Abstract: Electronic devices may include image sensors. Image sensors may be used to capture images having rows of long-exposure image pixel values that are interleaved with rows of short-exposure image pixel values. The long-exposure and short-exposure values in each interleaved image frame may be interpolated to form interpolated values. A combined long-exposure image and a combined short-exposure image may be generated using the long-exposure and the short-exposure values from the interleaved image frames and the interpolated values from a selected one of the interleaved image frames. The combined long-exposure and short-exposure images may each include image pixel values from either of the interleaved image frames in a non-motion edge region and image pixel values based only on the image pixel values or the interpolated values from the selected one of the interleaved images in a motion or non-edge region. High-dynamic-range images may be generated using the combined long-exposure and short-exposure images.

Abstract: A system for enhancing the appearance of an object comprises an illumination device (5) for providing enhancement illumination and a light recording device (1) for recording the reflection by the object of illumination on the object. A reference illumination is mixed (8) with the enhancement illumination. The information in the reflected light is filtered (9) to filter the reflection data (1) due to the reference illumination. These data are used for calculating the enhancement illumination in a processor (3).

Abstract: If zoom magnification falls within an optical-zoom application scaling range of zoom magnifications Z1 to Z2, image data that has been enlarged by a zoom lens is recorded on a recording medium. If zoom magnification falls within an electronic-zoom application scaling range of zoom magnifications Z2 to Z3, the image data is subjected to super-resolution processing, super-resolution image data and image data that has not been subjected to super-resolution processing are combined by weighting processing executed such that the higher the zoom magnification, the greater the weight assigned to the super-resolution image data, and the resultant image data is subjected to electronic zoom processing and then recorded. If zoom magnification exceeds Z3, the super-resolution image data is recorded upon being subjected to electronic zoom processing.

Abstract: The resolution of a low-resolution image is made high and a stereoscopic image is displayed. Resolution is made high by super-resolution processing. In this case, the super-resolution processing is performed after edge enhancement processing is performed. Accordingly, a stereoscopic image with high resolution and high quality can be displayed. Alternatively, after image analysis processing is performed, edge enhancement processing and super-resolution processing are concurrently performed. Accordingly, processing time can be shortened.

Abstract: A chromaticity correction device corrects chromaticity of a video signal displayed on a display panel of a display device to correspond to a change in a luminance value of the display panel. The chromaticity correction device includes a luminance detection unit which detects the luminance value, a backlight driving level detection unit which detects a backlight driving level, a temperature detection unit which detects an internal device temperature or an ambient temperature, a reference luminance value calculation unit which estimates a reference luminance value in a characteristic of an initial state, a chromaticity calculation unit which obtains a chromaticity change amount of white point chromaticity and estimated white point chromaticity that is an estimated value of current white point chromaticity, a chromaticity correction value calculation unit which obtains a chromaticity correction value and a chromaticity correction circuit which corrects the chromaticity of the video signal.

Abstract: It is determined whether or not an input image is an image converted from an image with a relatively low resolution based on one frame of an image. A resolution determination device includes: an edge strength calculator configured to obtain an edge strength of a pixel included in an input image based on luminance of the pixel and luminance of a pixel adjacent to the pixel, for each of a plurality of pixels included in the input image; and a resolution determiner configured to determine whether or not the input image is an image upconverted from an image with a predetermined resolution or less, based on distribution of the edge strengths.

Abstract: The present invention provides an image capturing apparatus comprising an image capturing element configured to convert an optical image into an image signal, a signal processing unit configured to apply signal processing to the image signal and to output the processed image signal, a super-resolution processing unit configured to apply, when a still image of the object is to be captured during capturing of a moving image of the object, super-resolution processing for enhancing a resolution by compositing a plurality of image signals output from the signal processing unit, and outputting an image signal required to generate the still image of the object, and an APC correction unit configured to apply APC correction processing for emphasizing an edge of each of the image signal output from the signal processing unit and the image signal output from the super-resolution processing unit, and to output the processed image signal.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes, a color correction unit performing color correction on RGB signals to generate color-corrected RGB signals; a YC conversion unit converting the color-corrected RGB signals into a first luminance signal and a color-difference signal; a Y conversion unit generating a second luminance signal based on the RGB signals; an edge combination unit combining the first luminance signal with the second luminance signal; an edge adjustment unit obtaining an edge-adjusted signal based on a result of the combining by the edge combination unit; and an adder adding the first luminance signal to the edge-adjusted signal.

