Image processing apparatus and image processing method

• US 20060056702A1
• Filed: 09/06/2005
• Published: 03/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Tsunashima, Nobuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,982,774 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/254 involving subtraction of images

Abstract

The present invention provides an image processing apparatus detects only an object to be detected by removing a disturbance, such as the shaking of trees by using a very simple process and parameter. The image processing apparatus includes a reference image storing unit for storing a plurality of past image data photographed by a video input unit as reference image data, and an image moving object detecting unit for detecting the difference of pixels or difference in small areas between the image data photographed by the video input unit and each of the plurality of reference image data stored by the reference image storing unit and detecting a moving object in the image data based on the continuity or appearance probability of the difference.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a reference image storing unit for storing a plurality of past image data photographed by a video input unit as reference image data, and

an image moving object detecting unit for detecting the difference of pixels or difference in small areas between the image data photographed by the video input unit and each of the plurality of reference image data stored by the reference image storing unit and detecting a moving object in the image data based on the continuity or appearance probability of the difference.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an image correcting unit for correcting a blurring and luminance of the image by using the image data and the reference image data stored in the reference image storing unit and extracting an object area by using the image corrected by the image correcting unit.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image correcting unit detects the blurring between the image data and each of the plurality of reference image data stored by the reference image storing unit, and performs a blur correction.

4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image correcting unit detects the blurring between temporally continuous two reference image data when detecting the blurring between the image data and each of the plurality of reference image data stored by the reference image storing unit, sets the reference of the blur correction by accumulating the blurring, detects the blurring by performing a blur detection of minute section from the reference value of the set blur correction, thereby performing the blur correction.

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a background image storing unit that stores another image that is obtained by photographing the same scene beforehand, as background image data;

a background difference processing unit that detects the difference between the image data photographed by the video input unit and the background image data stored by the background image storing unit; and

a background difference unit that compares the moving object area detected by the image moving object detecting unit with the background image data stored by the background image storing unit, and erases a residual image generated when the moving object is detected by the image moving object detecting unit.

6. An image processing method, comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of past image data photographed by a video input unit as reference image data; and

detecting the difference of pixels or difference in small areas between the image data photographed by the video input unit and each of the plurality of reference image data stored, and detecting a moving object in the image data based on the continuity or appearance probability of the difference.