Device for reducing flicker defects

1. Device for reducing large area flicker in a video signal having a temporal median filter for compensating for brightness fluctuation in the video signal, a median filter connected downstream from said temporal median filter for suppressing motion artifacts in an output of said temporal median filter, a filter connected downstream from said median filter for passing high-frequency signal components with a low amplitude; and a first subtraction circuit for subtracting the high-frequency signal components with a low amplitude from a delayed video signal, wherein the median filter connected downstream contains a second subtraction circuit and wherein the filter connected downstream from said median filter comprises an amplitude filter, wherein the second subtraction circuit is provided for combining the inverted output signal of the temporal median filter and the delayed video signal and the amplitude filter is provided for suppressing the signal components with a low amplitude in the output signal of the second subtraction circuit, and

wherein the first subtraction circuit which supplies the output signal from which flicker disturbances have largely been eliminated, is provided for combining the delayed video signal and the inverted output signal of the amplitude filter.

2. Device according to claim 1 , wherein a horizontally and vertically acting median filter is connected between the second subtraction circuit and amplitude filter.

3. A method for reducing flicker disturbances in a video signal comprising the activities of:

compensating for brightness fluctuation in the video signal using a temporal median filter;

suppressing motion artifacts in a compensated video signal, wherein suppressing motion artifacts includes combining the inverted output signal of said temporal median filter and a delayed video signal and suppressing signal components with a low amplitude in the combined signal;

passing high-frequency signal components with a low amplitude in a suppressed compensated video signal to produce a filtered video signal; and

subtracting the high-frequency signal components with a low amplitude of the filtered video signal from a delayed video signal for supplying an output signal from which flicker disturbances have largely been eliminated.

4. A device for reducing large area flicker in a video signal comprising:

a temporal median filter for compensating for brightness fluctuations in the video signal;

a first subtraction circuit for subtracting the compensated signal from the video signal, thereby producing a temporally median filtered high-pass signal;

a spatial filter receiving the temporally median filtered high-pass signal;

an amplitude filter receiving the spatially filtered signal and suppressing signals having an amplitude exceeding a threshold;

a second subtraction circuit for subtracting the amplitude-filtered signal from the delayed video signal and providing an output signal from which flicker disturbances have largely been eliminated.

5. The device of claim 4 , wherein the spatial filter comprises a horizontally and vertically acting median falter or a two-dimensional linear filter.

6. A method for reducing large area flicker in a video signal comprising the steps of:

compensating for brightness fluctuation in the video signal using a temporal median filter;

subtracting the compensated signal from the video signal, thereby producing a temporally median filtered high-pass signal;

passing the temporally median filtered high-pass signal via a spatial filter;

passing the spatially filtered signal via an amplitude filter, suppressing signals having an amplitude exceeding a threshold;

subtracting the output signal of the amplitude filter from a delayed video signal; and

providing an output signal from which flicker disturbances have largely been eliminated.