EP1111904A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Digital camera system and method
Assignee: Texas Instruments Inc
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Filing: 2000-12-20
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2020-12-20
Abstract
Abstract Digital Still Camera (DSC) includes separate preview engine, burst mode compression/decompression engine, image pipeline, CCD plus CCD controller, and memory plus memory controller. ARM microprocessor and DSP share control. Color filter array interpolation by use of green high-frequency added to red and blue plus interpolation.
Inventors
- 👤 Ching-Yu Hung
- 👤 Hideo Tamama
- 👤 Akira Osamoto
- 👤 Osamu Koshiba
- 👤 Satoru Yamauchi
- 👤 Minhua Zhou
- 👤 Klaus Ilgner
- 👤 Rajendra Talluri
- 👤 Youngjun Yoo
- 👤 Jie Liang
- 👤 Mandy Tsai
- 👤 Kiyoshi Tsunoda
- 👤 Shinri Inamori
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 20:37
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N23/00; H04N23/80; H04N23/84; H04N23/843; G; G06; G06T; G06T1/00; G06T1/60; G06T3/00; G06T3/40; G06T3/4015; G06T5/00; G06T5/20; H04N1/00; H04N1/21; H04N1/2104; H04N1/2112; H04N1/212; H04N1/387; H04N1/393; H04N1/40; H04N1/407; H04N1/4072; H04N1/4074; H04N1/46; H04N1/48; H04N1/486; H04N19/00; H04N19/42; H04N19/60; H04N19/61; H04N23/60; H04N25/00; H04N25/10; H04N25/11; H04N25/13; H04N25/134; H04N25/135; H04N25/136; H04N5/00; H04N5/76; H04N5/765; H04N5/77; H04N5/772; H04N2101/00; H04N5/907; H04N9/00; H04N9/79; H04N9/80; H04N9/804; H04N9/8042
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim
80 words
An integrated circuit for a digital still camera, comprising: (a) a first programmable processor programmed to run
control functions, said first processor coupled to a user
interface, a controller for memory, and a controller for image
acquisition; (b) a second programmable processor programmed to run image
processing and compression functions, said second processor
coupled to said first processor; and (a) a third processor coupled to said second processor,
said third processor including at least four parallel multiply
and accumulate units.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
148 words
A method of resizing a digital image, comprising the steps
of: (a) providing an M1 by M2 pixel image where M1 and M2 are
positive integers; (b) filtering a row of M1 pixels of the image with a set of
filter coefficients which depends upon pixel location to yield
M1 filtered outputs; (c) discarding M1-N1 of the filtered outputs of step (b); (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) for all other rows -of the
M1 by M2 image to yield a N1 by M2 image; (e) filtering a column of M2 pixels of the N1 by M2 image
with a set of filter coefficients which depends upon pixel
location to yield M2 filtered outputs; (f) discarding M2-N2 of the filtered outputs of step (e);
and (g) repeating steps (e) and (f) for all other rows of the
N1 by M2 image to yield a N1 by N2 image.
Claim 3
Independent Claim
121 words
A method of color-filtered array interpolation, comprising
the steps of: interpolate a first color subarray to yield a. first color
array; high-pass filter the first color array from the prior step
to yield a high pass first color array; interpolate a second color subarray to yield a second color
array; weight and add the high-pass first color array to the
second color array to yield a modified second color array; interpolate a third color subarray to yield a third color
array; weight and add the high-pass first color array to the third
color array to yield a modified third color array; defining a three-color image with the first color array,
the modified second color array, and the modified third color
array.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
109 words
A method of tone-scaling an image, comprising the steps of: (a) providing an M by N pixel image where M and N are
positive integers and each pixel has an intensity in the range
from 0 to K; (b) determining a scaled cumulative distribution function
T(X) for X in the range 0 to K and with values in the range 0 to
K, T(X) equals K multiplied by the number of pixels with
intensity less than or equal to X and then divided by MN; (c) selecting a parameter A in the range 0 to 1; (d) adjusting an intensity Z of a pixel of step (a) to
AT(Z)+(1-A)Z.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
64 words
A method of interpolation for a Bayer color-filtered array,
comprising the steps of: interpolate the green subarray to form a tentative green
array; clamp the interpolated pixel values of the tentative green
array to lie in the range of the middle two values of the four
neighboring values of the green subarray to form a green array;
and interpolate the red and blue subarrays.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
120 words
A method of interpolation for a Bayer color-filtered array
image, comprising the steps of: interpolate the green subarray to form a green array; diagonally interpolate the red subarray to form a second
red subarray; horizontally and vertically interpolate the second red
subarray to form a red array; diagonally interpolate the blue subarray to form a second
blue subarray; horizontally and vertically interpolate the second blue
subarray to form a blue array; wherein the diagonal interpolation includes weightings by
the values of the corresponding pixels in the green array; wherein the horizontal and vertical interpolation includes
weightings by the values of the corresponding pixels in the
green array; and the green array, red array, and blue array define a color
image.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
133 words
A method of white balancing for a color image sensor,
comprising the steps of: (a) providing output green, red, and blue pixel intensities
for a color image sensor illuminated with white light; (b) determining the ratio of the green pixel intensities to
the blue pixel intensities for the outputs of step (a); (c) providing an adjustment for blue pixel intensities as
multiplication by the ratio of step (b) plus addition of an
offset which depends upon the pixel intensities in step (a); (d) determining the ratio of the green pixel intensities to
the red pixel intensities for the outputs of step (a); and (c) providing an adjustment for red pixel intensities as
multiplication by the ratio of step (b) plus addition of an
offset which depends upon the pixel intensities in step (a).
