Patents by Inventor Akihiko Utsugi

Akihiko Utsugi 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: 8149293
    Abstract: A high luminance point detecting section of an image processing apparatus detects a high luminance point of the captured image. A chroma extracting section sets a first area in the captured image with the high luminance point serving as a reference point and extracts a first chroma by using color information of the first area. Further, the chroma extracting section sets a second area at a position more apart from the high luminance point than the first area in the captured image and extracts a second chroma by using color information of the second area. A color bleeding estimating section estimates intensity of color bleeding appearing in the captured image based on a value of the first chroma relative to the second chroma.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Patent number: 8149301
    Abstract: An image processing device that corrects and interpolates pixel values of defective pixels present upon an image sensor, includes: a position information storage memory that stores a position of a defective pixel of a first type whose pixel value can be utilized after correction, and a position of a defective pixel of a second type whose pixel value is to be interpolated using pixel values of other pixels, distinguished from one another; a correction amount storage memory that stores a correction amount for the defective pixel of the first type; a correction unit that corrects the pixel value of the defective pixel of the first type according to the correction amount; and an interpolation unit that interpolates the pixel value of the defective pixel of the second type, using the pixel values of pixels including the defective pixel of the first type whose pixel value has been corrected by the correction unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Publication number: 20120070083
    Abstract: An image processing device that converts a first image captured via an optical system in which at least one of a plurality of color components is missing in one pixel and MTF characteristics are different between a reference color component and at least one missing color component at an imaging plane, into a second image in which MTF characteristics are matched, includes: an image creation unit that acquires information concerning differences in MTF characteristics between the missing color component and the reference color component in a pixel having the missing color component of the first image and creates the second image by using the acquired information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 23, 2011
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenichi Ishiga, Akihiko Utsugi
  • Publication number: 20120069220
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a clip part and an incremental processing part. The clip part sets a threshold value as an output luminance value of a process object pixel when a luminance value of the process object pixel of an image data having luminance values of a plurality of pixels is less than the threshold value set in advance. The incremental processing part finds and holds an incremental value of the output luminance value relative to the luminance value of the process object pixel, and finds the output luminance value of the process object pixel by subtracting the incremental value from the luminance value when the luminance value of the process object pixel is the threshold value or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2011
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiko UTSUGI
  • Patent number: 8106970
    Abstract: An estimated noise shape estimated to be included in the signal to be corrected is calculated based on a calibration signal including a noise correlating with the noise of the signal to be corrected so as to correct a noise of a signal to be corrected. A correction value of a noise shape is generated by attenuating an amplitude of the estimated noise shape, and the noise of the signal to be corrected is corrected by using the correction value of the noise shape thus generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Publication number: 20110255801
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes an edge emphasizing unit configured to form an edge emphasized image by emphasizing an edge of an input image, a range setting unit configured to set a pixel value range of a target pixel value of a target pixel of the input image based on a pixel value difference between the target pixel value and a neighboring pixel value of a neighboring pixel of the input image, and based on an edge emphasized neighboring pixel value of an edge emphasized neighboring pixel of the edge emphasized image, and a ringing control unit configured to restrict an edge emphasized target pixel value of an edge emphasized target pixel of the edge emphasized image in the pixel value range. The edge emphasized neighboring pixel corresponds to the neighboring pixel position of the input image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2011
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiko UTSUGI
  • Patent number: 8040389
    Abstract: Chrominance image information is generated based upon input image information. A determination target area to undergo determination of a target object within a determination target image constituted with the chrominance image information is set. An average chrominance value for each of the determination target area and a plurality of peripheral areas set around the determination target area is calculated based upon the chrominance image information corresponding to each area. Color information expressed by the average chrominance value calculated for the determination target area is evaluated to determine whether or not the color information matches a characteristic color defined in advance in correspondence to the target object. A difference between the average chrominance value in the determination target area and the average chrominance values in the peripheral areas is evaluated to determine whether or not the determination target area is an image area separate from the peripheral areas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Patent number: 7995108
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes an image obtaining unit, a color shift detecting unit, a controlling unit, and a correction amount calculating unit. The image obtaining unit obtains image data. The color shift detecting unit detects color shifts of this image data. The controlling unit determines fitting reliability of the color shift detection result and selects a magnification chromatic aberration model suitable for color shift fitting according to the reliability. The correction amount calculating unit fits the magnification chromatic aberration model selected by the controlling unit to the color shift detection result and obtains correction amounts of the magnification chromatic aberration for the image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Patent number: 7945091
    Abstract: An image processor captures image data which include at least correction object color components and reference color components and has one kind of color component per pixel. The image processor acquires or detects information about positional shifts of the correction object color components and corrects positional shifts of correction object color components. In this correction, image structures lost from correction object color components are compensated for by image structures extracted from reference color components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Akihiko Utsugi, Kenichi Ishiga
  • Patent number: 7916937
    Abstract: An image processing device performs image processing to an image represented by a plurality of color component planes and includes a correction unit and an erroneous correction detection unit. The correction unit corrects a color shift in the image. The erroneous correction detection unit judges that the correction unit has made an erroneous correction by comparing the images before and after the correction. More preferably, the erroneous correction detection unit judges the erroneous correction when a chrominance of a portion to be processed of the image after the correction is not within an allowable range which is set using the image before the correction as a reference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2011