Abstract: An imaging method includes setting a manual focus mode for moving a focus lens according to an operation of an operation unit, generating a contrast image, which is an image in which an edge of a taken image is enhanced or extracted, and superimposing and displaying, in the case of the manual focus mode, the contrast image on an optical image of the object in an optical finder.

Abstract: An imaging apparatus includes an imaging element, a correction value calculating unit, and a correction unit. The imaging element images an object through a photographing lens to generate an image signal. The correction value calculating unit calculates correction values for a plurality of frequency components of the image signal, the correction values corresponding to an aperture value acquired when the object is imaged through the photographing lens. The correction unit corrects frequency characteristics of the plurality of frequency components in accordance with the correction values calculated.

Abstract: One or more objects of interest from a scene are selected. Depth information of the one or more objects is calculated. Additionally, depth information of the scene is calculated. The calculated depth information of the one or more objects is compared with calculated depth information of the scene. Based on the comparison a blur is applied to an image that includes the scene.

Abstract: There is provided an image processing apparatus and system for demosaicing. The image processing apparatus comprises an edge determination module configured to determine whether a target pixel is an edge pixel and a direction of an image edge if the target pixel is an edge pixel; and a demosaicing module configured to extract a luminance component value of the target pixel using a Bayer image pattern having the target pixel in a central portion of the Bayer image pattern, wherein the demosaicing module is configured to extract the luminance component value of the target pixel using the Bayer image pattern by a weighting process if the target pixel is determined as an edge pixel.

Abstract: An integrated display and camera without simple or compound lenses comprising interleaved light-emitting and light-sensing/photosensor elements. Image formation without use of a simple or compound lens can be obtained via software algorithms operating on light-sensing measurements, for example implementing a two-dimensional deconvolution operation defined by the transfer function imposed by a microoptic array. For example, a microoptic aperture array can be configured to comprise localized optical overlaps which are readily deconvolved or otherwise solved for by an algorithm. Associated microoptic structures can be as simple as apertures or can be more complex, for example including microlenses. Display and photosensor elements can include color capabilities. Light-sensing elements can be similar, nearly, or essentially identical in structure and/or composition to the light-emitting element.

Abstract: An information processing method includes calculating a second spatial filter having a size of the number of elements larger than a blur size of an image using a finite first spatial filter having an anisotropy in resolution of the image and a finite filter in which a value of a total sum of elements is zero and at least two elements have a non-zero value, and generating a plurality of spatial filters having a predetermined number of elements or less from the second spatial filter.

Abstract: An image capture sharpening subsystem for a digital camera includes a capture sharpening processor and a memory that stores values for a capture sharpening amount. The values for the capture sharpening amount are a function of position on an image sensor of the digital camera. The capture sharpening processor receives a first value for a pixel in an image captured by the image sensor and a position value for the pixel on the image sensor. The capture sharpening processor determines a pixel sharpening amount from the values for the capture sharpening amount stored in the first memory according to the position value. The capture sharpening processor applies a capture sharpening process to the pixel to provide a second value for the pixel according to the pixel sharpening amount and stores the second value in a second memory that provides a sharpened version of the image captured by the image sensor.

Abstract: This disclosure describes techniques for initially calibrating an image capture device. According to one aspect, the calibration includes calibrating parameters of an image filter for resolving the captured image. The method includes receiving a captured image of a test target and resolving the captured image using a set of initial parameters. A sharpness index of the resolved image is determined without matching the captured image to the test target. The sharpness index is used to minimize a cost function for determining parameters for use by the image capture device.

