Abstract: The invention relates to a system and method for adjusting the color of image objects based on chained reference points and/or light gradients to account for the effects of lighting conditions that can vary across different environments, according to an implementation of the invention. To chain reference points and/or characterize light gradients, the system may determine a color shift value, which represents the effects of lighting conditions of a target environment (in which the lighting conditions may be unknown) relative to a reference environment (in which the lighting conditions may be known). The chained reference points, gradient characterization, color shift values, and/or other information may be used to store a delta map that characterizes the lighting conditions of an environment so that it may be reused for subsequent color shifts without re-characterizing the environment.

Abstract: A method for improving quality of low light video images including: receiving a current video frame; temporally enhancing it by applying a first weight matrix including higher weight factors for stationary regions and lower weight factors for moving regions to the received frame and a reference frame to generate an enhanced temporal video frame; spatially enhancing the enhanced temporal video frame by applying a second weight matrix including higher weight factors for stationary regions and lower weight factors for moving regions to generate an enhanced spatial video frame; and motion enhancing the enhanced temporal video frame by extracting matched rigid moving objects in a previous or future frame and processing each of the extracted matched rigid moving objects with a corresponding rigid object in the enhanced temporal or spatial or raw current video frame.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus in the present disclosure includes a color conversion processing unit, a modulation candidate creating unit, a color value modulating unit, and an output unit. The color conversion processing unit performs color conversion from an input color value of a target image to a corresponding output color value to obtain a tentative output color value. The modulation candidate creating unit creates, as modulation candidates, combinations of integer values obtained by rounding up or down the decimal fraction of each color component of a tentative output color value. The color value modulating unit selects a modulation candidate at random and performs modulation by replacing the tentative output color value with the selected modulation candidate. The output unit outputs the target image according to the color value obtained after the modulation.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for detecting banding noise in a digital signal representative of an image. The method includes determining, by a banding noise detector, a count of increment steps in pixel values and a count of decrement steps in pixel values along a filter direction in a neighborhood of a current pixel of the image, checking, by the banding noise detector, if the count of increment steps or the count of decrement steps in the neighborhood of a current pixel exceeds a step threshold value, and classifying, by the banding noise detector, the current pixel as being located in the banding noise zone if the count of increment steps or the count of decrement steps does not exceed the step threshold value.

Abstract: A method of coding a sequence of images comprises at least one image comprising an image region of interest. The coding method comprises the following steps implemented for said at least one image of said sequence of images: determining (S10 to S23) an image portion comprising the image region of interest on the basis of a rate-distortion criterion representing a compromise between the compression efficiency the distortion of the image portion and the compression efficiency the distortion of the whole of said at least one image; and coding (S24) said at least one image on the basis of the determined image portion.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus and method for enhancing quality of image data are provided. The image processing apparatus includes an encoder which encodes source image data and outputs compressed image data, a first representative transform coefficient calculator which calculates a first representative transform coefficient by transforming the source image data into frequency characteristics; a decoder which decodes the compressed image data and outputting decoded image data, a second representative transform coefficient calculator which calculates a second representative transform coefficient by transforming the decoded image data into frequency characteristics, and a quality enhancer which enhances the quality of the decoded image data by using the first representative transform coefficient and the second representative transform coefficient.

Abstract: An image prior as a shared basis mixture model is described. In one or more implementations, a plurality of image patches are generated from one or more images. A shared basis mixture model is learned to model an image patch distribution of the plurality of image patches from the one or more images as part of a Gaussian mixture model. An image may then be reconstructed using the shared basis mixture model as an image prior.

Abstract: An aspect of the present invention provides an image processing apparatus including: a people detecting unit that detects image portions of faces of a plurality of people in an image; and an image converting unit that enlarges a portion below a horizontal line segment of the image in a manner that locates the horizontal line segment at a top end of the enlarged image based on upper end positions of the detected faces. The horizontal line segment is on or above the extracted faces and has a lateral width equal to or larger than a lateral width of the faces. The image processing apparatus performs enlargement with reference to the faces so as not to warp the faces.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for a multiple-channel image/video coding system are disclosed. A residue generation process is applied to the image/video data to generate residue data. A set of integer operations is applied to the residue data across the input channels to generate residue transformed data having multiple output channels. In one embodiment, the residue transformed data associated with a first output channel is related to the difference between a first residue data associated with a first input channel and a second residue data associated with a second input channel. In another embodiment, the residue transformed data associated with a second output channel is related to the second difference between a threshold and a third residue data associated with a third input channel, and wherein the threshold corresponds to the first truncated or rounded average of the first residue data and the second residue data.

