Patent ID: 7271840

Claim:
A method for determining entropy of a pixel of a real time streaming digital video image signal to identify the origin of, and process, in real time, pixels of interlaced, non-interlaced, or de-interlaced, streaming digital video image signals, comprising the steps of: (a) receiving and characterizing the streaming digital video image input signal during a pre-determined time interval; (b) assigning and characterizing a local neighborhood of neighboring pixels to each input image pixel of the streaming digital video image input signal, in a temporal interlaced sequence of three consecutive fields in a global input grid of pixels included in the streaming digital video input image signal, said three consecutive fields being a previous field, a next field, and a current field; and (c) determining the entropy of each virtual pixel, of each previous pixel, and of each next pixel, in said temporal interlaced sequence of said three consecutive fields, relative to said assigned and characterized local neighborhoods of said neighboring pixels, said determining comprising the steps of: (i) calculating values of pixel inter-local neighborhood parameters for each said previous pixel in said previous field, and for each said next pixel in said next field, whereby each said value of each said pixel inter-local neighborhood parameter represents a regional sum of inter-local neighborhood weighted distances measured between said neighboring pixels located in subsets of said assigned and characterized local neighborhood of each said virtual pixel in said current field, and said assigned and characterized local neighborhood of each said previous pixel in said previous field, and of each said next pixel, in said next field, respectively; (ii) calculating a value of a virtual-pixel intra-local neighborhood parameter, for each said virtual pixel in said current field; (iii) adjusting a value of a pixel entropy counter for each said previous pixel in said previous field, for each said next pixel in said next field, and for each said virtual pixel in said current field; and (iv) calculating a value of the entropy of each said previous pixel in said previous field, of each said next pixel in said next field, and of each said virtual pixel in said current field, from said values of said pixel entropy counters of said pixels.