Patent ID: 6041145
Filing Date: 2000-03-21
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
A picture signal smoothing device that performs a smoothing process by applying a smoothing filter that performs a filtering of a sampled and digitized picture signal by weighted mean of a target pixel and its surrounding pixels, including:means for detecting a difference between the target pixel and the surrounding pixels;means for taking an absolute value that represents a magnitude of the difference;means for adding a non-negative value to the absolute value that represents a magnitude of the difference thus detected, wherein said non-negative value is equal for all surrounding pixels;means for taking an inverse number of the value after the adding and thereby generating a weighting factor;means for multiplying a value after taking of the inverse number, and the surrounding pixels value together;means for taking a sum (A) of a plurality of values after the multiplying;means for taking a sum (B) of a plurality of weighting factors alone;means for normalizing the sum (A) by dividing the same by the sum (B) of the weighting factors; andmeans for smoothing the target pixel in accordance with the normalized sum (A).