Patent ID: 8300051

Claim:
An apparatus for enhancing images in consideration of region characteristics, comprising: an inverse gamma correction unit for releasing gamma correction and linearizing each of Red (R), Green (G), and Blue (B) colors; a threshold calculation unit for calculating m-1 thresholds in order to divide brightness of pixels into m regions, and labeling each of the pixels as one of the m brightness regions; a block segmentation unit for dividing an input image into M×N blocks; a block statistics calculation unit for determining one of the m brightness regions to which each of the blocks pertains, and labeling the blocks as a corresponding brightness region; a block-based Look-Up Table (LUT) generation unit for generating enhancement LUTs for the respective blocks; an image enhancement unit for enhancing the image using the LUTs for the respective blocks, which are generated through the block-based LUT generation unit; and a gamma correction unit for performing gamma correction and wherein the block-based LUT generation unit generates LUTs for the respective blocks by combining m LUTs, primary LUTs for the respective blocks being generated by combining the LUTs of the respective blocks using overlapping of brightness regions and block indexes for m basis LUTs, and final LUTs for the respective blocks being generated using averages or weighted averages between the primary LUTs for respective blocks and LUTs for adjacent blocks.