a high level, and outputs a count value per horizontal scanning period for each horizontal scanning period. When the input video signal is in the horizontal scanning period belonging to the non-image portion, this count value indicates the number of data of the character portion in one horizontal scanning period.

The subtractor 605 subtracts the count value output from the counter 603 from the set value A input from the set value input terminal 604, and outputs the result as a comparison value C to the comparison value output terminal 606. As a result, when subtitles are included, a value obtained by subtracting the number of data in the character portion from the set value A is set as the comparison value C, and this comparison value C and the counter 105 are set.
Are compared.

By setting the value of the comparison value C in this manner, it is possible to cope with a case where there is a caption in a non-picture part which is an obstacle to the non-picture part determination, and it is possible to detect a non-picture part with high accuracy.

When there is a subtitle in a non-picture part, a method of avoiding erroneous determination of a subtitle area in the non-picture part as a video area when detecting the non-picture part is as follows. At the same time, there is a method for detecting the position of the subtitle. in this case,
A subtitle detection circuit for detecting subtitles can be further provided.

The area judging circuit 114 includes the boundary output circuit 11
Judgment is performed on the boundary position between the non-picture part output from 0 and the video area. By adding the subtitle position detected by the subtitle detection circuit to one of the determination conditions, the video area and the non-picture It is possible to prevent erroneous detection of the boundary position with the part.

Hereinafter, a subtitle detection circuit is further provided, and in the area determination by the area determination circuit, one of the determination conditions is set.
Next, an embodiment in which the subtitle position detected by the subtitle detection circuit is added will be described as a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the non-image portion detecting apparatus. The same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same parts. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 900 denotes a caption detection circuit, and 901 denotes an area determination circuit.

In FIG. 9, an area determination circuit 901 receives an output signal from a boundary output circuit 110 and a subtitle detection circuit 900, and outputs a signal corresponding to a boundary position between a video area and a non-picture part output from the boundary output circuit 110. By performing integration in the time direction (field direction), the stability and frequency of each field, and whether or not the boundary position is correct, are determined again. Further, in the present embodiment, one of the determinations as to whether or not the position is correct as the boundary position is based on the boundary position between the video area and the non-image portion output from the boundary output circuit 110 and the detection result of the caption detection circuit 900. By comparing the position with a certain subtitle, it is also determined whether or not the boundary position between the image area and the non-picture part is erroneously detected due to the presence of the subtitle.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the caption detection circuit 900. The caption detection circuit 900 can be realized with the same configuration as the non-picture part detection device shown in FIG. 1. The subtitle detection circuit 900 uses a subtitle signal in the order of amplitude, horizontal, vertical, and time in response to an input video signal. It is determined whether or not there is, and the subtitle position is detected. For this reason, the caption detection circuit similarly includes an amplitude direction determination unit 817, a horizontal direction determination unit 818, a vertical direction determination unit 819, and a time direction determination unit 820.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 802 denotes a clock signal input terminal, 803 denotes a level comparison circuit, 804 denotes a comparison level setting unit, 805 denotes a counter, 806 denotes a count value comparison circuit, 807 denotes a comparison value setting unit, 808 denotes a storage unit, Reference numeral 809 denotes a subtitle determination circuit, 810 denotes a subtitle position output circuit, 811 denotes a V counter output signal input terminal, 814 denotes a subtitle determination 2 circuit, 815 denotes a position CS output terminal, 816 denotes a position CE output terminal, and 817 denotes an amplitude direction determination unit. , 818 is a horizontal direction determination unit, 819 is a vertical direction determination unit, and 820 is a time direction determination unit, and the same numbers as those in FIG.

Next, referring to FIG.
00 will be described in detail.

In the amplitude direction judging section 817, when the state of the clock signal CCLK input from the clock input terminal 802 changes, the level comparison circuit 803 compares the signal level of the video signal input from the video signal input terminal 101 with the signal level of the video signal. The level is compared with the level CL output from the level setting unit 804, and the signal level of the input video signal is changed to the level C.
If it is higher than L, the input video signal is determined to be a signal belonging to the subtitle unit, and a high level is output. Otherwise, it outputs a low level. The level CL output from the comparison level setting section 804 may be a fixed value or a variable value. The value of the level CL is a level containing a large amount of data of a character portion, for example, 90
What is necessary is just to set to the level of IRE. The comparison level setting unit 804 can be realized by a microcomputer.

