US 8,941,757 B2Granted

Apparatus and method for adjusting white balance

AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

InventorsJin-Keun Seok, Jae-Hee Park, Yong-Gu Lee

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Abstract

An apparatus and method for adjusting a white balance, and more particularly, an apparatus and method for adjusting a white balance of an image captured with a complex light source are provided. The apparatus includes a camera unit, and a controller for controlling recognition of a facial image from an image captured by the camera unit and, if it is determined that the image has been captured with a complex light source based on a comparison between a white balance gain calculated based on a facial skin color of the recognized facial image and a white balance gain calculated based on a white balance scheme, for adjusting a white balance of the captured image based on a final white balance gain extracted by interpolating the two white balance gains.

Claims19

Dependent claims

An apparatus for adjusting a white balance, the apparatus comprising:

a camera unit;
and
a controller for controlling recognition of a facial image from an image captured by the camera unit and, when it is determined that the image has been captured with a complex light source based on a comparison between a white balance gain calculated based on a facial skin color of the recognized facial image and a white balance gain calculated based on a white balance scheme, for adjusting a white balance of the captured image based on a final white balance gain extracted by interpolating the white balance gain calculated based on the facial skin color of the recognized facial image and the white balance gain calculated based on the white balance scheme, wherein the controller compares a white balance gain (RGainFace, BgainFace) calculated based on the facial skin color and a white balance gain (RGainNormal, BgainNormal) calculated in the white balance scheme with a predetermined reference white balance gain (RGainThreshold, BgainThreshold) and determines that the image has been captured with a complex light source when RGainFace−RGainNormal>RGainThreshold and BGainFace−BgainNormal<BGainThreshold.

A method of adjusting a white balance, the method comprising:

recognizing a facial image from a captured image;
calculating a white balance gain based on a facial skin color of the recognized facial image and calculating a white balance gain based on a white balance scheme;
and
when it is determined based on a comparison between the two calculated white balance gains that the image has been captured with a complex light source, adjusting a white balance of the captured image based on a final white balance gain extracted by interpolating the white balance gain calculated based on the facial skin color of the recognized facial image and the white balance gain calculated based on the white balance scheme, wherein the determining that the image has been captured with a complex light source comprises:
comparing a white balance gain (RGainFace, BgainFace) calculated based on the facial skin color and a white balance gain (RGainNormal, BgainNormal) calculated in the white balance scheme with a predetermined reference white balance gain (RGainThreshold, BgainThreshold);
and determining that the image has been captured with a complex light source when RGainFace−RGainNormal>RGainThreshold and BGainFace−BgainNormal<BGainThreshold.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.