BLUR DOWNSCALE

• US 20160292827A1
• Filed: 04/01/2015
• Published: 10/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Young, Eric, Holland, Peter F., Cote, Guy
• Granted Patent: US 9,558,536 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4023 based on decimating pixels or lines of pixels; based on inserting pixels or lines of pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/70 Denoising; Smoothing

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for generating a blur effect on a source image in a power-efficient manner. Pixels of the source image are averaged as they are read into pixel buffers, and then the source image is further downscaled by a first factor. Then, the downscaled source image is upscaled back to the original size, and then this processed image is composited with a semi-transparent image to create a blurred effect of the source image.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured to:

receive source image data corresponding to a source frame;

responsive to receiving a request that a blur operation be performed on the source frame;

downscale the source image data in a first direction by averaging the source image data;

downscale the source image data in a second direction; and

upscale the source image data back to an original size.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further configured to combine source image data which has been downscaled and upscaled with semi-transparent image data to produce a blurred version of the source frame.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to average the source image data by adding pixels of the source image data to produce a sum and rounding one or more least significant bits of the sum.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further configured to downscale the source image data in the first direction after reading the source image data out of one or more pixel buffers and prior to upscaling the source image data back to the original size.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to utilize a multi-tap polyphase filter to downscale the source image data in the second direction.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further configured to perform a rotation of the source image data when writing the source image data into one or more pixel buffers.

8. A computing system comprising:

a display; and

one or more functional units configured to;

receive source image data corresponding to a source frame;

responsive to receiving a request that a blur operation be performed on the source frame;

downscale the source image data in a first direction by averaging the source image data;

downscale the source image data in a second direction; and

upscale the source image data back to an original size.

9. The computing system as recited in claim 8, wherein the one or more functional units are further configured to combine source image data which has been downscaled and upscaled with semi-transparent image data to produce a blurred version of the source frame.

10. The computing system as recited in claim 8, wherein the one or more functional units are configured to average the source image data by adding pixels of the source image data to produce a sum and rounding one or more least significant bits of the sum.

11. The computing system as recited in claim 8, wherein the one or more functional units are further configured to downscale the source image data in the first direction after reading the source image data out of one or more pixel buffers and prior to upscaling the source image data back to the original size.

12. The computing system as recited in claim 8, wherein the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction.

13. The computing system as recited in claim 8, wherein the one or more functional units are configured to utilize a multi-tap polyphase filter to downscale the source image data in the second direction.

14. The computing system as recited in claim 8, wherein the one or more functional units are further configured to perform a rotation of the source image data when writing the source image data into one or more pixel buffers.

15. A method comprising:

receiving source image data corresponding to a source frame;

responsive to receiving a request that a blur operation be performed on the source frame;

downscaling the source image data in a first direction by averaging the source image data;

downscaling the source image data in a second direction; and

upscaling the source image data back to an original size.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising combining source image data which has been downscaled and upscaled with semi-transparent image data to produce a blurred version of the source frame.

17. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein averaging the source image data comprises adding pixels of the source image data to produce a sum and rounding one or more least significant bits of the sum.

18. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein downscaling the source image data in the first direction comprises downscaling the source image data after reading the source image data out of one or more pixel buffers and prior to upscaling the source image data back to the original size.

19. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction.

20. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising performing a rotation of the source image data when writing the source image data into one or more pixel buffers.