Abstract: An image recording system includes a processor. The processor acquires a time series RAW image group including a plurality of time series RAW images in a first time section. The processor extracts, from the time series RAW image group, a recording candidate RAW image group included in a second time section as a part of the first time section. The processor records at least one RAW image included in the recording candidate RAW image group as a recording target RAW image which is a RAW image to be recorded. The processor selects the recording target RAW image from the recording candidate RAW image group. The processor converts the RAW image which is not selected as the recording target RAW image from the recording candidate RAW image group or the time series RAW image group to compressed data, and records the compressed data.

Abstract: The endoscope apparatus includes a focus control section that performs a focus control process that controls a plurality of in-focus object plane position, the plurality of in-focus object plane positions being set discretely, a switch control section that switches the focus control process between an autofocus control process and a manual focus control process, and an operation section that is operated by a user, when the operation section has been operated by the user during a period in which the focus control section performs the autofocus control process, the switch control section switching the focus control process from the autofocus control process to the manual focus control process, and the focus control section moving the in-focus object plane position to an in-focus object plane position among the plurality of in-focus object plane positions that differs from the in-focus object plane position when the operation section has been operated.

Abstract: An endoscope system includes: an image pickup apparatus in which an insertion portion is detachable, the image pickup apparatus picking up an optical image of light from an observed object; a focus changing section that can change focus of the image pickup apparatus; a control section that generates a control signal to control the optical image in a focused state in a state in which the insertion portion is fitted to the image pickup apparatus; a storage section that stores data associating a type of the insertion portion and control information; an identification section that reads a predetermined code to identify the type of the insertion portion; and an optical characteristic acquiring section that acquires the control information corresponding to the type of the insertion portion identified by the identification section to acquire an optical characteristic of the insertion portion used to generate the control signal.

Abstract: The endoscope apparatus includes a focus control section that performs a focus control process that controls a plurality of in-focus object plane position, the plurality of in-focus object plane positions being set discretely, a switch control section that switches the focus control process between an autofocus control process and a manual focus control process, and an operation section that is operated by a user, when the operation section has been operated by the user during a period in which the focus control section performs the autofocus control process, the switch control section switching the focus control process from the autofocus control process to the manual focus control process, and the focus control section moving the in-focus object plane position to an in-focus object plane position among the plurality of in-focus object plane positions that differs from the in-focus object plane position when the operation section has been operated.

Abstract: A dedicated base vector based on a known spectral characteristic of a subject as an identification target having the known spectral characteristic and a spectral characteristic of an imaging system, which includes a spectral characteristic concerning a color imaging system used for image acquisition of subjects including the subject as the identification target and a spectral characteristic concerning illumination light used when image acquisition of the subjects by the color imaging system, are acquired. A weighting factor concerning the dedicated base vector is calculated based on an image signal obtained by image acquisition of the subject by the color imaging system, the dedicated has vector, and the spectral characteristic of the imaging system. An identification result of the subject which is the identification target having the known spectral characteristic is calculated based on the weighting factor concerning the dedicated base vector to output as an output signal.

Abstract: An image processing system includes a multiresolution decomposition section for frequency decomposing an image signal into high and low frequency components at an nth stage, a correction coefficient calculation section for calculating at least one of a gradation correction coefficient, a noise correction coefficient, and an edge correction coefficient with respect to the high frequency component at an ith decomposition stage (1?i?n) based on at least one of the low frequency component at the ith decomposition stage, a visual system adaptation model, a noise amount estimation model, and an edge enhancement model, a correction section for correcting the high frequency component based on the calculated correction coefficient, and a multiresolution composition section for composing the image signal corrected based on the low frequency component and the corrected high frequency component.

Abstract: A noise reduction system for performing noise reduction processing for an image signal taken in from an image pickup system, includes a local area extracting unit which sequentially extracts, from the image signal, a local area including a target pixel for which the noise reduction processing is performed; a first noise reducing unit which performs random noise reduction processing for the local area; a second noise reducing unit which performs impulsive noise reduction processing for the local area; and a combining unit which combines an image signal which has been subjected to the noise reduction processing by the first noise reducing unit and an image signal which has been subjected to the noise reduction processing by the second noise reducing unit.

Abstract: A base vector acquisition unit acquires a base vector based on spectral characteristics of a subject to be an identification object with spectral characteristics known, and a system spectral characteristics acquisition unit acquires a spectral characteristics of an image acquisition system including spectral characteristics concerning a color imaging system provided for image acquisition of subjects including the subject to be identification object, and spectral characteristics concerning illumination light used in image acquisition of subjects by the color imaging system. A calculation unit calculates weighting coefficient concerning the base vector for each wavelength area, from image signal composed of a plurality of color signals obtained in the color imaging system, the base vector and spectral characteristics of the image acquisition system.

Abstract: An image capturing system includes: a first noise reduction unit which roughly removes the effects of an edge component by performing edge-preserving adaptive noise reduction processing on a target pixel within a local region including the target pixel and the neighboring pixels extracted from an image signal acquired from a CCD; a noise estimation unit which dynamically estimates the noise amount with respect to the target pixel based upon the target pixel value thus subjected to the noise reduction processing by the first noise reduction unit; and a second noise reduction unit which performs noise reduction processing on the target pixel based upon the target pixel value thus subjected to the noise reduction processing by the first noise reduction unit and the noise amount thus estimated by the noise estimation unit.

