An adaptive spatio-
temporal filter for use in 
video quality of service instruments based on human vision 
system models has a pair of parallel, lowpass, spatio-temporal filters receiving a common video input 
signal. The outputs from the pair of lowpass spatio-temporal filters are differenced to produce the output of the adaptive spatio-
temporal filter, with the bandwidths of the pair being such as to produce an overall bandpass response. A filter 
adaptation controller generates 
adaptive filter coefficients for each pixel processed based on a perceptual parameter, such as the 
local average luminance, contrast, etc., of either the input video 
signal or the output of one of the pair of lowpass spatio-temporal filters. Each of the pair of lowpass spatio-temporal filters has a temporal IIR filter in 
cascade with a 2-D spatial IIR filter, and each individual filter is composed of a common building block,5 i.e., a first order, unity DC 
gain, tunable lowpass filter having a topology suitable for IC implementation. At least two of the building blocks make up each filter with the overall adaptive spatio-
temporal filter response having a linear portion and a non-linear portion, the linear portion being dominant at low luminance levels and the non-linear portion being consistent with enhanced perceived brightness as the luminance level increases.