Patent Document ID: 8090210
Application ID: 11394954
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for digital image processing, comprising the steps of: performing temporal noise reduction on an input digital image frame to generate a noise reduced frame; and performing 2D super precision processing on the noise reduced frame to obtain an output image having higher precision pixels than the input image; wherein the steps of performing temporal noise reduction further includes the steps of reducing noise in a sequence of input digital image frames, by: (a) reducing noise in a current noisy frame by performing motion-adaptive temporal noise reduction based on the current noisy frame and a previous noise-reduced frame; and (b) saving the current noise-reduced frame into memory for filtering the next frame in the sequence; and repeating steps (a) and (b) for the next video frame in the sequence; wherein step (a) further includes the steps of: detecting motion between the current noisy frame and the previous noise-reduced frame to generate motion information; and performing temporal filtering on the current noisy frame as a function of the motion information; wherein the step of detecting motion further includes the steps of performing pixel-wise motion detection between the current noisy frame and the previous noise-reduced frame; wherein the step of detecting motion further includes the steps of performing pixel-wise motion detection in a local window in the current noisy frame relative to a corresponding local window in the previous noise-reduced frame; and wherein the step of performing temporal filtering further includes the steps of: if motion is not detected for a pixel in the current noisy frame, performing temporal filtering for the pixel along the temporal axis using a maximum likelihood estimated process such that performing 2D super precision processing on the noise reduced frame thereby obtains an output image having higher precision pixels in the smoothly-changing and no-motion areas than the input; and if motion is detected for a pixel in the current noisy frame, maintaining the pixel characteristics to avoid motion blurring.