ISP

ISP BLOCK

Figure 1 shows a simplified block schematic of a conventional ISP. The input is sensor data in a raw format (one color per pixel), and the output is interpolated RGB or YCbCr data (three colors per pixel).

Figure 1. This block diagram provides a simplified view inside a conventional ISP (image signal processor).
Table 1 briefly summarizes the function of each block. The list is not intended to be exhaustive: an ISP design team will frequently also implement other modules.

Module	Function
Raw data correction	Set black point, remove defective pixels.
Lens correction	Correct for geometric and luminance/color distortions.
Noise reduction	Apply temporal and/or spatial averaging to increase SNR (signal to noise ratio).
Dynamic range compression	Reduce dynamic range from sensor to standard output without loss of information.
Demosaic	Reconstruct three colors per pixel via interpolation with pixel neighbors.
3A	Calculate correct exposure, white balance and focal position.
Color correction	Obtain correct colors in different lighting conditions.
Gamma	Encode video for standard output.
Sharpen	Edge enhancement.
Digital image stabilization	Remove global motion due to camera shake/vibration.
Color space conversion	RGB to YCbCr.

BLC

黑电位校正是由于CMOS sensor 本身由于暗电流的存在，导致在没有光线照射的时候，像素单位也有一定的输出电压。需要把这个电位减去，让输出的数据呈现出随亮度线性变化的规律。一般的Sensor都有BLC参数，sensor厂商会给出已经调校好的参数，在ISP中也还有进一步的BLC存在。但ISP的BLC 一般只是微调数据，有些sensor在不同色温或者环境亮度条件下需要调整。如下图：

 (左)Normal        (中)Disable sensor BLC    右)BLC 参数异常

右侧的图像在一定环境下，呈现偏红色，因此需要对R分量减去一个较小的幅度。同时为了对整幅图像数据不造成大的影响，R分量还要保持0～255的取值范围，所以BLC 计算公式如下：

f(x, Δ)=(x-Δ)*255/(255-Δ)

其中Δ为BLC校正的数值, x可以是R/G/B中的任意一个分量，取值范围在0～255. BLC的映射关系图如下，水平方向表示物体亮度，垂直方向表示Sensor像素的输出值，蓝色为BLC之前的数据，红色为BLC之后的数据。

            BLC 映射关系图

BLC参数Δ不宜设置过大，Δ越大，则感光动态范围越小。一般要求在图像效果可接受的范围内，Δ越小越好。判断Δ设置是否到位的一个简单方法是把sensor完全遮黑，看看输出数据是否逼近0值。