Abstract: A digital image acquisition system includes a portable apparatus for capturing digital images and a digital processing component for detecting, analyzing and informing the photographer regarding motion blur, and for reducing camera motion blur in an image captured by the apparatus. The digital processing component operates by comparing the image with at least one other image, for example a preview image, of nominally the same scene taken outside the exposure period of the main image. In one embodiment the digital processing component determines the degree of artifacts and whether to inform the user that the image is blurred by identifying at least one feature in a single preview image which is relatively less blurred than the corresponding feature in the main image.

Abstract: Disclosed is directed to a moving object detection apparatus and method. The apparatus comprises an image capture module, an image alignment module, a temporal differencing module, a distance transform module, and a background subtraction module. The image capture module derives a plurality of images in a time series. The image alignment module aligns the images if the image capture module is situated on a movable platform. The temporal differencing module performs temporal differencing on the captured images or the aligned images, and generates a difference image. The distance transform module transforms the difference image into a distance map. The background subtraction module applies the distance map to background subtraction technology and compares the results with the current captured image, so as to obtain the information for moving objects.

Abstract: A multi-eye imaging apparatus comprises a plurality of imaging systems (106a, 106b) each including an optical system (107a, 107b) and an imaging element (108a, 108b) and having a different optical axis. The plurality of imaging systems (106a, 106b) include a first imaging system (106b) having a pixel shift means (101) for changing a relative positional relationship between an image formed on the imaging element (108b), and the imaging element (108b), and a second imaging system (106a) in which a relative positional relationship between an image formed on the imaging element (108a), and the imaging element (108a), is fixed during time-series image capture.

Abstract: Provided is a method of correcting handshake in a digital image processing apparatus. The digital image processing apparatus includes a lens location detector for detecting a location of the focusing lens when a lens driving unit drives a photographing lens group; a handshake detector for detecting an amount of handshake from a signal representing a movement of the digital image processing apparatus; and a handshake correction unit for adjusting the lens driving unit according to a difference between the amount of handshake detected by the handshake detector and the location of the focusing lens detected by the lens location detector.

Abstract: A method for emendation of attention trajectory in video content analysis is disclosed. The method includes steps of extracting attention area for each frame in a video sequence, each attention area of a frame selectively being a reference for the other frames, projecting the attention area of the reference to a current frame, and determining an enhanced attention area of the current frame by collecting and merging all the projected attention areas together with the original attention area of the current frame to emend the attention trajectory of the video sequence so as to make the attention trajectory smooth. Advantageously, short-life attention or noise is omitted, and the attention area is also enriched, therefore, the smooth of the attention trajectory improves subjective viewing experience of human being.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing improved images utilizing acceleration data is described. In one embodiment, the method utilizes the accelerometer data to time the taking of the image to minimize motion effects.

Abstract: A method for suppression of image blur is applied to an image capturing apparatus in a photography mode whose exposure time is set to be greater than a safe exposure time. The method comprising the following steps: capturing a long exposure image with the present exposure time, and a short exposure image with an exposure time smaller than or equal to the safe exposure time in the same landscape. Besides, obtain a locus signal in the process of long exposure image capture. Afterwards, execute an arithmetic procedure to smooth the short exposure image, and then produce a point scale image using the auxiliary arithmetic of locus signal. Finally, process the long exposure image and the point scale image with multiplication arithmetic to restore the long exposure image, thus forming an output image.

Abstract: An image capture device includes a frame buffer, a processor, a shutter, an actuator, a three-axis optical motion sensor and an image sensor. The image sensor defines an optical axis. The three-axis optical motion sensor provides information concerning rotational movement of the camera about each of a roll axis, a yaw axis and a pitch axis. The roll axis is parallel to the optical axis. The yaw axis and the pitch axis are orthogonal to one another and orthogonal to the roll axis. The actuator rotates the image sensor in response to the rotational movement of the device about the optical axis. The processor generates first and second offsets responsive to the rotational motion about the yaw axis and the pitch axis. The processor shifts each line of image information in a frame in accordance with the first and second offsets.

