Abstract: Provided are an apparatus and method for executing sensitivity difference correction processing of an image signal, which is generated by a single plate-type image sensor through a color filter. The sensitivity difference correction is executed for Gr and Gb signals included the image signal, for example, an RGB signal, which is generated by the single plate-type image sensor through the color filter. A pixel value of a color filter unit which has the same color as a correction target pixel and is present in surroundings of the correction target pixel is acquired. An additional value is calculated by adding a difference between weighted mean pixel values “a” and “b” of two kinds of pixel groups “A” and “B” classified according to positions of pixels to the pixel value of the correction target pixel in which the weighted mean values correspond to distances of the pixel groups from the correction target pixel.

Abstract: An image processing device includes an image correction unit which receives a synthesized image and pseudo color pixel information indicating a pseudo color pixel position included in the synthesized image and executes pixel value correction. The image correction unit selects non-pseudo color pixels as reference pixels from a reference region set in a surrounding region of the pixel to be corrected, sets a similarity weight coefficient in which a large weight is set as a pixel value of the reference pixel that is close to a pixel value of the pixel to be corrected and a pixel position weight coefficient in which a large weight is set as the pixel value of the reference pixel that is near a pixel position of the pixel to be corrected, with respect to the reference pixels, and determines a correction pixel value of the pixel to be corrected by a weighted summation process.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes: a first distribution calculation unit calculating a distribution of luminance gradient vectors in a first local area that includes a feature point on an image; a second distribution calculation unit calculating distributions of the luminance gradient vectors in second local areas close to the feature point on the image; a selection unit comparing the distribution of the luminance gradient vectors of the first local area with the distributions of the luminance gradient vectors of the second local areas to select the most different distribution of the luminance gradient vectors of the second local area; and a feature descriptor calculation unit calculating a feature descriptor at the feature point on the basis of the distribution of the luminance gradient vectors of the first local area and the distribution of the luminance gradient vectors of the second local area selected by the selection unit.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a color image pickup device including a pixel group in which a plurality of pixels each having a photoelectric conversion element and a color filter are arranged includes the steps of generating a random array pattern in which color filters of at least one color component are randomly arranged for an arbitrary pixel position, so that the occurrence frequency of color filters of a color component in a region having a predetermined size including the arbitrary pixel position is within a desired error range, generating a regular array pattern in which color filters of at least one color component are regularly arranged, and generating a color filter pattern by compositing in a regular manner the random array pattern generated in the random array generating step and the regular array pattern generated in the regular array generating step.

Abstract: A color filter array includes a plurality of filters, each having one of a plurality of types of spectral sensitivity and being disposed at the location of a corresponding one of a plurality of pixels. The filters of a predetermined type selected from among the plurality of types are arranged at the locations of the pixels in a checkered pattern, and the filters of some or all of the other types are randomly arranged at the pixel locations at which the filters of the predetermined type are not present.

Abstract: Provided is an image processing apparatus including an infinite impulse response (IIR) mean value calculation section for calculating a mean value of signal values of reference pixels around a correction target pixel according to an IIR filter application process, an IIR variance value calculation section for calculating a variance value of the signal values of the reference pixels around the correction target pixel according to the IIR filter application process, an edge-preserving smoothing processing section for receiving the mean and variance values of the reference pixels and executing an edge-preserving smoothing process to which the mean and variance values are applied, and an IIR filter coefficient calculation section for updating an IIR filter coefficient to be applied to the IIR mean value calculation section and the IIR variance value calculation section according to a signal value of a pixel constituting an image.

Abstract: A mosaic image is input that is made up of a visible light component image in which mainly a visible light component has been captured and a non-visible light component image in which mainly a non-visible light component has been captured, and spectrally corrected images are generated in which spectral characteristics of each pixel have been corrected. Contrast enhancement processing is then performed on one of the spectrally corrected images that has been generated and that includes the non-visible light component, and a non-visible light component image is generated in which contrast has been enhanced. A spectral correction portion generates the spectrally corrected images by performing a matrix computation that uses a spectral characteristics correction matrix M that is generated using information on ideal spectral characteristics.

Abstract: Disclosed is an image processing apparatus including: a detecting section which receives a color mosaic image generated by an imaging process of a single chip color imaging device as an input and detects the strength of a high frequency signal in the proximity of a target pixel which is an interpolation process target; a plurality of statistic calculating sections each of which sets a reference region having a different area around the target pixel and calculates an individual statistic based on a pixel value included in the reference region; and an interpolating section which changes a blended state of the plurality of statistics calculated by the plurality of statistic calculating sections according to the strength of the high frequency signal detected by the detecting section and calculates an interpolated pixel value in the position of the target pixel by a blending process of the plurality of statistics.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes: a characteristic value calculation unit calculating a block luminance average value, which is an average value of luminance values in each of spatial blocks obtained by dividing an input image in a space direction, and a block luminance dispersion, which is a dispersion of the luminance values in each of the spatial blocks; and an edge-preserving smoothing unit calculating a general luminance value of pixels of the input image by setting a value obtained by approximately calculating a weighted average value of the luminance values of a noticed block containing noticed pixels of the input image, on the assumption that a distribution of the luminance values of each of the spatial blocks conforms to a Gaussian distribution based on the block luminance average value and the block luminance dispersion of each of the spatial blocks, as the general luminance value of the noticed pixels.

