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Image processing method, image processing apparatus and recording medium storing program therefor

a technology of image processing and recording media, applied in the direction of color signal processing circuits, color television details, electrical apparatus, etc., can solve the problems of difficult to obtain the correction value used for printing, image data the ae/awb processing may not be available in some cases, so as to improve the performance of printing ae/awb processing, processing can be carried out fast and accurately, and high quality

Inactive Publication Date: 2006-10-19
FUJIFILM CORP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides an image processing method and apparatus for generating a high-quality reproduced image regardless of the model of digital camera used to capture the image. The method involves pre-processing the image data to absorb the model tone characteristic of the camera, followed by automatic exposure control and white balance adjustment processing to obtain the final image. The method can also be used to correct the color characteristic of the camera by using a model color characteristic profile generated based on the actual signal of the camera. The invention aims to provide a solution for generating a high-quality reproduced image even when using a different model of digital camera.

Problems solved by technology

However, AE processing and AWB processing is generally carried out in a digital camera for reproduction of image data on a monitor, and AE processing or AWB processing may not be available in some cases.
Furthermore, image data may have been generated by inappropriate exposure such as overexposure, underexposure, or inappropriate flashing.
For this reason, a correction value used for printing is hard to obtain, since the image data to be analyzed depend on the model of the digital camera when the printing AE / AWB processing is carried out.
As a result, printing needs to be carried out repeatedly by a printer to correct the image data by trial and error, which is extremely inefficient.
Consequently, the image data to be processed in this system are limited to only the image data obtained by the digital camera.
As a result, an appropriate correction value is not found for printing and an effect of printing AE / AWB processing is not expected.
For this reason, a high-quality reproduced image cannot be obtained.
In the system described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10(1998)-208034, since only image analysis information is used for generating the tone conversion tables, an image generated by using the tables may not be appropriately processed.
Therefore, when the color characteristic of the digital camera is substantially different from a color characteristic of the subject, an image after the color correction has a partially sparse area in a color space, easily ruining colors, especially in gradation.
Moreover, a digital camera that obtained image data to be processed is not necessarily located in a laboratory for printing.
Therefore, it is not practical for the operator to know the model of the digital camera.
Furthermore, since an amount of data of the profile is large, in a system for processing images obtained by digital cameras by transferring the images via a network, the other method used in printing, that is, the method of outputting the profile together with image data to an image processing apparatus, is not practical.

Method used

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  • Image processing method, image processing apparatus and recording medium storing program therefor
  • Image processing method, image processing apparatus and recording medium storing program therefor
  • Image processing method, image processing apparatus and recording medium storing program therefor

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first embodiment

[0105] As has been described above, in the first embodiment, the image data for setting the color correction parameters obtained for generating the model color characteristic profile are subjected to the model tone characteristic correction, and the color correction parameters are corrected approximately.

[0106] In other words, as shown by Equation (9), the color correction parameters are not found to cause the values obtained by photographing to become the target values. Instead, the correction parameters are set by multiplying the differences by the coefficients αc, αh, and αl. In this manner, the image data can be corrected approximately, and colors in gradation can be prevented from being ruined.

[0107] In this embodiment, the lightness, the chroma, and the hue angle are all corrected. However, the model color correction profile can be generated by adjusting the coefficients αc, αh, and αl so as to correct only one or two of the lightness, the chroma, and the hue angle.

[0108] Th...

second embodiment

[0137]FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus as the present invention. In this embodiment, image processing is divided into processing for printing and processing for monitor display. In the image processing for monitor display, image data obtained by a digital camera are displayed as index images and processing conditions such as conditions for tone correction processing for printing are found. In the image processing for printing, the processing such as the tone correction is carried out based on the image processing conditions determined in the processing for monitor display, and image data after the processing are output to a printer.

[0138] As shown in FIG. 7, an image processing apparatus 100 in this embodiment comprises reading means 3 for reading compressed image data obtained by photographing a subject with a digital camera from a memory card 2 and for obtaining image data D0 comprising color data R0, G0 and B0 by decompressing the...

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Abstract

A high-quality processed image can be obtained by eliminating an effect of a tone characteristic and a color characteristic caused by a model of a digital camera from image data obtained by the digital camera, while colors in processed image data are prevented from being ruined. A model tone characteristic absorption processing unit absorbs the model tone characteristic of the digital camera by using a tone correction curve corresponding to the model, and image data not depending on the model are obtained. An AE / AWB processing unit carries out exposure correction on the image data, and a tone correction unit carries out tone correction thereon for printing. Miscellaneous processing units carry out color correction by using a model color characteristic profile generated to correct colors approximately.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application is a Divisional of co-pending application Ser. No. 09 / 842,908, filed on Apr. 27, 2001 and for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. §120. This application claims priority of Japanese Application Nos. 130526 / 2000, filed Apr. 28, 2000, 130601 / 2000, filed Apr. 28, 2000, 130600 / 2000, filed Apr. 28, 2000, 078312 / 2001, filed Mar. 19, 2001, and 078366 / 2001, filed Mar. 19, 2001 under 35 U.S.C. §119, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to an image processing method and an image processing apparatus for carrying out tone correction processing on image data obtained by a digital camera, and to a computer-readable recording medium storing a program to cause a computer to execute the image processing method. The present invention also relates to a method of generating tone conversion tables used for carr...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): H04N9/73H04N1/60
CPCH04N1/60H04N1/603H04N1/6027
Inventor TAKEMOTO, FUMITO
Owner FUJIFILM CORP
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