Patent · US Expired

Contrast enhancement of an image using luminance and RGB statistical metrics

US6580825B2 · kind B2 · utility

21Cited by
8References
13Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateDec 22, 2001
Grant dateJun 17, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 22, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N1/6027
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An automatic contrast enhancement method improves the quality of an image by increasing the dynamic range of the tone levels in an image without causing an undesirable hue shift. An overall stretch factor that stretches the dynamic range of all the colors is generated based on the standard deviation of the tone levels for the overall luminance of the image. A color weighting factor is used to individually control the amount that each color is stretched. The color weighting factor is based on the difference between the standard deviation of the tone levels for the overall luminance of the image and the standard deviation of the tone levels for each color. An anchor factor is used to preserve the mean tone level for each color while the tone levels far from the mean tone level are changed more dramatically than the tone levels close to the mean tone level, which minimizes hue shifts while maximizing contrast enhancement.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.