SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS AND SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20140016869A1
• Filed: 06/27/2013
• Published: 01/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ichitsubo, Taro, Hirakawa, Takashi
• Application Number:
  US13/929,115
• Publication Number:
  US 20140016869A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/195
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20021 Dividing image into blocks, subimages or windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/20 using local operators
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/70 Denoising; Smoothing

Abstract

A signal processing apparatus includes a representative value calculation unit and a low pass component extraction value calculation unit. The representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate, when areas obtained by dividing a frame image in units of a plurality of pixels are each assumed as a block, an average value of pixel values within each block as a representative value of the block based on an input video signal. The low pass component extraction value calculation unit is configured to perform spline interpolation using the representative values of the blocks located near a pixel being a calculation target for a low pass component extraction value, to calculate the low pass component extraction value of the calculation target.

Claims

1. A signal processing apparatus, comprising:

a representative value calculation unit configured to calculate, when areas obtained by dividing a frame image in units of a plurality of pixels are each assumed as a block, an average value of pixel values within each block as a representative value of the block based on an input video signal; and

a low pass component extraction value calculation unit configured to perform spline interpolation using the representative values of the blocks located near a pixel being a calculation target for a low pass component extraction value, to calculate the low pass component extraction value of the calculation target.

2. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the low pass component extraction value calculation unit performs spline interpolation using representative values of 16 blocks of four horizontal blocks by four vertical blocks that are located near the pixel being the calculation target.

3. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

when four blocks arranged in a vertical direction among the 16 blocks are assumed to be a column, the low pass component extraction value calculation unit is configured

to perform vertical-direction spline interpolation for each column by using representative values of the four blocks constituting the column to calculate low pass component extraction values of four positions on a horizontal line on which the pixel being the calculation target is located, and

to perform horizontal-direction spline interpolation by using the low pass component extraction values of the four positions to calculate a low pass component extraction value of the pixel being the calculation target.

4. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the low pass component extraction value calculation unit is configured to, in the case where the pixel being the calculation target is a pixel at an end portion of an effective video area, perform spline interpolation using a representative value obtained by extrapolating a representative value of the pixel at the end portion of the effective video area based on the representative value of the block that is obtained from pixel values within the effective video area.

5. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the low pass component extraction value calculation unit is configured to perform the spline interpolation using a representative value calculated for a video signal one frame before.

6. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate an average value of luminance values of each block, as an average value of pixel values of the block.

7. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate an average value of maximum absolute values of RGB signal values of each block, as an average value of pixel values of the block.

8. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a gain calculation and application unit configured to apply a gain to a pixel value of the input video signal, the gain being determined based on a difference value between the pixel value of the input video signal and the low pass component extraction value at a pixel position.

9. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the gain calculation and application unit is configured to obtain a difference value gain being a gain appropriate to the difference value, based on the difference value and a first function, and

the first function is set to suppress gains appropriate to a neighborhood of a maximum value and a neighborhood of a minimum value of the difference value.

10. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the gain calculation and application unit is configured

to calculate a difference value gain based on the difference value between the pixel value of the input video signal and the low pass component extraction value at the pixel position and a comparison gain based on one of a maximum absolute value of an RGB signal value of the pixel position and the luminance value of the pixel position, and

to determine a gain to be applied to the input video signal, based on the difference value gain and the comparison gain.

11. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein

the gain calculation and application unit is configured to determine a smaller value of the difference value gain and the comparison gain as a gain to be applied to the input video signal.

12. A signal processing method, comprising:

calculating, when areas obtained by dividing a frame image in units of a plurality of pixels are each assumed as a block, an average value of pixel values within each block as a representative value of the block based on an input video signal; and

performing spline interpolation using the representative values of the blocks located near a pixel being a calculation target for a low pass component extraction value, to calculate the low pass component extraction value of the calculation target.