Patent Document ID: 20090180670
Application ID: 12300070
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A blocker image identification apparatus for identifying a blocker in an image, the apparatus comprising: a motion level calculator which calculates a motion level on a pixel by pixel basis or on a block by block basis for each frame of the image signal; a binarizer which converts the calculated motion level into a binary value; a 2-dimensional continuous region detector which detects a continuous region including adjacent pixels or blocks having a same binary value as an output value of the binarizer, for each frame; a large region extractor which extracts, as a large region, a region having an area greater than a predetermined area, of regions detected by the 2-dimensional continuous region detector; an area ratio determinator which determines that an area ratio determination condition is satisfied when a ratio of an area of a circumscribed rectangle to an area of the large region is within a first predetermined range; a shape determinator which determines that a shape determination condition is satisfied when a ratio of a horizontal width to a vertical width of the large region is within a second predetermined range; a position determinator which determines that a position determination condition is satisfied when a vertical-direction coordinate of a center of the large region is located at a lower portion of an entire screen of the image signal; and a blocker determinator which determines that the large region extracted by the large region extractor is a blocker part when at least one of the area ratio determination condition, the shape determination condition, and the position determination condition is satisfied.