Gamma correction circuits

Abstract: A gamma correction circuit, that can be used for a video camera having an image pick-up element for generating a video signal corresponding to an object image, and an analog-to-digital converter for converting the video signal generated from the image pick-up element to a corresponding digital video signal, comprises a memory (12) for storing slope data and intercept data of each portion of a polygonal line approximating a desired gamma correction characteristic, a converter (11) for converting the digital video signal to readout address data for the memory, a multiplier (13) for multiplying slope data read out from the memory in accordance with the readout address data by the digital video signal, and an adder (14) for adding intercept data read out from the memory, in accordance with the readout address data, to an output from the multiplier means to generate a gamma corrected output therefrom.

Description: This invention relates to gamma correction circuits. The relationship between a grid signal voltage and a luminous output of a colour image receiving tube is not linear. The luminous output is proportional to, for example, 2.2-th power of an input signal applied to the grid. For this reason, if a signal from a video camera is applied to a colour image receiving tube without prior treatment, not only the luminance of an image on the screen, but also the hue and/or saturation, vary to a large degree. To prevent this, prior to applying it to the colour image receiving tube the input signal is passed through a gamma correction circuit having an input/output characteristic such that the output signal is equal to, for example, the 2.2-th power of the input signal, thereby to provide that the overall characteristic is linear. It is possible to position such a gamma correction circuit to process the signal immediately before it is applied to the grid of the colour image receiving tube. However, from the points of view of economy and stability, such a gamma correction circuit is generally not provided in association with a colour image receiver of a domestic electric apparatus. Instead, it is provided on the transmitting side, generally in a video camera. In recent years, digital video signal processing technology for digitally processing a video signal has been widely used in video cameras, in which case the camera has been provided with a gamma correction circuit constructed as a digital circuit. For example, it has been proposed to use a so-called mapping system in which a gamma correction characteristic prepared in advance is stored in memory and a gamma corrected digital video signal is read from the memory. More specifically, an output signal level of the input/output characteristic for the gamma correction is stored in advance in the memory and an output signal level is read from the memory by using an input signal level as a readout address for the memory to provide a gamma corrected output signal. Further, as shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, for example, it has been proposed to use a gamma correction circuit designed to perform gamma correction using a polygonal line approximating to a desired gamma correction characteristic. More specifically, as shown in Figure 2, an approach is used in which characteristics of respective lines (line segments or portions) forming an approximation to a polygonal line are realised in respective operation circuits l₁ to l n comprising multiplier circuits and adder circuits, etc., and outputs from the respective operation circuits l₁ to l n are compared with each other in a comparison circuit (comparator) 2 to select the minimum value, thereby to provide a gamma corrected digital video signal. In the above-described gamma correction technique employing the mapping system, it is necessary to store all points on a curve (Y=X (1/r) ) representative of the gamma correction characteristic. As a result, a memory of large capacity is required. A further problem is that, when an approach enabling realising of a high tone to increase the number of bits of a digital video signal is adopted, a memory of larger capacity is required. Particularly in the case of constructing the gamma correction circuit as an integrated circuit (IC), e.g. a so-called gate array, etc., the increased memory capacity is an obstruction. Further, the memory configuration generally employed is a configuration in which 8 bits are taken as one byte for carrying out writing and reading of bytes of data. Accordingly, if the number of bits per sample of a digital video signal is greater than 8, the use efficiency of the memory is poor. Moreover, in the case of altering the gamma correction characteristic in correspondence with different gamma correction characteristics, for example for different broadcasting stations, the entirety of the memory contents must be rewritten. Since the capacity of the memory is large, it takes a great deal of time to prepare data, to write the prepared data into the memory, and the like. Further, in the case of the gamma correction circuit as described with reference to Figures 1 and 2, if an attempt is made to increase the number of lines with a view to improving the precision of the polygonal line approximation, the number of operation circuits increases accordingly, resulting in the problem that the circuit scale becomes large. Furthermore, if the number of lines is above a certain value, it is difficult to realise a gamma correction circuit. In addition, it is necessary to alter characteristics (coefficients a i , b i : i = 1 to n) of all the operation circuits l₁ to l n in order to vary the gamma correction characteristic. However, this is impossible from a practical point of view. An article by J L E Baldwin entitled "The digital television studio centre" and published in THE ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY JOURNAL, Vol. 14, No. 11, September 1973, London, England, discloses a gamma correction circuit for a digital video signal, the circuit being in accordance with the pre-characterising part of claim 1 hereof. According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a gamma correction circuit according to the pre-characterising part of claim 1 hereof for a digital video signal, the circuit being characterised in that: slope data, intercept data and bend point data of respective line segments of a polygonal line approximating a correction curve obtained by subtracting the level of a video signal which is not yet gamma-corrected from said gamma correction characteristic are stored in the memory means; a subtractor means is provided for subtracting, from said digital video signal, bend point data read out from the memory means in accordance with said readout address data, and supplying the subtracted output to the multiplier means; second adder means is provided for adding the output of the first-mentioned adder means to said digital video signal to output a gamma corrected digital video signal; and second multiplier means is provided for multiplying the output of the first-mentioned adder means by a coefficient and supplying a multiplied output to the second adder means. The gamma correction circuit according to the invention enables a desired gamma correction of a digital video signal to be carried out by using slope data and intercept data of respective line segments or portions read out from the memory means, and allows the gamma correction characteristic to be changed by multiplying the level data read out from the memory means by different suitable coefficient data. A preferred embodiment of the invention described in detail hereinbelow provides a gamma correction circuit which permits the memory capacity to be smaller than that of the prior proposal described above, in carrying out gamma correction of a digital video signal by using a polygonal line approximating to a desired gamma correction characteristic, and thus permits the entire circuit scale to be smaller. Also, the preferred embodiment permits changing of the gamma correction characteristic with a circuit scale smaller than that of the prior proposal described above. The invention will now be further described, by way of illustrative and non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a graphical representation of how an approximation to a polygonal line is achieved in a previously proposed gamma characteristic circuit; Figure 2 is a block diagram of the previously proposed gamma correction circuit; Figure 3 is a block diagram of another gamma correction circuit; Figure 4 is a graphical representation of a polygonal line achieved when a gamma correction characteristic is subjected to a 32 polygonal line approximation in the gamma correction circuit shown in Figure 3; Figure 5 is a block diagram of a gamma correction circuit according to an embodiment of this invention; and Figure 6 is a graphical representation of a polygonal line achieved when a curve obtained by drawing a line represented by Y=X from a gamma correction characteristic is approximated by 32 polygonal lines in the gamma correction circuit shown in Figure 5. Figure 3 shows the configuration of a gamma correction circuit. In Figure 3, a digital video signal X provided by converting a video signal from a charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor (hereinafter referred to as a CCD) of, for example, a video camera to a digital signal is supplied to an encoder 11 and to a multiplier circuit 13 from an input terminal 10. The encoder 11 converts the input digital video signal X to a readout address for a memory circuit 12. The memory circuit 12 comprises, for example, a random access memory (RAM). In the memory circuit 12, slopes (hereinafter referred to as slope data a n ) and intercepts (hereinafter referred to as intercept data b n ) of respective line segments forming a polygonal line approximating to a gamma correction characteristic, that is a curve represented by Y=X (1/r) , are stored. The slope data a n and the intercept data b n stored in the memory circuit 12 are read out on the basis of a readout address from the encoder 11. The slope data a n thus read out are supplied to the multiplier circuit 13, and the intercept data b n thus read out are supplied to an adder circuit 14. The multiplier circuit 13 multiplies the input digital video signal X supplied via the input terminal 10 by slope data a n from the memory circuit 12 and supplies the multiplied result (product) to the adder circuit 14. The adder circuit 14 adds the output from the multiplier circuit 13 and intercept data b n from the memory circuit 12 to output the added result (sum), at an output terminal 15, as a gamma corrected digital video signal Y. Thus, in this circuit, the memory circuit 12 is used as memory means for storing slope data and intercept data of respective line segments, the encoder 11 is used as address conversion means for converting a level of an input signal to a readout address for the memory circuit 12, the multiplier circuit 13 is used as multiplier means for multiplying slope data a n , read out