| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 348254000 | Gray scale transformation (e.g., gamma correction) | 58 |
| 20080198246 | SENSOR-BASED GAMMA CORRECTION OF A DIGITAL CAMERA - The anti-blooming structure of an image sensor is supplied with varying voltages during different integration periods such that charges generated in response to low level light are fully captured, whereas charges generated in response to a bright light spill over in a controlled manner. Accordingly, sensor's response may be generated to result in higher gains at low light levels and progressively lower gains at the higher light levels. | 08-21-2008 |
| 20080198247 | IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS, IMAGE CAPTURING METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT - Provided is an image capturing apparatus capable of outputting an image in a form displayable by a display apparatus, while making use of a space resolution and a temporal resolution of a captured image. A monitoring system includes an image capturing section that captures an image; an output image generating section that generates an output image from the image captured by the image capturing section; a matching determining section that determines whether an object that matches a predetermined condition exists in the image captured by the image capturing section; and an output section that outputs, by embedding in the output image, an image of a subject indicated by the object having a data amount larger than a data amount of an image of the object in the output image. | 08-21-2008 |
| 20080204579 | Method of and apparatus for correcting contour of grayscale image - A grayscale image with corrected contours, which is suitably applicable to the art of recognition of objects, is obtained using a grayscale image and a distance image of a subject. The contour of the grayscale image where a grayscale contour image extracted from the grayscale image and a distance contour image extracted from the distance image agree with each other in contour, is corrected to generate the grayscale image with corrected contours. It is possible to highlight or emphasize the boundary of the subject, and a contour correcting process, which is different from the ordinary contour correcting process, can be carried out on a boundary of the subject. | 08-28-2008 |
| 20080252757 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR GENERATING WIDE COLOR GAMUT SIGNAL IN IMAGE CAPTURING DEVICE - Provided are a method and apparatus for generating a wide color gamut signal in an image capturing device, which can simplify a calculation process and minimize color distortion therein. The apparatus includes a gamma-correction unit gamma-correcting a picked-up image signal by using gamma curve information predetermined according to an output format; an interpolation unit interpolating the gamma-corrected image signal as a linear image signal which is to be expressed on a display; a color gamut conversion unit converting the interpolated image signal into a standard RGB signal by using a color conversion matrix; a color expansion unit expanding the standard RGB signal to a wide color gamut signal by using a gamut conversion matrix; and a signal correction unit correcting the wide color gamut signal by a predetermined correction gain value. | 10-16-2008 |
| 20080297632 | Imaging apparatus and image processing program - An imaging apparatus includes an image pickup unit generating image data, a selecting unit selecting any one of a first photographic mode that does not correct dark area gradation of the image data and a second photographic mode that corrects the dark area gradation of the image data, a gradation conversion processing unit performing a gradation conversion processing according to a first input-output characteristic when the first photographic mode is selected, and performing a gradation conversion processing according to a second input-output characteristic different from the first input-output characteristic when the second photographic mode is selected, and a correcting unit performing a correction of improving lightness of the dark area gradation of the image data when the second photographic mode is selected. Therefore, when correction of the dark area gradation is performed, the lightness of the whole image can be maintained while the contrast of a highlight area is improved. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20090015697 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SCENE CHANGE TRIGGERING - A triggering system and process for a form reader is shown using a histogram of the optical scene. The form reader is open on three sides with a camera facing a platen on to which a form is placed. The camera converts the light rays reflected from the platen into a video stream that is sent to a processor. A change in content of a first light intensity level contrasted to the content of a second light intensity level is used to determine when the form enters the scene. Illustratively, the first light intensity level represents black levels and the second light intensity levels represent white levels. A threshold is pre-determined that isolates the first light intensity content, and when the first light intensity content remains constant (after the presence of a form) the form is deemed to be still wherein the system may then read the information on the form. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090027523 | System and method for determining a gamma curve of a display device - A method of determining a gamma curve of a display device includes identifying a region of interest of a display surface of the display device. A centroid of the region of interest is calculated. A plurality of input levels is applied to the display device to generate a corresponding plurality of displayed images on the display surface. At least one image of each of the displayed images is captured with a camera. A gamma curve of the display device is calculated based on the captured images and the centroid. | 01-29-2009 |
