Patent ID: 7489831

Claim:
A method for processing an image, comprising the steps of: providing digital input image pixels indexed to represent positions on a display, each pixel being indicative of an intensity value for each position; transforming RGB values into a YUV space; and adjusting the Y intensity value for the selected pixel to generate an enhanced value and maintaining the U and V values, the adjusting is further based on determining whether the pixels in an ordered sequence that form a path in the image, are brighter or darker than the selected pixel, and averaging the intensities of path-computations selected against the selected pixel, said adjusted intensity value is a combined value for each pixel between the selected pixel's intensity value and an accumulated value at each pixel in the path, based on a normalized histogram of the selected pixel's intensity value, said digital input image pixels include digital data indicative of an intensity value Y(x, y) for a selected pixel (x, y) in a luminance channel; the step of adjusting further includes the steps of adjusting said intensity value for a selected pixel to generate an enhanced value Y′(x, y) using the function: [1−Y HIST {Y(x, y)}]O n (x, y)+Y HIST {Y(x, y)}Y(x, y), where Y HIST {k} is the kth bin value of a normalized histogram, and O n (x, y) is an accumulated value compared and weighted-averaged at nth element by the ordered sequence in the input image, wherein details in darker image regions are enhanced.