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Akihiko Utsugi, Kenichi Ishiga
  • Publication number: 20100277625
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a location information storing section, a correction coefficient storing section, a correction object pixel location setting section, a correction object pixel data extracting section, an other-color pixel data extracting section, and a pixel data correcting section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2009
    Publication date: November 4, 2010
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Publication number: 20100182462
    Abstract: In order to perform a pipeline processing on a noise filtering processing, which uses a multi-resolution noise filtering, with a few line memories, the way to select an area of a reduced image which is used by the extraction of the low-frequency noise component from the reduced image is modified. By extracting the low-frequency noise component from the area being selected by the modified way, it is possible to suppress a volume of image data which needs to be read prior to the noise filtering object pixel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 11, 2010
    Publication date: July 22, 2010
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Publication number: 20100182452
    Abstract: An image processing equipment generates a reduced image corresponding to an obtained image in parallel with a processing of storing the generated reduced image in a reduced image storing part, and pipelines a processing of extracting a low-frequency noise component of each of pixels included in the obtained image and a processing of sequentially subtracting the low-frequency being extracted from pixel data corresponding to one of the obtained image stored in the image storing part and an adjusted image generated from the obtained, so as to achieve a pipeline processing of a multi-resolution noise filtering with a few line memories.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 11, 2010
    Publication date: July 22, 2010
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Publication number: 20100074519
    Abstract: An image processing device of the present application includes a color drift correcting section, a saturation reduction calculating section, and a color correcting section. The color drift correcting section corrects a color drift of an input image and generates a color drift correction image. The saturation reduction calculating section calculates a degree of saturation reduction caused by the color drift correction by comparing the input image with the color drift correction image. The color correcting section performs a color correction depending on the degree of saturation reduction with respect to a processed image of either one of the input image and the color drift correction image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2007
    Publication date: March 25, 2010
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Publication number: 20100073523
    Abstract: An image processing device of the present application detects a color drift of an input image, and includes a saturation reducing section and a color drift detecting section. The saturation reducing section reduces a saturation of the input image and generates a saturation reduction image. The color drift detecting section detects a color drift of the saturation reduction image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2007
    Publication date: March 25, 2010
    Applicant: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Patent number: 7667738
    Abstract: An image processing device has an input section and a detecting section. The input section receives RAW data composed of color components arranged in each pixel in a predetermined pattern. The detecting section detects the color shift amount by calculating the correlation between two color components included in the RAW data and determines the chromatic aberration of magnification of the optical system used for capturing the image from the color shift amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2010
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Publication number: 20090303336
    Abstract: Chrominance image information is generated based upon input image information. A determination target area to undergo determination of a target object within a determination target image constituted with the chrominance image information is set. An average chrominance value for each of the determination target area and a plurality of peripheral areas set around the determination target area is calculated based upon the chrominance image information corresponding to each area. Color information expressed by the average chrominance value calculated for the determination target area is evaluated to determine whether or not the color information matches a characteristic color defined in advance in correspondence to the target object. A difference between the average chrominance value in the determination target area and the average chrominance values in the peripheral areas is evaluated to determine whether or not the determination target area is an image area separate from the peripheral areas.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 9, 2007
    Publication date: December 10, 2009
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Publication number: 20090268051
    Abstract: A high luminance point detecting section of an image processing apparatus detects a high luminance point of the captured image. A chroma extracting section sets a first area in the captured image with the high luminance point serving as a reference point and extracts a first chroma by using color information of the first area. Further, the chroma extracting section sets a second area at a position more apart from the high luminance point than the first area in the captured image and extracts a second chroma by using color information of the second area. A color bleeding estimating section estimates intensity of color bleeding appearing in the captured image based on a value of the first chroma relative to the second chroma.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2009
    Publication date: October 29, 2009
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Publication number: 20090207264
    Abstract: An image processing device including a storing unit storing the position of a focus detecting pixel of an image-capturing sensor containing plural pixels having spectroscopic characterizations corresponding to respective plural color components with the focus detecting pixel, a pixel interpolating unit generating an interpolation pixel value of the focus detecting pixel by using pixel values of pixels neighboring to the focus detecting pixel, neighborhood-pixel estimating unit calculating an estimation pixel value corresponding to a pixel value when the pixels neighboring to the focus detecting pixel have the same spectroscopic characterization as the focus detecting pixel, a high-frequency component calculating unit calculating a high frequency component of the image by using a pixel value of the focus detecting pixel and the estimation pixel value, and a high frequency component adding unit adding the interpolation pixel value with the high frequency component to calculate a pixel value of the focus detecti
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2009
    Publication date: August 20, 2009
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiko Utsugi
  • Publication number: 20090207271
    Abstract: An image processor captures image data which include at least correction object color components and reference color components and has one kind of color component per pixel. The image processor acquires or detects information about positional shifts of the correction object color components and corrects positional shifts of correction object color components. In this correction, image structures lost from correction object color components are compensated for by image structures extracted from reference color components.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2006
    Publication date: August 20, 2009
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akihiko Utsugi, Kenichi Ishiga