Abstract: Provided is a system for assisting visibility of a driver, for displaying a nighttime image in color image quality required to recognize a pedestrian and displaying an image of a lane required to alarm a lane departure using a single camera module, which includes a camera module; a signal extraction unit; a lane pattern image data generating unit; a pedestrian image data generating unit; and a display drive unit.

Abstract: There are provided a method and an apparatus for reducing noise in a digital image capable of reducing noise while preventing damage to an edge of a digital image. The apparatus includes: a high pass filtering unit determining an edge region of an input image; a low pass filtering unit performing low pass filtering on a region of the input image determined not to be the edge region by the high pass filtering unit; and a sigma filtering unit performing sigma filtering on the region of the input image determined not to be the edge region by the high pass filtering unit.

Abstract: A histogram stretching apparatus and a histogram stretching method are disclosed to enhance image contrast by stretching a histogram of an input image within a range of a preset maximum expansion level and a preset minimum expansion level. The histogram stretching apparatus performs proper stretching suitable for a characteristic of the input image in due consideration of a saturation portion and a distribution range of a histogram of the input image. The histogram stretching apparatus can improve stretching effects by removing the saturated portion of the input image, and can prevent image distortion even for a monochromatic image. The histogram apparatus can improve histogram stretching effects by adjusting entire image levels of an image having a histogram frequency distribution skewed to a dark or bright side before a stretching operation.

Abstract: There are provided an apparatus and a method of reducing noise. The apparatus of reducing noise includes: an edge determining module determining whether each pixel of an image corresponds to an edge; a low pass filter module performing low pass filtering of the image in two directions, i.e.

Abstract: There are provided an image processing apparatus and an image processing method for night vision that can generate a night vision image in which the overall quality thereof is maintained to be excellent and an obstacle is easily distinguished. The image processing apparatus for night vision includes: a brightness improving unit improving the brightness of an inputted infrared image; an obstacle judging unit judging whether an obstacle is present by analyzing an infrared image in which brightness is improved by the brightness improving unit; an obstacle region separating unit separating an image of a region judged as the obstacle by the obstacle judging unit; and an image synthesizing unit synthesizing the image of the region judged as the obstacle separated by the obstacle region separating unit with the inputted infrared image.

Abstract: An auto-exposure control method includes: creating an exposure table and an analog gain table including an exposure time and an analog gain of an image sensor set according to an index, respectively; calculating an average luminance value of an image frame obtained by the image sensor; checking whether or not the average luminance value is within a pre-set range including a prescribed final target value; if the average luminance value is not within the pre-set range, determining a shift step from indexes which have been applied to a current image frame according to the difference between the average luminance value and the final target value in order to determine indexes of the exposure table and the analog gain table to be applied to a next image frame; and repeatedly performing of reading an exposure time and an analog gain corresponding to the indexes shifted by the shift step determined from the indexes applied to the current image frame, from the exposure table and the analog gain table, applying the sam

Abstract: Disclosed herein are a method for estimating acoustic velocity of an ultrasonic image and an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus using the same. The method for estimating acoustic velocity of an ultrasonic image includes: (A) dividing each of the ultrasonic images into a plurality of blocks; (B) extracting contours of ultrasonic images for each block of one frame among the ultrasonic images; (C) calculating and analyzing average luminance values of each block; (D) determining the optimal block number using the average luminance values and selecting the optimal blocks; and (E) estimating and applying the real acoustic velocity, whereby the acoustic velocity is estimated in real time and is applied to the ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are an apparatus and a method for measuring velocity of an ultrasound signal. The apparatus for measuring velocity of an ultrasound signal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a transmitting module transmitting ultrasound signals to targets; a receiving module receiving the ultrasound signals reflected from the targets; an image generating module using the received ultrasound signals to generate a plurality of ultrasonic images having different sound velocities; and a sound velocity determining module using the plurality of generated ultrasonic images to determine optimal sound velocity for scanning the targets.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and ultrasonic image processing method. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasonic transmission unit; An ultrasonic probe emits; An ultrasonic reception unit; An image processing unit; A sound velocity determination unit; and A control unit. Accordingly, there is an advantage in that the actual sound velocity of a reflected wave is estimated, so that high-quality ultrasonic images can be provided, and the time required for the estimation of a sound velocity can be reduced.

Abstract: A color interpolation method capable of more precisely interpolating each of pixels of an image passing through a color filter of a Bayer pattern and detected by an image sensor, the method including: defining a pixel group of a matrix structure, having a pixel to be color-interpolated as a center pixel, in an image passed through a color filter of Bayer pattern and detected by an image sensor; determining whether an edge exists or not in the pixel group; interpolating a color of the center pixel using a low pass filter when an edge does not exist in the pixel group; and interpolating a color of the center pixel according to directivity of an edge when the edge exists in the pixel group. The invention suppresses noise during color interpolation and enables more precise color interpolation.

