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:
Oct. 14, 2008
Filed:
Nov. 12, 2003
Koichiro Ishigami, Kanagawa, JP;
Naoya Katoh, Chiba, JP;
Koichiro Ishigami, Kanagawa, JP;
Naoya Katoh, Chiba, JP;
Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A light source estimation method of this invention estimates from the sensor response the color characteristics of an unknown light source of an image-pickup scene, in order to improve white balance adjustment and other aspects of the quality of color reproduction; a projection conversion portionprojects sensor response valuesinto an image distributionin an evaluation space not dependent on the image-pickup light sourceusing parameters obtained by operations which can be calorimetrically approximated from spectral sensitivity characteristics of image-pickup unitwhich are known, and from spectral characteristics of an assumed test light sourcean evaluation portionevaluates the correctness of a plurality of the test light sourcesbased on the distribution state of sample values of the projected scene; and accordingly, the correct image-pickup light sourceis estimated.