In the horizontal direction determining section 818, the counter 805 counts the number of data determined to belong to the subtitle section by the level comparing circuit 803, and counts the count value per horizontal scanning period every horizontal scanning period. Output to the value comparison circuit 806. The higher the count value per horizontal scanning period, the higher the horizontal scanning period (horizontal scanning line)
Indicates that there is a high possibility of belonging to the subtitle unit.

The count value comparison circuit 806 includes a counter 8
When the count value for each horizontal scanning period output from the control unit 05 is larger than the comparison value CC output from the comparison value setting unit 807, the horizontal scanning period (horizontal scanning line) is determined to belong to the subtitle unit, and the high level is determined. Outputs a level, otherwise outputs a low level. The comparison value CC, which is a criterion at this time, may be a fixed value indicating a distribution amount that can be determined to belong to the subtitle portion, or may be a variable value. The comparison value setting unit 807 can be realized by a microcomputer.

Here, the counter 805 outputs the count value per horizontal scanning period to the count value comparison circuit 806 every horizontal scanning period. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The count value per several horizontal scanning periods is output every several horizontal scanning periods (two horizontal scanning periods, three horizontal scanning periods, or more horizontal scanning periods).
In the above, a determination may be made as to whether the pixels belong to the subtitle section for several horizontal scanning periods. Further, the counter 805 is operated every several horizontal scanning periods (one horizontal scanning period, two horizontal scanning periods, or more horizontal scanning periods), and the count value per one horizontal scanning period is counted every several horizontal scanning periods. The data may be output to the comparison circuit 806.

Next, in the vertical direction judgment unit 819,
The storage unit 808 stores the comparison result output from the count value comparison circuit 806 as data for a certain period, for example, several horizontal scanning periods.

The subtitle determination 1 circuit 809 determines the start position and the end position of the subtitle based on the data stored in the storage unit 808.

FIG. 10 shows an example of subtitle positions when an image is displayed on the screen. 10 (a) is a video having a caption in the lower non-picture part, FIG. 10 (b) is a video having a subtitle in the video area, and FIG. 10 (c) is a caption in the video area and the lower non-picture part. Each image is represented. In these figures, the position CS indicates the horizontal scanning line position where the subtitle starts, and the position CE indicates the horizontal scanning line position where the subtitle ends. Although not shown here, the same applies to an image in which subtitles are located in the upper non-picture part, or an image in which subtitles are present in both the upper non-picture part and the video area.

The subtitle determination 1 circuit 809 determines the start position and the end position of the subtitle as the positions CS and CE based on the data stored in the storage unit 808.

Here, the subtitle determination 1 circuit 809 determines the subtitle position in the same manner as the method in which the boundary determination circuit 109 in the non-image portion detection device determines the boundary position between the non-image portion and the video area. , The start position and the end position of the subtitle can be determined. That is, the determination is performed based on a majority decision method based on the data stored in the storage unit 808, data continuity, and the like.

The subtitle position output circuit 810 determines the result of the subtitle determination 1 circuit 809 and the V counter output signal input terminal 81
The V counter output signal is supplied from 1 and the number of horizontal scanning lines corresponding to the position CS and the position CE shown in FIG. Output to two circuits 814.

In the time direction judging section 820, the subtitle judgment 2 circuit 814 integrates the judgment result output from the subtitle position output circuit 810 in the time direction to obtain the stability and frequency for each field, and further, as the subtitle. The subtitle position is determined again by checking whether it is at the correct position. This makes it possible to avoid a case where the luminance difference between the caption of the input signal and the area other than the caption is small, or erroneous detection due to noise.

The subtitle determination 2 circuit 814 has determined
The subtitle start position CS and the subtitle end position CE are output to a CS output terminal 815 and a CE output terminal 816, respectively.

However, FIG. 8 shows a subtitle position output circuit 81.
Although 0 and signals indicating the position CS and the position CE output from the subtitle determination 2 circuit 814 are shown in parallel, these 2 output signals may be serial outputs.

According to the above method, the subtitle position can be detected regardless of the position of the subtitle in the video, not limited to the subtitle in the non-picture portion.

In the non-picture part detection device shown in FIG. 9, the area determination circuit 901 determines the video area based on the non-picture part output from the boundary output circuit 110 and the subtitle position output from the subtitle detection circuit 900. A determination can be made for a boundary position. This makes it possible to prevent erroneous detection of the boundary position between the video area and the non-picture part due to the caption.

