IMAGE PROCESSOR

• US 20140232908A1
• Filed: 04/29/2013
• Published: 08/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: CHIAKI, Hisako, KISHIDA, Yuki, KUNISUE, Katsuji, ASADA, Ryoji
• Granted Patent: US 9,232,120 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/241
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/00 Image enhancement or restoration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/74 by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/531 by controlling rolling shutters in CMOS SSIS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/60 Noise processing, e.g. detecting, correcting, reducing or removing noise
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/62 Detection or reduction of noise due to excess charges produced by the exposure, e.g. smear, blooming, ghost image, crosstalk or leakage between pixels

Abstract

Disclosed is an image processor that reduces or eliminates the effects of a flash band regardless of performing a shutter operation or not. An imaging device includes a flash band detector configured to determine whether each image of the consecutive images shown by image signals output from an imager is a flash band image a part of which is affected by a flash, and a flash band compensator configured to, if a first image is determined as the flash band image, generate a third image which is supposed where the third image is fully affected by a flash by using a second image which is not determined as the flash band image, and output the third image instead of the first image.

Claims

1. A image processor processing consecutive images, the image processor comprising:

a determiner configured to determine whether each image of the consecutive images is a flash band image a part of which is affected by a flash; and

a compensator configured to, if a first image is determined as the flash band image by the determiner, generate a third image which is supposed where the third image is fully affected by a flash by using a second image which is not determined as the flash band image, and output the third image instead of the first image.

2. The image processor of claim 1, wherein

the compensator has

a memory configured to record the latest image which is not determined as the flash band image by the determiner, and

a generator configured to generate the third image by using the image recorded in the memory.

3. The image processor of claim 1, wherein

the compensator generates the third image by at least multiplying a gain value by the second image or adding an offset value to the second image.

4. The image processor of claim 3, wherein

at least one of the gain value or the offset value is variable depending on a pixel value of each pixel.

5. The image processor of claim 3, wherein

at least one of the gain value or the offset value is variable depending on a degree of an effect of the flash.

6. The image processor of claim 1, wherein

the compensator generates the third image from the second image by using a lookup table.

7. The image processor of claim 1, wherein

after the number of consecutive flash band images reaches a predetermined number, the compensator further outputs consecutive flash band images without any change after compensating for the predetermined number of the consecutive flash band images.