Sony Corporation

Shintaro Okada

Kazuhiko Nishibori

Takeshi Kubozono

Takahiro Nagano

Tomohiro Nishi

Toshinori Ihara

Kenichiro Hosokawa

Naofumi Yanagihara

Kazuhiko Ueda

Mitsuyasu Asano

Kazuki Yokoyama

Kazunori Kamio

Yiwen Zhu

Yu Liu

Kazushi Sato

Masuyoshi Kurokawa

Kazushi Satoh

An image processing apparatus includes a modifying unit configured to modify depth information representing depths in individual pixels of an image in accordance with content included in the image, thereby generating modified depth information, and an enhancing unit configured to perform a stereoscopic effect enhancement process of enhancing a stereoscopic effect of the image by using the modified depth information generated by the modifying unit.

Enhancement of stereoscopic effect of an image through use of modified depth information

An image processor includes a first acquirer that acquires a matching tap having a target pixel at the center, a second acquirer that acquires plural matching taps each having, at the center, one of pixels in a search area including the pixels surrounding the target pixel, a similarity identifier that identifies, among the matching taps acquired by the second acquirer, a similarity maximizing pixel representing a central pixel of the matching tap having the highest similarity to the matching tap acquired by the first acquirer, and a mixing controller that computes a pixel value of the target pixel by mixing a pixel value obtained by performing a predetermined arithmetic process on pixel values of a prediction tap having the target pixel at the center with a pixel value obtained by performing a predetermined arithmetic process on pixel values of a prediction tap having the similarity maximizing pixel at the center.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program

There is provided an image processing device including a weight calculation unit that calculates a weight corresponding to each of a plurality of pixel values centering on a pixel of interest of an input image based on a feature amount calculated based on the plurality of pixel values centering on the pixel of interest, a regression coefficient reading unit that reads a regression coefficient stored for each class code determined based on a plurality of pixel values corresponding to the pixel of interest of the input image, and a pixel value calculation unit that calculates a pixel value of a pixel of interest of an output image by performing calculation using the plurality of pixel values, the weights, and the regression coefficients centering on the pixel of interest of the input image.

Image processing device and method, learning device and method, and program

An image processing apparatus detecting, from an input image, a still-zone area disposed at an edge of the input image and displaying a same image continuously, the apparatus including: a difference calculation mechanism calculating a difference between pixel values of pixels located at a same position of the input image in different frames with each other for each pixel of the input image; a pixel-motion-information generation mechanism generating pixel-motion information indicating whether there is a change in the pixel values of the pixels of the input image on the basis of the difference; and a first detection mechanism comparing the pixel-motion information of a plurality of the pixels arranged in a first direction in the input image, and detecting a boundary position in the first direction between the still-zone area and an effective area excluding the still-zone area in the input image.

Image processing apparatus, method, and program for detecting still-zone area

An image processing apparatus includes a motion vector detection unit configured to detect a motion vector at a predetermined space position of a frame at a predetermined time from an input image of a plurality of temporally different frames and obtain a reliability of the motion vector; a motion vector evaluation unit configured to obtain, at each space position, an evaluation value of the motion vector at the space position that is within a predetermined range including a subject space position that is a space position of interest, on the basis of the reliability at the space position and a distance from the subject space position; and a motion vector correction unit configured to correct the motion vector at the subject space position on the basis of the evaluation value and the motion vector at the space position of the predetermined range.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method for determining motion vectors

An image processing apparatus includes: a difference-value calculation mechanism calculating a difference value between the first accumulated value produced by accumulating luminance values of a plurality of pixels in a first image and the second accumulated value produced by accumulating luminance values of a plurality of pixels in a second image having a difference in time with the first image; a threshold-value creation mechanism for creating a plurality of threshold values on the difference value in accordance with the first accumulated value, corresponding to the luminance change levels in order to grade a luminance change between the first image and the second image by a luminance change level indicating a degree of the luminance change; and a luminance-change-level determination mechanism for determining the luminance change level corresponding to the difference value on the basis of the plurality of threshold values.

Image processing apparatus and method, and program

An image processing apparatus includes a unit configured to calculate a sum of absolute differences between pixel values of pixels in a block of interest and pixel values of pixels in a reference block, a unit configured to compare sums of absolute differences calculated and to determine a minimum sum of absolute differences thereamong, a unit configured to estimate a motion vector for the pixel of interest using the reference pixel having the minimum sum of absolute differences and the pixel of interest, a unit configured to generate a motion-compensated image by using pixel values of the pixels as pixel values of corresponding pixels in the motion-compensated image, a unit configured to cumulatively add sums of absolute differences, and a unit configured to generate an interpolation image by mixing the pixels and corresponding pixels in the motion-compensated image according to an obtained cumulative-sum result.

Image processing apparatus, method thereof, and program

The present invention relates to a signal processing apparatus and a method, a recording medium, and a program, in which portions except an edge can be smoothed while the edge whose change in pixel value is steep is held correctly. A pixel of attention is determined in step S, and a neighboring pixel is determined in step S. In step S, a difference in pixel values between the pixel of attention and each neighboring pixel is calculated. In step S, according to a relationship in size between the difference and a threshold value &#x3b5;., flags are raised for the neighboring pixel and a neighboring pixel which are symmetrical. Furthermore, a flag is also raised for a neighboring pixel away from, in view of the pixel of attention, the symmetrical neighboring pixel for which the flag is raised. In step S, 7-pixel taps centered around the pixel of attention are averaged by weight. However, with respect to the neighboring pixel for which the flag is raised, the pixel value is replaced by that of the pixel of attention C, and is calculated. The present invention can be applied to a video camera, a television receiver, etc.

Signal processing device and method, recording medium, and program

In each of stages of a nonlinear filter, a successively determined target signal and plural adjacent signals are weighted-averaged with plural sets of different coefficients to calculate plural smoothed signals. Differences in level between the target signal and each of adjacent signals and signals arranged within the predetermined interval from the each of the adjacent signals are compared with a threshold value. According to the comparison, flags are set to the adjacent signal, to an adjacent signal arranged at a symmetrical position, and to adjacent signals arranged beyond the adjacent signals. The intervals of adjacent signals are different among stages. The target signal in level is used instead of the adjacent signals with smoothed signals, which are selected according to the flags. Weighting coefficients may be calculated on the basis of the comparison result, and smoothed signals may be synthesized according to the weighting coefficients.

Signal processing apparatus, method of processing a signal, recording medium, and program

A picture information conversion method and apparatus in which, if the compressed picture information with a variable or non-recognized information volume is input, optimum compression processing on the compressed picture information is performed to prevent underflow and/or overflow to suppress deterioration of the picture quality. A compressed information analysis device analyzes the structure of the picture type of the GOP of the compressed picture information input to the FF buffer . A bit allocation device generates a pseudo GOP of the input compressed picture information, based on N frames stored in the FF buffer and on the analysis result information stored in the information buffer , and allocates a pre-set code volume to respective pictures of the generated GOP so that the output compressed picture information will be at a second bitrate.

Picture information conversion method and apparatus

A technique is disclosed for reducing the bit rate of a bit stream coded into a compressed form according to the MPEG-2 standard, without causing significant degradation in image quality of a decoded image. An inverse DCT converter dequantizes a MPEG-2 bit stream and outputs resultant discrete cosine transform coefficients for each DCT block. A band limiter replaces the values of high-frequency components of the discrete cosine transform coefficients in the horizontal direction, with 0. A quantizer quantizes the discrete cosine transform coefficients using a quantization step value different from the original value.

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Tokyo, Japan

Shintaro Okada