from the memory circuit 12 on the basis of an address from the encoder 11, by an input signal, and the adder circuit 14 is used as adder means for adding intercept data b n , read out from the memory circuit 12 on the basis of an address from the encoder 11, and the multiplied value (product) from the multiplier circuit 13. The operation of the gamma correction circuit of Figure 3 will now be described in more detail. The memory circuit 12 stores, as mentioned above, slope data an and intercept data b n of respective line segments of a polygonal line approximating to the gamma correction characteristic. In more precise terms, as shown in Figure 4, for example: when an input digital video signal X is less than 0% of a so-called reference white level, the gamma correction characteristic is approximated by 1 polygonal line; when that signal X is 0 to 15%, corresponding to the black area where an output signal varies to a large degree, the gamma correction characteristic is approximated by 16 polygonal lines; when that signal X is 15 to 120%, the gamma correction characteristic is approximated by 14 polygonal lines; and when that signal X is more than 120%, the gamma correction characteristic is approximated by 1 polygonal line. Then, slope data a n (assumed to comprise, for example, 8 bits) and intercept data b n (assumed to comprise, for example, 12 bits) are stored in the memory circuit 12. Thus, for example, in the case of the above-mentioned 32 polygonal line approximation, the capacity of the memory circuit 12 is equal to 640 (= (8+12) x 32) bits. (As another example, in the case of a 64 polygonal line approximation, the capacity of the memory circuit 12 is equal to 1280 (= (8+12) x 64) bits.) The encoder 11 converts the input digital video signal X supplied via the input terminal 10 to a readout address for the memory circuit 12. In more precise terms, in the case of the above-mentioned 32 polygonal line approximation: when the input digital video signal X is less than 0% of the reference white level, the input digital video signal X of, for example, 14 bits is converted to one address; when that signal X is 0 to 15%, the input digital video signal X is converted to 16 addresses; when that signal X is 15 to 120%, the input digital video signal X is converted to 14 addresses; and when that signal X is more than 120%, the input digital video signal X is converted to one address. Namely, the input digital video signal X of 14 bits is converted to a readout address of 5 bits in correspondence with the 32 polygonal line approximation. Then, slope data a n and intercept data b n read out by using this readout address are supplied to the multiplier circuit 13 and the adder circuit 14, respectively. The multiplier circuit 13 multiplies the input digital video signal X by the slope data a n , and the adder circuit 14 adds the output from the multiplier circuit 13 and the intercept data b n . Thus, a gamma corrected digital video signal Y is outputted from the output terminal 15, the signal Y being given by the equation: Y = a n x X + b n As stated above, slope data a n and intercept data b n of respective line segments of a polygonal line approximating to a desired gamma correction characteristic are written in advance into the memory circuit 12. At the encoder 11, the input digital video signal X is converted to a readout address for the memory circuit 12 so that slope data a n and intercept data b n are read out from the memory circuit 12 on the basis of the readout address so that the operation expressed by Equation (1) above is performed by the multiplier circuit 13 and the adder circuit 14, thereby providing a gamma corrected digital video signal. In this case, it is unnecessary to store, in the memory circuit 12, data representing respective points on the polygonal line. Thus, for example, in the case of the 32 line polygonal approximation as described above, since it is sufficient to store 32 sets of slope data a n and intercept data b n , the capacity of the memory circuit 12 can be reduced. Further, the operation circuit can be constituted by the single multiplier circuit 13 and the single adder circuit 14. Thus, the gamma correction circuit can be realised on a circuit scale smaller than that of the previous proposal described above with reference to Figure 2. A gamma correction circuit according to an embodiment of this invention is shown in Figure 5. In Figure 5, an input digital video signal X is supplied to an encoder 21, and to adder circuits 23 and 27, from an input terminal 20. The encoder 21 converts the input digital video signal X to a readout address for a memory circuit 22 in the same manner as in the circuit of Figure 3. The memory circuit 22 may, for example, comprise a RAM. The memory circuit 22 stores data described below for drawing a line represented by Y=X from the gamma correction characteristic, that is the curve represented by Y=X (1/r) , to allow the curve thus provided to be subject to polygonal line approximation. Namely, slopes of respective line segments (hereinafter referred to as slope data a m ) of the polygonal line, levels of the input digital video signal X at respective bend points (hereinafter referred to as bend point data X m ), and levels of the polygonal line at the bend point data X m (hereinafter referred to as intercept data b m ) are stored. The slope data a m , the intercept data b m , and the bend point data X m stored in the memory circuit 22 are read out on the basis of the readout address from the encoder 21. The bend point data