In the subtitle position detecting circuit shown in FIG. 8, the counter 805 may be operated only in the hatched portion in FIG. 13, and may not be operated in other portions. Since the subtitles are usually at the upper or lower part of the screen, the subtitles can be detected only in the hatched portions shown in FIG. In this case, the counter 80
5 counts the number of data determined by the level comparison circuit 803 to be a signal belonging to the subtitle portion in each horizontal scanning period from the upper end of the screen to the position β1 and from the position β2 to the lower end of the screen. , And outputs the count value to the count value comparison circuit 806.

In this case, the counter control signal generation time 821
14 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 14, a counter control signal generation circuit 821 includes a vertical synchronization signal input terminal 822.
(Referred to as a V counter) 831 that starts with a vertical synchronization signal input from
A decoder 832 for decoding the count value of the counter 831; an AND circuit 834; and a counter control signal output terminal 83 for outputting a control signal to the counter 805.
5 and a decode value switching circuit 836 for switching a value set for the decoder 832. The decode value switching circuit 836 sets a decode value for the decoder 832. Decode value switching circuit 836
Sets values corresponding to the position β1 and the position β2 in the decoder 832.

For example, as shown in FIG. 13, the decode value switching circuit 836 can set the positions β1 and β2 inside the screen of several lines from the boundary position detected in the previous field.

In FIG. 14, the counter 831 counts the horizontal synchronization signal input from the horizontal synchronization signal input terminal 111 with the vertical synchronization signal input from the vertical synchronization signal input terminal 112 as the starting point. The decoder 832 decodes the count value of the counter 831 and outputs a high level from the count value 0 to the value corresponding to the position β1, and from the value corresponding to the position β2 to the maximum value of the count value.

When the decoder 832 is at the high level, the AND circuit 834 outputs the clock signal CCLK input from the clock signal input terminal 102 to the counter control signal output terminal 835.

The control signal input terminal 822 has a CP
The output signal from U208 is input. CPU 208
Sets the period for detecting the subtitle position, that is, the operation period of the counter 805, based on the image information one field before obtained from the subtitle position detection circuit, and outputs the control signal to the control signal input terminal 822. .

The decode value switching circuit 836 sets the decode value of the decoder 832 according to the signal input from the control signal input terminal 122.

As described above, the counter control signal generation circuit 8
By controlling the counter 805, when there is a caption in the non-image portion, the counter 805 can operate only the portion indicated by oblique lines in FIG.

Next, an embodiment of a television receiver provided with the above-described feature detecting device will be described. FIG.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a television receiver. FIG.
, 201 is an antenna, 202 is a tuner, 2
03 is a luminance signal / color signal separation circuit (Y / C separation circuit), 2
04 is a conversion processing circuit, 205 is a video chroma circuit, 20
Reference numeral 6 denotes a cathode ray tube; 207, a boundary position detection circuit; 208, a CPU; and 209, an image feature detection device.

The operation will be described below.

Radio waves received by antenna 201 are tuned and demodulated by tuner 202, and a baseband video signal is output. The demodulated baseband video signal is input to the Y / C separation circuit 203 and separated into a luminance signal and a chrominance signal.

The boundary position detection circuit 207 includes a CPU 208
, The boundary between the video area and the non-image area is detected from the luminance signal separated by the Y / C separation circuit 203, and the detection result is output to the CPU 208.

The CPU 208 includes a boundary position detection circuit 207
Based on the detection result, a conversion characteristic for controlling the image is created so that the image quality of the video area and the non-image area is separately adjusted, and is output to the conversion processing circuit 204.

The conversion processing circuit 204 performs image quality adjustment such as brightness, contrast, color density, and color tone on the input luminance signal and color signal in accordance with the control signal output from the CPU 208, and converts the signal. Processing is performed and supplied to the video chroma circuit 205. At this time, the video area and the non-image area may be further divided into a plurality of areas, respectively, and the image quality may be adjusted for each of the divided areas. As the adjustment of the image quality, for example, an average luminance level is detected in each area, and the contrast is adjusted by judging to which of several preset levels the average luminance level belongs. , Gamma correction control, contour correction control, YNR, CNR control, and the like.

The video chroma circuit 205 converts the input luminance signal and chrominance signal into RGB signals,
06.