| 20090066819 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, PROGRAM AND RECORDING MEDIUM - The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, an image processing system, a program, and a recording medium which are capable of obtaining an image of a wide dynamic range subjected to brightness compression. The allocation of the number of brightness grayscale steps of an output level signal with respect to the level of an input brightness signal differs for the main area and second brightness area, and the other ranges. For example, the whole number of grayscale steps is divided up and allocated to the brightness range of the main area and the brightness range of the second brightness area and the number of grayscale steps is not allocated to the other ranges. A smaller number of steps than for the brightness range of the main area and the second brightness area is allocated to the brightness range between the main area and second brightness area. In addition, an area constituting the boundary part between the brightness range of the main area and the second area can be set and allocated with a smaller number of steps than for the brightness range of the main area and the second brightness area and a larger number of steps than for the area between the main area and the second brightness area. The present invention can be applied to an image processing apparatus. | 03-12-2009 |
| 20090091643 | Image-Acquisition Apparatus - An image-acquisition apparatus is provided, including a correction-coefficient calculating unit | 04-09-2009 |
| 20090096898 | Image-taking apparatus and image signal processing program - The image-taking apparatus embodied by the invention operates to acquire distance information up to a subject in a pre-taking mode at a distance information acquisition block ( | 04-16-2009 |
| 20090141151 | Dynamic range enhancement method and apparatus - A dynamic range enhancement method and apparatus for an imaging device expands a dynamic range of an input image without an associated increase in the amount of image calculations. The dynamic range enhancement method includes producing brightness information and color information from an input image; applying gamma correction and inverse gamma correction to the brightness information to produce a gamma corrected image and an inverse gamma corrected image; comparing variances of the gamma corrected image and the inverse gamma corrected image at identical spots; and expanding a dynamic range of the input image by selecting one of the variances at each spot. The dynamic range of an input image is expanded by applying a post imaging process without increasing calculation amount of the imaging device. | 06-04-2009 |
| 20090207285 | IMAGE CAPTURING SYSTEM, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, AND COMPUTER- READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM HAVING IMAGE PROCESSING PROGRAM RECORDED THEREON - The present invention aims at obtaining a high-quality video signal by reducing tone jumps. A second grayscale conversion characteristic is calculated from a video signal to which a first grayscale conversion process has been applied using a first grayscale conversion characteristic used to convert an M-bit video signal into an N-bit video signal, where M and N are integers and M is larger than N. The second grayscale conversion characteristic is corrected by using the first grayscale conversion characteristic. A second grayscale conversion process is applied to the video signal by using the corrected second grayscale conversion characteristic. | 08-20-2009 |
| 20090256935 | VIDEO SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGING APPARATUS, VIDEO SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM - A video signal processing apparatus includes a user interface unit, a gamma correction value calculating unit, and a gamma correction value storage unit. The user interface unit receives a designation of values of at least three points that form a gamma curve used during gamma correction of a video signal. The gamma correction value calculating unit calculates gamma correction values by substituting coefficients, obtained by an approximation calculation carried out on the values of the at least three points, whose designation is received by the user interface unit, into an exponential function using the coefficients as parameters. The gamma correction value storage unit stores the gamma correction values calculated by the gamma correction value calculating unit and is operable when an indication confirming the gamma correction values has been received from the user, to output the gamma correction values to a gamma correction unit carrying out processing for gamma correction. | 10-15-2009 |
| 20090284625 | IMAGE PROCESSING CIRCUIT, SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE - According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing device that performs brightness conversion processing according to a brightness conversion coefficient on each pixel of an input image and produces an output image. The image processing device includes a division section dividing the region of the input image into a plurality of areas and a histogram calculation section calculating a histogram for each area. Here, the brightness conversion coefficient is determined based on the result of calculation by the histogram calculation section. With this configuration, it is possible to obtain, even when there is a portion of an image having a brightness level (or a brightness range) of low frequency in terms of an entire image, satisfactory contrast for the entire image including such a portion. | 11-19-2009 |
