Method and apparatus for contrast enhancement of color images

Claim 1

A method for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: (a) computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image, the pixel data of the color image being in the RGB color space; (b) computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values obtained in step (a); and (c) enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the step (a) comprises adding RGB color components of the pixel data to obtain a sum, and performing iterative accumulation of fourth-order fractions of the sum to approximate one-third of the sum and obtain the I component value corresponding to the pixel data.

Claim 2

A method for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: (a) computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image, the pixel data of the color image being in the RGB color space; (b) computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values obtained in step (a); and (c) enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the step (a) comprises adding RGB color components of the pixel data to obtain a sum, and performing iterative accumulation of fourth-order fractions of the sum to approximate one-third of the sum and obtain the I component value corresponding to the pixel data.

Claim 3

A method for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: (a) computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image, the pixel data of the color image being in the RGB color space; (b) computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values obtained in step (a); and (c) enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the step (a) comprises adding an R color component of a first one of the pixel data, a G color component of a second one of the pixel data, and a B color component of a third one of the pixel data to obtain a sum which is used to approximate a sum of the I component values of the first, second and third ones of the pixel data.

Claim 4

A method for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: (a) computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image, the pixel data of the color image being in the RGB color space; (b) computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values obtained in step (a); and (c) enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the step (a) comprises adding an R color component of a first one of the pixel data, a G color component of a second one of the pixel data, and a B color component of a third one of the pixel data to obtain a sum which is used to approximate a sum of the I component values of the first, second and third ones of the pixel data.

Claim 5

A method for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: (a) computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image; (b) computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values obtained in step (a); and (c) enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the image I component value is a median value of the I component values obtained in step (a); and wherein the step (b) comprises arranging the I component values obtained in step (a) in order of magnitude, and assigning a median I component value, in which half of the I component values are less than the median I component value while the other half of the I component values are greater than the median I component value, as the image I component value.

Claim 6

A method for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: (a) computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image; (b) computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values obtained in step (a); and (c) enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the image I component value is a median value of the I component values obtained in step (a); and wherein the step (b) comprises arranging the I component values obtained in step (a) in order of magnitude, and assigning a median I component value, in which half of the I component values are less than the median I component value while the other half of the I component values are greater than the median I component value, as the image I component value.

Claim 7

A method for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: (a) computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image; (b) computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values obtained in step (a); and (c) enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the step (c) comprises obtaining difference of the pixel data and the image I component value, scaling the difference by a predetermined contrast enhancement factor, and adding the image I component value to the scaled difference to obtain contrast-enhanced pixel data.

Claim 8

A method for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: (a) computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image; (b) computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values obtained in step (a); and (c) enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the step (c) comprises obtaining difference of the pixel data and the image I component value, scaling the difference by a predetermined contrast enhancement factor, and adding the image I component value to the scaled difference to obtain contrast-enhanced pixel data.

Claim 9

An apparatus for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: a first computing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image, the pixel data of the color image being in the RGB color space; a second computing circuit receiving the I component values from the first computing circuit and computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values from the first computing circuit; and an enhancing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and the image I component value from the second computing circuit, the enhancing circuit enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the first computing circuit comprises an accumulator for adding RGB color components of the pixel data to obtain a sum, and a calculating circuit for performing iterative accumulation of fourth-order fractions of the sum to approximate one-third of the sum and obtain the I component value corresponding to the pixel data.

Claim 10

An apparatus for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: a first computing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image, the pixel data of the color image being in the RGB color space; a second computing circuit receiving the I component values from the first computing circuit and computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values from the first computing circuit; and an enhancing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and the image I component value from the second computing circuit, the enhancing circuit enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the first computing circuit comprises an accumulator for adding RGB color components of the pixel data to obtain a sum, and a calculating circuit for performing iterative accumulation of fourth-order fractions of the sum to approximate one-third of the sum and obtain the I component value corresponding to the pixel data.

Claim 11

An apparatus for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: a first computing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image, the pixel data of the color image being in the RGB color space; a second computing circuit receiving the I component values from the first computing circuit and computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values from the first computing circuit; and an enhancing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and the image I component value from the second computing circuit, the enhancing circuit enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the first computing circuit comprises: a multiplexer having select inputs and data inputs that receive RGB color components of the pixel data respectively; a modulo-3 counter for successively generating "0," "1," and "2" count outputs that are provided to the select inputs of the multiplexer so as to control the multiplexer to output the R color component of a first one of the pixel data, the G color component of a second one of the pixel data, and the B color component of a third one of the pixel data; and an accumulator for adding outputs of the multiplexer to obtain a sum which is used to approximate a sum of the I component values of the first, second and third ones of the pixel data.

Claim 12

An apparatus for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: a first computing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image, the pixel data of the color image being in the RGB color space; a second computing circuit receiving the I component values from the first computing circuit and computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values from the first computing circuit; and an enhancing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and the image I component value from the second computing circuit, the enhancing circuit enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the first computing circuit comprises: a multiplexer having select inputs and data inputs that receive RGB color components of the pixel data respectively; a modulo-3 counter for successively generating "0," "1," and "2" count outputs that are provided to the select inputs of the multiplexer so as to control the multiplexer to output the R color component of a first one of the pixel data, the G color component of a second one of the pixel data, and the B color component of a third one of the pixel data; and an accumulator for adding outputs of the multiplexer to obtain a sum which is used to approximate a sum of the I component values of the first, second and third ones of the pixel data.

