Color Enhancement for Graphic Images

Abstract

A color enhancement system may enhance color components in an image. In one embodiment, the color enhancement system suppresses banding by combining an input color value with an enhanced colored value. In another embodiment, local variation in saturation values around a pixel may be used to determine a modification of an input saturation value for color enhancement. As still another embodiment, flickering between frames may be suppressed by combining a histogram that counts the number of times a given pixel value occurs in a particular image with a historical histogram that keeps track of an average of how often given values have occurred in previous frames.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 developing a current histogram of the occurrence of color values of pixels in an image;   maintaining a historical histogram that stores the color values of previously analyzed images; and   blending the historical and current histograms.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein developing a histogram includes developing a histogram of color values that are saturation values. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  including using a weighted average to blend said current histogram and said historical histogram to form a blended histogram. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  including storing the blended histogram as the new historical histogram. 
     
     
         5 . One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions executed by a processor to perform a sequence comprising:
 developing a current histogram of the occurrence of color values of pixels in an image;   maintaining a historical histogram that stores the color values of previously analyzed images; and   blending the historical and current histograms.   
     
     
         6 . The media of  claim 5  wherein developing a histogram includes developing a histogram of color values that are saturation values. 
     
     
         7 . The media of  claim 5 , the sequence including using a weighted average to blend said current histogram and said historical histogram to form a blended histogram. 
     
     
         8 . The media of  claim 7 , the sequence including storing the blended histogram as the new historical histogram. 
     
     
         9 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processor to develop a current histogram of the occurrence of color values of pixels in an image, maintain a historical histogram that stores the color values of previously analyzed images, and blend the historical and current histograms; and   a storage coupled to said processor.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , said processor to develop a histogram by developing a histogram of color values that are saturation values. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , said processor to use a weighted average to blend said current histogram and said historical histogram to form a blended histogram. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , said processor to store blended histogram as the new historical histogram. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 9  including an operating system. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 9  including a battery. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 9  including firmware and a module to update said firmware.