| 20090322916 | SIGNAL PROCESSING SYSTEM - A signal processing system includes: defining a nonlinear function; defining a set of requirements for an output signal; obtaining an input signal; applying a cubic polynomial fitting to approximate the nonlinear function and provide an approximated nonlinear function; assigning a set of fitted polynomial parameters to the approximated nonlinear function; transforming the input signal with the approximated nonlinear function to provide a transformed signal; modifying the transformed signal by adjusting the set of fitted polynomial parameters to provide a modified signal meeting the set of requirements for the output signal; and outputting the modified signal. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20100013965 | SEPARATION AND CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT OF OVERLAPPING CAST SHADOW COMPONENTS AND TARGET DETECTION IN SHADOW USING POLARIZATION - Shadow is an inseparable aspect of all natural scenes. When there are multiple light sources or multiple reflections several different shadows may overlap at the same location and create complicated patterns. Shadows are a potentially good source of information about a scene if the shadow regions can be properly identified and segmented. However, shadow region identification and segmentation is a difficult task and improperly identified shadows often interfere with machine vision tasks like object recognition and tracking. A shadow separation and contrast enhancement method based on the polarization of light is provided. Polarization information of scenes is captured by a polarization-sensitive camera and the scenes are processed to effectively separate shadows from different light sources. | 01-21-2010 |
| 20100053384 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING GRADATION CORRECTION ON SUBJECT IMAGE - An image processing apparatus includes: a gradation correction unit configured to perform gradation correction upon a subject image to be processed to generate a corrected image, the gradation correction including processing for lowering contrast in the subject image; a gradation information acquisition unit configured to acquire gradation information indicating relative balance of brightness in each portion of the subject image; and an adjustment unit configured to adjust brightness of the corrected image on a pixel basis based on the gradation information. | 03-04-2010 |
| 20100201852 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS - An image processing apparatus includes a photographing condition estimation unit for estimating a photographing condition of the input image based on photometric information and focal information. A Y/C separation unit separates the input image into a luminance signal and a color difference signal; a luminance correction unit extracts an edge from the luminance signal and corrects the luminance signal by a gradation conversion curve; a color difference correction unit corrects the color difference signal based on luminance signals obtained before and after the gradation correction and a theoretical limit characteristic of color reproduction; a skin color correction unit performs skin color correction depending on the photographing condition; and a Y/C synthesis unit synthesizes the luminance signal and the color difference signal obtained after the correction. Gradation correction is performed on the input image such that appropriate hue and saturation are achieved while emphasizing a main object. | 08-12-2010 |
| 20100214451 | DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHING APPARATUS, METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHING APPARATUS, AND RECORDING MEDIUM STORING PROGRAM TO IMPLEMENT THE METHOD - Provided are a digital photographing apparatus capable of accurate and quick auto-focusing, a method of controlling the digital photographing apparatus, and a recording medium storing a program for executing the method. The digital photographing apparatus includes: a lens unit including a focus lens; an imaging device generating data from light incident on the imaging device through the lens unit; a condition determining unit determining a photographing condition from the data generated by the imaging device; and an auto-focusing value detecting unit detecting an auto-focusing value from the data generated by the imaging device and comprising a first gamma correction unit, wherein the first gamma correction unit varies the degree of gamma correction according to the photographing condition determined by the condition determining unit, and the auto-focusing value detecting unit detects an auto-focusing value. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100238329 | COLOR CONVERSION COEFFICIENT CALCULATION APPARATUS, COMPUTER READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM FOR RECORDING COLOR CONVERSION COEFFICIENT CALCULATION PROGRAM, AND COLOR CONVERSION COEFFICIENT CALCULATION METHOD - A color conversion coefficient calculation apparatus includes: a conversion coefficient calculation section that calculates, as a color conversion coefficient for converting a first color signal made up of a plurality of chrominance signals into a second color signal made up of a plurality of chrominance signals, a color conversion coefficient for converting a first spectral characteristic which characterizes the first color signal in a standard fashion into a second spectral characteristic which characterizes the second color signal; a correction coefficient calculation section that calculates a correction coefficient for approximating a base color signal which is the first color signal corresponding to a plurality of base colors into a reference color signal obtained based on the first spectral characteristic corresponding to a plurality of base colors; and a conversion coefficient correction section that corrects the color conversion coefficient by using the correction coefficient. | 09-23-2010 |