By performing the above operation, it is possible to independently adjust the image quality of the video area and the non-image area displayed on the screen.

Further, in a wide television receiver, an aspect ratio is detected by using a non-image portion detection device,
An embodiment in which a caption is moved to an arbitrary position in a screen, a caption is erased, a caption is enlarged, and the like is described below using a caption detection result of a caption detection circuit.

As the HDTV test broadcast is started and the number of video sources on the horizontal screen increases, the television on the horizontal screen is becoming popular. A wide (16: 9) television usually has a function capable of displaying a screen optimal for a wide screen, but in most cases, switching of the screen display size must be manually performed by a user. Therefore, it is necessary for the viewer to make an optimal screen setting for each video source, which is a very troublesome operation.
In the present embodiment, an automatic aspect ratio control system that automatically controls the aspect ratio by detecting the aspect ratio from the input signal and a subtitle that appears outside the display screen when the image is enlarged are displayed on the display screen. An automatic caption system that automatically moves inward will be described. further,
An automatic image control system that controls contrast, black level, and gamma characteristics by detecting characteristics of an input signal will also be described.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a wide television receiver having the above functions.

Referring to FIG. 15, a wide-screen television receiver includes a non-image portion detection device 1500 and an automatic image quality correction 151.
0, subtitle control device 1520, system CPU 153
0.

Referring to FIG. 15, non-image portion detecting device 1500
Operates as an aspect ratio analysis block.

The aspect ratio analysis block includes an information detection unit 1501 as an aspect ratio detection circuit and an analysis CPU 15.
02. The information detecting unit 1501 corresponds to FIG.
Alternatively, the configuration shown in the block diagram in FIG. 9 can be used. As described above, the start position and the end position of the video area are detected from the input video source, and based on the detection result, the analysis CPU , The start position and the end position of the video section are determined. With this determination, the system CPU 1530 detects the aspect ratio of the image size and enlarges the image.

When the image is enlarged in the vertical direction, it is necessary to know the position of the central horizontal scanning line in the image area. In this case, by using the detection result of the boundary position between the image area and the non-image area by the non-image area detection device, as shown in FIG. 5, the position of the central horizontal scanning line in the image area (hereinafter, referred to as position X) Can be easily obtained.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a case where an image having non-image portions having different widths above and below an image area is displayed on a screen. 5, a position S and a position E indicate a horizontal scanning line position where the video area starts and a horizontal scanning line position where the video area ends, as in the case shown in FIG. Z indicates the position of the central horizontal scanning line on the screen. Assuming that the position S, the position E, the position X, and the position Z are all represented by the number of the horizontal scanning line based on the vertical synchronization signal, the position X is represented by the position S and the position E.
And can be expressed as in Equation 1.

[0114]

X = (S + E) / 2 Therefore, if the video signal is delayed using the memory so that the position X coincides with the position Z, the image area is symmetric with respect to the center of the screen, that is, the position Z. be able to. As a result, when the image is enlarged in the vertical direction, the image can be enlarged without cutting the image up and down.

That is, in such a case, the delay of the video signal such that the position X coincides with the position Z is determined from the detection result of the boundary position between the video area and the non-image portion (ie, the position S and the position E). The non-image portion detection device may be configured to determine the amount and generate a control signal for the delay amount, and control may be performed using the control signal when the image is enlarged in the vertical direction.

In FIG. 15, the caption control device 15
20 automatically detects subtitles present in the non-image portion from the input signal in the letter box format,
Then, the subtitle information is written in 21. As described above, caption detection can be performed by the caption detection circuit shown in FIG.
When the aspect ratio is detected by the aspect ratio analysis block and the video area is enlarged, the subtitle control device 1520
In the subtitle editing unit 1522, the field memory 1521
Is read and the subtitle is moved to the video area. This is shown in FIG. Also, the caption control device 1520 may reduce or enlarge the caption. The caption can be reduced by thinning out the contents of the memory when reading the caption information written in the field memory 1521. In addition, expansion of subtitles is performed in the field memory 1
When the subtitle information written in the subtitle information 521 is read, data can be complemented and expanded between the data of the subtitle information. The data may be complemented between one adjacent data, a method of averaging data of both adjacent data and used as complementary data, or the like.