Abstract: An auto-exposure control method includes: creating an exposure table and an analog gain table including an exposure time and an analog gain of an image sensor set according to an index, respectively; calculating an average luminance value of an image frame obtained by the image sensor; checking whether or not the average luminance value is within a pre-set range including a prescribed final target value; if the average luminance value is not within the pre-set range, determining a shift step from indexes which have been applied to a current image frame according to the difference between the average luminance value and the final target value in order to determine indexes of the exposure table and the analog gain table to be applied to a next image frame; and repeatedly performing of reading an exposure time and an analog gain corresponding to the indexes shifted by the shift step determined from the indexes applied to the current image frame, from the exposure table and the analog gain table, applying the sam

Abstract: A histogram stretching apparatus and a histogram stretching method are disclosed to enhance image contrast by stretching a histogram of an input image within a range of a preset maximum expansion level and a preset minimum expansion level. The histogram stretching apparatus performs proper stretching suitable for a characteristic of the input image in due consideration of a saturation portion and a distribution range of a histogram of the input image. The histogram stretching apparatus can improve stretching effects by removing the saturated portion of the input image, and can prevent image distortion even for a monochromatic image. The histogram apparatus can improve histogram stretching effects by adjusting entire image levels of an image having a histogram frequency distribution skewed to a dark or bright side before a stretching operation.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for removing noise in a dark area of an image are provided. An edge magnitude in an N×N window image including a plurality of pixels is calculated. It is determined whether an edge area is present in the window image on the basis of the edge magnitude. A mean value of brightness of the window image is calculated when the edge area is not present. It is determined whether the window image corresponds to a bright area or a dark area on the basis of the mean value. The window image is determined as the bright area when the mean value is higher than a preset brightness reference value, and low-pass filtering is performed on the window image. The window image is determined as the dark area when the mean value does not exceed the reference value, and minimum filtering is performed on the window image.

Abstract: A color interpolation method capable of more precisely interpolating each of pixels of an image passing through a color filter of a Bayer pattern and detected by an image sensor, the method including: defining a pixel group of a matrix structure, having a pixel to be color-interpolated as a center pixel, in an image passed through a color filter of Bayer pattern and detected by an image sensor; determining whether an edge exists or not in the pixel group; interpolating a color of the center pixel using a low pass filter when an edge does not exist in the pixel group; and interpolating a color of the center pixel according to directivity of an edge when the edge exists in the pixel group. The invention suppresses noise during color interpolation and enables more precise color interpolation.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for processing image data of an optical mouse. In the method for processing image data of an optical mouse, direction and size values of motion vectors which are image data consecutively inputted from an image pixel array are filtered with respect to X and Y axes by a filter. A predetermined number of motion vectors converted by and outputted from the filter are accumulated, and the accumulated values are mapped to conversion values to attenuate noise components and amplify directionality of the motion vectors depending on a speed of the optical mouse by a mapper. The values mapped by the mapper in a plurality of pipes are stored, and a value obtained by adding the plural stored values to each other and dividing the added result value by a conversion factor is transmitted to a personal computer (PC) interface such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or PS/2.

Abstract: An optical navigation sensor device and an image processing method using a 2-dimensional sequential image process are disclosed. A pre-processor stores digital voltage values of respective pixels of an image received from a pre-processor in a memory, performs a pre-process for the digital voltage values of respective pixels sequentially received from the memory, thereby producing a pre-processed current image, and extracts a pre-processed current central image from the pre-processed current image. A motion coordinate calculator stores the pre-processed current central image as X/Y-axis reference image candidates, determines replacement of X/Y-axis reference images for calculation of motion coordinate values of a next pre-processed image in accordance with X/Y-axis motions of the pre-processed current image, and compares the pre-processed current image with the X/Y-axis reference images, thereby calculating X/Y-axis motion coordinate values of the pre-processed current image.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of processing data of an optical mouse. The method includes the steps of calculating a motion vector of the optical mouse through processing of digitally converted image pixel data in an Image Signal Processor (ISP) by sequentially overlapping a reference image of an n?1 th frame to a present image of an nth frame and determining a moving direction of the optical mouse using approximately equal parts in the reference and present images; and transmitting the calculated motion vector to a personal computer through an interface; wherein the ISP includes an X axis navigation engine for processing data on a reference image for the motion of an X axis direction among the processed image pixel data and a Y axis navigation engine for processing data on a reference image for the motion of a Y axis direction among the processed image pixel data.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a single integrated circuit for an optical mouse. The circuit includes an image pixel array for recognizing light and shadow of a surface under the optical mouse, an analog-to-digital converter for receiving analog signal from the image pixel array and converting analog data into digital data, a motion vector calculation unit for converting the digital data into one-bit data and calculating a motion vector, a motion vector process unit for accumulating motion vectors, correcting errors of the motion vectors, and accumulating moving distances of the optical mouse, a timing signal generator for generating control signals to control an overall operation of the circuit and operation signals pursuant to operation states of the circuit, an interface designed to transmit values processed by the process unit into a personal computer, and a transceiver for enabling one of a universal serial bus or an IBM personal system/2 in the interface.

Abstract: An optical sensing apparatus and method includes calculating an accurate motion vector coordinate value of a current preprocessed image by partial-searching a particular coordinate axis corresponding to a predetermined direction determining coefficient, a predetermined speed determining coefficient, and/or a predetermined direction and/or speed determining coefficient according to a history of a motion vector coordinate values with respect to a past preprocessed image, calculating the motion vector coordinate value of a future according to a history of a motion vector coordinate value of the current preprocessed image, and performing a position navigation with respect to current or future preprocessed image.

Abstract: An optical navigation sensor device and an image processing method using a 2-dimensional sequential image process are disclosed. A pre-processor stores digital voltage values of respective pixels of an image received from a pre-processor in a memory, performs a pre-process for the digital voltage values of respective pixels sequentially received from the memory, thereby producing a pre-processed current image, and extracts a pre-processed current central image from the pre-processed current image. A motion coordinate calculator stores the pre-processed current central image as X/Y-axis reference image candidates, determines replacement of X/Y-axis reference images for calculation of motion coordinate values of a next pre-processed image in accordance with X/Y-axis motions of the pre-processed current image, and compares the pre-processed current image with the X/Y-axis reference images, thereby calculating X/Y-axis motion coordinate values of the pre-processed current image.