Patent ID: 7352410
Filing Date: 2008-04-01
Classification: G06T,G09G,H04N

Abstract:
1. An image brightness and contrast management module for automatically adjusting brightness and contrast of an input video signal, the module comprising: a histogram generation unit for generating, on a frame-by-frame basis, a pixel luminance histogram based on a luminance value of each of a plurality of pixels in a frame, wherein the histogram comprises a distribution of luminance values in the frame, the distribution indicating a dynamic range and at least one dominant luminance value for the frame; a histogram characterization unit for analyzing the pixel luminance histogram for the frame and for identifying which of a plurality of brightness/contrast properties is exhibited in the frame; and a brightness and contrast adjustment unit for nonlinearly adjusting in real-time the luminance values of the plurality of pixels in a next frame based on the identified brightness/contrast properties exhibited in a preceding frame, such that bright or dark dominant areas of an image in the next frame are stretched to enhance the contrast of the dominant luminance values of the next frame without blackening the darker portions or saturating the brighter portions of the image.