Image pickup device and image pickup method
First Claim
1. An image pickup device comprising at least:
- an image pickup section that picks up a long-time exposure image having a relatively long exposure time in unit period and a short-time exposure image having a relatively short exposure time in the unit period;
a combining section that combines the long-time exposure image and the short-time exposure image, obtained by the image pickup section, with each other, to generate a combined image, the exposure images being combined with each other on the basis of a ratio between the exposure time of the long-time exposure image and the exposure time of the short-time exposure image;
a dynamic range calculating section that calculates a dynamic range of an object for the combined image generated at the combining section from the long-time exposure image used in the combining operation, the exposure time of the long-time exposure image, the short-time exposure image used in the combining operation, and the exposure time of the short-time exposure image;
a storage section that holds base compression curve data corresponding to a few types of dynamic ranges; and
a compressing section that, using the base compression curve data held in the storage section, calculates a compression curve suitable for the dynamic range of the object calculated by the dynamic range calculating section, and that generates a compressed image in accordance with the calculated compression curve, the compressed image being generated by compressing the combined image generated by the combining section,wherein an image subjected to a gradation compression operation in accordance with the dynamic range of the object is generated from the long-time exposure image and the short-time exposure image obtained by the image pickup section.
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Abstract
An image pickup device includes an image pickup section that picks up a long-time exposure image and short-time exposure image; a combining section that combines the long-time exposure image and short-time exposure image with each other, to generate a combined image, the exposure images being combined on the basis of a ratio between the exposure time of the long-time exposure image and the exposure time of the short-time exposure image; a dynamic range calculating section that calculates an object dynamic range from the long-time exposure image, the exposure time of the long-time exposure image, the short-time exposure image, and the exposure time of the short-time exposure image; and a compressing section that, using base compression curve data, calculates a compression curve suitable for the object dynamic range, and generates a compressed image in accordance with the calculated compression curve.
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Citations
9 Claims
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1. An image pickup device comprising at least:
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an image pickup section that picks up a long-time exposure image having a relatively long exposure time in unit period and a short-time exposure image having a relatively short exposure time in the unit period; a combining section that combines the long-time exposure image and the short-time exposure image, obtained by the image pickup section, with each other, to generate a combined image, the exposure images being combined with each other on the basis of a ratio between the exposure time of the long-time exposure image and the exposure time of the short-time exposure image; a dynamic range calculating section that calculates a dynamic range of an object for the combined image generated at the combining section from the long-time exposure image used in the combining operation, the exposure time of the long-time exposure image, the short-time exposure image used in the combining operation, and the exposure time of the short-time exposure image; a storage section that holds base compression curve data corresponding to a few types of dynamic ranges; and a compressing section that, using the base compression curve data held in the storage section, calculates a compression curve suitable for the dynamic range of the object calculated by the dynamic range calculating section, and that generates a compressed image in accordance with the calculated compression curve, the compressed image being generated by compressing the combined image generated by the combining section, wherein an image subjected to a gradation compression operation in accordance with the dynamic range of the object is generated from the long-time exposure image and the short-time exposure image obtained by the image pickup section. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An image pickup method comprising at least the steps of:
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picking up a long-time exposure image having a relatively long exposure time and a short-time exposure image having a relatively short exposure time with an image pickup section; generating a combined image by combining the obtained long-time exposure image and short-time exposure image with each other on the basis of a ratio between the exposure time of the long-time exposure image and the exposure time of the short-time exposure image; calculating a dynamic range of an object from the long-time exposure image used in the combining operation, the exposure time of the long-time exposure image, the short-time exposure image used in the combining operation, and the exposure time of the short-time exposure image; and generating a compressed image by calculating a compression curve suitable for the calculated dynamic range of the object using base compression curve data held in a storage section, and by compressing the combined image, generated in the step of generating the combined image, in accordance with the calculated compression curve, wherein an image subjected to a gradation compression operation in accordance with the dynamic range of the object is generated from the long-time exposure image and the short-time exposure image obtained by the image pickup step.
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Specification