Noise cancellation device for an image signal processing system

• US 8,180,171 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2007
• Issued: 05/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Novatek Microelectronics Corporation (Novatek Microelectronics Corp Limited)
• Original Assignee: Novatek Microelectronics Corporation (Novatek Microelectronics Corp Limited)
• Inventors: Lin, Teng-Yi
• Primary Examiner(s): Repko, Jason M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thomas, Mia M
• Application Number:
  US11/849,297
• Publication Number:
  US 20080309680A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,717 Days
• Field of Search: 382/260, 382/238, 382/274, 382/75, 382/305, 382/264, 370/389, 370/466, 370/474, 348/229, 348/241, 348/245, 348/297, 710/1
• US Class Current: 382/264
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/20 using local operators
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/50 using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/70 Denoising; Smoothing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/144 Movement detection for video coding H04N19/503; analysis of motion in general G06T7/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/21 Circuitry for suppressing or minimising disturbance, e.g. moiré or halo

Abstract

A noise cancellation device for an image signal processing system includes a receiving end for receiving image signals, a 3D filtering unit for adjusting a filtering parameter according to a motion estimation value, and filtering the image signals and a former filtering result for generating a current filtering result, a motion detection unit for comparing the former filtering result and the image signals, so as to generate a current motion factor and the motion estimation value according to a former motion factor, a memory unit for receiving and storing the current filter result and the current motion factor as the former filtering result and the former motion factor, and an output end for outputting the current filtering result provided by the 3D filtering unit.

Claims

1. A noise cancellation device for an image signal processing system comprising:

a receiving end for receiving an image signal;

a 3D (three-dimensional) filtering unit coupled to the receiving end for adjusting a filtering parameter according to a motion estimation value, and filtering the image signal and a former filtering result for generating a current filtering result;

an motion detection unit coupled to the receiving end and the 3D filtering unit for comparing the former filtering result and the image signal received by the receiving end, so as to generate a current motion factor and the motion estimation value according to a former motion factor;

an memory unit coupled to the 3D filtering unit and the motion detection unit for receiving and storing the current filtering result outputted from the 3D filtering unit and the current motion factor outputted from the motion detection unit, and outputting the stored current filtering result and the stored current motion factor to the 3D filtering unit and the motion detection unit as the former filtering result and the former motion factor for a next image signal; and

an output end coupled to the 3D filtering unit and the memory unit for outputting the current filtering result provided by the 3D filtering unit.

2. The noise cancellation device of claim 1, wherein the 3D filtering unit comprises:

a 2D (two-dimensional) low-pass filter coupled to the receiving end for performing 2D low-pass filtering for the image signal for outputting a 2D low-pass filtering result;

a first mixer coupled to the receiving end and the 2D low-pass filter for adjusting weightings of the 2D low-pass filtering result and the image signal according to the motion estimation value for generating a mixed signal; and

a second mixer coupled to the memory unit and the first mixer for adjusting weightings of the former filtering result and the mixed signal according to the motion estimation value for generating the current filtering result.

3. The noise cancellation device of claim 2, wherein the first mixer increases the weighting of the 2D low-pass filtering result as the motion estimation value increases, and decreases the weighting of the 2D low-pass filtering result as the motion estimation value decreases.

4. The noise cancellation device of claim 2, wherein the first mixer comprises:

a first multiplier coupled to the 2D low-pass filter for multiplying the 2D low-pass filtering result by the motion estimation value for generating a first multiplication result;

a second multiplier coupled to the receiving end for multiplying the image signals by a complement of the motion estimation value for generating a second multiplication result; and

an adder coupled to the first multiplier and the second multiplier for accumulating the first multiplication result and the second multiplication result for generating the mixed signal.

5. The noise cancellation device of claim 4, wherein the complement of the motion estimation value equals the difference between 1 and the motion estimation value.

6. The noise cancellation device of claim 2, wherein the second mixer increases the weighting of the mixed signal as the motion estimation value increases, and decreases the weighting of the mixed signal as the motion estimation value decreases.

7. The noise cancellation device of claim 2, wherein the second mixer comprises:

a first multiplier coupled to the first mixer for multiplying the mixed signal by the motion estimation value for generating a first multiplication result;

a second multiplier coupled to the memory unit for multiplying the image signal by a complement of the motion estimation value for generating a second multiplication result; and

an adder coupled to the first multiplier and the second multiplier for accumulating the first multiplication result and the second multiplication result for generating the current filtering result.

8. The noise cancellation device of claim 7, wherein the complement of the motion estimation value equals the difference between 1 and the motion estimation value.

9. The noise cancellation device of claim 1, wherein the motion detection unit comprises:

a comparison unit coupled to the receiving end and the memory unit for comparing the image signal and the former filtering result stored in the memory unit for outputting a comparison result;

a computation unit coupled to the comparison unit and the memory unit for performing a computation equation for the comparison result outputted from the computation unit according to the former motion factor stored in the memory unit for outputting the current motion factor; and

an motion estimation value determination unit coupled to the computation unit for outputting the motion estimation value according the current motion factor.

10. The noise cancellation device of claim 9, wherein the comparison unit comprises:

a subtractor coupled to the receiving end and the memory unit for computing a difference between the image signal and the former filtering result stored in the memory unit for generating a subtraction result; and

an absolute value operator coupled between the subtractor and the computation unit for computing an absolute value of the subtraction result for generating the comparison result.

11. The noise cancellation device of claim 9, wherein the computation unit comprises:

an attenuator coupled to the memory unit for attenuating the former filtering result stored in the memory unit for generating an attenuation result; and

an maximum selector coupled to the attenuator and the comparison unit for obtaining a maximum of the attenuation result and the comparison result for providing the current motion factor.

12. The noise cancellation device of claim 9, wherein the motion estimation value determination unit is a look-up table.

13. The noise cancellation device of claim 9 further comprising a low-pass filter coupled between the comparison unit and the computation unit for computing a low-pass filtering result of the comparison result.

14. The noise cancellation device of claim 9 further comprising an expander coupled between the comparison unit and the computation unit for expanding a range of the comparison result.

15. The noise cancellation device of claim 1, wherein the memory unit stores a filtering result and a motion factor of an image.

16. The noise cancellation device of claim 1, wherein the memory unit stores filtering results and motion factors of a plurality of images.

17. The noise cancellation device of claim 16, wherein the memory unit comprises:

a signal receiving end for receiving the current filtering result and the current motion factor;

a signal output end for outputting the former filtering result and the former motion factor; and

a sub-memory unit sequence coupled between the signal receiving end and the signal output end, comprising a plurality of sub-memory units each utilized for storing a filtering result and a motion factor of an image.

18. The noise cancellation device of claim 1, wherein the motion estimation value is positively correlated to a motion degree of an image corresponding to the image signal.

19. The noise cancellation device of claim 1, wherein the motion factor is positively correlated to a motion degree of an image corresponding to the image signal.