Image processing apparatus and image capture apparatus

• US 20060284992A1
• Filed: 06/07/2006
• Published: 12/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kinoshita, Masaya
• Application Number:
  US11/448,315
• Publication Number:
  US 20060284992A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/226.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/70 Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/745 Detection of flicker frequency or suppression of flicker wherein the flicker is caused by illumination, e.g. due to fluorescent tube illumination or pulsed LED illumination

Abstract

An image processing apparatus for processing an image signal includes an integrator configured to acquire the image signal during each detection period having a length equal to or longer than one cycle of flicker occurring on an image under illumination of a fluorescent lamp, and to integrate the acquired image signal in a unit of time equal to one horizontal synchronization period or longer; and a flicker detector configured to estimate a flicker component on the basis of a frequency analysis result obtained in the unit of each detection period by using an integral result obtained by the integrator.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus for processing an image signal, comprising:

integration means for acquiring the image signal during each detection period having a length equal to or longer than one cycle of flicker occurring on an image under illumination of a fluorescent lamp, and for integrating the acquired image signal in a unit of time equal to one horizontal synchronization period or longer; and

flicker detection means for estimating a flicker component on the basis of a frequency analysis result obtained in the unit of each detection period by using an integral result obtained by the integration means.

2. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

reference signal output means for generating a reference signal which gives timing for each detection period, irrespective of a present picture rate of the image signal, on the basis of an enable signal indicative of an image signal effective period in a vertical direction for a picture rate at which a picture switching cycle is longer than one cycle of flicker, and for supplying the reference signal to the integration means and the flicker detection means.

3. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

in a case where the detection period spreads over a plurality of frames or a plurality of fields, the integration means outputs a value interpolated from an integral result obtained before and after a vertical blanking period within the detection period, as an integral result during the vertical blanking period.

4. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

in a case where the detection period spreads over a plurality of frames or a plurality of fields, the integration means continues to output the same value as an integral result obtained immediately before a vertical blanking period within the detection period, during the vertical blanking period.

5. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

in a case where the detection period spreads over a plurality of frames or a plurality of fields, the integration means continues to output a constant value as an integral result during a vertical blanking period within the detection period.

6. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

correction means for correcting the image signal so as to cancel the flicker component estimated by the flicker detection means.

7. An image processing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

buffer means for temporarily storing an estimated result of the flicker component by the flicker detection means during each detection period and for sequentially supplying data stored during each detection period to the correction means.

8. An image processing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

buffer means for, in a case where the detection period spreads over a plurality of frames or a plurality of fields, temporarily holding an estimated result of the flicker component by the flicker detection means in a frame unit or a field unit with the estimated result being optimized in phase, selecting a storage area of a frame unit or a field unit corresponding to an image signal inputted to the correction means, and sequentially supplying data of the storage area to the correction means.

9. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the flicker detection means normalizes an integral value supplied from the integration means or a difference value between integral values respectively obtained during adjacent detection periods, outputs a normalized integral value or a normalized difference value, extracts a spectrum of the normalized integral value or the normalized difference value, and estimates the flicker component from the spectrum.

10. An image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein:

the flicker detection means normalizes the difference value by dividing the difference value by an average value of integral values obtained during a plurality of successive detection periods.

11. An image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein:

the flicker detection means normalizes the difference value by dividing the difference value by the integral value.

12. An image capture apparatus for capturing an image by using an XY address type of solid-state image capture device, comprising:

integration means for acquiring an image signal obtained by image capture, during each detection period having a length equal to or longer than one cycle of flicker occurring on an image under illumination of a fluorescent lamp, and for integrating the acquired image signal in a unit of time equal to one horizontal synchronization period or longer; and

flicker detection means for estimating a flicker component on the basis of a frequency analysis result obtained in the unit of each detection period by using an integral result obtained by the integration means.

13. An image processing method for detecting flicker occurring on an image under illumination of a fluorescent lamp, comprising:

acquiring an image signal during each detection period having a length equal to or longer than one cycle of the flicker;

integrating the acquired image signal in a unit of time equal to one horizontal synchronization period or longer; and

estimating a flicker component on the basis of a frequency analysis result obtained in the unit of each detection period by using an integral result obtained by the integrating step.

14. An image processing apparatus for processing an image signal, comprising:

an integrator configured to acquire the image signal during each detection period having a length equal to or longer than one cycle of flicker occurring on an image under illumination of a fluorescent lamp, and to integrate the acquired image signal in a unit of time equal to one horizontal synchronization period or longer; and

a flicker detector configured to estimate a flicker component on the basis of a frequency analysis result obtained in the unit of each detection period by using an integral result obtained by the integrator.