Abstract: An image capture and display system contains a three-stage digital gamma correction circuit. Three equations are used to determine the gamma correction characteristics for low intensity, medium intensity, and high intensity signal levels, respectively. Linear correction is used for low and high intensity levels, and an adjustable non-linear correction is used for medium levels. The resultant effects of the combined correction characteristics are to increase the effective Signal-to-Noise ratio for low level signals, enhance the gray level differentiation for high level signals, and heighten the contrast control for medium level signals. In addition, the contrast control is effective throughout the entire range of signal intensity levels. The image capture and display system provides a high quality visual display, with a simple, economical hardware implementation of the inventive gamma correction circuit.

Abstract: An image data processing system is disclosed which includes an image data receiving element, e.g., a CCD module, for receiving and converting a plurality of image data into electrical signals. The image data processing system further includes a color processing subsystem which includes the color separation unit, the RGB generation unit, the white balance control unit, the gamma correction unit, and the color space converter, for processing the electrical signals for generating color display output representing the color space of the image data. The image data processing system further includes a luminance processing units which includes two 1-H line memory units, the low pass filter, the edge enhancement unit, the summing circuit and the gamma correction unit, for filtering and processing the electrical signals for generating luminance output representing the luminance field of the image data.