X m thus read out are supplied to a subtraction terminal of the adder circuit 23, the slope data a m thus read out are supplied to a multiplier circuit 24, and the intercept data b m are supplied to an adder circuit 25. The adder circuit 23 subtracts the bend point data X m from the input digital video signal X supplied from the input terminal 20 and supplies the subtracted result to the multiplier circuit 24. The multiplier circuit 24 multiplies an output from the adder circuit 23 by slope data a m from the memory circuit 22 and supplies the multiplied result (product) to the adder circuit 25. The adder circuit 25 adds an output from the multiplier circuit 24 and intercept data b m from the memory circuit 22 and supplies the added result (sum) to a multiplier circuit 26. The multiplier circuit 26 multiplies an output from the adder circuit 25 by a coefficient K for altering the gamma correction characteristic and supplies the multiplied result (product) to the adder circuit 27. The coefficient K is supplied to the multiplier circuit 28 via a terminal 28. The adder circuit 27 adds an output from the multiplier circuit 26 and the input digital video signal X to output, at an output terminal 29, the added result (sum) as a gamma corrected digital video signal Z. The operation of the gamma correction circuit of Figure 5 will now be described in more detail. The memory 22 stores, as mentioned above, data described below for drawing a line represented by Y=X from a gamma correction characteristic to allow the curve thereby obtained to be subjected to polygonal line approximation. Namely, slope data a m of respective line serpents of the polygonal line, bend point data X m of levels of an input digital video signal at respective bend points, and intercept data b m at bend point data X m , are stored. In more precise terms, a curve obtained by drawing a line represented by Y=X from the gamma correction characteristic is approximated as shown in Figure 6, for example. Namely: when the input digital video signal X is less than 0% of the reference white level, the above-mentioned curve is approximated by 1 polygonal line; when that signal X is 0 to 15%, the above-mentioned curve is approximated by 16 polygonal lines; when that signal X is 15 to 120%, the above-mentioned curve is approximated by 14 polygonal lines; and when that signal X is more than 120%, the above-mentioned curve signal is approximated by 1 polygonal line. Then, slope data a m of respective line segments or portions of 32 polygonal lines and assumed to comprise 8 bits, bend point data X m assumed to comprise 14 bits, and intercept data b m at respective levels X m assumed to comprise 11 bits, are stored in the memory circuit 22. The encoder 21 converts an input digital video signal X to a readout address for the memory circuit 22. In more precise terms, in the case of the 32 polygonal line approximation, an input digital video signal X of, for example, 14 bits is converted to a readout address of 5 bits in correspondence with the 32 polygonal approximation in the same manner as in the circuit of Figure 3. Then, bend point data X m read out by using this readout address are supplied to the adder circuit 23, the slope data a m similarly ready out are supplied to the multiplier circuit 24, and the intercept data b m similarly read out are supplied to the adder circuit 25. The adder circuit 23 subtracts the bend point data X m from the input digital video signal X, the multiplier circuit 24 multiplies an output from the adder circuit 23 by the slope data a m , the adder circuit 25 adds an output from the multiplier circuit 24 to the intercept data b m , the multiplier circuit 26 multiplies an output from the adder circuit 25 by the coefficient K supplied via the terminal 28, and the adder circuit 27 adds an output from the multiplier circuit 26 to the input digital video signal X. Thus, a gamma corrected digital video signal Z is outputted from the output terminal 29, the signal Z being given by the equation: Z = (a m x (X - X m ) + b m ) x K + X At the points where the input digital video signal X is 0% and 100%, the value of the first term of Equation (2) becomes equal to zero. Thus, by varying the coefficient K, it is possible to vary the curve of the gamma correction characteristic without changing the gamma correction characteristic at the points where the input digital video signal X is 0% and 100%. As stated above, slope data a m , intercept data b m , and bend point data X m of respective line segments of a polygonal line approximating to a curve obtained by drawing a line represented by Y=X from the gamma correction characteristic are written in advance in the memory circuit 22. At the encoder 21, the input digital video signal X is converted to a readout address for the memory circuit 22 so that the slope data a m , the intercept data b m , and the bend point data X m are read out from the memory circuit 22 on the basis of this readout address so that the operation expressed by Equation (2) is carried out by the circuits 23 to 27, thereby providing a gamma corrected digital video signal Z. In this case, it is unnecessary to store data representing respective points on the polygonal line in the memory circuit 22. Thus, for example, in the case of the 32 polygonal line approximation as described above, since it is sufficient to store 32 sets of slope data a m , intercept data b m , and bend point data X m , the capacity of the memory circuit 22 can be reduced. Further, the operation circuit can be constituted by the