Patents by Inventor Seijiro Inaba

Seijiro Inaba has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7701620
    Abstract: The present invention provides an image pickup device in which a column noise component is detected in a short time without being influenced under variant random noise even if the VOPB area B includes a small number of lines, and pixel signals from the effective pixel area A are corrected, based on the detected column noise component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2010
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Seijiro Inaba, Kenji Tanaka, Akira Matsui, Yutaka Yoneda
  • Patent number: 7623162
    Abstract: The present invention provides a signal processing device which, even when a defective pixel exists in the VOPB area B, can detect column noise accurately, and can carry out column noise correction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2009
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Seijiro Inaba
  • Patent number: 7567277
    Abstract: The present invention provides an image pickup device that can accurately adjust the black level value of the effective pixel area while correcting column noise contained in pixel signals of the effective pixel area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2009
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Seijiro Inaba, Kenji Tanaka
  • Publication number: 20090160992
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus includes an image sensor including a color filter having pixels of different colors arranged in a predetermined order and a demosaic processor. The image sensor receives a subject image and outputs an image signal including color signals of the different colors. The demosaic processor generates color signals of the different colors for each of pixels of the image from the image signal. The demosaic processor includes a generation unit and a noise reduction unit. The generation unit performs computation using a target color signal representing a predetermined target color signal included in the image signal and a predetermined different color signal so as to generate a color-related signal that associates the target color signal with the predetermined different color signal for a pixel of the target color signal. The noise reduction unit performs a noise reduction process on the color-related signal generated by the generation unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2008
    Publication date: June 25, 2009
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Seijiro INABA, Takuya CHIBA, Yutaka YONEDA
  • Publication number: 20090141149
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a gradation correction unit configured to multiply input image data by a gradation correction value appropriate for the input image data so as to obtain gradation corrected image data; and a noise suppression unit configured to suppress noise of the gradation corrected image data on the basis of a noise model of the input image data so as to obtain output image data. The noise suppression unit includes a parameter generator configured to generate a noise suppression parameter in accordance with the gradation corrected image data by using the noise model; a parameter correction unit configured to multiply the noise suppression parameter by the gradation correction value so as to correct the noise suppression parameter; and a low-pass filter configured to vary characteristics thereof in accordance with the noise suppression parameter corrected by the parameter correction unit and to suppress noise of the gradation corrected image data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2008
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Jing Zhang, Seijiro Inaba, Takuya Chiba
  • Publication number: 20070013785
    Abstract: An image-processing apparatus includes an integration section to integrate an image signal in more than one unit of horizontal synchronization period; an interpolation section to carry out an interpolation on the basis of integration values output by the integration section in order to generate integration values corresponding to a predetermined number of sampling positions set in advance during at least one period of flickers appearing on a screen under a fluorescent lamp; a normalization section to normalize an integration value output by the interpolation section or to normalize a difference value between integration values output by the interpolation section as integration values for adjacent fields or frames, respectively; a frequency analysis section to extract a spectrum of normalized integration value or difference values output by the normalization section; and a flicker inference section to infer a flicker component from the spectrum extracted by the frequency analysis section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 12, 2006
    Publication date: January 18, 2007
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Masaya Kinoshita, Seijiro Inaba, Keizo Gomi
  • Publication number: 20060072018
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method enabling to correct for camera shake given in image capturing, a recording medium, and a program. Discrete data pieces indicating shifts are obtained. The discrete data pieces are interpolated to obtain data indicating a shift every line. By the interpolation, a correction is calculated every line on the basis of the corresponding shift. On the basis of the corrections, pixel data read positions are determined. Pixel data is read based on the determined read positions. When a pixel to be read overlaps two pixels, pixel data of the pixel to be read is produced (interpolated) from pixel data pieces. In this manner, the effects of camera shake are corrected. The present invention is applicable to video cameras.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 21, 2004
    Publication date: April 6, 2006
    Inventors: Seijiro Inaba, Kenji Tanaka, Masaya Kinoshita
  • Publication number: 20060006426
    Abstract: The present invention provides a signal processing device which, even when a defective pixel exists in the VOPB area B, can detect column noise accurately, and can carry out column noise correction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2005
    Publication date: January 12, 2006
    Inventor: Seijiro Inaba
  • Publication number: 20060007507
    Abstract: The present invention provides an image pickup device that can accurately adjust the black level value of the effective pixel area while correcting column noise contained in pixel signals of the effective pixel area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2005
    Publication date: January 12, 2006
    Inventors: Seijiro Inaba, Kenji Tanaka
  • Publication number: 20060007504
    Abstract: The present invention provides an image pickup device in which a column noise component is detected in a short time without being influenced under variant random noise even if the VOPB area B includes a small number of lines, and pixel signals from the effective pixel area A are corrected, based on the detected column noise component.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2005
    Publication date: January 12, 2006
    Inventors: Seijiro Inaba, Kenji Tanaka, Akira Matsui, Yutaka Yoneda