The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 10, 2004
Filed:
Aug. 31, 1999
Sophia Wei-Chun Kao, Cupertino, CA (US);
Der-Ren Chu, San Jose, CA (US);
Ren-Yuh Wang, Cupertino, CA (US);
ESS Technology, Inc., Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for edge enhancement of a digital image provided as raw digital image data to an input terminal and for providing processed image data to an output terminal. An offset processing circuit is coupled to the input terminal and configured to receive the raw data and generate offset data. An interpolation circuit is coupled to the offset processing circuit and configured to receive the offset data and to provide interpolated data. A color processing circuit is coupled to the interpolation circuit and configured to process the interpolated data to generate color data. An edge enhancement circuit is coupled to the interpolation circuit and the color processing circuit and configured to enhance the edges of the image based on the interpolated data and the color data to generate enhanced data. A lookup table is coupled to the color processing circuit and the edge enhancement circuit and configured to lookup the color data and the enhanced data to generate lookup data. A conversion circuit is coupled to the lookup table circuit and configured to convert the lookup data to generate the processed image data to the output terminal. In one aspect of the invention the processing is performed with RGB data, and in another aspect of the invention the processing is performed with YUV data. In another embodiment of the invention the edge enhancement circuit includes an edge extraction circuit, a cut-off level adjustment circuit and an edge gain scaling circuit. These circuits are used to define the edge of objects in the image and to enhance their respective edges. Advantages of the present invention include correctly locating object edges, and avoiding artifacts when the edges are enhanced. Consequently, the invention provides an improved image edge enhancement technique over conventional edge processors.