Image capture apparatus and image capturing method

• US 8,872,937 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2013
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Matsunaga, Kazuhisa, Onozawa, Masaru, Nakagomi, Kouichi, Makino, Tetsuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Sinh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peterson, Christopher K
• Application Number:
  US14/065,942
• Publication Number:
  US 20140055631A1
• Time in Patent Office: 364 Days
• Field of Search: 348363-368, 348/218.1
• US Class Current: 348/229.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/683 performed by a processor, e.g. controlling the readout of an image memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/70 Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/743 Bracketing, i.e. taking a series of images with varying exposure conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2625 for obtaining an image which is composed of images from a temporal image sequence, e.g. for a stroboscopic effect sequence generated by event triggered capturing H04N7/188

Abstract

An image capture apparatus includes: an image capturing unit; a first image capture controller configured to control the image capturing unit to capture a set of a plurality of images while changing exposure time for each of the images; a second image capture controller configured to obtain a plurality of sets of the images; an addition combination section configured to perform image alignment on the images contained in each of the sets and to perform addition combination on the aligned images to generate a combined image; a combination controller configured to control the addition combination section to perform the image alignment and the addition combination for each of the sets to obtain a plurality of combined images; a selector configured to evaluate the combined images and to select one of the combined images most highly evaluated as a selected image; and a storage configured to store the selected image.

Claims

1. An image capture apparatus comprising:

an image capturing unit;

a first image capture controller configured to control the image capturing unit to capture a set of a plurality of images with a rolling shutter method, wherein;

(i) a first image having a shorter exposure time that is shorter than an appropriate exposure time, (ii) a second image having a longer exposure time that is longer than the appropriate exposure time, and (iii) a third image having the appropriate exposure time, are captured, in this order;

a second image capture controller configured to control the first image capture controller to perform the capturing of the set of the plurality of images with the rolling shutter method for a plurality of times to obtain a plurality of sets of the plurality of images;

an addition combination section configured to perform image alignment on the plurality of images contained in each of the plurality of sets and to perform addition combination on the aligned images to generate a combined image;

a combination controller configured to control the addition combination section to perform the image alignment and the addition combination for each of the plurality of sets to obtain a plurality of combined images;

a selector configured to evaluate the plurality of combined images and to select one of the plurality of combined images that is most highly evaluated as a selected image; and

a storage configured to store the selected image.

2. The image capture apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a detector configured to detect a brightness of a capturing condition,

wherein the addition combination section is configured to perform the positional alignment and the addition combination on the plurality of images contained in two or more of the plurality of sets when the brightness detected by the detector is lower than a threshold value.

3. The image capture apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selector is configured to evaluate a blurring of a subject for each of the plurality of combined images and to select one of the plurality of combined images having the least blurring as the selected image.

4. The image capture apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selector is configured to evaluate a blurring of a subject affected by camera shake for each of the plurality of combined images and to select one of the plurality of combined images having the least blurring as the selected image.

5. The image capture apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a determination section configured to determine whether or not a face image is contained in a captured image,

wherein the selector is configured to evaluate the face image of each of the plurality of combined images and to select one of the plurality of combined images most highly evaluated as the selected image, when the determination section determines that the face image is contained in the captured image.

6. An image capturing method comprising:

controlling an image capturing unit to capture a set of a plurality of images with a rolling shutter method, wherein;

(i) a first image having a shorter exposure time that is shorter than an appropriate exposure time, (ii) a second image having a longer exposure time that is longer than the appropriate exposure time, and (iii) a third image having the appropriate exposure time, are captured, in this order;

performing the capturing of the set of the plurality of images with the rolling shutter method for a plurality of times to obtain a plurality of sets of the plurality of images;

performing image alignment on the plurality of images contained in each of the plurality of sets and performing addition combination on the aligned images to generate a combined image;

controlling the performing of the image alignment and the addition combination for each of the plurality of sets to obtain a plurality of combined images;

evaluating the plurality of combined images to select one of the plurality of combined images most highly evaluated as a selected image; and

storing the selected image.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing an image capturing program that causes a computer of an apparatus comprising an image capturing unit to perform image capturing processing comprising:

controlling the image capturing unit to capture a set of a plurality of images with a rolling shutter method, wherein;

(i) a first image having a shorter exposure time that is shorter than an appropriate exposure time, (ii) a second image having a longer exposure time that is longer than the appropriate exposure time, and(iii) a third image having the appropriate exposure time, are captured, in this order;

performing the capturing of the set of the plurality of images with the rolling shutter method for a plurality of times to obtain a plurality of sets of the plurality of images;

performing image alignment on the plurality of images contained in each of the plurality of sets and performing addition combination on the aligned images to generate a combined image;

controlling the performing of the image alignment and the addition combination for each of the plurality of sets to obtain a plurality of combined images;

evaluating the plurality of combined images to select one of the plurality of combined images most highly evaluated as a selected image; and

storing the selected image.