Image pickup apparatus and image processing method of a picked-up image

• US 8,462,219 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2011
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Matsuyama, Ichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): OSINSKI, MICHAEL S
• Application Number:
  US13/178,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20120033098A1
• Time in Patent Office: 704 Days
• Field of Search: 34820899-20816, 348/222.1, 3482291-2319, 348239-251, 348294-324, 382254-275, 382293-301, 396 52- 55
• US Class Current: 348/208.4
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/689 Motion occurring during a rolling shutter mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/531 by controlling rolling shutters in CMOS SSIS

Abstract

An image pickup apparatus determines from which position in a plurality of photographed frames a pixel of each of lines of an image to be output is read out, on the basis of a motion amount at a photographing time of each of the lines of a photographed predetermined frame, and if the determined read-out position is located on the outside of a photographing range of the predetermined frame, then determines to read out a pixel in a frame photographed before and/or after a photographing of the predetermine frame as the pixel of the output image and calculates a read-out position of the pixel on the basis of the motion amount at a photographing time of each of the lines in the frame.

Claims

1. An image pickup apparatus, comprising:

a photographing unit continuously photographing a plurality of frames in accordance with a rolling-shutter method;

a buffer memory configured to store a photographed image of a plurality of photographed frames;

a motion detection unit configured to continuously detect a motion amount of an object a plurality of times;

a memory configured to store the detected motion amounts;

a correction unit configured to read out the photographed image stored in the buffer memory; and

an output unit configured to output an image corrected by the correction unit;

wherein the correction unit determines from which position in the plurality of photographed frames a pixel of each of lines of the image to be output is read out, on the basis of the motion amount at a photographing time of each of the lines of a predetermined frame of the photographed image, and

wherein if the determined read-out position is located on the outside of a photographing range of the predetermined frame, the correction unit then determines to read out a corresponding pixel in a frame photographed before and/or after a time of photographing the predetermine frame as the pixel of the image to be output, and calculates a read-out position of the corresponding pixel on the basis of the motion amount at the photographing time of each of the lines in the frame from which the corresponding pixel is read out.

2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the correction unit determines from which position of the predetermined frame the pixel of each of the lines of the image to be output is read out on the basis of the motion amount at the photographing time of each of the lines by using the photographing time of the first line of the predetermined frame as a reference, and

wherein if the determined read-out position is located on the outside of the photographing range of the predetermined frame, then the correction unit reads out the corresponding pixel of the frame photographed just before the predetermined frame as the pixel of the image to be output.

3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein if the determined read-out position of the pixel to be read out as the pixel of the image to be output is located on the outside of the photographing ranges of the predetermined frame and the frames photographed before and after the predetermined frame, the correction unit then determines the read-out position of the line in a range which is not larger than the photographing ranges of the predetermined frame and the frames photographed before and after the predetermined frame and calculates the read-out position of the pixel to be read out as the pixel of the image to be output on the basis of the determined read-out position of the line.

4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the correction unit determines, by using the photographing time of an intermediate line of the predetermined frame of the photographed image as a reference, the read-out position of each of the lines of the predetermined frame on the basis of the motion amount at the photographing time of each of the lines, and

wherein if a pixel included in each of the lines the read-out position of which is determined is located on the photographing range of the predetermined frame, the correction unit reads out a pixel as the pixel of the image to be output from the frame photographed just before or just after the predetermined frame in accordance with whether the line of the pixel of the image to be output is located before or after the intermediate line thereof.

5. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the correction unit determines the read-out position of each of the lines of the predetermined frame on the basis of the motion amount at the photographing time of each of the lines of the predetermined frame of the photographed image, and

wherein in a case where the pixel included in each of the lines the read-out positions of which is determined is located near to a boundary of the photographing range of the predetermined frame, the correction unit synthesizes a pixel read-out from the predetermined frame and a pixel read out from the frame photographed before and/or after the predetermined frame at a ratio corresponding to a distance from the boundary, and calculates a read-out position of the pixel of the frame photographed before and/or after the predetermined frame on the basis of a motion amount at a photographing time of each of the lines of the frame photographed before and/or after the predetermined frame.

6. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a determination unit configured to determine whether the apparatus is panning or tilting or not on the basis of motion amounts obtained by detections performed by the motion detection unit a plurality of times continuously,

wherein the correction unit reads out the photographed image from the buffer memory on the basis of the detected motion amounts only when the apparatus is panning or tilting.

7. An image processing method of an image photographed by an image pickup apparatus including a photographing unit configured to continuously photograph a plurality of frames in accordance with a rolling-shutter method, a buffer memory configured to store a photographed image of the plurality of photographed frames, a motion detection unit configured to detect a motion amount of an object a plurality of times continuously, and a memory configured to store the detected motion amounts, the method comprising the steps of:

reading out the photographed image stored in the buffer memory; and

outputting an image corrected in the reading step,

wherein the reading step includes;

determining from which position in the plurality of photographed frames a pixel of each of lines of the image to be output is read out, on the basis of the motion amount at a photographing time of each of the lines of a predetermined frame of the photographed image, and

if the determined read-out position is located on the outside of a photographing range of the predetermined frame, then determining to read out a corresponding pixel in a frame photographed before and/or after a time of photographing the predetermine frame as the pixel of the image to be output, and calculating a read-out position of the corresponding pixel on the basis of the motion amount at the photographing time of each of the lines in the frame from which the corresponding pixel is read out.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for a computer in a image pickup apparatus including a photographing unit configured to continuously photograph a plurality of frames in accordance with a rolling-shutter method, a buffer memory configured to store a photographed image of a plurality of photographed frames, a motion detection unit configured to continuously detect a motion amount of an object a plurality of times, and a memory configured to store the detected motion amounts, the program enabling the computer to function as:

a correction unit to read out the photographed image stored in the buffer memory by determining from which position in the plurality of photographed frames a pixel of each of lines of the image to be output is read out, on the basis of the motion amount at a photographing time of each of the lines of a predetermined frame of the photographed image, and if the determined read-out position is located on the outside of a photographing range of the predetermined frame, then determining to read out a corresponding pixel in a frame photographed before and/or after a time of photographing the predetermine frame as the pixel of the image to be output and calculating a read-out position of the corresponding pixel on the basis of the motion amount at the photographing time of each of the lines in the frame from which the corresponding pixel is read out; and

an output unit to output an image corrected by the correction unit.