Image analysis – Image enhancement or restoration – Image filter
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-08
2002-12-10
Rogers, Scott (Department: 2624)
Image analysis
Image enhancement or restoration
Image filter
C382S266000, C382S304000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06493467
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for supplying image data to a plurality of processor elements, performing image processing in parallel by SIMD (single instruction multiple data stream) control of these plurality of processor elements, and performing contour enhancement for enhancing the contours of an image and a method of the same and to a data processing apparatus for filtering for example image data by an FIR filter and a method of the same.
BACKGROUND ART
Color signals of a plurality of formats such as RGB signals, YIQ signals, and YCrCb signals (below, a luminance signal Y will also be treated as a color signal) are processed in the fields of image signal processing, television signal processing, etc.
In order to correct an optical system in a video camera, correct nonlinearity in a display device (display), impart a special effect, and so on, it sometimes becomes necessary to perform nonlinear processing such as color correction and &ggr; (gamma) correction with respect to these various types of color signals.
In the past, nonlinear processing of these various types of color signals had been carried out by analog processing. However, when a color signal is processed analogly, nonuniformity occurs in the processing among components of color signals or a changes occur along with time due to repetition of processing, so the image is deteriorated. Accordingly, at the present time, nonlinear processing of color signals is generally carried out by digital processing.
As the method of nonlinear processing by digital processing, for example, there can be mentioned the exclusive logic circuit method which uses a delay circuit, multiplier circuit, adder circuit, and other logic circuits for realization of nonlinear input/output characteristics by break point approximation. However, the former method requires that a logic circuit be prepared for every processing, therefore lacks flexibility in the processing content. Accordingly, this method is rarely adopted.
Further, as another method of nonlinear processing by digital processing, mention may be made, for example, of a method of establishing correspondence between the values of input data and the values of output data via a memory. According to this method, the content of the nonlinear processing can be easily changed by just changing the storage content of the memory establishing correspondence between the input data and the output data. However, in the related art, no method for designating the processing content by a GUI (graphical user interface) had yet been established.
In addition, the result of the nonlinear processing had been checked by once recording the image data obtained by the processing on a VTR tape etc. and then reproducing and displaying the recorded image data, which was very troublesome.
Further, the apparatus for establishing correspondence between the input and output data using this method was usually configured for only color correction, &ggr; correction, and other nonlinear processing, therefore it was necessary to place other dedicated hardware in front or back of it to perform the other processing. Accordingly, even when establishing correspondence between input and output data to carry out color correction and y correction, in the end, in the same way as the method using logic circuits, it was necessary to prepare dedicated hardware to handle the other processing.
On the other hand, in order to flexibly perform various types of image processing, the method of using a DSP (digital signal processor) to process the image data by software can be considered. However, while a DSP is normally suitable for linear processing, it is not suitable for color correction, &ggr; correction, and other nonlinear processing, therefore there was only a few examples of utilization of a DSP for the nonlinear processing in the past.
Further, contour enhancement is currently used in televisions, video cameras, VTR apparatuses, image editing apparatuses, special effect apparatuses, etc. for industrial use in television broadcast stations etc. In the future, it expected to be actively utilized in the image processing apparatuses of the general consumers as well.
In the past, contour enhancement apparatuses for performing the contour enhancement were realized by dedicated hardware constituted by multipliers, adders, etc.
However, contour enhancement is realized by processing for detecting the contours of the image of the object and processing for enhancing the detected contour part, therefore the hardware of the contour enhancing apparatus ends up becoming large in size.
Further, once dedicated hardware for performing these processings is prepared, it is difficult to change the frequency characteristic of the high pass filters used when detecting the contour parts or the degree of enhancement of the contour parts etc.
Further, filtering by digital processing is used in a wide range of fields such as image processing and audio processing at present. In particular, in the field of image processing, it is indispensable for a band limitation, recording, editing and imparting of special effects for television signals etc. and has been used for a wide range of purposes.
In the past, as the filtering apparatus for performing filtering by digital processing, for example, use has been made of an FIR filter apparatus comprised of a multiplier, adder, etc. with specifications fixed by the hardware.
Further, the design of such a FIR filter apparatus required work for calculation for determining the filter coefficient satisfying the desired passing band characteristic and element band characteristic and work for actually preparing an FIR filter apparatus for performing the filtering using the filter coefficient obtained as a result of the calculation and using the same to verify the characteristics of the filtering by hardware or for using circuit simulator software to verify the characteristics of the filtering by software.
However, when using the method of preparing FIR filters of individual specifications to verify the characteristics by hardware, a long time is required for the preparation of the FIR filters, so the development period of the filter apparatus becomes long.
Further, when using the method of verifying the characteristics by software, the filter processing can not be simulated in real time, therefore it is not possible to verify the characteristics by viewing the image data obtained by actual filtering.
Further, not suitable method has yet been conceived as the method of evaluating the effect of the filtering of the image data of a moving picture.
Further, it has been known that the filtering by an FIR filter can be carried out by software by using an SIMD-controlled linear array type multiple parallel processor and that the desired characteristics can be realized by this, but in the past there had been no development apparatus for uniformly performing everything from the determination of the filtering characteristics (specifications) of the program for making an SIMD-controlled linear array multiple parallel processor control perform filtering by an FIR filter to the verification (evaluation) of the characteristics.
Further, the procedures from the determination of the specifications of the filtering program of the SIMD-controlled linear array multiple parallel processor to the evaluation are difficult. It would be convenient if it were possible to perform this series of work by operation using a GUI for example.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was made so as to solve the above problems and has as an object thereof to provide an image processing apparatus capable of performing nonlinear processing such as color correction on image data by using for example a DSP and a method of the same.
Further, another object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus enabling free setting of the content of nonlinear processing such as color correction for every component of the color signals (Y, Cr, Cb, R, G. B, etc.) by using a GUI and in additi
Iwase Seiichiro
Kondo Yoshihito
Kurokawa Masuyoshi
Okuda Hiroshi
Frommer William S.
Frommer & Lawrence & Haug LLP
Rogers Scott
Sony Corporation
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