Image pickup apparatus and camera-shake correcting method therefor

• US 20050088532A1
• Filed: 10/14/2004
• Published: 04/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nomura, Hirofumi
• Granted Patent: US 7,463,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/208.600
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/68 for stable pick-up of the scene, e.g. compensating for camera body vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/682 Vibration or motion blur correction

Abstract

An image pickup apparatus that is capable of generating a still image whose S/N ratio is improved without narrowing the angle of view includes an image pickup having an image pickup element, in which an area for camera-shake correction is absent, for picking up an image of a subject; a camera-shake correcting unit for correcting picked-up image data of the image pickup according to a camera-shake component applied to the image pickup; and a still image generating unit having a function for determining whether a camera-shake image is present in an image pickup area of the image pickup and operative to find, for each coordinate point, an average of a cumulatively added image in which image data corrected by the camera-shake correcting unit within a predetermined time are added together, so as to generate a still image.

Claims

1. An image pickup apparatus comprising:

image pickup means having an image pickup element in which an area for camera-shake correction is absent, for picking up an image of a subject;

camera-shake correcting means for correcting picked-up image data of said image pickup means according to a camera-shake component applied to said image pickup means; and

still image generating means for determining whether a camera-shake image is present in an image pickup area of said image pickup means, and for finding, for each coordinate point, an average of a cumulatively added image in which image data corrected by said camera-shake correcting means within a predetermined time are added together, so as to generate a still image.

2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by performing no addition on image data at a coordinate point where a camera-shake image is determined to be absent in said image pickup area.

3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said still image generating means comprises counting means for counting a number of additions of said image data, and causing said counting means to perform addition counting when it is determined that a camera-shake image is present in said image pickup area.

4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein said still image generating means comprises counting means for counting a number of additions of said image data, and causing said counting means to perform additional counting when it is determined that a camera-shake image is present in said image pickup area.

5. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said still image generating means is characterized by, as to the first frame of the predetermined time, introducing picked-up data from said image pickup means and performing addition on said picked-up data.

6. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein said still image generating means is characterized by, as to the first frame of the predetermined time, introducing picked-up data from said image pickup means and performing addition on said picked-up data.

7. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein said still image generating means is characterized by, as to the first frame of the predetermined time, introducing picked-up data from said image pickup means and performing addition on said picked-up data.

8. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein said still image generating means is characterized by, as to the first frame of the predetermined time, introducing picked-up data from said image pickup means and performing addition on said picked-up data.

9. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said still image generating means is characterized by finding the average by dividing said cumulatively added image for each coordinate point by the number of additions when it is determined that said camera-shake image is present.

10. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein said still image generating means is characterized by finding the average by dividing said cumulatively added image for each coordinate point by the number of additions when it is determined that said camera-shake image is present.

11. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein said still image generating means is characterized by finding the average by dividing said cumulatively added image for each coordinate point by the number of additions when it is determined that said camera-shake image is present.

12. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein said still image generating means is characterized by finding the average by dividing said cumulatively added image for each coordinate point by the number of additions when it is determined that said camera-shake image is present.

13. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein said still image generating means is characterized by finding the average by dividing said cumulatively added image for each coordinate point by the number of additions when it is determined that said camera-shake image is present.

14. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said still image generating means is characterized by finding the average by dividing said cumulatively added image for each coordinate point by the number of additions when it is determined that said camera-shake image is present.

15. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 7,

wherein said still image generating means is characterized by finding the 5 average by dividing said cumulatively added image for each coordinate point by the number of additions when it is determined that said camera-shake image is present.

16. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 8,

wherein said still image generating means is characterized by finding the average by dividing said cumulatively added image for each coordinate point by the number of additions when it is determined that said camera-shake image is present.

17. A camera-shake correcting method for an image pickup apparatus using an image pickup having an image pickup element in which an area for camera-shake correction is absent, for picking up an image of a subject, said method comprising:

a camera-shake correcting step of correcting picked-up image data of said image pickup according to a camera-shake component applied to said image pickup;

a cumulative addition step of performing addition on data of an image corrected in said camera-shake correcting step within a predetermined time;

a decision step of determining whether a camera-shake image is present in an image pickup area of said image pickup;

a counting step of counting, for each coordinate point of said image, a number of times by which said camera-shake image is determined to be present within the predetermined time; and

a division step of dividing a cumulatively added image subjected to the addition in said cumulative addition step, by the number of times counted in said counting step for each coordinate point.

18. The camera-shake correcting method according to claim 17,

wherein said cumulative addition step is characterized by, as to the first frame of said predetermined time, introducing picked-up data from said image pickup and performing addition on said picked-up data.