Abstract: An optical device where an image of an object is formed on an image pickup element and where an image restoration process is performed on the image obtained by the image pickup element, comprising a MTF that satisfies the following conditional expression (1): 0.001<L×NA<0.5,5<a<30??(1) where L: the width of the MTF when the MTF is a %, and NA: a numerical aperture of the optical device.

Abstract: A system for edge enhancement includes an input unit to receive an input signal Yin, a vertical enhancement unit to perform a vertical enhancement of an edge of the input signal Yin to generate an output YEV, and a horizontal enhancement unit to perform a horizontal enhancement of the edge of the input signal Yin to generate an output YEH. The system also includes a local gradient analysis unit to generate a local gradient direction GradDir and a local gradient magnitude GradMag based at least partly upon the input signal Yin, and a mixer to generate an output Yout by mixing the output YEV with the output YEH using the local gradient direction GradDir. The system further includes an output unit to output the output Yout.

Abstract: A correlation judgment part judges a correlation direction on each pixel. In a case where a correlation direction of a specified pixel is a vertical direction and the correlation thereof is small in any other direction, it is judged that the specified pixel is a pixel on an edge in the vertical direction. Then, a noise removal filtering operation is performed on the specified pixel by using pixels on a line in the vertical direction and an edge enhancement operation is performed by using pixels on a line in a horizontal direction.

Abstract: A mosaic image having high recognizability of a picture of an original image is provided while the number of division of the original image is suppressed. An image providing device includes a specifying means that specifies a region including an edge of an image from a plurality of regions, a dividing means that further divides the specified region into a plurality of regions, an acquisition means that acquires an image specified by a user, a determination means that determines a region to which the acquired image is assigned from regions not divided by the dividing means among the plurality of regions and from regions formed by being divided by the dividing means, and a presentation means that causes a mosaic image in which the acquired image is arranged on the basis of an assignment determined by the determination means to be presented.

Abstract: Electronic devices may include camera modules. A camera module may include an array camera having an array of lenses and an array of corresponding image sensors. Parallax correction and depth mapping methods may be provided for array cameras. A parallax correction method may include a global and a local parallax correction. A global parallax correction may be determined based on one-dimensional horizontal and vertical projections of edge images. Local parallax corrections may be determined using a block matching procedure. Further improvements to local parallax corrections may be generated using a relative block color saturation test, a smoothing of parallax correction vectors and, if desired, using a cross-check between parallax correction vectors determined for multiple image sensors. Three dimensional depth maps may be generated based on parallax correction vectors.

Abstract: A pixel defect correction device includes: a defect determining section determining whether a pixel of interest of an image, in which pixels each having a pixel value are arrayed in a two-dimensional manner, is a defect of the image; a gradient detecting section detecting a gradient or an edge in a processing region, which includes pixels with the pixel of interest in the middle, based on values of at least peripheral pixels around the pixel of interest which are included in the processing region; a correction value acquisition section selecting a pixel, which is used for acquisition of a correction value of the pixel of interest, according to the detected gradient or edge and acquiring the correction value from a value of the selected pixel; and a defective pixel replacing section replacing the value of the pixel of interest with the correction value when the pixel of interest is determined to be a defect.

Abstract: An apparatus for recognizing gestures in a picture includes a Hough transformer configured to identify elements in the picture or in a pre-processed version of the picture as identified gesture elements and to obtain information about the identified gesture elements. The apparatus further includes a gesture description creator configured to obtain a gesture description while using the information about the identified gesture elements. Moreover, the apparatus includes a gesture classifier configured to compare the gesture description to a plurality of comparative gesture descriptions having gesture codes associated with them. The gesture classifier is configured to provide, as the result of the comparison, a gesture code of a recognized gesture.

Abstract: An imaging apparatus includes an imaging device configured to convert an optical image generated via an optical system to an image signal, an extracting unit configured to extract a characteristic area including a predetermined characteristic from an image which is based on the image signal, an aperture correction unit configured to perform an aperture correction based on an aperture correction characteristic determined for each of predetermined positions on the image based on the image signal, and a controller configured to determine the aperture correction characteristic based on a position of the characteristic area on the image based on the image signal.