Claim 8
Independent Claim
190 words
A method of video decoding and display, comprising the steps
of: (a) providing a sequence of encoded video frames, a
sequence of video frame boundary times, and storage locations
for decoded ones of the frames; (b) when the mth frame of the sequence has been decoded,
next decode the m'th frame of the sequence with m' determined as
TP n divided by DeltaT where DeltaT is the time interval between
successive ones of the video frame boundary times of step (a)
and TP n is a presentation time determined as the greater of (i)
the presentation time TP n-1 of the mth frame plus DeltaT and (ii)
the starting time Ts for decoding the frame to be presented next
after the mth frame plus an estimated time to decode a frame,
the sum rounded up to a multiple of DeltaT, wherein the starting
time Ts is the greater of (i) current time and (ii) the time a
storage location to contained the decoded m'th frame will be
available due to a prior decoded frame being displayed; (c) displaying a decoded frame; (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) with incremented indices.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
360 words
A method of interpolation for a complementary-color-filtered
array image, comprising the steps of: (a) provide a complementary-color-filtered array of pixel
values with yellow pixel values Ye on a first subarray, cyan
pixel values Cy on a second subarray, magenta pixel values Mg on
a third subarray, and green pixel values G on a fourth
subarray; (b) interpolating the yellow pixel values to all pixels in
the array; (c) interpolating the cyan pixel values to all pixels in
the (d) interpolating the magenta pixel values to all pixels in
the array; (e) interpolating the green pixel values to all pixels in
the array; (f) adjusting the pixel yellow value by subtracting
quantity (Ye + Cy - 2 * G - Mg) /4 from the pixel yellow value from
step (b) where Ye is the pixel yellow value from step (b), Cy is
the pixel cyan value from step (c), Mg is the pixel magenta
value from step (d), and G is the pixel green value from step
(e); (g) adjusting the pixel cyan value by subtracting quantity
(Ye + Cy - 2 * G - Mg)/4 from the pixel cyan value from step (c)
where Ye is the pixel yellow value from step (b), Cy is the
pixel cyan value from step (c), Mg is the pixel magenta value
from step (d), and G is the pixel green value from step (e); (h) adjusting the pixel magenta value by adding quantity
(Ye + Cy - 2 * G - Mg)/4 to the pixel magenta value from step (d)
where Ye is the pixel yellow value from step (b), Cy is the
pixel cyan value from step (c), Mg is the pixel magenta value
from step (d), and G is the pixel green value from step (e); and (i) adjusting the pixel green value by adding quantity (Ye
+ Cy - 2 * G - Mg)/8 to the pixel green value from step (e) where
Ye is the pixel yellow value from step (b), Cy is the pixel cyan
value from step (c), Mg is the pixel magenta value from step
(d), and G is the pixel green value from step (e).
Claim 10
Independent Claim
291 words
A method of interpolation for a color-filtered array image,
comprising the steps of: (a) provide a color-filtered array of pixel values with red
pixel value R(j,k) for the pixel located at the jth row and kth
column when j and k are even integers, blue pixel value B(j,k)
for pixel located at jth row and kth column when j and k are odd
integers, and green pixel value G(j,k) for the pixel located at
the jth row and kth column when one of j and k is an even
integer and the other an odd integer; (b) horizontally interpolate rows of pixel values when j is
even to yield rows of red values R(j,k) and green values G(j,k)
for all k, and when j is odd to yield green values G(j,k) and
blue values B(j,k) for all k; (c) when j is an even integer vertically interpolate the
horizontal interpolated red rows from step (b) to yield the red
values R(j-1,k) and when j is an odd integer vertically
interpolate the horizontal interpolated blue to yield the blue
values B(j-1,k); (d) vertically filter the horizontal interpolated green
pixel rows from step (b) to yield filtered green output values
G"(j,k); (e) define the difference values D(j,k) between the green
values G(j,k) and the filtered green values G"(j,k); (f) when j is even subtract D(j,k) from the red values
R(j,k) to yield red output values R"(j,k) and when m is odd add
D(j,k) to the red values R(j,k) to yield red output values
R"(j,k); and (g) when m is even add D(j,k) to the blue values B(j,k) to
yield blue output values B"(j,k) and when m is odd subtract
D(j,k) from the blue values B(j,k) to yield blue output values
B" (j ,k).
Claim 11
Independent Claim
143 words
A method of playback buffering, comprising: (a) providing first and second buffers, each of the buffers
with a full/not-full indicator, and a position indicator
indicating a position within the first and second buffers; (b) filling the first buffer with encoded bits when the
full/not-full indicator for the first buffer indicates not-full
and the position indicator indicates a position in the second
buffer; (c) filling the second buffer with encoded bits when the
full/not-full indicator for the second buffer indicates not-full
and the position indicator indicates a position in the first
buffer; (d) decoding a group of bits in the first and second
buffers starting at the position indicated by the position
indicator and treating the first and second buffers as forming a
single circular buffer; (e) updating the full/not-full indicators according to the
bits removed by step (d); and (f) repeating steps (b)-(e).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
26 words
A computer program comprising computer- or machinereadable
computer program elements for configuring a computer to
implement the method of any one of claims 2 to 11.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
27 words
A computer program comprising computer- or machinereadable
computer program elements translatable for configuring
a computer to implement the method of any one of claims 2 to 11.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
13 words
A carrier medium carrying a computer program according
to claim 12 or 13.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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