In the automatic image quality correction device 1510, the luminance level distribution detection circuit provided in the luminance conversion circuit 1511 obtains luminance level distribution information. Then, the luminance conversion circuit 1511 and the color conversion circuit 1512 set a nonlinear conversion curve suitable for the input signal. In the automatic image quality adjustment, as described above, the video area and the non-image area are each divided into a plurality of areas, and the image quality is adjusted for each of the divided areas. At this time, according to the non-linear conversion curve set by the analysis CPU 1502 by fuzzy inference, the input signal is converted into a signal that is easy to see and that effectively uses the dynamic range of the CRT. FIG. 17 shows an example of a nonlinear curve for converting an input signal. In this case, since the luminance level distribution of the input signal is slightly concentrated on the intermediate luminance,
Control is performed to reduce the distribution of the intermediate luminance and expand the distribution on both sides of the low luminance and the high luminance. Thereby, an image having an appropriate contrast ratio can be obtained.

This system is a 0.8 μm CMOS LSI controlled by one 1 Mb field memory.
Can be realized. FIG. 18 shows an overall block diagram of the television system. In FIG. 18, WSP18
00 indicates a wide signal processing system (LSI). By mounting this LSI, a direct-view type and a projection type wide TV can be provided.

In this manner, the image size can be automatically converted to a video size suitable for a wide-screen television, and the image quality can be adjusted separately for the video area and the non-picture area. Can be moved.

As described above, according to each of the above embodiments, when a video having a non-picture portion above, below, or both above and below a video region is input as a video signal, the video signal and the non-picture portion are converted from the video signal. Can be detected, and the subtitle position can be detected. Therefore,
By using this detection result, the image quality can be independently adjusted in the video area and the non-image part, and in addition,
The image area can be moved to an arbitrary position in the screen, and further, when the image is enlarged in the vertical direction, the image can be enlarged without cutting off both vertically and vertically.

[0121]

According to the present invention, when a video having a non-image portion above and below a video region is input as a video signal, a boundary position between the video region and the non-image portion is detected from the video signal. Can be. Also, the subtitle position can be detected. Furthermore, the image size can be automatically converted to a video size suitable for a wide-screen television, image quality can be separately adjusted for a video area and a non-picture area, and the position of a subtitle can be moved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a boundary position between an image area and a non-image part when an image is displayed on a screen.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a case where a video having a caption in a non-image portion is displayed on a screen.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a specific example of a comparison value setting unit 107 in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a case where an image having non-image portions having different widths above and below an image area is displayed on a screen.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional image quality adjusting device for a television receiver.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a region where the image quality can be independently adjusted by the image quality adjusting device shown in FIG. 6;

8 is a block diagram showing a specific example of a caption detection unit 900 in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a case where a video with subtitles is displayed on a screen.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an image quality adjusting device of the television receiver in the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating counter control signal generation times 12 in the embodiment.
1 is a configuration diagram.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a detection range in caption detection.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a counter control signal generation time 82 according to the embodiment.
1 is a configuration diagram.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a wide television receiver.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of subtitle control.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of a nonlinear curve for converting an input signal.

FIG. 18 is an overall block diagram of a television system.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: video signal input terminal, 102: clock signal input terminal, 103: level comparison circuit, 104: comparison level setting section, 105: counter, 106: count value comparison circuit, 107: comparison value setting section, 108: storage section, 109 ...
Boundary determination circuit, 110: Boundary output circuit, 111: Horizontal synchronization signal input terminal, 112: Vertical synchronization signal input terminal, 11
3 vertical sync signal counter 114 area determination circuit 1
15 ... Position S output terminal, 116 ... Position E output terminal, 11
7 ... amplitude direction determination unit, 118 ... horizontal direction determination unit, 119
... Vertical direction judging unit, 120. Temporal direction judging unit.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Nobufumi Nakagaki 292 Yoshidacho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Hitachi, Ltd. Visual Media Research Laboratory (72) Inventor Toshinori Murata 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Hitachi, Ltd. Video Media Research Laboratory (72) Inventor Shinobu Torigoe 292, Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Hitachi, Ltd. Video Media Research Laboratory (72) Inventor, Nao Suzuki 292, Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture (56) References JP-A-2-305190 (JP, A) JP-A-63-185173 (JP, A) JP-A-7-58973 (JP, A) JP-A-7-589 87416 (JP, A) Table 10-513015 (JP, A) (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/262-5/278 H04N 5 / 445-5/46

