White balance adjustment

• US 8,285,038 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2005
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Hunt, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Akhavannik, Hadi
• Application Number:
  US11/719,053
• Publication Number:
  US 20080108384A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,547 Days
• Field of Search: 382/167, 382/233
• US Class Current: 382/167
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0666 for control of colour parameters, e.g. colour temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/2003 Display of colours specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6077 Colour balance, e.g. colour cast correction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/73 Colour balance circuits, e.g. white balance circuits or colour temperature control camera processing pipelines for colour balance H04N23/88

Abstract

A portable electronic communication device includes an image memory that stores an image in its original colors; a display that presents the image, in its original colors, when received from the image memory, based on an instruction, received from a user of the portable electronic communication device, to present the image without adjustment to the original colors; and a white balance adjustment device including multiple image signal adjusters that adjust signal levels of image signals corresponding to particular colors, where, when another instruction is received from the user to adjust the original colors, the white balance adjustment device controls the multiple image signal adjusters, based on user input, to select color adjustments and apply the color adjustments to create a color-adjusted image. The portable electronic device also includes another memory that stores the color-adjusted image, where the display is configured to present the color-adjusted image when received from the other memory.

Claims

1. A portable electronic communication device comprising:

a first image memory to store an image;

a second image memory to store original image settings;

a display to present the image, according to the original image settings, when retrieved from the first image memory, based on a first instruction, received from a user of the portable electronic communication device, to present the image; and

a white balance adjustment device including;

a first image signal adjuster to adjust a signal level of a first image signal corresponding to a first color,

a second image signal adjuster to adjust a signal level of a second image signal corresponding to a second color, and

a third image signal adjuster to adjust a signal level of a third image signal corresponding to a third color,

where, when a second instruction is received from the user to adjust the original image settings, the white balance adjustment device is to control the first, second, and third image signal adjusters based on user input, received from the user, to select color adjustments and apply the color adjustments to the image to create a color-adjusted image,

where the second image memory is to store the color adjustments,

where, after the color adjustments are stored in the second image memory, the display is to present images according to the color adjustments.

2. The portable electronic communication device of claim 1, where the first, second and third image signal adjusters are arranged to adjust the first, the second, and the third image signals so as to achieve a predetermined ratio among the signal levels.

3. The portable electronic communication device of claim 2, where the first, the second, and the third image signal adjusters are arranged to adjust gain.

4. The portable electronic communication device of claim 1, where the user input corresponds to setting white balance in a menu for white balance adjustment.

5. The portable electronic communication device of claim 1, where the first, second, and third image signal adjusters are arranged to adjust three primary colors.

6. The portable electronic communication device of claim 4, where the first, second, and third image signal adjusters are arranged to be either increased or decreased in setting depending on user preference.

7. The portable electronic communication device of claim 5, where the first, second, and third image signal adjusters are arranged to adjust red, green, and blue colors.

8. The portable electronic communication device of claim 1, where the colors are arranged as adjustable 8, 12, 16, 18, 24, and 32 bit color information.

9. The portable electronic communication device of claim 1, where the white balance adjustment device is arranged in a particular companion chip to other circuitry of the portable communication device.

10. The portable electronic communication device of claim 1, where the white balance adjustment device is provided as software.

11. The portable electronic communication device of claim 1, where the white balance adjustment device is integrated in a display driver.

12. The portable electronic communication device of claim 1, where the second image memory is communicatively coupled to the display.

13. The portable electronic communication device of claim 1, where the second image memory includes a GRAM.

14. The portable electronic communication device of claim 1, where the portable electronic communication device comprises a cellular telephone.