Patent ID: 6208385
Filing Date: 2001-03-27
Classification: H04N,Y10S

Abstract:
A letterbox image detection apparatus structured for detecting a letterbox image by detecting a boundary of an image area and a non-image area in order to display only the image area on an entire screen according to a detection result, the displayed image thereby masking the non-image area, the letter box image detecting apparatus comprising:timing pulse generating means for generating a timing pulse in order to split one screen image into N columns (N is an integer of 2 or more);image property calculation means for calculating an image property of the N columns;inter-line difference calculation means for calculating an inter-line difference of the image property for each of the N columns;edge detecting means for (i) comparing the inter-line difference with a predetermined upper first threshold th1 and (ii) detecting an edge for each column based upon the comparison; andedge position data holding means for holding position data associated with the edge.