Image processing apparatus and method

A system for presenting at least one processed version of an input image produced by a camera, said system comprising

• an image processing apparatus, the image processing apparatus being operable:
• to receive said input image produced by said camera, said image being represented as a plurality of pixels each of which includes red, green and blue component values,
• to identify k local mean for each of said red, green and blue component values, where k is an integer,
• to identify for each local mean for each of the pixels for said red, green and blue components, a candidate range of component values, and a mapping function for mapping said candidate range of component values onto a dynamic range of possible component values for representing the image,
• to apply for each of said red, green and blue components of each pixel of said input image said identified mapping function, to form for each of the k-local mean a processed image for display, and
• a graphical display device operable to receive a signal representative of said processed image produced for each of said k-local mean, and to display the or each processed image on a display screen.

An image processing method for generating at least one processed image from an input image, said image processing method comprising:

• receiving said input image represented as a plurality of pixels each of which includes red, green and blue component values,
• identifying k local mean for each of said red, green and blue component values of the pixels, where k is an integer,
• identifying for each local mean for each of the pixels for said red, green and blue components, a candidate range of component values, and a mapping function for mapping said candidate range of component values onto a dynamic range of possible component values for representing said image, and
• applying for each of said red, green and blue components of each pixel of said input image said mapping function identified for each of said k local mean, to form for each of said k-local mean a processed image for display.