Abstract: A system is disclosed for reducing artifacts in images and video, such as ringing or halo artifacts. The system may include an edge detector and a gain controller. The edge detector may create an edge image used by the gain controller to create a gain image, and the gain image may be used to reduce artifacts in an image. The gain controller may, for a current pixel in the edge image, compute the maximum value of the edge image over a window containing the current pixel. The gain controller may also perform averaging to determine a maximum edge value and a current edge value, and may also use a ratio of the current edge value and the maximum edge value to determine a gain to be applied to a pixel of an image.

Abstract: Systems and methods of generating depth data using edge detection are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, first image data is received corresponding to a scene recorded by an image capture device at a first focus position at a first distance. Second image data is received corresponding to a second focus position at a second distance that is greater than the first distance. Edge detection generates first edge data corresponding to at least a first portion of the first image data and generates second edge data corresponding to at least a second portion of the second image data. The edge detection detects presence or absence of an edge at each location of the first portion and the second portion to identify each detected edge as a hard or soft edge. Depth data is generated based on the edge data generated for the first and second focus positions.

Abstract: The solid-state image pickup device includes a sensor unit and a focus adjustment circuit, the focus adjustment circuit including a contour extraction circuit which extracts contour signals from wavelength signals W, B, G, and R, a contour signal selection circuit which receives a control signal and the plurality of contour signals extracted by the contour extraction circuit, and selects and outputs a contour signal having a desired wavelength band in accordance with the control signal, and a plurality of addition circuits which add the wavelength signals before the contour signals are extracted by the contour extraction circuit to a contour signal output from a contour signal output circuit.

Abstract: The subpixel rendering component of a display system provides the capability to substitute a second subpixel rendering filter for a first subpixel rendering filter for computing the values of certain subpixels on the display panel when the input image data being rendered indicates an image feature that may give rise to a color balance error at some portion of the displayed output image. An image processing method of correcting for color balance errors detects the location of a subpixel being rendered and for certain subpixels, detects whether the input image data indicates the presence of a particular image feature. When the image feature is detected for particular subpixels being processed, a second subpixel rendering image filter is substituted for a first subpixel rendering image filter.

Abstract: The disclosure describes adaptive filtering techniques to improve the quality of captured image information, such as video or still images. An image sensor captures image information and determines a plurality of parameter values based on a current exposure index and a current scaling factor of the image information. The adaptive spatial image filter includes both horizontal and vertical sharpening filters and configures, i.e., adapts, the horizontal sharpening filter and the vertical sharpening filter based on the plurality of parameter values determined by the image sensor. The adaptive spatial image filter applies the horizontal and vertical sharpening filters to at one channel of the image information to generate filtered image information.

Abstract: A method of using an image capture device to identify range information for objects in a scene, includes providing an image capture device having at least one image sensor, a lens and a coded aperture, storing in a memory a set of blur kernels derived from range calibration data for the coded aperture, capturing a first and second image of the scene having a plurality of objects, corresponding to first and second optical magnifications, respectively. The method further includes providing a set of deblurred images using the capture images from each magnification and each of the blur kernels from the stored set, and using the set of deblurred images to determine the range information for the objects in the scene.

Abstract: A method of starting snapping a static scene is applied to a system, which is electrically connected with an image-capturing device and a display device. The display device has a displaying zone for display a visual field of the image-capturing device. After an instruction of setting a block in the displaying zone is received by the system, a skin color coverage percentage of the block is calculated. According to the skin color coverage percentage, the system determines whether the scene within the visual field is stored or not. By the method and system of the present invention, a self-timer function is activated according to the skin color.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes an image processing circuit. The image processing circuit is configured by an image processing portion for performing an image process on a first image so as to generate a third image, an image composing portion for composing the first image and the third image, and an addition-ratio calculating portion for calculating a degree of composition of a composing process between the first image and the third image by the image composing portion based on a difference signal from a difference calculating portion.

