Method and system for contouring reduction

A system for reducing contouring artifacts in an image display comprising:

• means for receiving a video signal, the received video signal including a plurality of pixels;
• means for identifying a pixel span in the received video signal, the pixel span including a predetermined number of pixels;
• means for detecting a maximum pixel value and a minimum pixel value in the identified pixel span;
• means for calculating the difference between the maximum pixel value and the minimum pixel value;
• means for determining that contouring artifacts are present in the identified pixel span if the calculated difference is less than a predetermined threshold value;
• and
• means for processing the pixels in the identified pixel span such that contouring artifacts are reduced.

A method of reducing contouring artifacts in an image display, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a video signal, the received video signal including a plurality of pixels;
• identifying a pixel span in the received video signal, the pixel span including a predetermined number of pixels;
• calculating a running pixel value sum over the identified pixel span;
• multiplying a pixel at or near the center of the identified pixel span by the total number of pixels in the identified pixel span;
• calculating a difference between the multiplied pixel and the calculated pixel value sum;
• calculating an absolute value of the difference;
• determining that contouring artifacts are present in the identified pixel span if the absolute value of the calculated difference is within a predetermined range;
• and
• processing the pixels in the identified pixel span such that contouring artifacts are reduced.

A method of reducing contouring artifacts in an image display, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a video signal, the received video signal including a plurality of pixels;
• identifying a pixel span in the received video signal, the pixel span including a predetermined number of pixels;
• detecting the presence of contouring artifacts in the identified pixel span;
• calculating the average pixel value of the identified pixel span;
• reducing the average pixel value to a predetermined bit width, the predetermined bit width being greater than the bit width of each pixel in the identified pixel span;
• and
• replacing a pixel of the identified pixel span with the reduced average pixel value such that detected contouring artifacts are reduced.

A method of reducing contouring artifacts in an image display, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a video signal, the received video signal including a plurality of pixels;
• identifying a pixel span in the received video signal, the pixel span including a predetermined number of pixels;
• detecting the presence of contouring artifacts in the identified pixel span;
• calculating the average pixel value of the identified pixel span;
• dithering the averaged pixel value to generate a replacement pixel value;
• and
• replacing a pixel of the identified pixel span with the replacement pixel value such that detected contouring artifacts are reduced.

A method of reducing contouring artifacts in an image display, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a video signal, the received video signal including a plurality of pixels;
• identifying a pixel span in the received video signal, the pixel span including a predetermined number of pixels;
• detecting the presence of contouring artifacts in the identified pixel span;
• calculating the average pixel value of the identified pixel span;
• reducing the average pixel value to the nearest integer to generate a replacement pixel value;
• and
• replacing a pixel of the identified pixel span with the replacement pixel value such that detected contouring artifacts are reduced.

A method of reducing contouring artifacts in an image display, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a video signal, the received video signal including a plurality of pixels, each pixel of the plurality of pixels being comprised of three pixel components;
• identifying a pixel component span in the received video signal, the pixel component span including a predetermined number of pixel components;
• detecting the presence of contouring artifacts in the identified pixel component span;
• processing the pixel components in the identified pixel component span such that detected contouring artifacts are reduced;
• and
• repeating the identification, detection, and processing steps separately for each of the three pixel components.

A system for reducing contouring artifacts in an image display comprising:

• means for receiving a video signal, the received video signal including a plurality of pixels;
• means for identifying a pixel span in the received video signal, the pixel span including a predetermined number of pixels;
• means for calculating a running pixel value sum over the identified pixel span;
• means for multiplying a pixel at or near the center of the identified pixel span by the total number of pixels in the identified pixel span;
• means for calculating a difference between the multiplied pixel and the calculated pixel value sum;
• means for calculating an absolute value of the difference;
• means for determining that contouring artifacts are present in the identified pixel span if the absolute value of the calculated difference is within a predetermined range;
• and
• means for processing the pixels in the identified pixel span such that contouring artifacts are reduced.

A system for reducing contouring artifacts in an image display comprising:

• means for receiving a video signal, the received video signal including a plurality of pixels;
• means for identifying a pixel span in the received video signal, the pixel span including a predetermined number of pixels;
• means for detecting the presence of contouring artifacts in the identified pixel span;
• means for calculating the average pixel value of the identified pixel span;
• means for reducing the average pixel value to a predetermined bit width, the predetermined bit width being greater than the bit width of each pixel in the identified pixel span;
• and
• means for replacing a pixel of the identified pixel span with the reduced average pixel value such that detected contouring artifacts are reduced.

A system for reducing contouring artifacts in an image display comprising:

• means for receiving a video signal, the received video signal including a plurality of pixels;
• means for identifying a pixel span in the received video signal, the pixel span including a predetermined number of pixels;
• means for detecting the presence of contouring artifacts in the identified pixel span;
• means for calculating the average pixel value of the identified pixel span;
• means for dithering the averaged pixel value to generate a replacement pixel value;
• and
• means for replacing a pixel of the identified pixel span with the replacement pixel value such that detected contouring artifacts are reduced.

A system for reducing contouring artifacts in an image display comprising:

• means for receiving a video signal, the received video signal including a plurality of pixels;
• means for identifying a pixel span in the received video signal, the pixel span including a predetermined number of pixels;
• means for detecting the presence of contouring artifacts in the identified pixel span;
• means for calculating the average pixel value of the identified pixel span;
• means for reducing the average pixel value to the nearest integer to generate a replacement pixel value;
• and
• means for replacing a pixel of the identified pixel span with the replacement pixel value such that detected contouring artifacts are reduced.

A system for reducing contouring artifacts in an image display comprising:

• means for receiving a video signal, the received video signal including a plurality of pixels, each pixel of the plurality of pixels being comprised of three pixel components;
• means for separately identifying a pixel component span for each of the three pixel components of each pixel in the received video signal, the pixel component span including a predetermined number of pixel components;
• means for detecting the presence of contouring artifacts in each separately identified pixel component span;
• and
• means for processing the pixel components in each separately identified pixel component span such that detected contouring artifacts are reduced.