Claim 13

An apparatus for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: a first computing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image; a second computing circuit receiving the I component values from the first computing circuit and computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values from the first computing circuit; and an enhancing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and the image I component value from the second computing circuit, the enhancing circuit enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value: wherein the image I component value computed by the second computing circuit is a median value of the I component values from the first computing circuit; and wherein the second computing circuit comprises a median computing circuit for arranging the I component values obtained from the first computing circuit in order of magnitude and for assigning a median I component value in which half of the I component values are less than the median I component value while the other half of the I component values are greater than the median I component value, as the image I component value.

Claim 14

An apparatus for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: a first computing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image; a second computing circuit receiving the I component values from the first computing circuit and computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values from the first computing circuit; and an enhancing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and the image I component value from the second computing circuit, the enhancing circuit enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value: wherein the image I component value computed by the second computing circuit is a median value of the I component values from the first computing circuit; and wherein the second computing circuit comprises a median computing circuit for arranging the I component values obtained from the first computing circuit in order of magnitude and for assigning a median I component value in which half of the I component values are less than the median I component value while the other half of the I component values are greater than the median I component value, as the image I component value.

Claim 15

An apparatus for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: a first computing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image; a second computing circuit receiving the I component values from the first computing circuit and computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values from the first computing circuit; an enhancing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and the image I component value from the second computing circuit, the enhancing circuit enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; and a sampling circuit for activating the first computing circuit to compute only the I component values of sampled ones of the pixel data; wherein the sampling circuit comprises: a third computing circuit having an output that is incremented by a predetermined sampling factor every time one of the pixel data of the color image is provided to the first computing circuit; a first comparator receiving the output of the third computing circuit and comparing the output of the third computing circuit with a predetermined maximum count, the first comparator generating an enable signal for activating the first computing circuit to compute the I component value of the pixel data that is provided thereto at that time when the output of the third computing circuit exceeds the maximum count, the enable signal being further received by the third computing circuit to control the third computing circuit to reduce the output thereof by the maximum count; a counter triggered by the enable signal from the first comparator, the counter generating a count output indicative of current number of the pixel data sample from the color image; and a second comparator receiving the count output of the counter and comparing the count output with a predetermined sample number, the second comparator disabling the first computing circuit when the count output is equal to the sample number.

Claim 16

An apparatus for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: a first computing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image; a second computing circuit receiving the I component values from the first computing circuit and computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values from the first computing circuit; an enhancing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and the image I component value from the second computing circuit, the enhancing circuit enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; and a sampling circuit for activating the first computing circuit to compute only the I component values of sampled ones of the pixel data; wherein the sampling circuit comprises: a third computing circuit having an output that is incremented by a predetermined sampling factor every time one of the pixel data of the color image is provided to the first computing circuit; a first comparator receiving the output of the third computing circuit and comparing the output of the third computing circuit with a predetermined maximum count, the first comparator generating an enable signal for activating the first computing circuit to compute the I component value of the pixel data that is provided thereto at that time when the output of the third computing circuit exceeds the maximum count, the enable signal being further received by the third computing circuit to control the third computing circuit to reduce the output thereof by the maximum count; a counter triggered by the enable signal from the first comparator, the counter generating a count output indicative of current number of the pixel data sample from the color image; and a second comparator receiving the count output of the counter and comparing the count output with a predetermined sample number, the second comparator disabling the first computing circuit when the count output is equal to the sample number.

Claim 18

An apparatus for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: a first computing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image, the pixel data of the color image being in the RGB color space; a second computing circuit receiving the I component values from the first computing circuit and computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values from the first computing circuit; and an enhancing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and the image I component value from the second computing circuit, the enhancing circuit enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the enhancing circuit comprises: three difference circuits, each of which generates difference between a respective one of RGB color components of the pixel data and the image I component value; three gain circuits, each of which scaling the difference from a respective one of the difference circuits by a predetermined contrast enhancement factor; and three adders for adding the image I component value to the scaled difference from a respective one of the gain circuits to obtain contrast-enhanced pixel data.

Claim 19

An apparatus for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color image, comprising: a first computing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color image, the pixel data of the color image being in the RGB color space; a second computing circuit receiving the I component values from the first computing circuit and computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values from the first computing circuit; and an enhancing circuit receiving the pixel data of the color image and the image I component value from the second computing circuit, the enhancing circuit enhancing each of the pixel data of the color image according to the image I component value; wherein the enhancing circuit comprises: three difference circuits, each of which generates difference between a respective one of RGB color components of the pixel data and the image I component value; three gain circuits, each of which scaling the difference from a respective one of the difference circuits by a predetermined contrast enhancement factor; and three adders for adding the image I component value to the scaled difference from a respective one of the gain circuits to obtain contrast-enhanced pixel data.

Claim 20

A method for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color images, comprising: (a) computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color images; (b) computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values obtained in step (a); and (c) computing a weighted image I component value for a current one of the color images by taking a weighted average of the image I component values of a number of previous ones of the color images; and (d) enhancing each of the pixel data of the color images according to the image I component value.

Claim 21

A method for contrast enhancement of pixel data of a decompressed color images, comprising: (a) computing I component values in an HSI color space for the pixel data of the color images; (b) computing an image I component value which is an average of the I component values obtained in step (a); and (c) computing a weighted image I component value for a current one of the color images by taking a weighted average of the image I component values of a number of previous ones of the color images; and (d) enhancing each of the pixel data of the color images according to the image I component value.