Patent 7212246 was granted and assigned to Samsung on May, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An image signal format detection apparatus and method. The image signal format detection apparatus includes a first summed absolute difference (SAD) value calculation unit for calculating, from a previous field, a current field, and a next field of a time-consecutive image signal, a first SAD value with reference to pixel values of the current field and the previous field. A second SAD value calculation unit calculates a second SAD value with reference to pixel values of the current field and the next field. A pattern generation unit generates a detection pattern based on a result of a comparison of the first and second SAD values,; and a pattern analysis unit stores the detection pattern by field, compares the stored detection pattern of a series of fields with a predetermined verification pattern, and determines whether the image signal is an image signal produced in 2:2 pull-down. The apparatus detects an image signal produced in 2:2 pull-down by using the SAD values between fields, and can be applied to a deinterlacing device or the like.