IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE

• US 20090115860A1
• Filed: 04/05/2007
• Published: 05/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakashima, Toshiyuki, Miyake, Kazunaga, Nishizawa, Masato
• Application Number:
  US12/091,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20090115860A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/208.990
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/68 for stable pick-up of the scene, e.g. compensating for camera body vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6811 based on the image signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/683 performed by a processor, e.g. controlling the readout of an image memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6845 by combination of a plurality of images sequentially taken
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/73 by influencing the exposure time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/743 Bracketing, i.e. taking a series of images with varying exposure conditions

Abstract

The present invention provides an image pickup device which is lower in production cost and smaller in size than the conventional image pickup device.

The image pickup device 1 comprises an image sensor 12 having an acceptance surface to pick up an image focused on the acceptance surface via a lens 11, an image stabilization section 13 for stabilizing the image by compensating a blur occurring in the image on the basis of at least two different images picked up by the image sensor 12 exposed for respective different exposure times, and an output section 14 for outputting the stabilized image. The image stabilization section 13 includes an appropriate exposure image obtaining section 21 for obtaining an appropriate exposure image i_a picked up by the image sensor 12 exposed for an appropriate exposure time, a short-time exposure image obtaining section 22 for obtaining an short-time exposure image i_s picked up by the image sensor 12 exposed for a short exposure time shorter than the appropriate exposure time, an image stabilization trajectory calculating section 23 for calculating an image stabilization trajectory of the appropriate exposure image, and a stabilized image producing section 24 for producing the stabilized image i_c on the basis of the appropriate exposure image i_a and the image stabilization trajectory.

Claims

1. An image pickup device comprising:

an image sensor having an acceptance surface to pick up an image focused on said acceptance surface;

an image stabilization section for stabilizing said image by compensating a blur occurring in said image on the basis of at least two different images picked up by said image sensor exposed for each different exposure time; and

an output section for outputting said stabilized image.

2. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said image stabilization section includes:

an appropriate exposure image obtaining section for obtaining an appropriate exposure image from said image sensor exposed for an appropriate exposure time;

a short-time exposure image obtaining section for obtaining a short-time exposure image from said image sensor exposed for a short exposure time shorter than said appropriate exposure time;

an image stabilization trajectory calculating section for calculating an image stabilization trajectory of said appropriate exposure image on the basis of said appropriate and short-time exposure images; and

a stabilized image producing section for producing said stabilized image on the basis of said appropriate exposure image and said image stabilization trajectory.

3. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 2, wherein

said image sensor has a pixel region formed with a plurality of pixels;

and

said appropriate and short-time exposure image obtaining sections are designed to obtain said respective appropriate and short-time exposure images from a specific region constituting a part of said pixel region.

4. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 3, wherein

said appropriate and short-time exposure image obtaining sections are designed to read data of said specific region from said image sensor to obtain said respective appropriate and short-time exposure images.

5. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 3, further comprising

a high frequency region detecting section for detecting said specific region from said pixel region, said high frequency region having a spatial frequency higher than a predetermined spatial frequency.

6. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 2, further comprising

a pixel resetting section for resetting all of said pixels of said pixel region at a predetermined short time after said short-time exposure image is obtained.

7. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 2, wherein

said image stabilization trajectory calculating section is designed to perform Fourier transforms on said respective appropriate and short-time exposure images, and divide said transformed short-time exposure image by said transformed appropriate exposure image to calculate said image stabilization trajectory in a frequency domain.

8. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 2, wherein

said image stabilization trajectory calculating section is designed to perform Fourier transforms on said respective appropriate and short-time exposure images, divide said transformed appropriate exposure image by said transformed short-time exposure image to calculate a blur trajectory, perform a thinning on said blur trajectory, and calculate said image stabilization trajectory in a frequency domain on the basis of said thinned blur trajectory.

9. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 7, wherein

said stabilized image producing section is designed to perform an inverse Fourier transform on said image stabilization trajectory in said frequency domain, and convolve said image stabilization trajectory transformed by the inverse Fourier transform with said appropriate exposure image obtained by said appropriate exposure image obtaining section to produce said stabilized image.

10. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 7, wherein

said stabilized image producing section is designed to multiply said appropriate exposure image transformed by the Fourier transform of said image stabilization trajectory calculating section by said image stabilization trajectory in said frequency domain, and perform an inverse Fourier transform on said multiplied appropriate exposure image to produce said stabilized image.

11. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 2, wherein:

said image stabilization trajectory calculating section includes

an image reducing section for performing spatial resolution conversions to reduce said appropriate and short-time exposure images,

a reduced image stabilization section for stabilizing said reduced appropriate exposure image on the basis of said reduced appropriate and short-time exposure images, and

a difference image calculating section for calculating a difference between said appropriate exposure image reduced by said image reducing section and said appropriate exposure image stabilized by said reduced image stabilization section to obtain a difference image; and

said stabilized image producing section includes

a difference image magnifying and adding section for magnifying said difference image and adding said magnified difference image to said appropriate exposure image obtained by said appropriate exposure image obtaining section.

12. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 2, wherein

said image stabilization section includes

a noise-cancellation section for cancelling noise from said appropriate and short-time exposure images, and

said image stabilization trajectory calculating section is designed to calculate said image stabilization trajectory on the basis of said noise-cancelled appropriate and short-time exposure images.

13. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 12, wherein

said noise-cancellation section is constituted by a high cut filter having a cutoff frequency between 5 and 20 Hz.

14. An image pickup device as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said image stabilization section includes:

a short-time exposure image obtaining section for obtaining a plurality of short-time exposure images from said image sensor exposed for short exposure time;

an image stabilization trajectory calculating section for calculating an image stabilization trajectory intended for any of said short-time exposure images on the basis of said plurality of short-time exposure images; and

a stabilized image producing section for producing said stabilized image on the basis of said intended short-time exposure image and said image stabilization trajectory.