Patent ID: 8265389

Claim:
A method for evaluating and enhancing the color of pixels in a digital image, each pixel having associated Y-Cb-Cr coordinates, the method comprising: multiplying the Cb coordinate of each pixel by a Cb enhancement factor; multiplying the Cr coordinate of each pixel by a Cr enhancement factor; wherein each of the Cb and Cr enhancement factors have a no-enhancement value when the corresponding Cb-Cr coordinates of a pixel lie in a region corresponding to a color shade not to be enhanced; and wherein each of the Cb and Cr enhancement factors have a full-enhancement value when the corresponding Cb-Cr coordinates of a pixel lie in a region corresponding to a color shade to be enhanced, the full-enhancement value comprising at last one of: an exposure index (EI) auxiliary enhancement factor, the EI auxiliary enhancement factor being a function of an exposure index of the digital image, a color temperature (D) auxiliary enhancement factor, the D auxiliary enhancement factor being a function of a color temperature of the digital image, or a Y auxiliary enhancement factor, the Y auxiliary enhancement factor being a function of the Y coordinate of a pixel P in the digital image.