# US 10,771,755 B2 · Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,771,755 B2 - Document ID: US10771755B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/301,096 - Filed: 2017-05-01 - Published: 2019-06-20 - Granted: 2020-09-08 - Earliest claimed: 2016-05-25 - Assignees: Sony Corporation - Applicants: Sony Corporation - Inventors: Hiroaki Eto - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10771755B2 ## CPC - H04N 9/77: Circuits for processing the brightness signal and the chrominance signal relative to each other, e.g. adjusting the phase of the brightness signal relative to the colour signal, correcting differential gain or differential phase (circuits for matrixing H04N9/67) - H04N 1/41: Bandwidth or redundancy reduction (by scanning H04N1/17 {; methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/00}) - H04N 1/6005: {with luminance or chrominance signals, e.g. LC1C2, HSL or YUV} - H04N 1/603: {controlled by characteristics of the picture signal generator or the picture reproducer} - H04N 1/608: {within the L, C1, C2 colour signals} - H04N 1/646: {Transmitting or storing colour television type signals, e.g. PAL, Lab; Their conversion into additive or subtractive colour signals or vice versa therefor (H04N1/642, H04N1/644 take precedence)} - H04N 9/646: {for image enhancement, e.g. vertical detail restoration, cross-colour elimination, contour correction, chrominance trapping filters} - H04N 9/67: for matrixing (camera processing pipelines for matrixing of colour signals H04N23/85) - H04N 11/20: Conversion of the manner in which the individual colour picture signal components are combined, e.g. conversion of colour television standards - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract An apparatus and a method that decrease a banding phenomenon in a subsampled image and achieve high image quality are provided. A subsampled image obtained by copying an adjacent pixel value to a pixel value thinning position is accepted as an input image; a correction target signal global gain is calculated as a ratio between a slope of a correction target signal and a slope of a luminance signal of a global region made up of a plurality of consecutive pixels including a pixel position of the correction target pixel of the input image; a luminance local slope is calculated as a slope of the luminance signal of a local region which is a region within the global region, including the pixel position of the correction target pixel of the input image and smaller than the global region; and a corrected pixel value of the correction target pixel is calculated. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An image processing apparatus comprising a signal correction unit that: accepts a subsampled image obtained by copying an adjacent pixel value to a pixel value thinning position, as an input image; calculates a correction target signal global gain which is a ratio between a slope of a correction target signal and a slope of a luminance signal of a global region made up of a plurality of consecutive pixels including a pixel position of a correction target pixel of the input image; calculates a luminance local slope which is a slope of the luminance signal of a local region smaller than the global region, the local region being a region within the global region, including the pixel position of the correction target pixel of the input image; and calculates a corrected pixel value of the correction target pixel by multiplying the luminance local slope by the correction target signal global gain and applying a multiplication result. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal correction unit calculates the corrected pixel value by adding a correction target signal pixel value at an end of the local region for which the luminance local slope has been calculated, to a multiplication value obtained by multiplying the luminance local slope by the correction target signal global gain. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slope of a signal of the global region represents a pixel value difference between pixels at both ends of the global region, and the slope of a signal of the local region represents a pixel value difference between pixels at both ends of the local region. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the global region is a region constituted by a plurality of adjacent pixels on a horizontal line including the correction target pixel. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input image is a YCbCr image signal obtained by thinning out chrominance signals Cb and Cr, the image processing apparatus further includes a color space conversion unit that converts the YCbCr image signal into an RGB image signal, and the signal correction unit assigns RGB pixel values of the RGB image signal generated by the color space conversion unit as a correction target signal and calculates corrected pixel values of the respective RGB pixel values using a luminance (Y) signal of the YCbCr image signal. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the color space conversion unit executes a color space conversion process by matrix conversion. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an output signal generation unit that executes a color space conversion process on a corrected RGB image signal generated by the signal correction unit to generate a corrected YCbCr signal. ### Claim 8 (depends on 5) The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the signal correction unit: assigns the RGB pixel values of the RGB image signal generated by the color space conversion unit as a correction target signal; calculates a global gain corresponding to each of RGB signals, which is a ratio between a slope of each of the RGB signals of the RGB image signal of the global region and a slope of the luminance (Y) signal of the YCbCr image signal; and calculates RGB pixel values after correction by multiplying the luminance local slope by each of RGB signal global gains and applying a multiplication result. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the local region is a region made up of two pixels, namely, a correction target pixel and an adjacent pixel of the correction target pixel. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the signal correction unit calculates the corrected pixel value by adding a pixel value of the adjacent pixel to a multiplication value obtained by multiplying the luminance local slope by the correction target signal global gain. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal correction unit: executes a corrected pixel value calculation process on a correction target pixel in a case where a difference between a pixel value of the correction target pixel and a pixel value of an adjacent pixel is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value; and does not calculate a corrected pixel value of the correction target pixel in a case where the difference is larger than the predetermined threshold value. ### Claim 12 An image processing method executed in an image processing apparatus, the image processing method including: accepting, by a signal processing unit, an input of a subsampled image obtained by copying an adjacent pixel value to a pixel value thinning position, as an input image; calculating, by the signal processing unit, a correction target signal global gain which is a ratio between a slope of a correction target signal and a slope of a luminance signal of a global region made up of a plurality of consecutive pixels including a pixel position of a correction target pixel of the input image; calculating, by the signal processing unit, a luminance local slope which is a slope of the luminance signal of a local region smaller than the global region, the local region being a region within the global region, including the pixel position of the correction target pixel of the input image; and calculating, by the signal processing unit, a corrected pixel value of the correction target pixel by multiplying the luminance local slope by the correction target signal global gain and applying a multiplication result. ### Claim 13 A program stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium that executes an image process in an image processing apparatus, the program causing a signal processing unit to: accept an input of a subsampled image obtained by copying an adjacent pixel value to a pixel value thinning position, as an input image; execute a calculation process for a correction target signal global gain which is a ratio between a slope of a correction target signal and a slope of a luminance signal of a global region made up of a plurality of consecutive pixels including a pixel position of a correction target pixel of the input image; execute a calculation process for a luminance local slope which is a slope of the luminance signal of a local region smaller than the global region, the local region being a region within the global region, including the pixel position of the correction target pixel of the input image; and execute a process of calculating a corrected pixel value of the correction target pixel by multiplying the luminance local slope by the correction target signal global gain and applying a multiplication result.