| 20100245635 | METHOD OF GENERATING HDR IMAGE AND DIGITAL IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE USING THE SAME - A method of generating a high dynamic range (HDR) image and a digital image pickup device using the same are described. The digital image pickup device is employed to generate an HDR image according to a single digital image. The method includes the steps of obtaining an original image; performing a gray-scale processing to convert the original image into an original gray-scale pattern, in which each pixel in the original gray-scale pattern is assigned with a gray-scale value; performing a conversion procedure according to a gradient and a compensation value of the gray-scale value of each pixel in the original gray-scale pattern, and generating a high dynamic gray-scale pattern by using the gradients and the compensation values; and compensating the original image with the high dynamic gray-scale pattern, so as to generate the HDR image. | 09-30-2010 |
| 20100253815 | Information processing apparatus, information processing system, image input apparatus, image input system and information exchange method - An information processing apparatus includes, an input device that inputs image data output from an electronic camera, a storage device that stores the input image data; and a control device. The image-processing device is capable of modifying the contents of a look-up table in the electronic camera by using a plurality of control points. The information processing apparatus is capable of exchanging the control points and the contents of the look-up table with the electronic camera and the camera is able to store the control points. | 10-07-2010 |
| 20100289930 | BRIGHTNESS ADJUSTING SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE USING SAME - A brightness adjusting system for an image of an object captured by a camera includes a plurality of light sources configured for emitting light to the object, a driving device driving the light sources to emit the light, and an adjustment device electrically connected to the camera and the driving device. The adjustment device pre-stores a plurality of standard brightness value ranges, analyzes a brightness distribution of the image, compares the brightness distribution of the image with the standard brightness value ranges, determines required adjustment of the brightness distribution of the image according to the comparison, and directs the driving device to drive the light sources to emit the light with a required intensity according to the required adjustment of the brightness distribution of the image. | 11-18-2010 |
| 20100295977 | IMAGE PROCESSOR AND RECORDING MEDIUM - A digital camera | 11-25-2010 |
| 20100309346 | AUTOMATIC TONE MAPPING FOR CAMERAS - A device, method, computer useable medium, and processor programmed to automatically generate tone mapping curves in a digital camera based on image metadata are described. By examining image metadata from a digital camera's sensor, such as the light-product, one can detect sun-lit, high-light, and low-light scenes. Once the light-product value has been calculated for a given image, a tone mapping curve can automatically be generated within the sensor and adjusted appropriately for the scene based on predetermined parameters. Further, it has been determined that independently varying the slopes of the tone mapping curve at the low end (S | 12-09-2010 |
| 20110080506 | IMAGE SENSING DEVICE AND SYSTEM - The invention provides an image sensing device capturing a gray level image and a chromatic image on a frame via a mixing illumination of a first light and a second light. The image sensing device includes a color filter array module and a controlling module. The color filter array module includes a first filter unit, a second filter unit, a third filter unit, and a fourth filter unit. The first filter unit is used to sense a first pixel data at the frame; the second filter unit is used to sense a second pixel data at the frame; the third filter unit is used to sense a third pixel data at the frame; and the fourth filter unit is used to sense a narrow banding data. The controlling module controls the sensing form of the color filter array module according to the first light or the second light. | 04-07-2011 |
| 20110141326 | IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD AND IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS - This invention has been made to solve the problem that when a duplicated image is generated by capturing an original image using a digital camera and printing the captured image, lighting unevenness occurs in an image captured under a viewing light source, compared to that under flash light with a predetermined irradiation amount, and accurate color conversion cannot be performed. To solve this problem, pixels exhibiting identical colors are selected from a plurality of positions from the image captured under flash light. The positions of the corresponding pixels are selected from the image captured under the viewing light source. If the color values at the pixel positions differ, the influence of lighting unevenness in the viewing light source exists. Thus, shading correction data for the image captured under a viewing light source is generated so as to remove the shading of the image captured under the viewing light source. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110187905 | AUTO FOCUS ADJUSTING DEVICE AND METHOD AND RECORDING MEDIUM OF THE SAME METHOD - Provided are an auto focus adjusting device, method, and a recording medium storing a program product for executing the auto focusing method. The method includes: deriving an input image from an image capturing device by changing a position of a focus lens; deriving a gamma correction image by applying a gamma curve to the input image; and deriving an auto focus (AF) value about a position of a focus lens through the gamma correction image. | 08-04-2011 |