Abstract: A moving object detection device accurately detects moving objects. The device includes a motion vector calculation section calculating motion vectors from an input image; a motion vector removal section removing a motion vector having high randomness from the calculated motion vectors; a motion vector accumulation section temporally accumulating each motion vector not removed by the motion vector removal section, and calculating an accumulated number of occurrences and an accumulated value of each motion vector; and a moving object detection section determining, based on the calculated accumulated value and calculated accumulated number of occurrences of each motion vector, whether each motion vector corresponds to a moving object.

Abstract: The subject matter disclosed herein relates to an imaging device having a small form factor.

Abstract: The present invention provides an electronic blurring compensation device applied to a digital camera that includes an angular rate sensor for detecting blurring of an image, an solid-state image pickup element for shooting continuously over time a plurality of images, compensating mutual blurring of the plurality of shot images in accordance with the amount of blurring detected by the angular rate sensor, and generating one image by synthesizing the plurality of compensated images, and a CPU for controlling the number of continuous shootings by the solid-state image pickup element such that the total amount of blurring over the plurality of continuously shot images falls within a previously set predetermined value.

Abstract: An image stabilization apparatus for stabilizing an image sensor is disclosed. The image stabilization apparatus includes a transmission component whereon a slot is formed. The image stabilization apparatus further includes a rotary motor including an annular rotor connected to the transmission component, and an annular stator disposed on a side of the annular rotor. The annular rotor is capable of rotating relative to the annular stator. The image stabilization apparatus further includes a carrier for carrying the image sensor. The carrier includes a shaft disposed inside the slot in a slidable manner. The image stabilization apparatus further includes a linear motor coupled to the transmission component and the shaft of the carrier for driving the carrier to slide inside the slot.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing improved images utilizing acceleration data is described. In one embodiment, the method utilizes the accelerometer data to time the taking of the image to minimize motion effects.

Abstract: A digital photographing apparatus includes a handshake correction module and a method of controlling the digital photographing apparatus. As a first image and a second image that is input by minutely adjusting a photographing direction from the first image are captured by using a pre-mounted handshake correction module, the second image that is accurately continuous from the first image may be obtained. As such, highly reliable panorama shooting may be enabled and an ultra-wide-angle image having a viewing angle greater than that of a currently mounted lens may be obtained without exchanging the currently mounted lens for an expensive lens used in wide-angle shooting.

Abstract: An optical image stabilization (OIS) system may be used in a camera having an optical system which includes a motion compensating optical element driven by an actuator. The system may include a motion sensor providing a motion signal, a frequency detector for detecting a dominant frequency being that frequency within the motion signal which may produce the most significant motion blurring in the image produced by the camera, and a tunable high-pass filter for filtering the motion signal and supplying the filtered motion signal as an actuator control signal. The tunable high pass filter may be tuned based upon the dominant frequency to a filter characteristic which provides a phase lead substantially canceling a phase lag of the actuator at that frequency.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus and method is disclosed that is applied for image stabilization. The method comprises the following steps of: At least two images are captured by the image capture module. A sharpest image and a sharper image are selected from the at least two images. At least a motion vector is generated between the sharpest image and the sharper image. The sharpest image is combined with the sharper image based on the motion vector and a combination ratio so as to generate a combined image.

Abstract: A camera includes a main pixel array, one or more shaking detection pixel groups, and logic circuitry. The main pixel array can generate image frames of an image at an image frame rate. The one or more shaking detection pixel groups can generate shaking detection data where one or more pixels of the first shaking detection pixel group are sampled at a rate that is faster than the image frame rate. The logic circuitry can evaluate the shaking detection data to select a frame of the generated image frames after receiving a picture taking signal.

Abstract: A internet based method and apparatus is described for automatically processing a captured digital image taken by a smart device at a fixed-location, mobile or virtual event, and synchronizing the combination of that captured primary image with a secondary image, be it a picture frame, or a watermark to create a combined media image. If desired, the combined image may also contain an audio file. Once combined, the image may be stored for later viewing, and/or automatically returned to the user of the smart device or the PC of the user who captured the primary image, forwarded to an online print service website, posted to a photo sharing website, and/or forwarded to a distribution list. The automated post processing of said captured images is handled by a process engine hosted at an Application Provider's website, the process engine containing instructions for the media combining and metadata tagging of said images.

