Hardware rotation of images with line sorting in L*A*B* color space

An apparatus for electronically rotating an input image matrix having pixel grouping data to form an output image matrix, the apparatus comprising:

• a memory access for accessing the pixel grouping data;
• a rotation processor for readdressing the pixel grouping data to rotate the input image matrix;
• a desampling processor for desampling the pixel grouping data into desampled pixel grouping data;
• a sorting processor for sorting a line of the desampled pixel grouping data into a plurality of groups of desampled pixel grouping data;
• a line buffer for storing a first group of desampled pixel grouping data;
• and
• a memory for storing the first group of desampled pixel grouping data as a first line of the output image matrix and a second group of desampled pixel grouping data as a second line of the output image matrix.

A method of correcting a rotated image matrix having pixel grouping data to form a corrected output image matrix in a computer, the method comprising the steps of:

• accessing the pixel grouping data;
• desampling the pixel grouping data into desampled pixel grouping data;
• sorting a first line of the desampled pixel grouping data into a first plurality of groups of desampled pixel grouping data;
• writing to a memory a first group of the first plurality of groups of desampled pixel grouping data as a first line of the corrected output image matrix;
• and,
• writing to the memory a second group of the first plurality of groups of desampled pixel grouping data as a second line of the output image matrix, wherein the first and the second lines are adjacent;
• and,
• repeating the steps of sorting and writing to form the corrected output image matrix.