# US 2010/0166301 A1 · Real-time image generator

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- Number: US 2010/0166301 A1
- Document ID: US20100166301A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 12/647,501
- Filed: 2009-12-27
- Published: 2010-07-01
- Earliest claimed: 2008-12-31
- Assignees: Dongbu HiTek Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Seung-Hun Jeon
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20100166301A1

## CPC

- G06T 5/92: based on global image properties
- G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL

## Abstract

A real-time image generator is disclosed. A real-time image generator may include a first block extracting only a luminance component having a saturation, hue, and value domain from red, green and blue values of an image. A second block outputs a log summation value and pixel count value with respect to a luminance component of an overall image by using the extracted luminance component and a natural log value. A third block calculates a luminance average value of the image by using the natural log summation value and the pixel count value outputted in the second block, the third block generating a tone mapping look up table including a tone mapping operator (Ld) for each luminance range to obtain a final output image using the calculated luminance average value. The third block outputs a tone mapped red, green and blue value by multiplying a corresponding tone mapping operator (Ld) of the tone mapping look up table by a red, green and blue value of the input image.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An apparatus comprising:
a first block extracting only a luminance component having a saturation, hue, and value domain from red, green and blue values of an image;
a second block outputting a log summation value and pixel count value with respect to a luminance component of an overall image by using the extracted luminance component and a natural log value; and
a third block calculating a luminance average value of the image by using the natural log summation value and the pixel count value outputted in the second block, the third block generating a tone mapping look up table including a tone mapping operator (Ld) for each luminance range to obtain a final output image using the calculated luminance average value,
wherein the third block outputs a tone mapped red, green and blue value by multiplying a corresponding tone mapping operator (Ld) of the tone mapping look up table by a red, green and blue value of the input image.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second block comprises a log look up table of a natural log value for processing an image of a generated next frame using a natural log value of a current image frame.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein second block includes a calculation log luminance summation block calculating a sum of natural log values with respect to the luminance components extracted from the first block.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The apparatus of claim 3, wherein second block includes a register for writing the output of the calculation log luminance summation block and the pixel count value.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the output of the calculation log luminance summation and the pixel count value are written in the register in a final pulse of a single period of a reference pulse.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein log look up table includes natural log values having 32 stepped samples of all luminance ranges of the input image.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tone mapping look up table includes:
Lavg that is a luminance average value calculated by using Formula 1
L
avg
=
exp

(
sum


of


log


luminance
pixel


count
)
.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the tone mapping look up table includes:
Ls induced by using Formula 2
L
s
=
α
*
V
cur
L
avg
of the calculated luminance average value (Lavg), a linear scaling parameter (α) and a luminance component of a current image (Vcur).

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the tone mapping look up table includes:
an operator Ld1 applicable to a next image by using Formula 3
L
d


1
=
(
L
s
*
(
1
+
L
s
L
max
2
)
)
(
1
+
L
s
)
.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the tone mapping look up table includes:
a final operator Ld that is calculated by using Formula 4
L
d
=
max


LuVal
*
L
d


1
V
cur
*
max


Ld
after scaling the Ld1 to correspond to a bit level of the input image, and ‘maxLuVal’ of Formula 4 is a maximum luminance value of all luminance values of the input image and ‘maxLd’ is a maximum operator value calculated when ‘Vcur=maxLuVal’ of Formula 2 and Formula 3 is inputted.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a local tone mapping block for improving a local contrast in a pixel center with respect to the image because of the tone mapped red, green and blue values outputted from the third block.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the local tone mapping block includes a transfer block performing transfer into only luminance components from the output of the third block.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the local tone mapping block includes a line memory writing the output of the transfer block therein.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The apparatus claim 13, wherein the local tone mapping block includes a local tone mapping operation block calculating a difference value between a kernel center value and a local average value calculated in N*N kernels.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the local tone mapping operation block calculates the difference value between the kernel center value and the local average value by using the luminance component written in the line memory. the local tone mapping operation block adjusting contrast of the N*N region by adding the calculated difference value to the kernel center value to improve the local contrast in the pixel center.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the local tone mapping block adjusts contrast of the N*N region by adding the calculated difference value to the kernel center value to improve the local contrast in the pixel center.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The apparatus of claim 16, wherein if the local average value is smaller than the kernel center value, the local tone mapping operation block heightens the contrast of the N*N kernel region by using a value calculated by adding an absolute value of the difference value to the center value.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The apparatus of claim 17, wherein if the local average value is larger than the kernel center value, the local tone mapping operation block heightens the contrast of the N*N kernel region by using a value calculated by subtracting an absolute value of the difference value from the center value.

### Claim 19 (depends on 15)

The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the local tone mapping operation block adjusts the contrast of the N*N kernel region by adding a value calculated by multiplying the difference value by a predetermined weight value to the kernel center value.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the final output image is generated in real-time.