Abstract: The invention includes a vibration reduction mechanism, a vibration detecting part, a reference signal generating part, a target drive position calculating part, and a driving part. The vibration reduction mechanism reduces a vibration of a subject image. The vibration detecting part outputs a vibration detection signal. The reference signal generating part estimates a reference signal of the vibration detection part. The target drive position calculating part obtains a vibration component from a difference between the vibration detection signal and the estimated reference signal to obtain a target position to which the vibration reduction mechanism is driven. The driving part controls the vibration reduction mechanism to follow the target position. Particularly, the reference signal generating part corrects the reference signal according to a motion signal obtained from a captured image.

Abstract: Various techniques for temporally filtering raw image data acquired by an image sensor are provided. In one embodiment, a temporal filter determines a spatial location of a current pixel and identifies at least one collocated reference pixel from a previous frame. A motion delta value is determined based at least partially upon the current pixel and its collocated reference pixel. Next, an index is determined based upon the motion delta value and a motion history value corresponding to the spatial location of the current pixel, but from the previous frame. Using the index, a first filtering coefficient may be selected from a motion table. After selecting the first filtering coefficient, an attenuation factor may be selected from a luma table based upon the value of the current pixel, and a second filtering coefficient may subsequently be determined based upon the selected attenuation factor and the first filtering coefficient.

Abstract: When a release button is pressed in the image adding mode and flash-on mode, a system control section instructs a timing generation section to continuously supply a timing signal to an imaging section, thereby causing the imaging section to perform high speed continuous shooting. A flash is caused to emit light in sync with taking the last one of images taken by the continuous shooting such that the amount of the emitted light results in underexposure for one image. The continuous images taken by the imaging section are sequentially output via a preprocessing section to a blurring correction section where the taken images are superimposed upon each other to obtain an image of appropriate exposure in which blurring has been corrected.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for compensating for motion of a viewer relative to a display device.

Abstract: In a system for capturing a series of images of a scene comprising an image capture device having a matrix of flux detectors which is oriented along a sighting axis (z), comprising a stabilizing module which stabilizes the sighting axis of the captured images, the sighting axis being instilled with a defined, cyclic, motion, the following steps are applied to a series of successive images (N1-K) captured during a cycle. Steps /i/ and /ii/ are repeated from the first image captured up to the last image captured of the series and an intermediate image (IIntermediate) is obtained •?/i/ registering a subsequent image (Ni+i) on a preceding image (Ni) as a function of the defined motion; ?/ii/ correcting spatial noise relating to the flux detectors and affecting the common part of the images.

Abstract: A motion adaptive image processing apparatus includes a classifier to classify a current field of a sequence of in put fields into one or more class regions, a calculator to calculate a variance based on pixel values of pixels located in a predetermined region around a certain pixel of the current field, a threshold calculator to calculate a maximum variance and a minimum variance which are pre-set according to the one or more class regions, the threshold calculator calculating a threshold based on the calculated maximum variance and the minimum variance, a motion calculator to calculate a motion change of an image using a previous field and a next field of the current field in the sequence of the input fields, and a weight calculator to calculate the weight to be applied to the certain pixel based on the calculated threshold and the calculated motion change of the image.