Abstract: A signal processing method is provided. The method includes: generating an output signal containing a high-precision component at a level not determined by quantization of an input digital signal by subjecting each of pixels constituting the input digital signal to a predetermined filter operation such that a set of predetermined number of pixels including a target pixel and surrounding pixels thereof is obtained, the operation is carried out on the surrounding pixels when a variation from the target pixel is within a predetermined threshold range, and the operation is carried out on the target pixel when a variation from the target pixel is out of the predetermined threshold range; separating the high precision component from the signal output from the edge-preserving smoothing filter; and adding the high precision component separated from the high-precision component separating part to the input digital signal.

Abstract: An adjusting method for adjusting shooting parameters is applied to adjust the shooting parameters according to stability of a camera. In the method, an image is captured first, and an edge-detection procedure is performed on the image to obtain a still value corresponding to a stable state of the camera. Then, shooting parameters, such as a photosensitivity value, an exposure time, or an aperture value, of the camera are adjusted according to the still value.

Abstract: A method for reconstructing a color image from a sensor which comprises a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix of rows and columns is provided. The sensor is provided with a color filter array such that each pixel corresponds to one of three basic colors. The three basic colors are provided on the sensor in a predetermined pattern. The sensor outputs a detected value for each of the plurality of pixels. The method comprises the steps: for each of the plurality of pixels: accepting a detected value obtained for the corresponding one of the three basic colors and, for each of the respective two other basic colors, calculating a vertical interpolation value and a horizontal interpolation value and selecting either the vertical interpolation value or the horizontal interpolation value; outputting the accepted detected value and the selected interpolation values.

Abstract: A block artifact reduction system is provided. An apparatus for reducing block artifact in an image sequence according to some embodiments of the present invention includes a motion detection unit that detects a motion signal from a first frame of an image signal and a second frame of the image signal; a block border offset and motion-based correction determination (BOMCS) unit that determines block border locations based on the second frame and a correction strength based on the second frame and the motion signal; and an intensity filter that filters the second frame based on the block border locations and the correction strength to output a corrected image signal.

Abstract: An image-information obtaining unit obtains image information. An image-component separating unit separates the image information into luminance information and color information. An edge extracting unit extracts edge information from the luminance information. A luminance-noise removing unit removes noise from the luminance information. A color-noise removing unit removes noise from the color information. An image-information synthesizing unit synthesizes image information based on the edge information, the luminance information form which the noise is removed, and the color information from which the noise is removed.

Abstract: A method and system for reducing the appearance of jaggies when deinterlacing moving edges in a video processing system are provided. The method may comprise detecting the direction of an angled edge in an interlaced video image to determine a filtering direction to be used for approximating absent pixels in deinterlacing the interlaced video. In detecting the direction of the angled edge, a group of windows of different sizes may be used to look at the edge, where a missing pixel is the center of each of the windows. Detecting the direction of the edge, and therefore the direction of filtering, may comprise: determining the angle associated with the edge, determining the strength of the edge, examining the pixels surrounding the absent pixel, and adjusting the first angle measure and the second angle measure based on the pattern of the surrounding pixels.

Abstract: An image processing method for executing edge enhancement for an original image includes: extracting edge components based upon the original image; correcting the extracted edge components by attenuating the individual edge components so that a frequency distribution related to intensity of the edge components approximates a Gaussian distribution assuming a specific width; and executing edge enhancement for the original image based upon the corrected edge components.

Abstract: Plural areas defined by contours in a through image (live view image) are previously set as object segments whose luminance levels are to be altered. When a user touches a point within an object segment seen in the through image displayed on a touch panel LCD 12, a gamma curve is changed to alter a luminance level of the object segment including the touched point. This arrangement allows the user to make more bright the whole of the object segment simply by touching a point within the object segment, and also to select any segment of an object as the object segment whose luminance level is to be altered.

Abstract: A method of using an image capture device to identify range information for objects in a scene includes providing an image capture device having an image sensor, a coded aperture having circular symmetry, and a lens; storing in a memory a set of blur parameters derived from range calibration data; capturing images of the scene having a plurality of objects; producing a set of reference edge images using the blur parameters from the stored set; providing a set of deblurred images using the captured image, the reference edges and each of the blur parameters from the stored set; and using the set of deblurred images to determine the range information for the objects in the scene.

