Automatic color balance control method

• US 20090310859A1
• Filed: 06/11/2009
• Published: 12/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Vatics Inc. (Kneron Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Vatics Inc. (Kneron Inc.)
• Inventors: Chang, Yung-Chi, Lien, Kuo-Chin
• Application Number:
  US12/456,173
• Publication Number:
  US 20090310859A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/167
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6027 Correction or control of colour gradation or colour contrast H04N1/6058 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6086 by scene illuminant, i.e. conditions at the time of picture capture, e.g. flash, optical filter used, evening, cloud, daylight, artificial lighting, white point measurement, colour temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/88 for colour balance, e.g. white-balance circuits or colour temperature control

Abstract

An automatic color balance control method is used for color balancing an image including a foreground object and a background. The background is extracted from the image by an object detection procedure. Then, the background is analyzed to get the color deviation information. According to the color deviation information, the control method adjusts the gain value to adjust the color value of the image. Accordingly, the present automatic color balance control method can properly adjust the color of the image according to the light source without being affected by the moving foreground objects.

Claims

1. An automatic color balance control method for color balancing an image comprising at least one foreground object and a background, comprising steps of:

extracting the background from a first image;

analyzing a color deviation of the background;

adjusting a gain value according to the color deviation; and

adjusting a color value of a second image later than the first image according to the gain value.

2. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 1 wherein before the extracting step, the method further comprises a step of adjusting another color value of the first image according to another gain value obtained from a mapping table.

3. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 1 wherein the analyzing step comprises a step of comparing a color distribution of the background with a color distribution model.

4. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 3 wherein the color distribution model is a gray world model.

5. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 1 wherein the color value includes a red value, a green value and a blue value.

6. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 1 wherein the extracting step is performed by a background subtraction approach.

7. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 1 wherein the automatic color balance control method is an automatic white balance control method for adjusting white color of the image to standard white.

8. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 1 wherein the extracting step further comprises steps of:

receiving prediction information of the foreground object;

adjusting a segmentation sensitivity for each pixel according to the prediction information;

for each pixel, determining whether the pixel is a foreground pixel or a background pixel according to a property of the pixel by considering the segmentation sensitivity corresponding to the pixel; and

grouping a plurality of related foreground pixels into the foreground object.

9. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 8 wherein the prediction information indicates that a portion of pixels in the image are predicted foreground pixels.

10. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 9 wherein the segmentation sensitivity of a selected pixel increases when the selected pixel is one of the predicted foreground pixels.

11. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 9 wherein the segmentation sensitivity of a selected pixel decreases when the selected pixel is not one of the predicted foreground pixels.

12. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 8, further comprising a step of calculating object information of the foreground object.

13. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 12 wherein the object information is one selected from a group consisting of color distribution, center of mass, size and a combination thereof.

14. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 13 wherein the foreground object is tracked according to a change in the object information between different images to get motion information of the foreground object.

15. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 14 wherein the motion information includes moving speed and moving direction of the foreground object.

16. The automatic color balance control method according to claim 14 wherein the prediction information of the foreground object is generated according to the motion information.