Abstract: A method for reducing blur from an image is described. The method includes accessing a blurred image, wherein the blurred image has a width and a length that can be different. The method further includes converting the blurred image into a frequency domain representation of the blurred image and determining an angle of blur from the frequency domain of the blurred image. The method further includes rotating the frequency domain representation of the blurred image by the angle of blur and determining a size of the blur from the rotated frequency domain representation of the blurred image. The method further includes determining a blur kernel associated with the blur, the blur kernel comprising the angle of blur and the size of said blur and de-convoluting the blurred image according to the blur kernel to reduce the blur.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for image stabilization takes an input image sequence including a plurality of frames, estimates frame-level motion vectors for each frame, and adaptively integrates the motion vectors to produce, for each frame, a motion vector to be used for image stabilization. A copy of the reference image of a frame is displaced by the corresponding adaptively integrated motion vector. In one embodiment, the perimeter of the image sensor is padded with a margin to be used for image compensation. In another embodiment, vertical and horizontal components are treated independently. In still another embodiment, the motion estimation circuitry associated with an MPEG-4 encoder is used to calculate macroblock level vectors, and a histogram is used to compute a corresponding frame-level vector for that frame.

Abstract: The mobile communication terminal includes a body, a lens module, a first accelerator sensor, a second accelerator sensor, a range finder, and a processor. The lens module, the first accelerator sensor, a second accelerator sensor, and a range finder are disposed on the body. The lens module is configured to pick up an image of an object. The first accelerator sensor and the second accelerator sensor are configured to measure accelerations of the lens module in different directions. The range finder is configured to measure a distance from the object to the lens module. The processor electrically coupled to the range finder module, the first accelerator sensor and the second accelerator sensor. The processor is configured to restore the image blurred by vibrations of the lens module based on values of the distance, the first acceleration, and the second acceleration.

Abstract: A method is described for determining a description of motion of a moving mobile camera to determine a user input to an application. The method may involve capturing a series of images from a moving mobile camera and comparing stationary features present in the series of images. Optical flow analysis may be performed on the series of images to determine a description of motion of the moving mobile camera. Based on the determined motion, a user input to an application may be determined and the application may respond to the user input, for example, by updating a user interface of the application.

Abstract: A frame is divided into blocks each having a predetermined size, and motion vectors are calculated for respective blocks. The blocks are classified into an object group including an object image and a background group as a background image based on the calculated motion vectors, and representative motion vectors of the respective groups are calculated. The number of blocks included in the object group is compared with a threshold. When the number of blocks is larger than the threshold, the representative motion vector of the object group is selected as a motion vector for the entire frame. On the other hand, when the number of blocks included in the object group is smaller than the threshold, the representative motion vector of the background group is selected as the motion vector for the entire frame.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for enhancing the speed at which pixel levels are read out and sampled for processing. A method of processing pixel levels includes clamping a pixel readout line to a voltage level less than a voltage corresponding to a signal sensed by an n-MOS pixel. Subsequently, the pixel readout line is coupled to an output of an n-MOS source-follower and the pixel signal is read out onto the pixel readout line through the n-MOS source-follower. The pixel signal that was read out is passed through a p-MOS source-follower to a processing circuit. Before passing the pixel signal through the p-MOS source-follower to the processing circuit, a capacitive storage node in the processing circuit is clamped to a voltage greater than a signal at an input to the p-MOS source-follower. Subsequently, an output of the p-MOS source-follower is coupled to the processing circuit, and a signal corresponding to the pixel signal is stored by the processing circuit.

Abstract: A first high-pass filter comprising a low-pass filter which allows only a frequency component of an input signal less than or equal to a first frequency to pass, a latch unit which latches an output of a low-pass filter according to a control signal, and a calculating unit which outputs a difference between an input signal and an output of the latch unit are provided on an image stabilization circuit. When latching in the latch unit is released, a held value of the latch unit is stepwise changed to the output value of the low-pass filter. Such a first high-pass filter is used in a centering process of an optical element.

Abstract: An image processing device is provided. The image processing device includes per-block motion vector calculating means for calculating a motion vector between two pictures of an image input in picture units sequentially, performing block matching in each of divided regions obtained by dividing one picture into a plurality of regions, and calculating a per-block motion vector for each of said divided regions. The image processing device also includes translation amount calculating means for calculating an amount of translation of the other of said two pictures with respect to one of said two pictures from a plurality of said per-block motion vectors calculated by said per-block motion vector calculating means. The image processing device also includes rotation angle calculating means for calculating a rotation angle of the other of said two pictures with respect to one of said two pictures from the plurality of said per-block motion vectors calculated by said per-block motion vector calculating means.

