Method of merging images and relative method of generating an output image of enhanced quality
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics S.r.l.
InventorsAlfio Castorina, Giuseppe Spampinato, Alessandro Capra, Arcangelo Ranieri Bruna
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of processing and device configure to process digital images to enhance image quality and correct motion blur. A number N of images of a scene are captured with an exposure time T. An order of sharpness of the images is determined and the sharpest image is used as a reference image for generating an output image.
Claims20
A method of merging N images of a same scene into a single output image in an image processing system, the method comprising:
- determining an order of sharpness among the N images;
- determining vertical and horizontal offsets with respect to a sharpest image in the N images for other images in the N images and generating corresponding offset-free images;
- generating pixels of an intermediate image by combining corresponding pixels of the sharpest image and the offset-free images;
- and
- filtering noise from the intermediate image to generate the output image.
A method of generating an output image of enhanced quality with reduced motion blur having a level of illumination corresponding to a certain exposure time T, the method comprising:
- taking a plurality of N images of a same scene over an exposure time T/N;
- amplifying a luminance of each of the images up to the level of illumination;
- determining an order of sharpness among the N images;
- determining vertical and horizontal offsets with respect to a sharpest image in the N images for other images in the N images and generating corresponding offset-free images;
- generating pixels of an intermediate image by combining corresponding pixels of the sharpest image and the offset-free images;
- and
- filtering noise from the intermediate image to generate the output image.
A device to process a set of images of a scene, comprising:
- a sensor configured to generate the set of images of the scene;
- a memory configured to store the set of images and respective characteristic curves;
- a raster processing block configured to generate respective signals representing a noise rms value and a sharpness parameter for each image in the set;
- an ordering block configured to assign an order to each image in the set based on the sharpness parameters;
- a stabilization block configured to generate signals representing horizontal and vertical offsets for images with respect to a sharpest image in the set based on characteristic curves;
- and
- an image processing pipeline having a noise reduction block configured to generate an output image filtered from noise, and an image generation block configured to generate an RGB image corresponding to the set of images.
A system to process a set of digital images, comprising:
- a sharpness block configured to determine a sharpest image in the set of images;
- an image stabilization block configured to compensate for motion in the set of images using the sharpest image in the set of images as a reference;
- and
- a noise reduction block configured to reduce noise in an output image generated from the set of images.
A computer readable memory medium comprising contents that cause a computing device to implement a method of merging N images into a single output image, the method including:
- determining an order of sharpness among the N images;
- determining vertical and horizontal offsets with respect to a sharpest image in the N images for other images in the N images and generating corresponding offset-free images;
- generating pixels of an intermediate image by combining corresponding pixels of the sharpest image and the offset-free images;
- and
- filtering noise from the intermediate image to generate the output image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.