Claims (23)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image feature detecting apparatus for detecting a boundary position between a video area containing image information and the non-picture area from a video signal containing a non-picture area containing no image information, comprising: based on the signal level, it indicates whether the video signal is a signal belonging to the non-picture area, a plurality of times and determines the amplitude direction determination unit per one horizontal scanning period, the determination result from the amplitude direction determination means Input signal
In one horizontal scanning period, if the pixel belongs to the non-image area,
The number of signals indicating the determination result of
By comparing the meta distribution amount set value La of the line belongs to non-image area or a line belonging to the image area
Has a horizontal direction determining means for determining whether the in, on the basis of the determination result by the horizontal direction determining means and a vertical direction determination means for determining a boundary position between the image area and the non-picture area in the vertical direction of the video An image feature detection device characterized by the following. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said amplitude direction determining means performs said determination as a signal belonging to said non-image area when a signal level of said video signal is lower than a predetermined reference level. The direction determination unit determines that the number of signals determined to be a signal belonging to the non-image region by the amplitude direction determination unit is a line belonging to the non-image region when the number of signals is larger than a predetermined distribution amount set value. An image feature detection device for performing the determination. 3. A setting means for setting at least one of the setting of the reference level in the amplitude direction judging means and the setting of a predetermined distribution amount setting value in the horizontal direction judging means. An image feature detection device, further comprising: 4. A storage device according to claim 1, wherein said vertical direction determination means stores a determination result by said horizontal direction determination means for each field, and reads said determination result stored in said storage means to form said boundary. A boundary determining means for determining a position; and a position output means for outputting the boundary position determined by the boundary determining means by indicating the number of lines in the horizontal scanning period in one field. Feature detection device. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the result obtained by integrating the result of determination by said vertical direction determining means in the time direction is:
An image feature detection device further comprising a time direction determination unit that outputs a detection result of a boundary position between a video region and a non-image region. 6. A subtitle detecting means for detecting a vertical position of a signal including subtitle information from the video signal, and whether the boundary position is correct based on the detection by the subtitle detecting means. And a determining means for determining the image characteristic. 7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said horizontal direction determining means makes said determination based on a result of determination in a predetermined portion of one horizontal scanning period by said amplitude direction determining means. Feature detection device. 8. A signal according to claim 7, wherein said horizontal direction determining means determines that the signal belongs to said non-image area by said amplitude direction determining means in a predetermined portion of said one horizontal scanning period. An image feature detection device that determines that the line belongs to the non-image area when the number of images is larger than a predetermined set value. 9. A subtitle detecting means according to claim 2, wherein when the signal level of said video signal is higher than a predetermined subtitle detection level for detecting subtitles, said subtitle detecting means detects that said signal is a signal including subtitle information. From the distribution amount set value in the horizontal direction determination means,
An image feature detection device, further comprising: a distribution amount setting unit that sets a value obtained by subtracting the number of signals detected as subtitles by the subtitle detection unit as a new distribution amount setting value. 10. An image feature detection device for detecting a subtitle area including subtitle information from a video signal including subtitle information, wherein the signal is a signal including the subtitle information based on a signal level of the video signal. An amplitude direction determining means for determining whether or not the image signal is plural times per one horizontal scanning period; and a line of the horizontal scanning period for at least one horizontal scanning period of the video signal based on a result of the determination by the amplitude direction determining means. A horizontal direction determining means for determining whether or not the signal belongs to the subtitle information; and a vertical direction for determining a boundary position between a video area and a subtitle area in a vertical direction of the video based on a determination result by the horizontal direction determining means. An image feature detection device comprising: a direction determination unit. 11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said amplitude direction judging means makes the judgment as a signal including the subtitle information when the signal level of the video signal is higher than a predetermined reference level. The determining means is a signal including the subtitle information by the amplitude direction determining means in a line of the horizontal scanning period at least every one horizontal scanning period of the video signal based on a determination result by the amplitude direction determining means. An image feature detection apparatus, wherein when the number of determined signals is larger than a predetermined distribution amount set value, the signal is determined to be a line belonging to the subtitle area. 12. A setting means for setting at least one of the setting of the reference level in the amplitude direction judging means and the setting of a predetermined distribution amount setting value in the horizontal direction judging means. An image feature detection device, further comprising: 13. A storage device according to claim 10, wherein said vertical direction determination means stores the determination result by said horizontal direction determination means for each field, and reads out the determination result stored in said storage means to form said boundary. A boundary determining means for determining a position; and a position output means for outputting the boundary position determined by the boundary determining means by indicating the number of lines in the horizontal scanning period in one field. Feature detection device. 