Abstract: A frame of pixels is segmented into a plurality of blocks each having a block type by a method including the steps of: a) performing an initial segmentation of the frame into a set of initial blocks, thus determining, for each initial block, a block type associated with the concerned initial block; b) determining, for each block type, an associated set of quantizers based on data corresponding to pixels of blocks having said block type; c) selecting, among a plurality of possible segmentations defining an association between each block of this segmentation and an associated block type, the segmentation which minimizes an encoding cost estimated based on a measure of the rate necessary for encoding each block using the set of quantizers associated with the block type of the encoded block according to the concerned segmentation.

Abstract: Provided are an apparatus and method that obtain a numerical value for an evaluation value of an appearance of noise in a plurality of videos and that coordinate the appearance of noise based on the evaluation value. In an image processing apparatus that coordinates an appearance of noise among a plurality of videos, noise properties are obtained from the videos, and a noise evaluation value is calculated based on the noise properties. Based on the calculated noise evaluation value, noise to be added to the videos is calculated, and the added noise is then added to the videos.

Abstract: A method for improving quality of low light video images including: receiving a current video frame; temporally enhancing it by applying a first weight matrix including higher weight factors for stationary regions and lower weight factors for moving regions to the received frame and a reference frame to generate an enhanced temporal video frame; spatially enhancing the enhanced temporal video frame by applying a second weight matrix including higher weight factors for stationary regions and lower weight factors for moving regions to generate an enhanced spatial video frame; and motion enhancing the enhanced temporal video frame by extracting matched rigid moving objects in a previous or future frame and processing each of the extracted matched rigid moving objects with a corresponding rigid object in the enhanced temporal or spatial or raw current video frame.

Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses and computer program products for image calibration and analysis are described. One aspect provides quantitatively analyzing a representation of a dermatological condition of an image; and providing one or more outputs responsive to said quantitatively analyzing said representation of said dermatological condition of said image. Other embodiments are described.

Abstract: A computer implemented method and apparatus for reconstructing indexed color spaces. The method comprises accessing a plurality of indexed color spaces, wherein each indexed color space comprises a bit depth; and creating one or more unions of two or more indexed color spaces from the plurality of indexed color spaces, wherein the bit depth of the union of the two or more indexed color does not exceed the bit depth of any of the two or more indexed color spaces.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an acquisition unit that acquires a statistical value of pixel values for each divided region; a determination unit that compares for each divided region the statistical value of the divided region acquired by the acquisition unit with a first threshold and determines whether the divided region is as color region or a monochrome region; and a re-determination unit that compares a statistical value of an adjacent divided region with a second threshold, by which a divided region is more likely determined as a color region than by the first threshold, for each adjacent divided region, and re-determines whether the adjacent divided region is a color region or a monochrome region.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for bilayer image segmentation are described. A set of segmentation seeds for the image is generated by analyzing a depth histogram of the image. Then a segmentation map is generated by minimizing an objective function, which models a directed flow from the foreground segmentation seeds towards the background segmentation seeds.

Abstract: The noise in an image having text is removed by convolving a shaped kernel centered on a pixel for each pixel in the image. The shaped kernel has a shape configured to identify pixels that are not part of the text. For example, the shaped kernel may be shaped with zeros in a center of the kernel to identify pixels that are not part of the text. A value for the pixel is set to erase the pixel when the resulting convolution value for the pixel is less than a threshold. The process may be repeated multiple times for differently shaped kernels, including kernels of different sizes and different configurations, such as having values greater than one in at least one of a row, column, and diagonal.

Abstract: A method for correcting spatial response for an imaging Fourier transform spectrometer comprises the following steps: a prior step of calculation of the equalization parameters comprising a gain and an offset from data forming calibration scenes; a step of determination of equalization coefficients at a so-called pseudo superpixel level determining the gains and offsets at macropixel level from the data from a raw image that are collected by the imaging spectrometer in image mode, and gains and offsets determined in the prior step; and a step of equalization at pseudo superpixel level, applying the equalization coefficients to a macropixel from an acquisition in the interferogram mode of the imaging spectrometer in order to restore an equalized interferogram.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for life cycle management for superpixels associated to frames of a sequence of frames are described. An area occupied by a superpixel in a frame of the sequence of frames is monitored. In case the area of the superpixel becomes smaller than a specified first value, the superpixel is terminated in the later frame. In case the area of the superpixel becomes larger than a specified second value, the superpixel is split in the later frame.

Abstract: The invention provides a method for local image translation and a terminal with a touch screen, wherein the method for local image translation includes: obtaining a region to be translated from an original image; extracting a region with a remarkable characteristic through performing cluster analysis on the region; performing region growing according to the region with the remarkable characteristic to generate a target region; and fusing the target region translated to the target image with the target image. The above method for local image translation and the terminal with the touch screen can be used for translating the local images in various types of images.