Digital image color correction device and method employing fuzzy logic

A method for color correcting a facial tone image portion of a digital video image composed by a sequence of correlated frames, the method comprising the steps of:

• defining one or more fuzzy logic-defined sets to be used to identify a skin color class of a facial tone image portion of a digital video signal;
• examining the digital video image to determine if a portion thereof is a facial tone image;
• in case of positive response, dividing said facial tone image into spatial subregions and for each subregion calculating the mean saturation and the mean value thereof;
• carrying out a color correction of the pixels of the facial tone image portion, a color correction of each pixel of the facial tone image portion being based upon the mean saturation and mean value of the spatial subregion corresponding to the pixel;
• and
• outputting a corrected facial tone image portion.

An apparatus for correcting a digital color image, comprising:

• a first unit for determining whether a portion of the digital color image includes a predetermined tone;
• a second unit for selectively dividing the predetermined tone image portion into spatial subregions;
• a third unit for calculating the mean saturation and the mean value for each spatial subregion;
• a fourth unit for determining a color correction of the pixels of the predetermined tone image portion, a color correction of each pixel of the predetermined tone image portion being based upon the mean saturation and mean value of the spatial subregion corresponding to the pixel;
• and
• a fifth unit for selectively incorporating the color correction of the predetermined tone image portion into the digital color image.