Patent ID: 8577117

Claim:
A method for evaluating a soiling level of a media item, the method comprising: receiving an image of a media item including a plurality of pixels, each pixel having an associated pixel intensity; calculating a medium pixel intensity value from the plurality of pixels; comparing pixel intensity of each pixel of the plurality of pixels with the medium pixel intensity value; assigning any pixel of the plurality of pixels having a pixel intensity higher than the medium pixel intensity value to a first set of pixels; assigning any pixel of the plurality of pixels having a pixel intensity lower than the medium pixel intensity value to a second set of pixels; calculating a first representative pixel intensity value from the first set of pixels and a second representative pixel intensity value from the second set of pixels; calculating a soiling value from the ratio of the second representative pixel intensity value of the second set of pixels to the first representative pixel intensity value of the first set pixels; and capturing the media item if the soiling value fulfils a capture criterion.