| 20120013776 | CAMERA WITH AT LEAST TWO IMAGE SENSOR SETS - A camera with at least two image sensor sets includes an aperture; a lens set for capturing images; at least two image sensing sets; each image sensor array having a plurality of image sensors which are arranged as an array for receiving external images; each image sensor receives a part of the image, which is a pixel; an image is formed by a plurality of pixels which are arranged as an array of M×N pixel; an image signal processing module receiving all the image arrays from the image sensor arrays which are presented as analog signals; the image processor module converting the analog signals into digital signals which are so called gray levels of respective pixels so as to get digital image arrays; and an image processor for processing the data of the digital image arrays and combining the images to have a new image with higher resolution. | 01-19-2012 |
| 20120133806 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS HAVING LUMINANCE-TYPE GAMMA CORRECTION CIRCUIT CAPABLE OF CHANGING NONLINEAR CHARACTERISTIC, AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD THEREFOR - An image processing apparatus is provided in which, even if a nonlinear characteristic of a luminance-type gamma correction circuit for converting a luminance signal is changed, saturation with respect to a luminance output can be nearly constant. A signal amount of the luminance signal generated from image data that exceeds a previously defined threshold is calculated. A first nonlinear characteristic is selected from a plurality of nonlinear characteristics previously set depending on the calculated signal amount. Nonlinear conversation is performed on a signal generated from the image data to determine luminance with the selected first nonlinear characteristic. An output ratio of the first nonlinear characteristic to a second nonlinear characteristic is prepared and the second nonlinear characteristic is defined so that the output ratio is satisfied. Nonlinear conversion is performed on a signal that has been generated from the image data to determine saturation with the selected second nonlinear characteristic. | 05-31-2012 |
| 20120169906 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING WIDE DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGE - Apparatus and method for processing wide dynamic range (WDR) image are disclosed. The WDR image processing apparatus could be integrated within an image sensor or an image backend apparatus. Whether the m-th bit of the sensing image signal is equal to 1 is determined. If the m-th bit is equal to 1, then the values corresponding to the m-th to the (m−r)-th bits are added by first offset to output a WDR image signal. If the m-th bit is not equal to 1, then whether the (m−1)-th bit is equal to 1 is determined. If the (m−1)-th bit is equal to 1, then the values corresponding to the (m−1)-th to the (m−s)-th bits are added by a second offset to output the WDR image signal. The same processing is applied up to the (m−t)-th bit, m, n, r, s and t are positive integers, and m is greater than n. | 07-05-2012 |
| 20130162872 | IMAGE SENSING DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME - An image sensing device is operated by, inter alia: dividing a plurality of ranges with an available value width range of the image sensing device associated with a predetermined brightness level range, dividing a plurality of clusters with image data from a pixels array using the plurality of data ranges, and performing a clustering gamma correction process for each cluster with at least a clustering gamma correction factor corresponding to each cluster. | 06-27-2013 |
| 20130293748 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGING APPARATUS, AND RECORDING DEVICE RECORDING IMAGE PROCESSING PROGRAM - An image processing apparatus includes: a gray-scale conversion characteristic deriving unit configured to set reference image data out of a plurality of input image data obtained by shooting an identical object with a different amount of exposure and derive a gray-scale conversion characteristic from the reference image data; and an image synthesis processing unit configured to derive a new pixel value for each pixel using a pixel value of one or more input image data selected from a plurality of the input image data based on the gray-scale conversion characteristic to create synthesized image data. | 11-07-2013 |
| 20140036115 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE, SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD OF SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE, AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS - A solid-state imaging device includes a pixel array section and a signal processing section. The pixel array section is configured to include a plurality of arranged rectangular pixels, each of which has different sizes in the vertical and horizontal directions, and a plurality of adjacent ones of which are combined to form a square pixel having the same size in the vertical and horizontal directions. The signal processing section is configured to perform a process of outputting, as a single signal, a plurality of signals read out from the combined plurality of rectangular pixels. | 02-06-2014 |
| 20140327796 | METHOD FOR ESTIMATING CAMERA RESPONSE FUNCTION - A method for estimating image conversion parameters is revealed. Firstly, using an image capturing unit to capture at least one captured image of an object to an image processing unit for calculation. The image processing unit can take linear brightness change of single captured image to estimate the image conversion parameters, also can take comparison of linear and non-linear images to estimate the image conversion parameters, further can take the difference of exposure quantities to estimate the image conversion parameters. Therefore, the estimation of the image conversion parameters can be finished well and easily. | 11-06-2014 |