Abstract: Included are embodiments for reducing undesirable motion in a video. At least one embodiment of a method includes receiving a plurality of video frames that comprise at least one segment of a video, the plurality of video frames being captured by a capture device and determining a maximum undesired movement of the capture device for the plurality of video frames during the at least one segment. Some embodiments include trimming at least a portion of the video frames according to the determined maximum undesired movement such that the undesirable movement in the video is reduced.

Abstract: Disclosed is an image-stabilization driving device including a first sliding member connected to an image sensor; a first piezoelectrical element for driving the first sliding member to move linearly along a first direction; a second sliding member connected to the first piezoelectrical element; and a second piezoelectrical element for driving the second sliding member to move linearly along a second direction intersecting with the first direction. The first and second piezoelectrical elements are adapted to drive the image sensor to move in a plane, thereby providing a structurally simple and miniaturized image-stabilization driving device.

Abstract: An imaging device that is connectable to an external display device includes a decoder that, based on an instruction to reproduce coded moving image data recorded in any one of an internal recorder, a memory card and an external recording device, decodes data and sequentially obtains a plurality of frames in a predetermined order. The imaging device also includes a blur estimator that sequentially obtains a total motion vector of each frame corresponding to an obtaining speed and a predetermined order of frames, a blur correction processor that sequentially corrects the blur of the frames based on respective total motion vectors, and a second display processor that sequentially outputs the blur corrected frames to the external display. Blur correction processing for moving images output to the external display is performed suitably.

Abstract: According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera system including a motion estimator estimating a motion of an image taken by the camera system, and; a controller controlling, based on the estimation, an update frequency of a predetermined parameter and/or an amount of adjustment of the predetermined parameter per update cycle.

Abstract: Provided is an image-taking apparatus having an easier human machine interface than before. Instead of operating an operator, a mode for a flash condition among multiple shooting conditions displayed on a display panel of a liquid crystal display device is switched from an automatic mode to a forced on mode by shaking a digital camera vertically. Then, the shooting condition is switched to a focusing condition by shaking the digital camera horizontally. The shooting condition is switched from the focusing condition to a white balance condition by shaking this image-taking apparatus horizontally again. Thereafter, a mode for the shooting condition is switched from a macro mode to a macro-off mode by shaking this image-taking apparatus vertically again. Likewise, it is possible to set up various modes for the respective shooting conditions by shaking this image-taking apparatus.

Abstract: Imaging systems and methods for processing images. Various of the imaging systems include a motion detection and/or estimation engine. Information from such a motion engine can be used by one or more of a scene definition engine, a blur reduction engine, an anti-shake engine, and a video compression engine. Various of the methods include processes for accepting motion information from a motion detection and/or estimation engine and performing one or more of the following functions: anti-shake, blur reduction, scene definition, video compression, and power management. In some cases, the various systems and methods can be implemented on a single chip.

Abstract: A digital camera delays the capture of a digital image after image capture has been requested until the motion of the digital camera satisfies a motion criterion. The digital camera thereby reduces image blur that would otherwise occur due to camera motion.

Abstract: A camera operates in cooperation with a wearable image display apparatus configured to be wearable on an eye region of a user. The camera includes an imaging unit, a vibration detection unit, a transmission availability judgment unit and a communication unit. The imaging unit acquires an image of a subject. The vibration detection unit detects vibration of the camera. The transmission availability judgment unit permits transmission of the image acquired by the imaging unit to the wearable image display apparatus when the vibration detection unit does not detect the vibration of the camera, and prohibits transmission of the image acquired by the imaging unit to the wearable image display apparatus when the vibration detection unit detects the vibration of the camera. The communication unit transmits the image acquired by the imaging unit to the wearable image display apparatus when transmission of the image acquired by the imaging unit is permitted.

Abstract: In a display apparatus connected to an image processing apparatus which detects the change amount in an input image and stores, as a detected image, an image during a period with a change amount equal to or more than a predetermined amount, the change log of the change amount and the detected image are received, the change log is displayed by using a graph, and information related to the detected image is displayed on the graph in a superposed manner.