Abstract: A method for sharpening an input digital image captured using a digital camera having a zoom lens, determining a parameterized representation of lens acuity of the zoom lens as a function of at least the lens focal length and lens F# by fitting a parameterized function to lens acuity data for the zoom lens at a plurality of lens focal length and lens F/#; using a processor to sharpen the input digital image responsive to the particular lens focal length and lens F/#corresponding to the input digital image using the parameterized representation of the lens acuity.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes an extraction unit configured to extract a plurality of luminance low frequency components different in frequency band from a luminance component of image data, and a color adjustment unit configured to execute color adjustment of the image data using the image data or the luminance component of the image data and the plurality of luminance low frequency components, wherein, when an effect of color adjustment based on the luminance low frequency component having a relatively low frequency is larger than an effect of color adjustment based on the luminance low frequency component having a relatively high frequency among the plurality of luminance low frequency components, the color adjustment unit reduces the effect of color adjustment based on the luminance low frequency component having the relatively low frequency.

Abstract: An image processing method executes image processing to correct a non-uniform perceived resolution caused by image distortion correction, thereby achieving a uniform perceived resolution over an entire displayed image. The image processing method includes the step of adjusting an aperture compensation signal using distortion correcting data to correct a non-uniform perceived resolution caused in an image through partial conversion of magnification ratio by image distortion correction, thereby achieving a uniform perceived resolution.

Abstract: An image capturing apparatus including an image capturing unit configured to capture an image, and a generation unit configured to generate an exposure period map by assigning, to each of the plurality of image sensor pixels, exposure control information to control a charge accumulation time, based on preliminary captured image data obtained by preliminary image capturing using the image capturing unit. The exposure control information includes first exposure control information corresponding to a first accumulation time and second exposure control information corresponding to an accumulation time longer than the first exposure control information A correction unit expands a first region having the first exposure control information on the exposure period map, and a control unit controls the accumulation time for each of the plurality of image sensor pixels in accordance with the exposure period map corrected by the correction unit.

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 correction apparatus reduces an input image, for each area, at a reduction ratio corresponding to the area, generates a reduced luminance image, and extracts a low-frequency component image from the reduced luminance image. The image correction apparatus enlarges the extracted low-frequency component image, for each area, at an enlargement ratio corresponding to the area, generates correction data according to a size of the input image, and corrects the input image according to the correction data.

Abstract: A sharpness processing method and system for a digital image are applied to an image capturing device for capturing a raw image. The method includes the steps. An image processing procedure is performed on the raw image to generate a registered image. A first sharpness enhancement table and a second sharpness enhancement table respectively sharpness attenuation at an outer-edge region and a central region of the registered image are loaded, and a range between the outer-edge region and the central region is defined as a plurality of critical regions. A sharpness enhancement weight table is loaded, and weight values of each critical region respectively corresponding to the first sharpness enhancement table and the second sharpness enhancement table are searched, for obtaining a sharpness enhanced value of each critical region. An image sharpness processing procedure is performed on the critical region, for correct the registered image into a digital image.

Abstract: An image processing method for removing a noise component contained in an original image includes: smoothing a noise component contained in an original image on a temporary basis by using a noise fluctuation index value; extracting a temporary noise component free of a non-noise component based upon a differential signal representing a difference between the original image and a smoothed image; extracting an actual noise component by further excluding a component less likely to be a noise component from the extracted temporary noise component by comparing the extracted temporary noise component with the noise fluctuation index value again; and removing noise from the original image based upon the extracted actual noise component having been extracted.

Abstract: There is provided an edge detecting method, which is capable of preventing a noise influence caused by imaging device and a color interpolation. The edge detecting method includes the steps of: setting a first kernel based on a center pixel in pixel data arranged in a mosaic structure; setting a second kernel based on the center pixel within the first kernel; detecting whether a pixel having a green value in the second kernel is a defective pixel, and correcting the pixel; converting all pixels of the second kernel into pixels having green value; calculating a slope value by using a mask for detecting an edge in the second kernel; and detecting an edge by adding the slope value to a luminance value obtained by a color space conversion.