| 20140347529 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CAPTURING IMAGES - An image capturing device includes a pre-capturing module, a conversion module, a division module, a ranging module, a calculation module, and an image capturing module. The pre-capturing module obtains an initial image of a view the image capturing device to be captured. The conversion module converts the initial image to a gray scale image. The division module divides the gray scale image into multiple areas. The ranging module calculates an object distance collection of each area, and generates a total object distance collection by integrating the object distance collections. The calculation module calculates image capturing condition which makes a plurality of depth-of-field cover the total object distance collection. The image capturing module captures a plurality of images according to the image capturing condition to form an image array. An image capturing method is also provided. | 11-27-2014 |
| 20140347530 | IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE - In an original image color pixels and transparent pixels are arranged, the color pixels having gradation values assigned according to received light levels of respective color light-receiving pixels and the transparent pixels having gradation values assigned according to received light levels of respective transparent light-receiving pixels. An image processing device includes an image generation unit which generates a high-sensitivity image for the original image by calculating for each color pixel, a corrected gradation value correcting a first reference gradation value of gray calculated based on the gradation value of itself or the gradation values of other color pixels in the periphery, according to the gradation values of transparent pixels in the periphery; and the corrected gradation value of each color pixel and the gradation value of each transparent pixel are assigned as gradation values of the pixels in the corresponding arranged positions of the high-sensitivity image. | 11-27-2014 |
| 348255000 | Amplitude control (e.g., automatic gain control) | 21 |
| 20080309803 | PHASE ADJUSTMENT DEVICE, PHASE ADJUSTMENT METHOD AND DIGITAL CAMERA - An intended-usage judger judges an intended usage of an inputted digital imaging signal. A selector selects one or a plurality of signals to be inspected from a group of signals constituting the digital imaging signal based on a result of the judgment by the intended-usage judger. A phase adjuster adjusts a phase of a pulse used when the digital imaging signal is picked up based on an output state of the signal to be inspected. | 12-18-2008 |
| 20090027524 | VARIABLE GAIN STAGE HAVING SAME INPUT CAPACITANCE REGARDLESS OF THE STAGE GAIN - A programmable gain amplifier (PGA) includes a sample-and-hold (S&H) stage which provides an input capacitance value for storing a charge. The PGA also includes an amplifying stage, which has a gain dependent on the input capacitance value. The amplifying stage is configured to provide a variable gain, while the S&H stage is configured to provide a substantially constant input capacitance value, regardless of the gain. | 01-29-2009 |
| 20090040344 | IMAGING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - An imaging apparatus includes a first output unit configured to perform first gain processing on an analog signal corresponding to an electric charge stored in a photoelectric conversion element in a first region and output the processed signal, a second output unit configured to perform second gain processing on an analog signal corresponding to an electric charge stored in a photoelectric conversion element in a second region and output the processed signal, an instruction unit configured to instruct a gain of each gain processing in the first and second output units, a first control unit configured to control a display of an image based on an output signal from the first output unit, and a second control unit configured to control an imaging condition based on an output signal from the second output unit. The second gain processing is different from the first gain processing. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090147110 | Video Processing Device - It is an object of the present invention to provide a video processing apparatus which can perform separately two shading corrections including a dark shading correction of an image and a peripheral shading correction for light falloff at edges of the image, and can calculate, with accuracy, correction gains corresponding to respective pixels from the correction values of blocks. The video processing apparatus comprises an imaging element | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090284626 | Digital camera - The digital camera comprises: an image-taking device for converting light from a subject to a video signal and outputting the video signal; an image processor which has a gain adjuster for performing gain adjustment individually for respective color information of R, G, B of the video signal outputted from the image-taking device, and an image data converter for converting the adjusted video signal outputted from the gain adjuster into image data; a displaying device for displaying the image data; a setting device; and a controller for controlling the gain adjuster to perform RGB color discrimination of the video signal and gain adjustment individually on the respective color information by a command from the setting device. | 11-19-2009 |
| 20090303358 | A/D CONVERTER AND READOUT CIRCUIT - An A/D converter | 12-10-2009 |
| 20100073528 | METHOD OF GENERATING A GAIN OF AN IMAGE FRAME - A method of generating a gain of an image frame according to a look up table of gain which is set up based on luminance sensitivity of human eyes is proposed. The method includes setting a gain of an image frame to 1, scanning images of a plurality of front rows of the image frame, averaging the images of the plurality of the front rows of the image frame to generate an average value of the images of the plurality of the front rows of the image frame, finding a gain from the look up table of gain according to the average value of the images of the plurality of the front rows of the image frame, and adjusting remaining rows of the image frame according to the gain to generate images of the remaining rows of the image frame. | 03-25-2010 |
