Method and apparatus for bilateral high pass filter

1. A method for filtering at least one pixel of an image, the method comprising:

determining Euclidean distances between a target pixel and at least some of surrounding pixels corresponding to the target pixel;

determining a bilateral high pass filtering kernel based at least in part upon the Euclidean distances; and

applying the bilateral high pass filtering kernel to the target pixel and the surrounding pixels to provide a filtered pixel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the bilateral high pass filtering kernel further comprises:

comparing each of the Euclidean distances with a threshold value;

determining a non-zero high pass filtering kernel value for each Euclidean distance comparing favorably with the threshold value;

providing a zero high pass filtering kernel value for each Euclidean distance comparing unfavorably with the threshold value; and

determining a high pass photometric filtering kernel based at least in part upon the non-zero and zero high pass kernel values,

wherein the bilateral high pass filtering kernel is based at least in part upon the high pass photometric filtering kernel.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the bilateral high pass filtering kernel further comprises:

determining a high pass spatial filtering kernel; and

multiplying the high pass spatial filtering kernel with a high pass photometric filtering kernel to provide the bilateral high pass filtering kernel.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a bilateral low pass filtering kernel based at least in part upon the target pixel and the surrounding pixels; and

applying the bilateral low pass filtering kernel to the target pixel and the surrounding pixels to provide the filtered pixel.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

combining the bilateral high pass filtering kernel and the bilateral low pass filtering kernel to provide a combined bilateral filtering kernel; and

convolving the combined bilateral filtering kernel with the target pixel and the surrounding pixels to provide the filtered pixel.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying the filtered pixel.

7. In a device, a method for receiving an image, the method comprising:

receiving the image that comprises at least one filtered pixel,

wherein the at least one filtered pixel is provided by applying a bilateral high pass filtering kernel to a target pixel and surrounding pixels corresponding to the target pixel, the bilateral high pass filtering kernel being based on a high pass photometric filtering kernel in which high pass filtering kernel values are determined based on Euclidean distances between the target pixel and at least some of the surrounding pixels.

8. In a device, a method for transmitting an image, the method comprising:

transmitting the image that comprises at least one filtered pixel,

wherein the at least one filtered pixel is provided by applying a bilateral high pass filtering kernel to a target pixel and surrounding pixels corresponding to the target pixel, the bilateral high pass filtering kernel being based on a high pass photometric filtering kernel in which high pass filtering kernel values are determined based on Euclidean distances between the target pixel and at least some of the surrounding pixels.

9. A circuit for filtering at least one pixel of an image, the circuit comprising:

a distance calculation component operative to receive a target pixel and surrounding pixels corresponding to the target pixel and to determine distances between the target pixel and at least some of the surrounding pixels;

a first kernel generation component, coupled to the distance calculation component, operative to determine a bilateral high pass filtering kernel based at least in part upon the distances between the target pixel and the surrounding pixels; and

a filtering component, in communication with the first kernel generation component, operative to receive the target pixel and the surrounding pixels and to apply the bilateral high pass filtering kernel to the target pixel and the surrounding pixels to provide a filtered pixel.

10. The circuit of claim 9 , the kernel generation component further comprising:

a comparison component operative to compare each of the distances with a threshold value and to provide a non-zero high pass filtering kernel value for each distance comparing favorably with the threshold value and to provide a zero high pass filtering kernel value for each distance comparing unfavorably with the threshold value, wherein a high pass photometric filtering kernel is based at least in part upon the non-zero and zero high pass kernel values.

11. The circuit of claim 9 , the first kernel generation component being further operative to determine a high pass spatial filtering kernel and to multiply the high pass spatial filtering kernel with a high pass photometric filtering kernel to provide the bilateral high pass filtering kernel.

12. The circuit of claim 9 , further comprising:

a second kernel generation component, coupled to the distance calculation component, operative to determine a bilateral low pass filtering kernel based at least in part upon the distances between the target pixel and the surrounding pixels.

13. The circuit of claim 12 , further comprising:

a combination component, coupled to the first kernel generation component, the second kernel generation component and the filtering component, operative to combine the bilateral high pass filtering kernel and the bilateral low pass filtering kernel to provide a combined bilateral filtering kernel, wherein the filtering component is operative to apply the combined bilateral filtering kernel to the target pixel and the surrounding pixels to provide the filtered pixel.

14. A device capable of filtering an image, the device comprising:

a storage component operative to store a digital representation of the image, the digital representation further comprising a plurality of pixels; and

a circuit, in communication with the storage component, operative to receive at least some of the plurality of pixels including a target pixel and surrounding pixels corresponding to the target pixel, the circuit being further operative to determine a bilateral high pass filtering kernel based at least in part upon on a high pass photometric filtering kernel in which high pass filtering kernel values are determined based on Euclidean distances between the target pixel and at least some of the surrounding pixels and to apply the bilateral high pass filtering kernel to the target pixel and surrounding pixels to provide a filtered pixel.

15. The device of claim 14 , further comprising:

a display, in communication with the circuit, operative to display the filtered pixel.

16. The device of claim 14 , further comprising:

an image capture component, in communication with the storage component, operative to obtain the digital representation of the image.

17. The device of claim 14 , the circuit being further operative to determine a bilateral low pass filtering kernel based at least in part upon the target pixel and surrounding pixels and to apply the bilateral low pass filtering kernel to the target pixel and the surrounding pixels to provide the filtered pixel.

18. The device of claim 17 , the circuit being further operative to combine the bilateral high pass filtering kernel and the bilateral low pass filtering kernel to provide a combined bilateral filtering kernel, the circuit being further operative to operative to apply the combined bilateral filtering kernel to the target pixel and the surrounding pixels to provide the filtered pixel.

19. The device of claim 14 , wherein the device comprises a wireless communication device.