Patent ID: 7649567

Claim:
A format conversion apparatus for subjecting data having a predetermined resolution to conversion of the resolution according to a resolution of a display screen, said apparatus comprising: a timing generation unit for generating a timing for thinning out inputted signal data, using a resolution conversion coefficient that is calculated on the basis of a conversion ratio of the resolution; and a selection unit for selecting, from two pieces of input signal data existing before and after the thinning-out timing generated by the timing generation unit, the signal data that is timewise closer to the thinning-out timing; wherein said timing generation unit comprises a counter unit for cumulatively counting the resolution conversion coefficient for every sampling clock of the input signal, with a first threshold value as a limit, and when the count value overflows, said counter unit setting a value obtained by removing a carryout signal from the count value, as a count value for the next sampling clock; and a timing of the sampling clock at which the count value of the counter unit becomes equal to or larger than the first threshold value is outputted as a thinning-out timing for thinning out the inputted signal data.