| 20100157115 | VISUAL PROCESSING DEVICE, DISPLAY DEVICE, AND INTEGRATED CIRCUIT - The invention achieves a visual processing device that can execute precise contrast adjustment on image signals that have been input and that does not cause discrepancies in the output timing of the image signals that are output. The visual processing device is provided with a gain-type visual processing portion that outputs a first gain signal having predetermined gain characteristics with respect to the input image signal, and a correction portion that corrects the input image signal based on the first gain signal. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100208109 | RECEIVING APPARATUS, IMAGING APPARATUS, AND RECEIVING METHOD - A receiving apparatus includes: a signal-level detecting unit detecting a signal level of an input signal; a first signal-level converting unit including amplifiers, capturing the input signal and converting a signal level of the input signal; a switching unit switching an output of a signal whose level is converted by the amplifiers; a switching control unit selecting a specific amplifier out of the amplifiers and controlling the switching unit to select an output signal from the selected amplifier; a band-pass filter allowing only a predetermined frequency band in the signal, the output of which is switched by the switching unit, to pass; a second signal-level converting unit converting a signal level of an output signal from the amplifier into a predetermined signal level; a mixer mixing the signal passed through the band-pass filter, the signal level of which is converted by the second signal-level converting unit, and an oscillation signal to generate an intermediate frequency signal; and a demodulating unit demodulating the intermediate frequency signal. | 08-19-2010 |
| 20100214452 | IMAGE-PICKUP APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - An image-pickup apparatus includes an image-pickup element including first pixels photoelectrically converting an object image formed by a light flux from an image-pickup optical system and second pixels including plural focus detection pixels photoelectrically converting a light flux divided from the light flux from the image-pickup optical system, a focus detector detecting a focus state of the image-pickup optical system based on outputs from the second pixels, a frequency component detector detecting a spatial frequency component of the object image formed on the first pixels, an image generator generating, based on outputs from the first pixels, a partial image corresponding to the second pixels of an image obtained by an output from the image-pickup element. The apparatus includes a controller switching whether or not to cause the image generator to generate the partial image according to the spatial frequency component detected by the frequency component detector. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100259654 | IMAGE-DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS - An image-data processing apparatus includes an operation unit; a correcting unit multiplying image data generated by an image pickup device by a correction gain; a totalizing unit sequentially calculating a total pixel level for every frame from the image data; a history holding unit holding the total pixel levels of a certain number; an in-phase averaging unit detecting the total pixel levels in phase with a flicker phase corresponding to the image data that is being supplied to the correcting unit from the held total pixel levels to calculate a first average of the detected total pixel levels; an average calculating unit calculating a second average of the held total pixel levels; and a correction gain calculating unit calculating the correction gain by dividing the first average by the second average to set the correction gain in the correcting unit. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20110025890 | VISUAL PROCESSING DEVICE, DISPLAY DEVICE, AND INTEGRATED CIRCUIT - The invention achieves a visual processing device that can execute precise contrast adjustment on image signals that have been input and that does not cause discrepancies in the output timing of the image signals that are output. The visual processing device is provided with a gain-type visual processing portion that outputs a first gain signal having predetermined gain characteristics with respect to the input image signal, and a correction portion that corrects the input image signal based on the first gain signal. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20120092534 | IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - An image processing method, applicable to a digital image device, includes the following steps. At least one original image of different brightness ranges is captured, and more images of different brightness ranges are generated from the original image by using an image post-processing technique. Based on characteristics of the image of each brightness range, the weights of the image of each brightness range are defined. Then, hierarchical fusion is performed on the images of the different brightness ranges according to weight relations, so as to form a high-dynamic-range image capable of presenting features of each brightness range. | 04-19-2012 |