Abstract: An image processing device includes an image correction unit which receives a synthesized image and pseudo color pixel information indicating a pseudo color pixel position included in the synthesized image and executes pixel value correction. The image correction unit selects non-pseudo color pixels as reference pixels from a reference region set in a surrounding region of the pixel to be corrected, sets a similarity weight coefficient in which a large weight is set as a pixel value of the reference pixel that is close to a pixel value of the pixel to be corrected and a pixel position weight coefficient in which a large weight is set as the pixel value of the reference pixel that is near a pixel position of the pixel to be corrected, with respect to the reference pixels, and determines a correction pixel value of the pixel to be corrected by a weighted summation process.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a color image pickup device including a pixel group in which a plurality of pixels each having a photoelectric conversion element and a color filter are arranged includes the steps of generating a random array pattern in which color filters of at least one color component are randomly arranged for an arbitrary pixel position, so that the occurrence frequency of color filters of a color component in a region having a predetermined size including the arbitrary pixel position is within a desired error range, generating a regular array pattern in which color filters of at least one color component are regularly arranged, and generating a color filter pattern by compositing in a regular manner the random array pattern generated in the random array generating step and the regular array pattern generated in the regular array generating step.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a color image pickup device including a pixel group in which a plurality of pixels each having a photoelectric conversion element and a color filter are arranged includes the steps of generating a random array pattern in which color filters of at least one color component are randomly arranged for an arbitrary pixel position, so that the occurrence frequency of color filters of a color component in a region having a predetermined size including the arbitrary pixel position is within a desired error range, generating a regular array pattern in which color filters of at least one color component are regularly arranged, and generating a color filter pattern by compositing in a regular manner the random array pattern generated in the random array generating step and the regular array pattern generated in the regular array generating step.

Abstract: A color filter array includes a plurality of filters, each having one of a plurality of types of spectral sensitivity and being disposed at the location of a corresponding one of a plurality of pixels. The filters of a predetermined type selected from among the plurality of types are arranged at the locations of the pixels in a checkered pattern, and the filters of some or all of the other types are randomly arranged at the pixel locations at which the filters of the predetermined type are not present.

Abstract: A color filter array includes a plurality of filters, each having one of a plurality of types of spectral sensitivity and being disposed at the location of a corresponding one of a plurality of pixels. The filters of a predetermined type selected from among the plurality of types are arranged at the locations of the pixels in a checkered pattern, and the filters of some or all of the other types are randomly arranged at the pixel locations at which the filters of the predetermined type are not present.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes: a first distribution calculation unit calculating a distribution of luminance gradient vectors in a first local area that includes a feature point on an image; a second distribution calculation unit calculating distributions of the luminance gradient vectors in second local areas close to the feature point on the image; a selection unit comparing the distribution of the luminance gradient vectors of the first local area with the distributions of the luminance gradient vectors of the second local areas to select the most different distribution of the luminance gradient vectors of the second local area; and a feature descriptor calculation unit calculating a feature descriptor at the feature point on the basis of the distribution of the luminance gradient vectors of the first local area and the distribution of the luminance gradient vectors of the second local area selected by the selection unit.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus is provided which includes: an image obtaining unit for obtaining a mosaic image by an image sensor having at least four kinds of filters with different spectral sensitivities, one of the at least four kinds of filters being used for each pixel; and an image processing unit for generating a color image such that intensity information at a position of each pixel, the intensity information corresponding to a number of colors determined by the spectral sensitivities of the filters, is computed for all pixels, from the mosaic image obtained by the image obtaining unit. In a color filter arrangement of the image sensor of the image obtaining unit, filters possessed by pixels arranged in a checkered manner in half of all the pixels have at least some spectral characteristics having a strong correlation with the spectral characteristic of luminance.

Abstract: A texture-intensity computation section computes a texture intensity TH and a texture intensity TV using interpolation values GA and EA. A G interpolation section computes an interpolation value GF using a horizontally adjacent interpolation value GA and a signal R. An E interpolation section computes an interpolation value EF using a vertically adjacent interpolation value EA and the signal R. The G interpolation section computes an interpolation value GU using the interpolation values GA, EA, and EF. The E interpolation section computes an interpolation value EU using the interpolation values GA, EA, and GF. A G+E generation section combines the interpolation values GU and EF to compute (G+E)V. A G+E generation section combines the interpolation values GF and EU to compute (G+E)H. A combining section determines the signal G+E using (G+E)H and (G+E)V, the texture intensities TH and TV.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a color image pickup device including a pixel group in which a plurality of pixels each having a photoelectric conversion element and a color filter are arranged includes the steps of generating a random array pattern in which color filters of at least one color component are randomly arranged for an arbitrary pixel position, so that the occurrence frequency of color filters of a color component in a region having a predetermined size including the arbitrary pixel position is within a desired error range, generating a regular array pattern in which color filters of at least one color component are regularly arranged, and generating a color filter pattern by compositing in a regular manner the random array pattern generated in the random array generating step and the regular array pattern generated in the regular array generating step.

Abstract: A color filter array includes a plurality of filters, each having one of a plurality of types of spectral sensitivity and being disposed at the location of a corresponding one of a plurality of pixels. The filters of a predetermined type selected from among the plurality of types are arranged at the locations of the pixels in a checkered pattern, and the filters of some or all of the other types are randomly arranged at the pixel locations at which the filters of the predetermined type are not present.

Abstract: A texture-intensity computation section computes a texture intensity TH and a texture intensity TV using interpolation values GA and EA. A G interpolation section computes an interpolation value GF using a horizontally adjacent interpolation value GA and a signal R. An E interpolation section computes an interpolation value EF using a vertically adjacent interpolation value EA and the signal R. The G interpolation section computes an interpolation value GU using the interpolation values GA, EA, and EF. The E interpolation section computes an interpolation value EU using the interpolation values GA, EA, and GF. A G+E generation section combines the interpolation values GU and EF to compute (G+E)V. A G+E generation section combines the interpolation values GF and EU to compute (G+E)H. A combining section determines the signal G+E using (G+E)H and (G+E)V, the texture intensities TH and TV.