Abstract: A discrimination apparatus includes a separating unit configured to separate kinds (N being a natural number of 2 or greater) of color signals forming an image signal obtained by image acquisition of a subject with a color imaging system into kinds (M being a natural number of 1 or greater, M?N) of wavelength ranges, based on known spectral characteristics of a subject to be discriminated, at least one of the separated wavelength ranges including a plurality of color signals. The discrimination apparatus further includes a noise estimating unit configured to estimate a noise amount in each predetermined unit area in each of the wavelength ranges separated by the separating unit, and a noise reducing unit configured to perform a noise reducing processing on each of the wavelength ranges separated by the separating unit, based on the noise amount estimated by the noise estimating unit.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus converts a color image signal into a luminance signal and a color signal in a predetermined color space (111), and performs tone conversion processing on the luminance signal on the basis of a predetermined tone conversion characteristic (112). A function for chroma correction processing is then set using the luminance signal, the tone conversion-processed luminance signal, a maximum value of the luminance signal in the color space, and a luminance value when a maximum chroma is indicated in a hue region to which the color image signal belongs, as parameters (113), whereupon chroma correction processing is performed on the color signal using the luminance signal, the tone conversion-processed luminance signal, and the set function (114).

Abstract: An image pickup system for processing a signal from a CCD includes a noise reducing unit for performing a noise reduction processing on the signal from the CCD, an edge direction detection unit for detecting an edge direction from the signal having been subjected to the noise reduction processing, and an edge extraction unit for extracting an edge component from the signal from the CCD on the basis of the edge direction.

Abstract: An image processing device has a first image acquisition section acquiring a first image which is an image that has information within a wavelength band of white light, a second image acquisition section acquiring a second image which is an image that has information within a specific wavelength band, an attention area detection section detecting an attention area within the second image based on a feature quantity of each pixel within the second image, a display state setting section performing a display state setting process that sets a display state of a display image generated based on the first image, and a designated elapsed time setting section performing a designated elapsed time setting process that sets a designated elapsed time based on a detection result for the attention area. The display state setting section performs the display state setting process based on the designated elapsed time.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a photographing condition estimation unit for estimating a photographing condition of the input image based on photometric information and focal information. A Y/C separation unit separates the input image into a luminance signal and a color difference signal; a luminance correction unit extracts an edge from the luminance signal and corrects the luminance signal by a gradation conversion curve; a color difference correction unit corrects the color difference signal based on luminance signals obtained before and after the gradation correction and a theoretical limit characteristic of color reproduction; a skin color correction unit performs skin color correction depending on the photographing condition; and a Y/C synthesis unit synthesizes the luminance signal and the color difference signal obtained after the correction. Gradation correction is performed on the input image such that appropriate hue and saturation are achieved while emphasizing a main object.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus that performs noise reduction processing to image signals comprises a separation and extraction unit that separates a present image signal into a luminance signal and a color signal and extracts regions having a predetermined size sequentially, a representative luminance calculation unit that calculates a representative luminance value, a representative hue calculation unit that calculates a representative hue value of the region, a color noise estimation unit that estimates a color noise amount based upon the representative luminance value and the representative hue value, a differential color signal calculation unit that calculates a differential color signal from the color signal of the region and a color signal of a past region after noise reduction processing and a color noise reduction unit that performs color noise reduction processing to the color signal of the region based upon the color noise amount and the differential color signal.

Abstract: An image processing system includes a frequency decomposition unit adapted to decompose an image signal into a high frequency component and a low frequency component, a high frequency separation unit adapted to separate the high frequency component into an invalid component caused by noise and other valid component, a conversion characteristic calculation unit adapted to calculate a conversion characteristic on the basis of the low frequency component, a gradation processing unit adapted to perform a gradation processing on the low frequency component and the valid component on the basis of the calculated conversion characteristic, and a frequency synthesis unit adapted to generate an image signal on which a gradation conversion has been performed by synthesizing the low frequency component on which the gradation conversion has been performed, the valid component on which a gradation conversion has been performed and the invalid component.

Abstract: An image pickup system includes a verification unit for verifying a reliability related to a plurality of image signals obtained by an image-pickup operation performed by setting a spectral characteristic of a color image sensor system different; a correction unit for performing a correction processing on the plurality of image signals on the basis of the reliability; and an estimation unit for performing an estimation for an unknown spectral characteristic related to a subject or an illumination light on the basis of the plurality of image signals on which the correction processing is performed.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus including: an information amount calculation unit which reduces an image signal obtained by a CCD, and which performs a plurality of tone conversion processes of different characteristics on the reduced image signal to calculate an information amount of the image signal and an information amount of noise; a setting unit which formulizes the relationship of the information amount of the image signal and the information amount of the noise with respect to a tone conversion characteristic on the basis of the information amounts calculated by the information amount calculation unit, and which sets a tone conversion curve maximizing an effective information amount as a tone conversion curve used in the tone conversion processing; and a tone conversion unit which performs the tone conversion processing on the image signal on the basis of the tone conversion curve set by the setting unit.

Abstract: An image capturing system includes: a first noise reduction unit which roughly removes the effects of an edge component by performing edge-preserving adaptive noise reduction processing on a target pixel within a local region including the target pixel and the neighboring pixels extracted from an image signal acquired from a CCD; a noise estimation unit which dynamically estimates the noise amount with respect to the target pixel based upon the target pixel value thus subjected to the noise reduction processing by the first noise reduction unit; and a second noise reduction unit which performs noise reduction processing on the target pixel based upon the target pixel value thus subjected to the noise reduction processing by the first noise reduction unit and the noise amount thus estimated by the noise estimation unit.

Abstract: In the image pickup system of the present invention, factors that have an effect on noise such as the signal level, temperature of the CCD during shooting, exposure time, gain and the like are dynamically acquired, the noise level of the CCD is estimated, for example, for each pixel by a noise estimating unit, and signal components equal to or less than this noise level in the video signals are suppressed by a noise reducing unit, so that a high-quality image that is substantially free of noise is obtained while preserving the edges of the image and the like.