14. A time direction judging means according to claim 10, wherein a result obtained by integrating the judgment result by said vertical direction judging means in a time direction is output as a result of detecting a boundary position between a video area and a subtitle area. An image feature detection device, further comprising: 15. The image processing method according to claim 10, wherein said horizontal direction determining means makes said determination based on a determination result in a predetermined portion of one horizontal scanning period by said amplitude direction determining means. Feature detection device. 16. The signal processing method according to claim 15, wherein said horizontal direction determining means determines a signal including said caption information by said amplitude direction determining means in a predetermined portion of said one horizontal scanning period. An image feature detection apparatus, wherein when the number is larger than a predetermined set value, the determination is made that the line belongs to the caption area. 17. A receiving unit for receiving a video signal, an image feature detecting unit for detecting a boundary position between a video region including image information and a non-image region not including image information from the video signal received by the receiving unit. An image quality adjustment unit that adjusts image quality of the video signal received by the reception unit based on the boundary position detected by the image feature detection unit, by dividing the image signal into the video region and the non-image region; An output unit for outputting a video signal adjusted by the unit. 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the image characteristic detecting section determines whether or not the video signal belongs to the non-image area based on a signal level of the video signal per one horizontal scanning period. An amplitude direction determining unit that determines a plurality of times, and based on a determination result obtained by the amplitude direction determining unit, determines whether a line in the horizontal scanning period belongs to a video area in at least one horizontal scanning period of the video signal. Horizontal direction determining means for determining whether the signal belongs to an image area, and vertical direction determining for determining a boundary position between the image area and the non-image area in the vertical direction of the image based on the determination result by the horizontal direction determining means. And an image adjustment system. 19. A subtitle editing unit comprising: a subtitle detection unit that detects a subtitle region including subtitle information from a video signal including subtitle information; and an editing processing unit that performs editing processing on the subtitle region detected by the subtitle detection unit. In the system, the caption detection unit is configured to determine, based on a signal level of the video signal, whether or not the signal includes the caption information a plurality of times per horizontal scanning period; A horizontal direction determining unit configured to determine whether a line of the horizontal scanning period is a signal to which the subtitle information belongs, based on a determination result of the amplitude direction determining unit, at least for every one horizontal scanning period of the video signal; A vertical direction determining unit that determines a boundary position between a video region and a subtitle region in a vertical direction of the video based on a determination result by the horizontal direction determining unit. Characterized subtitle editing system. 20. The image processing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the editing processing section determines a delay amount of the video signal for positioning the video area at the center of the display screen from a detection result of a boundary position between the video area and the subtitle area. A subtitle editing system characterized in that a video area is vertically expanded in accordance with the delay amount. 21. A receiving unit for receiving a video signal, detecting a boundary position between a video region including image information and a non-image region not including image information from the video signal received by the receiving unit, and detecting the detected boundary position. An aspect ratio detection unit for detecting an aspect ratio of a video area including image information from the image signal; and converting the video signal received by the reception unit to a predetermined aspect ratio based on the aspect ratio detected by the aspect ratio detection unit. A conversion unit, and a display unit that displays a screen represented by the video signal converted by the conversion unit , wherein the aspect ratio detection unit converts the video signal based on the signal level of the video signal.
One horizontal scan determines whether or not the signal belongs to the non-image area.
An amplitude direction determining unit that determines a plurality of times per period ;
At least every one horizontal scanning period of the video signal,
Whether the line in the horizontal scanning period is a signal belonging to the video area or not
Horizontal direction determination method for determining whether the signal belongs to the image area
And an image based on the result of the determination by the horizontal direction determination means.
Of the boundary between the video area and the non-image area in the vertical direction
A television receiver comprising: a vertical direction judging means for judging . 22. The video signal received by the receiving unit based on the boundary position detected by the aspect ratio detection unit and the image area and the non-image
A television receiver further comprising an image quality adjustment unit that adjusts image quality separately for each area . 23. A subtitle detecting section for detecting a subtitle area including subtitle information from a video signal including subtitle information, and an editing processing section for performing editing processing on the subtitle area detected by the subtitle detecting section. A television receiver further comprising: