Patent ID: 8649627
Filing Date: 2014-02-11
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. An image acquisition and processing apparatus including a lens and image sensor for acquiring digital images and a processor arranged to acquire and process a first image of a scene that is relatively underexposed and sharp compared with a second relatively well exposed and blurred image also acquired by the apparatus, of approximately the same scene, the first and second images being derived from respective image sources, the apparatus comprising: means for providing a first image portion of the relatively underexposed first image as an input signal to an adaptive filter; means for providing a corresponding second image portion of the relatively well exposed second image as a desired signal to the adaptive filter; the adaptive filter arranged to produce an output signal from the input signal and the desired signal, the adaptive filter being arranged to add a coefficient to the input signal, the output signal being calculated from values of the input signal and the desired signal; and an image generator arranged to construct a first filtered image from the output signal, relatively less blurred than the second image, and wherein the first image and the second image are in RGB format and wherein the first image and the second image portion comprise a respective color plane of the first image and the second image, and wherein the adaptive filter and image generator are configured to apply the color plane of the relatively well-exposed, blurred second image to the color plane of the relatively underexposed, sharp first image to enhance the color plane of the first image to construct the first filtered image.