Patent ID: 7206455

Claim:
An apparatus for image processing, the apparatus comprising: an image sensor circuit, wherein the image sensor circuit is configured to selectively provide a captured image; and an image processing and control block that is arranged to provide a denoised image, wherein the image processing and control block includes a memory, and wherein the image processing and control block is configured to: adjust a stored image according to a selected gain setting to provide an adjusted image, wherein the stored image is related to the captured image, perform a wavelet transformation on the adjusted image such that the adjusted image is decomposed into a plurality of sub-bands, select a set of threshold parameters from a gain-threshold map in response to the selected gain setting, wherein the gain-threshold map is stored in the memory and organized as a lookup table that maps a plurality of gain settings to a corresponding set of predetermined approximately optimal threshold parameters for each sub-band; threshold each of the plurality of sub-bands according to the selected set of threshold parameters to provide thresholded sub-bands; and perform an inverse wavelet transformation on the thresholded sub-bands to provide the denoised image.