| 20120212655 | IMAGING APPARATUS AND SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD - An imaging apparatus is equipped with: an imaging element having a plurality of photoelectric converting elements, each of which converts image information borne by input light into a pixel signal and outputs the pixel signal; pixel signal combining means, for combining the pixel signals output from each photoelectric converting element of the imaging element into groups of predetermined numbers of signals; and image signal processing means, for generating digital image data from the combined pixel signals. The pixel signal combining means combines the pixel signals such that pixel signals at the central portions of ranges of pixel signals to be combined are weighted to have higher gain than pixel signals at the peripheral portions of the ranges. | 08-23-2012 |
| 20140267841 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS THAT PERFORMS GRADATION CORRECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHED IMAGE, METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - An image processing apparatus capable of reducing processing load by determining whether or not to perform gradation correction, according to a difference or a ratio between feature values of object areas, and generating an excellent image by performing gradation correction. An image dividing section divides an input image into a plurality of predetermined object areas. A feature value calculation section and a determination section compare the feature values indicative of features of the respective object areas, obtain a luminance level difference, and determine whether or not the difference is within a predetermined range. When the difference is within the predetermined range, an image processing section and a system controller perform area-by-area tone mapping on respective images of the areas to form a synthesized image. | 09-18-2014 |
| 348256000 | Color TV (e.g., saturation) | 6 |
| 20100141811 | COLOR TEMPERATURE COMPENSATING IMAGING APPARATUS AND METHOD - Provided are a color temperature compensating imaging apparatus and an method, which are used to acquire good image quality under mixed light (MIX light) conditions. The apparatus includes a gain acquisition unit for acquiring gains of color signals to control a white balance of an image of a subject; an illumination unit including a light source of which illumination color temperature is controlled when the subject is illuminated; and an illumination control unit that calculates the illumination color temperature based on the acquired gains, and adjusts the illumination device color temperature. | 06-10-2010 |
| 20110205406 | Method and Apparatus for Detecting Camera Sensor Intensity Saturation - An apparatus for detecting intensity saturation of a light sensor includes a saturation detector for detecting and measuring an intensity saturation condition of at least one pixel of a light sensor, the intensity saturation condition of the pixel being at saturation upon receiving light with an intensity above a predetermined level, the saturation detector emitting a digital signal with a reserved bit combination indicating the intensity saturation condition of the pixel, and a processor receiving and processing the digital signal from the saturation detector and transmitting a control signal in response to the digital signal to compensate for the intensity saturation condition of the pixel. | 08-25-2011 |
| 20130070130 | IMAGE SENSOR OPTIMIZATION - An apparatus including: a plurality of photodetectors for converting the light to which they are exposed to into signals for image generation, wherein the photodetectors use locally optimized saturation signal. The apparatus is, for example, an image sensor or an electronic communication device. | 03-21-2013 |
| 20130076946 | IMAGING APPARATUS, COMPUTER READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM AND IMAGING METHOD - An imaging apparatus provided with an imaging device, a setting unit and a gain control unit. The imaging device images an imaging subject. On the basis of a saturation charge amount of the imaging device, which changes in accordance with a pixel addition number according to a pixel addition function of the imaging device, the setting unit sets a gain of imaging signals in accordance with a specified pixel addition number. The gain control unit controls the gain of the imaging signals in accordance with the gain set by the setting unit. | 03-28-2013 |
| 20130321679 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR HIGHLIGHT RECOVERY IN AN IMAGE SIGNAL PROCESSOR - Image sensors have finite ranges of illuminance that may be captured. When the sensors for particular pixels receive an amount of light exceeding these finite ranges, the pixel values clip to the maximum pixel value. Systems and methods for estimating pixel values that are clipped or near clipping are provided. In one example, a method for processing image data includes determining that a first channel of the image data is saturated or near saturation. The method further includes computing a highlight recovery value for the first channel based upon alternative channels in the image data that are not saturated or near saturation. The highlight recovery value is applied to the first channel. | 12-05-2013 |
| 20150312538 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS THAT PERFORMS TONE CORRECTION AND EDGE ENHANCEMENT, CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - An image processing apparatus which enables natural edge enchantment suited to a frequency band of a subject even when performing local contrast correction in combination with edge enhancement. A local contrast correction unit multiplies a signal of a target pixel in image data by a gain based on values obtained by reflecting signals of pixels around the target pixels. For signals of the target pixel output from the local contrast correction unit, a gamma conversion unit performs gamma conversion based on the signal of the target pixel. An edge signal is extracted from the image data and multiplied by a gain based on a signal output from the local contrast correction unit. The edge signal is added to a signal output from the gamma conversion unit. | 10-29-2015 |
