Single sensor color video camera with blurring filter
First Claim
1. Video apparatus for converting light from an image into an electrical signal and for processing the electrical signal, comprising:
- sensing means for generating the electrical signal from a blurred likeness of the image light;
color filter means for partially blocking light of a particular color from activating said sensing means; and
electrical filter means for processing the electrical signal according to a set of weighting coefficients that are selected so as to generate a filtered signal representative of the brightness distribution of said light of said particular color that is blocked by said color filter means.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A single sensor video camera includes an optical blurring filter having a known spatial (or frequency) function and a color filter interposed between the blurring filter and an image sensor. The color filter has red and blue filter elements intermingled among a majority of green elements. An accurate estimate of the blurred green light blocked by the non-green elements is recovered by applying the image signal from the sensor to a digital filter and substituting the resultant signal for the missing green portions. The coefficients of the filter are selected in an optimization process that seeks to match the known function of the blurring filter to a like function of the digital filter (as represented by the coefficients). To do this the color filter must be configured to provide at least two green samples on either side of a non-green element.
66 Citations
17 Claims
-
1. Video apparatus for converting light from an image into an electrical signal and for processing the electrical signal, comprising:
-
sensing means for generating the electrical signal from a blurred likeness of the image light; color filter means for partially blocking light of a particular color from activating said sensing means; and electrical filter means for processing the electrical signal according to a set of weighting coefficients that are selected so as to generate a filtered signal representative of the brightness distribution of said light of said particular color that is blocked by said color filter means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. Video apparatus for converting light into an electrical signal and for processing the electrical signal, comprising:
-
a sensor for generating the electrical signal corresponding to the brightness of light striking said sensor; an optical filter for blurring the light directed to said sensor according to a known response function; a color filter, interposed between said optical filter and said sensor, said color filter having a plurality of filter elements that pass certain colors and block others, the elements being so arranged along one dimension that an element blocking a selected color is surrounded by at least four elements, two on either side thereof, that pass said selected color; means for sampling the electrical signal; filter means for generating a filtered signal from a linear combination of samples from a string thereof corresponding to said at least four elements surrounding said filter element blocking said selected color, the samples being weighted according to a set of coefficients that are selected in a process that substantially equates them to the response function of said optical filter; and means for substituting the filtered signal for that portion of the electrical signal corresponding to the filter element blocking said selected color. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
-
-
12. A video camera of the type that generates a signal corresponding to selected light of a particular color received from areas of a scene, said camera comprising:
-
an image sensor having a plurality of photosites corresponding spatially to areas of the scene; an optical filter that spreads light from each scene area over a region occupied by several photosites according to known spatial and frequency response functions; a spectrally-selective filter interposed between said image sensor and said optical filter, said spectrally-selective filter having one type of filter element that blocks the selected light and another type of filter element that passes the selected light; means for generating an image signal corresponding to the selected light striking said image sensor, said signal comprising periods during which the selected light is not received on said sensor and other periods during which the selected light is received through the light-passing filter elements; a digital filter characterized by a set of weighting coefficients capable of approximately reconstructing the spatial response function of said optical filter when convolved therewith or the frequency response function when multiplied therewith; means for applying the image signal to said digital filter and for obtaining a filtered signal therefrom; and means for substituting said filtered signal for the signal periods during which the selected light is not received.
-
-
13. A color video camera of the type that generates a signal corresponding to colored light received from areas of the scene, said camera comprising:
-
an image sensor having a plurality of photosites corresponding spatially to areas of the scene; an optical filter that spreads light received from each scene area over a sensor region occupied by several photosites according to a known response function; a color selective filter interposed between said image sensor and said optical filter, said color filter having one type of filter element that blocks light of a selected color and another type of filter element that passes light of said selected color; means for generating an image signal corresponding to light striking said image sensor, said signal comprising a sequence of samples corresponding to the light striking discrete photosites, including photosites for which said color filter blocks light of the selected color; means for filtering said image signal by generating a filtered signal from a linear combination of the image samples and weighting each sample according to a function that approximates the effect of the optical filter response function upon the scene; and means for substituting the filtered signal for the image signal during sample periods for which said color filter blocks light of the selected color.
-
-
14. A single sensor color video camera of the type that generates a luminance signal from the green information in a scene and a color signal from a combination of the green information with other color information in the scene, said camera comprising:
-
an optical filter that generates a blurred image of the scene according to known spatial and frequency characteristics; a color filter having at least twice as many green filter elements as non-green filter elements, said color filter elements forming a line pattern in which substantially all non-green filter elements are separated by at least two green filter elements; an image sensor having photosensitive image sites that correspond spatially to said filter elements; means for so arranging said color filter between said optical filter and said image sensor that green light spatially corresponding to a non-green filter element is blurred and spread over several filter elements, said several filter elements including a non-green filter element and a green element on either side thereof; means for recovering an image signal from said image sensor; and an electrical filter for processing said image signal, said filter comprising means for assembling a linear combination of weighted samples of said image signal, said linear combination being weighted according to a set of coefficients so selected that the convolution of the spatial characteristic of said optical filter with the spatial characteristic of said electrical filter, or the multiplication of the frequency characteristic of said optical filter with the frequency characteristic of said electrical filter, approximately reproduces the corresponding spatial or frequency characteristic of said optical filter. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
-
-
17. A digital filter for use with a color video system in which a color selective signal representative of areas of a scene is generated by the combination of:
-
an optical filter for blurring light received from the scene according to a known spread function; an image sensor having many photosites for generating a discrete set of signals from the blurred light; and a color filter interposed between the optical filter and the image sensor, said color filter having an array of filter elements permitting light of a particular color to strike a majority of photosites of the image sensor and blocking said colored light from a minority of photosites; said digital filter characterized by means for generating a linear combination of said discrete signals according to a set of weighting coefficients applied to said signals, the weighting coefficients selected so that said known spread function is substantially replicated when said selected coefficients are convolved with said known spread function.
-
Specification