Patent ID: 8478056

Claim:
A method of detecting an error in an image data stream, the method comprising: determining whether an error is present in an input image data stream; determining a similarity between patterns of values of transform coefficients of different blocks having a predetermined size, the transform coefficients being generated in a course of decoding the input image data stream; and detecting, by an apparatus for detecting an error, a starting position of an error in the input image data stream based on the determined similarity, wherein the patterns correspond to the different blocks of the input image data stream, the predetermined size of blocks is a macroblock, and the determining the similarity between the patterns of transform coefficients comprises at least one of: determining a spatial similarity between patterns of transform coefficients of adjacent macroblocks and a current macroblock in a current image frame of the input image data stream; and determining a temporal similarity between patterns of transform coefficients of a current macroblock of the current image frame and a macroblock which corresponds to the current macroblock and belongs to a reference frame to which the current image frame refers.