IMAGING DEVICE

• US 20120033047A1
• Filed: 08/02/2011
• Published: 02/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yano, Shuji, Harada, Nakaba
• Granted Patent: US 8,786,677 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/46
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/646 compensating for small deviations, e.g. due to vibration or shake movement of one or more optical elements for control of motion blur in cameras, projectors or printers G03B2205/0007; image stabilisation in cameras peculiar to the presence or use of an electronic image sensor H04N23/68
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 7/102 controlled by a microcomputer cameras with interchangeable lenses G03B17/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6812 based on additional sensors, e.g. acceleration sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/685 performed by mechanical compensation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/60 Noise processing, e.g. detecting, correcting, reducing or removing noise

Abstract

An imaging device is provided that comprises a movement detection component configured to detect movement of the imaging device based on a force imparted to the imaging device, an imaging component configured to produce image data by capturing a subject image, a movement vector detection component configured to detect a movement vector based on a plurality of sets of image data produced by the imaging component, and a three-dimensional NR component configured to reduce a noise included in first image data produced by the imaging component, based on second image data produced earlier than the first image data, wherein the three-dimensional NR component is configured to decide whether to correct the second image data in response to the detection result of the movement vector detection component, based on both the detection result of the movement detection component and the detection result of the movement vector detection component.

Claims

1. An imaging device, comprising:

movement detection component configured to detect movement of the imaging device on the basis of force imparted to the imaging device;

imaging component configured to produce image data by capturing a subject image;

movement vector detection component configured to detect a movement vector on the basis of a plurality of sets of image data produced by the imaging component; and

three-dimensional NR component configured to reduce a noise included in first image data produced by the imaging component, on the basis of second image data produced earlier than the first image data, and

the three-dimensional NR component configured to decide whether or not to correct the second image data in response to the detection result of the movement vector detection component, on the basis of both the detection result of the movement detection component and the detection result of the movement vector detection component.

2. The imaging device according to claim 1, wherein

the three-dimensional NR component is configured to correct the second image data in response to the detection result of the movement vector detection component when the movement detection component has detected that the imaging device is moving and the movement vector detection component has detected that the movement vector has at least a specific magnitude.

3. The imaging device according to claim 1, wherein

the three-dimensional NR component is configured not to correct the second image data in response to the detection result of the movement vector detection component when either the movement detection component has detected that the imaging device is not moving or the movement vector detection component has detected that the movement vector has less than a specific magnitude.

4. The imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising

electronic zoom component configured to change the zoom ratio by changing the cropping range for image data produced by the imaging component, and

the three-dimensional NR component configured to change an upper limit of a correction amount of the second image data on the basis of the zoom ratio of the electronic zoom component, and the three-dimensional NR component configured to correct the second image data in response to the detection result of the movement vector detection component.

5. An imaging device, comprising:

imaging component configured to produce image data by capturing a subject image;

movement vector detection component configured to detect a movement vector on the basis of a plurality of sets of image data produced by the imaging component; and

three-dimensional NR component configured to reduce a noise included in first image data produced by the imaging component, on the basis of second image data produced earlier than the first image data and corrected in response to the detection result of the movement vector detection component;

two-dimensional NR component configured to reduce the noise included in the first image data in response to information contained in the first image data;

region setting component configured to set a first region in which the noise is reduced by the three-dimensional NR component, and a second region in which the noise is reduced by the two-dimensional NR component, in the image data produced by the imaging component; and

control component configured to control the region setting component to set the first region and the second region, on the basis of the detection result of the movement vector detection component.

6. The imaging device according to claim 5, wherein

the region setting component is configured to further set a third region in which the noise is reduced by both the two-dimensional NR component and the three-dimensional NR component, and

the control component is configured to control the region setting component to set the first region and the second region and the third region, on the basis of the detection result of the movement vector detection component.