IMAGE CAPTURE APPARATUS AND PROGRAM

• US 20090284609A1
• Filed: 04/16/2009
• Published: 11/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: MATSUNAGA, Kazuhisa
• Granted Patent: US 8,711,230 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/208.120
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/68 for stable pick-up of the scene, e.g. compensating for camera body vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6812 based on additional sensors, e.g. acceleration sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/687 by shifting the lens or sensor position
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/67 applied to fixed-pattern noise, e.g. non-uniformity of response

Abstract

An image capture apparatus shifts an image sensor at each shooting initiation time in the continuous-shoot mode in the event of a camera-shake in response to a control signal which reflects an offset signal indicating pixel shifting information in a compensating signal indicating shake compensating information. Thereby, a change in the shooting range of the image sensor due to the camera-shake is mostly compensated for and the shooting range is changed by one pixel at each shooting. Thus, even in the event of a camera-shake, the distance between a feature portion of a main subject and a fixed pattern noise can be made different for each of continuously shot images. As a result, even in the event of the camera-shake, a composite image having fixed pattern noises scattered can be obtained by combining continuously shot images with reference to the feature portion.

Claims

1. An image capture apparatus comprising:

an image capture unit configured to shoot a subject a number of times with an image sensor to produce a plurality of images in which fixed pattern noises may have been generated;

a compensating unit configured to compensate for a displacement of the shooting range of the image sensor due to a camera-shake and shifting the image sensor so that the shooting range of the image sensor varies at each image capture time; and

an image combining unit configured to combine the plurality of images with reference to specific corresponding portions of the images to create a composite image which is an averaged version of the plurality of images.

2. The image capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the compensating unit includes a first output unit configured to detect a camera-shake and output shake compensating information to compensate for a displacement in position of the image sensor due to a camera-shake, a second output unit configured to output pixel shifting information to shift the image sensor, a calculation unit configured to calculate shift information of the image sensor which reflects the shake compensating information and the pixel shifting information, and a drive unit configured to shift the image sensor in accordance with the shift information calculated by the calculation unit.

3. The image capture apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second output unit is configured to output pixel shifting information to shift the image sensor in a given direction at the first-image shooting time and to output pixel shifting information to shift the image sensor in the direction opposite to the given direction at the second-image shooting time and thereafter.

4. The image capture apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the second output unit is configured to output pixel shifting information to shift the image sensor in a given direction by a first shift amount at the first-image shooting time and to output pixel shifting information to shift the image sensor in the direction opposite to the given direction by a second shift amount smaller than the first shift amount at the second-image shooting time and thereafter.

5. The image capture apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the second output unit is configured to output the pixel shifting information only at each image shooting initiation time.

6. The image capture apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an extraction unit configured to extract corresponding feature portions from each of the images produced by the image capture unit, and wherein the image combining unit is configured to combine the images with reference to the corresponding feature portions extracted by the extraction unit to create the composite image which is an averaged version of the plurality of images.

7. The image capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image combining unit is configured to combine the images with reference to specific corresponding portions of the images so that brightness and color difference values of the composite image are average values of brightness and color difference values of the plurality of images.

8. The image capture apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an erase unit configured to erase an image in which the main subject is not taken of the plurality of images produced by the image capture unit, and the image combining unit is configured to combine other images than that image in which the main subject is not taken with reference to the feature portions extracted by the extraction unit to create a composite image which is an average version of the images.

9. The image capture apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second output unit is configured to output pixel shifting information for shifting the position of the image sensor by at least a number of pixels corresponding to a pattern width of the fixed pattern noise.

10. An image capture apparatus comprising:

image capture means for shooting a subject a number of times with an image sensor to produce a plurality of images in which fixed pattern noises may have been generated;

compensating means for compensating for a displacement of the shooting range of the image sensor due to a camera-shake and shifting the image sensor so that the shooting range of the image sensor varies at each image capture time; and

image combining means for combining the plurality of images with reference to specific corresponding portions of the images to create a composite image which is an averaged version of the plurality of images.

11. A computer readable recording medium recorded with a program which causes a computer including image capture means for shooting the image of a subject a number of times using an image sensor to produce a plurality of images in which fixed pattern noises have been generated and drive means for shifting the image sensor to carry out a compensating process of compensating for a displacement of the shooting range of the image sensor due to a camera-shake and causing the drive means to shift the image sensor so that the shooting range of the image sensor varies at each image shooting time, and an image combining process of combining the plurality of images with reference to specific corresponding portions of the images to create a composite image which is an averaged version of the plurality of images.