Non-uniformity correction (NUC) gain damping
First Claim
1. A system of non-uniformity correction (NUC) for a pixel in an imaging array comprising:
- a lens assembly;
an analog to digital converter;
an imaging array, coupled to the analog to digital converter, for providing digital data pixel intensity values in response to a level of the light being received via the lens assembly;
a storage module for storing;
(a) a first gain coefficient for correcting a gain error of the pixel and(b) multiple damping factors, including a first damping factor, for adjusting the first gain coefficient, in response to multiple respective light levels that the pixel senses during operation, anda NUC corrector module, coupled to the analog to digital converter, said NUC corrector module comprising a subtractor, a first multiplier, a second multiplier and an adder of the NUC corrector module, the NUC corrector module configured to;
receive a first intensity value as digital data from the analog to digital converter of a pixel in response to a first light level,extract the first gain coefficient and a first damping factor from the storage module, andcorrect the first intensity digital data value of the pixel wherein;
the subtractor reduces a value of 1 by the first gain coefficient to provide a reduced value;
the first multiplier multiplies the first damping factor by the reduced value to provide a multiplied value;
the adder either adds or subtracts the multiplied value from the value of 1 to provide a corrected gain of the pixel; and
a second multiplier multiplying an offset adjustment value by the corrected gain of the pixel to provide a final output data value of the pixel.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system of non-uniformity correction (NUC) for a pixel in an imaging array includes: a storage module for storing (a) a first gain coefficient for correcting a gain error of the pixel and (b) multiple damping factors, including a first damping factor, for adjusting the first gain coefficient, in response to multiple respective light levels that the pixel senses during operation. Also included is a NUC corrector module for receiving a first intensity value from the pixel in response to a first light level. The NUC corrector module extracts the first gain coefficient and a first damping factor from the storage module, and then corrects the first intensity value of the pixel using the (a) first gain coefficient and (b) first damping factor.
29 Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A system of non-uniformity correction (NUC) for a pixel in an imaging array comprising:
-
a lens assembly; an analog to digital converter; an imaging array, coupled to the analog to digital converter, for providing digital data pixel intensity values in response to a level of the light being received via the lens assembly; a storage module for storing; (a) a first gain coefficient for correcting a gain error of the pixel and (b) multiple damping factors, including a first damping factor, for adjusting the first gain coefficient, in response to multiple respective light levels that the pixel senses during operation, and a NUC corrector module, coupled to the analog to digital converter, said NUC corrector module comprising a subtractor, a first multiplier, a second multiplier and an adder of the NUC corrector module, the NUC corrector module configured to; receive a first intensity value as digital data from the analog to digital converter of a pixel in response to a first light level, extract the first gain coefficient and a first damping factor from the storage module, and correct the first intensity digital data value of the pixel wherein; the subtractor reduces a value of 1 by the first gain coefficient to provide a reduced value; the first multiplier multiplies the first damping factor by the reduced value to provide a multiplied value; the adder either adds or subtracts the multiplied value from the value of 1 to provide a corrected gain of the pixel; and a second multiplier multiplying an offset adjustment value by the corrected gain of the pixel to provide a final output data value of the pixel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A method for non-uniformity correction (NUC) of a pixel in an imaging array, the method comprising the steps of:
-
capturing a flat field image at a predetermined light level by an imaging array; based on the predetermined light level of the captured image, determining a gain coefficient of a pixel of the flat field image; storing, in a storage module, the determined gain coefficient of the pixel; storing a plurality of damping factors for a corresponding plurality of video levels of the pixel, wherein an individual damping factor of the plurality of damping factors is determined by a ratio between (a) the gain coefficient of a pixel at a predetermined light level and (b) a gain coefficient of the pixel at another light level, the other light level being a determined video level of the pixel; receiving light via a lens assembly at the imaging array; generating a pixel intensity value based on the received light; determining a video level of the generated pixel intensity value; and correcting the pixel intensity value, at the determined video level, by adjusting the gain coefficient of the pixel intensity value using a stored damping factor that corresponds to the determined video level of the pixel intensity. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method for non-uniformity correction (NUC) of a pixel in an imaging array, the method comprising the steps of:
-
generating, at an imaging array, an intensity value of pixel; determining a video level of the pixel based on the pixel intensity value; storing, in a storage module, a damping factor of the pixel based on average video levels of pixel intensity values of the imaging array and at least one function that mathematically expresses multiple gain values of the pixel as a function of respective video levels of the pixel; selecting a gain value using the at least one function based on the determined pixel video level, wherein the selected gain value is a predetermined NUC gain for the determined pixel video level; subtracting the selected gain value from a value of 1 to provide a subtracted value; multiplying the subtracted value by the damping factor of the pixel to provide a multiplied value; and adding or subtracting the multiplied value from the value of 1 to provide a calculated damped gain; and correcting the video level of the pixel using the damped gain. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
-
Specification