Granted Patent B2

US 12,541,826 · App. 18/490,505 · Granted Feb 3, 2026

Inventors: Gunawath Dilshan Godaliyadda (Allen, TX); Tyler Luu (Richardson, TX); John W. Glotzbach (Allen, TX); Hamid R. Sheikh (Allen, TX)

Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

G06T5/75

Abstract

Claims (74)

1 . A method comprising:

obtaining, using at least one processing device of an electronic device, an input image containing blur;

generating, using the at least one processing device, an edge enhancement mask and a non-binary gain mask based on the input image, wherein the non-binary gain mask contains pixel-wise gain operator values including at least one of zero or one and at least one value between zero and one;

generating, using the at least one processing device, a halo-suppressed edge mask based on the edge enhancement mask and the non-binary gain mask; and

generating, using the at least one processing device, a sharpened image based on the input image and the halo-suppressed edge mask;

wherein generating the non-binary gain mask comprises:

generating a non-binary initial edge mask based on a gradient computation performed using the input image;

generating a non-binary refined edge mask based on a first morphological operation performed using the non-binary initial edge mask; and

generating a non-binary thickened edge mask based on a second morphological operation performed using the non-binary initial edge mask, and

wherein each of the first morphological operation and the second morphological operation comprises a transform that replaces a value for at least one pixel with one of a minimum pixel value or a maximum pixel value within a window of pixels surrounding the at least one pixel.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the non-binary gain mask further comprises:

combining the non-binary refined edge mask and the non-binary thickened edge mask to generate a non-binary gain suppression mask;

generating a non-binary gain enhancement mask based on the non-binary gain suppression mask; and

generating the non-binary gain mask based on the non-binary gain enhancement mask and the non-binary gain suppression mask.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the first morphological operation comprises a first dilation operation followed by an erosion operation; and

the second morphological operation comprises a second dilation operation.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the non-binary gain mask further comprises:

modulating the non-binary gain suppression mask based on edges in the input image, wherein first multiplicative values for modulating the non-binary gain suppression mask are based on at least one of: edge strengths, edge coherences, and edge orientations; and

modulating the non-binary gain enhancement mask based on the edges in the input image, wherein second multiplicative values for modulating the non-binary gain enhancement mask are based on negative enhancements or positive enhancements associated with the edges; and

wherein the non-binary gain mask is based on the modulated gain enhancement mask and the modulated gain suppression mask.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the edge enhancement mask comprises generating the edge enhancement mask using unsharp-masking (USM) of the input image.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the halo-suppressed edge mask comprises performing a pixel-wise multiplication of the edge enhancement mask and the non-binary gain mask.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the sharpened image comprises adding the halo-suppressed edge mask to the input image in order to generate the sharpened image.

8 . An electronic device comprising:

at least one processing device configured to:

obtain an input image containing blur;

generate an edge enhancement mask and a non-binary gain mask based on the input image, wherein the non-binary gain mask contains pixel-wise gain operator values including at least one of zero or one and at least one value between zero and one;

generate a halo-suppressed edge mask based on the edge enhancement mask and the non-binary gain mask; and

generate a sharpened image based on the input image and the halo-suppressed edge mask;

wherein, to generate the non-binary gain mask, the at least one processing device is configured to:

generate a non-binary initial edge mask based on a gradient computation performed using the input image;

generate a non-binary refined edge mask based on a first morphological operation performed using the non-binary initial edge mask; and

generate a non-binary thickened edge mask based on a second morphological operation performed using the non-binary initial edge mask, and

wherein each of the first morphological operation and the second morphological operation comprises a transform that replaces a value for at least one pixel with one of a minimum pixel value or a maximum pixel value within a window of pixels surrounding the at least one pixel.

9 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein, to generate the non-binary gain mask, the at least one processing device is further configured to:

combine the non-binary refined edge mask and the non-binary thickened edge mask to generate a non-binary gain suppression mask;

generate a non-binary gain enhancement mask based on the non-binary gain suppression mask; and

generate the non-binary gain mask based on the non-binary gain enhancement mask and the non-binary gain suppression mask.

10 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein:

the first morphological operation comprises a first dilation operation followed by an erosion operation; and

the second morphological operation comprises a second dilation operation.

11 . The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein, to generate the non-binary gain mask, the at least one processing device is further configured to:

modulate the non-binary gain suppression mask based on edges in the input image, wherein first multiplicative values for modulating the non-binary gain suppression mask are based on at least one of: edge strengths, edge coherences, and edge orientations; and

modulate the non-binary gain enhancement mask based on the edges in the input image, wherein second multiplicative values for modulating the non-binary gain enhancement mask are based on negative enhancements or positive enhancements associated with the edges; and

wherein the non-binary gain mask is based on the modulated gain enhancement mask and the modulated gain suppression mask.

12 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein, to generate the edge enhancement mask, the at least one processing device is configured to use unsharp-masking (USM) of the input image.

13 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein, to generate the halo-suppressed edge mask, the at least one processing device is configured to perform a pixel-wise multiplication of the edge enhancement mask and the non-binary gain mask.

14 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein, to generate the sharpened image, the at least one processing device is configured to add the halo-suppressed edge mask to the input image.

15 . A non-transitory machine readable medium containing instructions that when executed cause at least one processor of an electronic device to:

obtain an input image containing blur;

generate an edge enhancement mask and a non-binary gain mask based on the input image, wherein the non-binary gain mask contains pixel-wise gain operator values including at least one of zero or one and at least one value between zero and one;

generate a halo-suppressed edge mask based on the edge enhancement mask and the non-binary gain mask; and

generate a sharpened image based on the input image and the halo-suppressed edge mask;

wherein the instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to generate the non-binary gain mask comprise instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to:

generate a non-binary initial edge mask based on a gradient computation performed using the input image;

generate a non-binary refined edge mask based on a first morphological operation performed using the non-binary initial edge mask; and

generate a non-binary thickened edge mask based on a second morphological operation performed using the non-binary initial edge mask, and

wherein each of the first morphological operation and the second morphological operation comprises a transform that replaces a value for at least one pixel with one of a minimum pixel value or a maximum pixel value within a window of pixels surrounding the at least one pixel.

16 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to generate the non-binary gain mask further comprise instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to:

combine the non-binary refined edge mask and the non-binary thickened edge mask to generate a non-binary gain suppression mask;

generate a non-binary gain enhancement mask based on the non-binary gain suppression mask; and

generate the non-binary gain mask based on the non-binary gain enhancement mask and the non-binary gain suppression mask.

17 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein:

the first morphological operation comprises a first dilation operation followed by an erosion operation; and

the second morphological operation comprises a second dilation operation.

18 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to generate the non-binary gain mask further comprise instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to:

modulate the non-binary gain suppression mask based on edges in the input image, wherein first multiplicative values for modulating the non-binary gain suppression mask are based on at least one of: edge strengths, edge coherences, and edge orientations; and

modulate the non-binary gain enhancement mask based on the edges in the input image, wherein second multiplicative values for modulating the non-binary gain enhancement mask are based on negative enhancements or positive enhancements associated with the edges; and

wherein the non-binary gain mask is based on the modulated gain enhancement mask and the modulated gain suppression mask.

19 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to generate the halo-suppressed edge mask comprise:

instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to perform a pixel-wise multiplication of the edge enhancement mask and the non-binary gain mask.

20 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to generate the sharpened image comprise:

instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to add the halo-suppressed edge mask to the input image.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (24)