Image processing apparatus and control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9576337-B2
Application number	US-201514807268-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2015
Priority date	Sep 18, 2014
Publication date	Feb 21, 2017
Grant date	Feb 21, 2017

Abstract

An image processing apparatus is provided. The image processing apparatus includes an image quality processor and a controller. The image quality processor performs a detail enhancement function on an image frame. The controller calculates blur information and/or gray information of the image frame and controls the image quality processor to perform the detail enhancement function on the image frame based on the calculated information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image processing apparatus comprising a chip configured to implement:
an image quality processor configured to perform a detail enhancement function on an image frame; and
a controller configured to calculate at least one of blur information and gray information of the image frame and control the image quality processor to perform the detail enhancement function on the image frame based on the calculated information,
wherein the image quality processor includes:
a scaler configured to perform scaling on the image frame; and
a detail generator configured to generate a detail added to the image frame scaled through the scaler
wherein the image quality processor further includes a switch configured to turn on/off at least one an input and an output of the detail generator, and
the controller controls the switch to turn off the input and/or output of the detail generator in response to a determination that no detail enhancement function is to be performed.

2. The image processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller calculates the blur information of the image frame using at least one of an edge characteristic value and a high frequency characteristic value of the image frame, and calculates the gray information of the image frame using pixel values included in a certain region of the image frame.

3. The image processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller determines that no detail enhancement function is to be performed in response to the calculated blur information being equal to or less than a threshold value or in response to the calculated gray information being equal to a specific value.

4. The image processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the image quality processor is at least one of a luminance processor configured to perform the detail enhancement function on luminance of the image frame and a chroma processor configured to perform the detail enhancement function on chroma of the image frame.

5. The image processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller determines whether or not to perform the detail enhancement function using at least one of blur information and gray information for a plurality of image frames.

6. The image processing apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the controller determines whether or not to perform the detail enhancement function using the gray information calculated in at least one of a YCbCr color space and a RGB color space.

7. The image processing apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the controller determines that no detail enhancement function is to be performed once per a certain number of image frames, in response to the calculated blur information being more than the threshold value and the calculated gray information not being equal to the specific value.

8. A method of controlling an image processing apparatus, the method comprising:
calculating at least one of blur information and gray information of an image frame;
determining whether or not to perform a detail enhancement function on the image frame based on the calculated information; and
performing the detail enhancement function on the image frame based on a result of the determination,
wherein the performing includes, in response to a determination that the detail enhancement function is to be performed, performing scaling on the image frame and performing the detail enhancement function by generating a detail to be added to the scaled image frame and adding the detail to the scaled image frame, and
wherein, in response to a determination that no detail enhancement function is performed, generating no detail to be added to the scaled image frame.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the calculating includes calculating the blur information of the image frame using at least one of an edge characteristic value and a high frequency characteristic value of the image frame, and/or calculating the gray information of the image frame using pixel values included in a certain region of the image frame.

10. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the determining includes determining that no detail enhancement function is to be performed in response to the calculated blur information being equal to or less than a threshold value or in response to the calculated gray information being equal to a specific value.

11. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the detail enhancement function is at least one of a detail enhancement function on luminance of the image frame and a detail enhancement function on chroma of the image frame.

12. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the calculating includes calculating at least one of blur information and gray information for a plurality of image frames, and
the determining includes determining whether or not to perform the detail enhancement function using the at least one of the calculated blur information and gray information for the plurality of image frames.

13. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the determining includes determining whether or not to perform the detail enhancement function using the gray information calculated in at least one of a YCbCr color space and a RGB color space.

14. The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein, in response to the calculated blur information being greater than the threshold value and the calculated gray information not being equal to the specific value, it is determined that no detail enhancement function is to be performed once per a certain number of image frames.

15. An image processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to:
determine to perform the detail enhancement function when the blur information is greater than a threshold value;
determine not to perform the detail enhancement function when the blur information is less than or equal to the threshold value; and
control the image quality processor to add detail information when it is determined to perform the detail enhancement function, and to not add detail information when it is determined not to perform the detail enhancement function.

16. An image processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to:
determine to perform the detail enhancement function when the gray information is not equal to a specific value;
determine not to perform the detail enhancement function when the gray information is equal to the specific value; and
control the image quality processor to add detail information when it is determined to perform the detail enhancement function, and to not add detail information when it is determined not to perform the detail enhancement function.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yim Dale

Classifications

• G09G5/391

  Resolution modifying circuits, e.g. variable screen formats · CPC title

• G06T3/40 Primary

  Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting · CPC title

• G09G2340/0407

  Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas · CPC title

• G09G2360/16

  Calculation or use of calculated indices related to luminance levels in display data · CPC title

• G09G5/005

  Adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal · CPC title