Patent ID: 8319861

Claim:
A method comprising: routing a plurality of frames of image data from an image sensor to a hardware image processing pipeline; routing a reference frame of the plurality of frames from the image sensor to alternative image processing in addition to the hardware image processing pipeline; analyzing the reference frame of the plurality of frames via the alternative image processing to generate a reference estimate of a black level shift in image data of the reference frame; computing a black level shift for each of multiple frames of the plurality of frames via the alternative image processing based on the reference estimate of black level shift, on a reference integration time and a reference analog gain under which the reference frame was captured by the image sensor, and on a respective integration time and a respective analog gain under which each of the multiple frames was captured by the image sensor; adjusting a black level compensation parameter of the hardware image processing pipeline for each of the multiple frames based on its respective computed black level shift; and applying black level compensation to each of the multiple frames via the hardware image processing pipeline based on the adjusted black level compensation parameter.