Abstract: The present disclosure illustrates an apparatus and method for scanning, in particular documents with the aid of a camera. The method includes combining an image sequence or a sequence of partial images in order to obtain a final image, and projecting a reference model onto the camera vision field and in compensating representational differences of different images on the basis of geometrical information of the model.

Abstract: A portable projection display apparatus (100) of the present invention comprises: a projection device (8) including an image forming means (2) for forming image light and an optical lens system (7) which projects the image light, obtained by the image forming means, toward a projection surface (S1); a swinging detecting means (12) for detecting a relative swinging of the projection device (8) with respect to the projection surface (S1); and a correcting means (11) for correcting a projection direction of the image light with respect to the projection surface (S1) in the projection device (8) in accordance with an output value of the swinging detecting means (12), so as to cancel a movement of the image light in the projection direction that is caused by the swinging.

Abstract: A method for calculating an estimated hand motion vector of a plurality of images includes selecting a current video frame and a previous video frame from a video stream, dividing the current video frame into a plurality of macroblocks, selecting a subset of macroblocks from the current video frame, comparing the subset of macroblocks to the previous video frame within a two dimensional comparison range to generate a set of motion vectors, calculating a frame motion vector for the current video frame, estimating a steady motion vector for the current video frame by a first-order autoregression, and calculating a hand motion vector for the current video frame by taking a difference between the steady motion vector and the frame motion vector of the current video frame.

Abstract: An image pickup apparatus having a function for generating wide dynamic range, synthesized image by synthesizing image signals corresponding to a plurality of frames of different exposure amounts. A correcting section for correcting exposure amounts of at least one image signal of the image signals corresponding to the plurality of frames of different exposure amounts.

Abstract: A photographic apparatus is provided and has a camera, an interchangeable camera lens, and a lens control unit. The camera unit has a blur signal-outputting unit and a camera control unit. The interchangeable camera lens has an image-displacing unit and a blur correcting unit. When a change in the state of an optical system of the interchangeable camera lens is recognized, the lens control unit generates blur correction process-information based on the state of the optical system after the change and transmits the blur correction process-information to a camera control unit.

Abstract: A multi-line camera such as a two-line camera acquires image data of an object moving relative to the camera. An output of a first sensor line is connected through a first time-delay memory to a first comparator, and is connected directly to a second comparator. An output of a second sensor line is connected directly to the first comparator, and is connected through a second time-delay memory to the second comparator. Thus, the current image data of each sensor line is respectively compared crosswise to the time-delayed previous image data of the respective other sensor line. An evaluation unit compares the outputs of the two comparators, to determine which comparison had a better degree of correspondence, and dependent thereon determines the direction of relative motion of the object relative to the camera.

Abstract: In an image signal processor, a camera operation estimating part detects a movement vector of an input image in order to estimate, for example, a panning operation in a horizontal direction, a tilting operation in a vertical direction, or a zooming operation such as zooming-in or zooming-out. An image output part reads a particular image signal before and after a camera operation from image signals stored in an image storage memory. The particular image signal is then outputted and displayed on a display means. Further, when there is a plurality of display means, an image before and after the camera operation and an image that is currently broadcast are displayed separately on each of the plurality of display means.

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.

Abstract: A shooting-information-detecting section detects shooting information from an image pick-up section. A motion-detecting section detects a motion direction of an image on an overall screen based on a motion direction of the image pick-up section contained in the shooting information. A processing-region-setting section sets a processing region in at least any one of a predicted target image and a peripheral image thereof, which correspond to a target pixel in the predicted target image. A processing-coefficient-setting section sets a motion-blur-removing-processing coefficient that corresponds to the motion direction detected in the motion-detecting section. A pixel-value-generating section generates a pixel value that corresponds to the target pixel based on a pixel value of a pixel in the processing region set in the processing-region-setting section and the processing coefficient set in the processing-coefficient-setting section. Motion-blur-removing processing can be accurately performed.