Patent · US Active

Video image quality

US7430333B2 · kind B2 · utility

18Cited by
8References
39Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 17, 2004
Grant dateSep 30, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 29, 2026

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T2207/30201
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Video image quality may be improved by correcting exposure levels and/or enhancing contrast amounts on each frame. One or more of the following phases may be implemented: skin-color model building, face detecting, exposure level correcting, and contrast enhancing. In a described implementation, each pixel of an image frame is re-exposed using a ratio of contrast amount control variables (CACVs). More specifically, a pixel may be converted to a corresponding light intensity using a first CACV, and the corresponding light intensity may be reconverted to a pixel using a second CACV to enhance the contrast and possibly reduce fuzziness of the image frame. In another described implementation, a Gaussian skin-color model is built for each image frame during runtime. The Gaussian skin-color model is built with training pixels that are selected responsive to a defined skin color range, which is created offline from manually-selected skin pixels of multiple test sequences.

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