IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE, FLASH IMAGE GENERATING METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEMORY MEDIUM

• US 20100157085A1
• Filed: 12/15/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: SASAKI, Masaaki
• Granted Patent: US 8,462,217 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/222.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/002 Denoising; Smoothing noise processing or correction adapted to be used in an image pickup device containing and electronic image sensor H04N23/81, H04N25/60 - H04N25/67
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/70 Denoising; Smoothing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/61 based on recognised objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/68 for stable pick-up of the scene, e.g. compensating for camera body vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/74 by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/272 Means for inserting a foreground image in a background image, i.e. inlay, outlay

Abstract

When a displacement between a reference flame of a plurality of images acquired by continuous image pickup and a target flame is less than a first threshold indicating that such a flame is not likely to be affected by occlusion, smoothing is performed on an object area through a morphological operation with a normal process amount. Conversely, when a displacement between the reference flame of the plurality of images acquired by continuous image pickup and a target flame is larger than or equal to the first threshold, smoothing is performed with the process amount of morphological operation being increased than a normal process amount.

Claims

1. An image pickup device comprising:

an image pickup unit which generates a plurality of continuously picked-up images by image pickup;

an object extracting unit which extracts a plurality of images each representing a moving object part from individual picked-up images generated by the image pickup unit;

a background image generating unit which generates a background image from the plurality of picked-up images generated by the image pickup unit;

a flash image generating unit which synthesizes the background image generated by the background image generating unit with the plurality of images each representing the object part extracted by the object extracting unit to generate a flash image;

a displacement detecting unit which detects a displacement between predetermined images among the plurality of picked-up images; and

an image smoothing unit which performs smoothing on the image by a process amount in accordance with the displacement detected by the displacement detecting unit.

2. The image pickup device according to claim 1, wherein the larger the displacement detected by the displacement detecting unit is, the more the image smoothing unit increases the process amount of smoothing.

3. The image pickup device according to claim 1, wherein the image smoothing unit changes a number of execution times of smoothing based on a comparison of the displacement detected by the displacement detecting unit with a threshold.

4. The image pickup device according to claim 1, wherein the image smoothing unit changes a number of execution times of smoothing based on a value acquired by multiplying the displacement detected by the displacement detecting unit by a coefficient.

5. The image pickup device according to claim 1, wherein the image smoothing unit performs smoothing through a morphological operation, and the image smoothing unit changes the process amount of smoothing by changing a structuring element used for the morphological operation based on the displacement detected by the displacement detecting unit.

6. The image pickup device according to claim 5, wherein the image smoothing unit changes a size of the structuring element based on the displacement.

7. The image pickup device according to claim 1, wherein the displacement detecting unit acquires the displacement when the picked-up images are aligned one another, and the image pickup device further comprises an image selecting unit which excludes, when the displacement detected by the displacement detecting unit is larger than or equal to a predetermined threshold, an image having that detected displacement from a candidate of synthesis by the flash image generating unit.

8. The image pickup device according to claim 1, further comprising a sensor unit which detects a movement of the image pickup device, and wherein the displacement detecting unit detects a displacement between flames based on a detection result acquired by the sensor unit.

9. A flash image generating method of generating a flash image from a plurality of continuous images in which images of a moving object are picked up using a device which executes an image processing, the method comprising;

an object extracting step of causing the device to extract a plurality of images each representing the moving object part from the plurality of continuous images;

a background image generating step of causing the device to generate a background image from the plurality of continuous images;

a displacement detecting step of causing the device to detect a displacement between predetermined images among the plurality of continuous images;

an image smoothing step of causing the device to perform smoothing on an image extracted in the object extracting step by a process amount in accordance with the displacement detected in the displacement detecting step; and

a flash image generating step of causing the device to synthesize the background image generated in the background image generating step with the plurality of images each representing the object part extracted in the object extracting step to generate a flash image.

10. A computer-readable memory medium storing a program which allows a computer to realize:

a function of acquiring a plurality of continuous images in which images of a moving object are picked up;

a function of extracting a plurality of images each representing a moving object part from the plurality of continuous images;

a function of generating a background image from the plurality of continuous images;

a function of detecting a displacement between predetermined images among the plurality of continuous images;

a function of performing smoothing on the extracted image by a process amount in accordance with the detected displacement; and

a function of synthesizing the generated background image with the plurality of images each representing the object part to generate a flash image.