two multiplier circuits 24 and 26 and the three adder circuits 23, 25 and 27. Thus, the gamma correction circuit can be constituted on a circuit scale smaller than that of the prior proposal described above. In addition, the gamma correction characteristic can be altered by altering the coefficient K supplied via the terminal 28. Further, by subtracting bend point data X m from the input digital video signal X at the adder circuit 23, the number of bits multiplied at the multiplier circuit 24 can be smaller than that of the embodiment of Figure 3. In addition, since the maximum value of the intercept data b m of this embodiment is smaller than the maximum value of the intercept data b n of the circuit of Figure 3, the number of bits can be smaller than that of the circuit of Figure 3. As described above, the gamma correction circuit according to the above embodiment employs an approach of storing advance slope data and intercept data of respective line segments of a polygonal line approximating a desired gamma correction characteristic in a memory means, converting a level of an input signal to a readout address for the memory means in address conversion means, and reading out the slope data and intercept data from the memory means on the basis of this readout address to perform a processing operation at multiplier means and adder means, thereby to provide a gamma corrected digital video signal. Thus, it is unnecessary to write data representing respective points on the polygonal line into the memory means, whereby it is possible to reduce the capacity of the memory means. Further, the circuitry for carrying out the above-mentioned operation can be simply constituted. Thus, the gamma correction circuit can be realised on a circuit scale smaller than that of the prior proposal described above. In other words, it becomes easy to construct the gamma correction circuit as an IC, and the power consumption can be smaller than that of the prior proposal. As a result, the number of line segments forming a polygonal line can be larger than that of the prior proposal, so that it is possible for the precision of the approximation to be high. In addition, by changing values of the slope data and the intercept data stored into the memory means, it is possible to readily cope with diverse gamma correction characteristics, for example in dependence upon broadcasting stations.

Claims: A gamma correction circuit for a digital video signal, the circuit comprising: memory means (22) for storing slope data and intercept data of each of a plurality of portions of a polygonal line approximating to a desired gamma correction characteristic; converter means (21) for converting the digital video signal to readout address data for the memory means (22); multiplier means (24) for multiplying slope data, read out from the memory means (22) in accordance with said readout address data, by the digital video signal; and adder means (25) for adding intercept data read out from the memory means (22) in accordance with said readout address data to an output from the multiplier means (24) to provide a gamma corrected output therefrom; the gamma correction circuit being characterised in that: slope data, intercept data and bend point data of respective line segments of a polygonal line approximating a correction curve obtained by subtracting the level of a video signal which is not yet gamma-corrected from said gamma correction characteristic are stored in the memory means (22); a subtractor means (23) is provided for subtracting, from said digital video signal, bend point data read out from the memory means (22) in accordance with said readout address data, and supplying the subtracted output to the multiplier means (24); second adder means (27) is provided for adding the output of the first-mentioned adder means (25) to said digital video signal to output a gamma corrected digital video signal; and second multiplier means (26) is provided for multiplying the output of the first-mentioned adder means (25) by a coefficient (K) and supplying a multiplied output to the second adder means (27). A gamma correction circuit according to claim 1, wherein the memory means (22) stores slope data, intercept data and bend point data of each portion of 32 polygonal lines, the circuit being so operative that approximation by said 32 polygonal lines is carried out such that: the correction curve for an input video signal of less than 0% with respect to the reference white level is approximated by one polygonal line; the correction curve for an input video signal of 0 to 15% with respect to said reference white level is approximated by 16 polygonal lines; the correction curve for an input video signal of 15 to 120% with respect to said reference white level is approximated by 14 polygonal lines; and the correction curve for an input video signal of more than 120% with respect to said reference white level is approximated by one polygonal line. A gamma correction circuit according to claim 1 or claim 2, which is incorporated in a digital video camera having an image pick-up means for generating a video signal corresponding to an object image and analog-to-digital converter means for converting the generated video signal to said digital video signal.

Inventors: MURAYAMA HIDEAKI, YAMAMOTO ISAMU, MURAYAMA, HIDEAKI, YAMAMOTO, ISAMU, Murayama, Hideaki, c/o Patents Division, Yamamoto, Isamu, c/o Patents Division
Applicants: SONY CORP, SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1991
Main classification: H04N5
IPC codes: H04N5