Electronic blurring compensation device and electronic blurring compensation method

• US 7,961,233 B2
• Filed: 01/19/2007
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OM Digital Solutions Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation, Olympus Imaging Corporation (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamasaki, Masafumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan; Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): PRABHAKHER, PRITHAM DAVID
• Application Number:
  US11/655,592
• Publication Number:
  US 20070195180A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,607 Days
• Field of Search: 348246-250, 34820899-20813, 348/362
• US Class Current: 348/248
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/68 for stable pick-up of the scene, e.g. compensating for camera body vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6845 by combination of a plurality of images sequentially taken

Abstract

The present invention provides an electronic blurring compensation device applied to a digital camera that includes an angular rate sensor for detecting blurring of an image, an solid-state image pickup element for shooting continuously over time a plurality of images, compensating mutual blurring of the plurality of shot images in accordance with the amount of blurring detected by the angular rate sensor, and generating one image by synthesizing the plurality of compensated images, and a CPU for controlling the number of continuous shootings by the solid-state image pickup element such that the total amount of blurring over the plurality of continuously shot images falls within a previously set predetermined value.

Claims

1. An electronic blurring compensation device for compensating blurring of a plurality of images shot in a time-division manner and synthesizing the compensated images, the device comprising:

a shooting section for continuously shooting a plurality of images based on a blurring exposure time in which blurring is allowable;

a control section for

obtaining a number k, where k is a number of times for shooting the plurality of images such that an area where all of the continuously shot images overlap one another has a size not smaller than a predetermined size set in advance, based on an exposure time obtained by multiplying a reciprocal of a focal length of a shooting lens by a predetermined coefficient set in advance and the blurring exposure time in which blurring is allowable, and

obtaining the plurality of images to be synthesized by performing shooting not more than k times;

a blurring compensation section for compensating mutual blurring of the plurality of images to be synthesized obtained by the control section; and

an image synthesize section for synthesizing the plurality of images compensated by the blurring compensation section.

2. The electronic blurring compensation device according to claim 1, wherein the control section performs shooting by a number of times m, which is obtained based on an exposure time for obtaining an appropriate exposure and the exposure time in which blurring is allowable, or the number of times k, whichever is smaller.

3. An electronic blurring compensation method for compensating blurring of a plurality of images shot in a time-division manner and synthesizing the compensated images, the method comprising:

continuously shooting by a shooting section a plurality of images based on a blurring exposure time in which blurring is allowable;

obtaining by a control section

a number k, where k is a number of times for shooting the plurality of images such that an area where all of the continuously shot images overlap one another has a size not smaller than a predetermined size set in advance, based on an exposure time obtained by multiplying a reciprocal of a focal length of a shooting lens by a predetermined coefficient set in advance and the blurring exposure time in which blurring is allowable, and

the plurality of images to be synthesized by performing shooting not more than k times;

compensating by a blurring compensation section mutual blurring of the plurality of images to be synthesized obtained by the control section; and

synthesizing by an image synthesize section the plurality of images compensated by the blurring compensation section.

4. An electronic blurring compensation device for compensating blurring of a plurality of images shot in a time-division manner, the device comprising:

a control section for determining, based on an exposure time obtained by multiplying a reciprocal of a focal length of a shooting lens by a predetermined coefficient set in advance and a blurring exposure time in which blurring is allowable, a number k, where k is a number of images to be continuously shot such that an area where all of the continuously shot images overlap one another has a size not smaller than a predetermined size set in advance;

a shooting section for continuously shooting a plurality of k or less images under control of the control section;

a blurring compensation section for compensating mutual blurring of the plurality of k or less images to be synthesized obtained by the control section; and

an image synthesis section for synthesizing the plurality of k or less images compensated by the blurring compensation section.