Abstract: A power supply device has a DC/DC converter producing an intermediary voltage from an input voltage, a series regulator producing a desired output voltage from the intermediary voltage, an output current monitoring circuit monitoring the output current flowing through the series regulator, and an intermediary voltage adjustment circuit adjusting the feedback control of the DC/DC converter such that, as the monitored output current increases, the intermediary voltage increases and that, as the monitored output current decreases, the intermediary voltage decreases. This configuration offers high efficiency over the entire load range.

Abstract: An object detection apparatus is provided that detects a target object in an image more securely and at higher speed than the conventional one. The human body detection apparatus for detecting a target object in an image includes a template memory portion for memorizing a template consisting of one or more open curves indicating a part of a contour of a human model, an image data reception portion for entering an image to be detected, a head position detection portion for detecting a human body in the image by performing a matching process on the entered image using the template.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus first forms an edge image of an input image using, for example, SOBEL operator, and performs a smoothing process on the formed edge image by using an average filter. Thereafter, the image processing apparatus calculates a difference between the edge image and the edge smoothed image, and binarizes the edge image based on the difference.

Abstract: A counting system is for counting the number of persons passing a monitor line set in the width direction of a path, and has a laser for irradiating the monitor line with a slit ray, and an image capturing apparatus for photographing an area including the monitor line. In the image capturing apparatus, one-dimensional data indicative of a position in which the slit ray is interrupted on the monitor line is generated from an image obtained by the photographing. On the basis of the one-dimensional data, the number of passing persons is counted. By counting the number of passing persons with the one-dimensional data, a very light computation load for the counting can be achieved.

Abstract: In an image processing apparatus for performing image restoration by utilizing iterative calculations based on a captured degraded image and a degradation function obtained in or before photographing, a residual is calculated in each time of iteration in the iterative calculations and the rate of variation from the previous residual to the newly obtained residual is calculated. When the rate of variation of the residual becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold value, it is judged that the iterative calculations are converged.

Abstract: The transposed filter of the image degrading filter is calculated, and a residual gradient image is calculated by the convolution operation of the transposed filter and a residual image obtained from the image degrading filter, the estimated restored image and the degraded image. Then, a modified image of the estimated image is calculated from the residual gradient image, and the estimated image is modified and updated based on the modified image. Consequently, even when the degradation function is one that can be expressed as a complicated helical filter, the memory consumption is small and the calculation time is short compared to a method depending on a large matrix and an inverse matrix.

Abstract: A shot image degraded by an asymmetric degrading filter is corrected, the corrected shot image is modified into an updated image, the updated image is degraded by use of the degradation function obtained at the time of shooting, and the residual between the degraded modified image and the shot image is calculated. Then, with the modified image as a new image to be processed, the image modification and update, the image degradation and the residual calculation are iterated until the calculated residual is smaller than a predetermined threshold value. When the residual is smaller than the predetermined threshold value, the corresponding updated image is used as the restored image.

Abstract: An object detection apparatus is provided that detects a target object in an image more securely and at higher speed than the conventional one. The human body detection apparatus for detecting a target object in an image includes a template memory portion for memorizing a template consisting of one or more open curves indicating a part of a contour of a human model, an image data reception portion for entering an image to be detected, a head position detection portion for detecting a human body in the image by performing a matching process on the entered image using the template.

Abstract: A counting system is for counting the number of persons passing a monitor line set in the width direction of a path, and has a laser for irradiating the monitor line with a slit ray, and an image capturing apparatus for photographing an area including the monitor line. In the image capturing apparatus, one-dimensional data indicative of a position in which the slit ray is interrupted on the monitor line is generated from an image obtained by the photographing. On the basis of the one-dimensional data, the number of passing persons is counted. By counting the number of passing persons with the one-dimensional data, a very light computation load for the counting can be achieved.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus first forms an edge image of an input image using, for example, SOBEL operator, and performs a smoothing process on the formed edge image by using an average filter. Thereafter, the image processing apparatus calculates a difference between the edge image and the edge smoothed image, and binarizes the edge image based on the difference.

Abstract: A monitoring system according to the present invention has a plurality of cameras respectively monitoring a monitor area and having a changeable imaging magnification, monitoring section detecting an object to be monitored in the monitor area, and control section selecting at least one camera capable of obtaining an enlarged image to contribute to identification of the object to be monitored as camera for enlargement from the plural cameras when the object to be monitored is detected and selecting at least one camera other than the camera for enlargement as camera for wide area from the plural monitoring camera. The camera for wide area is set to a first imaging magnification to obtain a wide area image of the monitor area and the camera for enlargement is set to a second imaging magnification larger than the first imaging magnification to obtain an enlarged image of the detected object to be monitored.

Abstract: The transposed filter of the image degrading filter is calculated, and a residual gradient image is calculated by the convolution operation of the transposed filter and a residual image obtained from the image degrading filter, the estimated restored image and the degraded image. Then, a modified image of the estimated image is calculated from the residual gradient image, and the estimated image is modified and updated based on the modified image. Consequently, even when the degradation function is one that can be expressed as a complicated helical filter, the memory consumption is small and the calculation time is short compared to a method depending on a large matrix and an inverse matrix.

Abstract: A shot image degraded by an asymmetric degrading filter is corrected, the corrected shot image is modified into an updated image, the updated image is degraded by use of the degradation function obtained at the time of shooting, and the residual between the degraded modified image and the shot image is calculated. Then, with the modified image as a new image to be processed, the image modification and update, the image degradation and the residual calculation are iterated until the calculated residual is smaller than a predetermined threshold value. When the residual is smaller than the predetermined threshold value, the corresponding updated image is used as the restored image.

Abstract: In an image processing apparatus for performing image restoration by utilizing iterative calculations based on a captured degraded image and a degradation function obtained in or before photographing, a residual is calculated in each time of iteration in the iterative calculations and the rate of variation from the previous residual to the newly obtained residual is calculated. When the rate of variation of the residual becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold value, it is judged that the iterative calculations are converged.

Abstract: An image taking apparatus includes an image pick-up element which picks up a plurality of images different in photographing condition, an image memory which temporarily stores the plurality of images picked up by the image pick-up element, an image-number-specifying device which specifies the number of images to be used for creating a composed image among the plurality of images stored in the image memory, and an image composer which creates a composite image by composing images of the number of images specified by the image-number-specifying device.

Abstract: An image taking apparatus has a multiplex image taking mode for taking a plurality of images to be subjected to multiplex image processing by which a plurality of images are composed into a single image. The image taking apparatus includes a detector which detects abnormality disturbing the multiplex image processing when the images are being taken in the multiplex image taking mode and a controller which suspends processing in the multiplex image taking mode when the abnormality is detected by the detector.

Abstract: A digital camera acquires information about an optical system such as the arrangement of lenses in image capture, an aperture value, and the like to obtain a degradation function indicating a degradation characteristic of an image relative to the optical system. An image obtained is restored by using the degradation function. An area to be restored may be a whole or part of the image. Alternatively, the area to be restored may be reset and restored again on the basis of a restored image. The degradation function can also be obtained on the basis of subject movements in a plurality of continuously captured images. This enables proper image restoration without the use of a sensor for detecting a shake of an image capturing device.