Sony Corporation

Sato Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha

Takuya Chiba

Akira Matsui

Yutaka Yoneda

Kenji Tanaka

Ryota Kosakai

Naoki Hayashi

Seijiro Inaba

Kazuhide Yokota

Mats Hedberg

Seishin Asato

Kazato Tanaka

Hisashi Kurebayashi

Masaya Kinoshita

Akira Hamano

Jing Zhang

A printer maintenance guide device includes a guide command button for commanding a maintenance guide for a maintenance work, and a moving image memory storing moving images for successively and continuously displaying a whole process of the maintenance guide from start to end at once on a display unit by the operation of the guide command button.

Printer maintenance guide device and printer maintenance guide method

An image pickup apparatus includes an image sensor including a color filter having pixels of different colors arranged in a predetermined order and a demosaic processor. The image sensor receives a subject image and outputs an image signal including color signals of the different colors. The demosaic processor generates color signals of the different colors for each of pixels of the image from the image signal. The demosaic processor includes a generation unit and a noise reduction unit. The generation unit performs computation using a target color signal representing a predetermined target color signal included in the image signal and a predetermined different color signal so as to generate a color-related signal that associates the target color signal with the predetermined different color signal for a pixel of the target color signal. The noise reduction unit performs a noise reduction process on the color-related signal generated by the generation unit.

Image pickup apparatus, color noise reduction method, and color noise reduction program

An image processing apparatus includes a gradation correction unit configured to multiply input image data by a gradation correction value appropriate for the input image data so as to obtain gradation corrected image data; and a noise suppression unit configured to suppress noise of the gradation corrected image data on the basis of a noise model of the input image data to obtain output image data. The noise suppression unit includes a parameter generator configured to generate a noise suppression parameter in accordance with the gradation corrected image data by using the noise model; a parameter correction unit configured to multiply the noise suppression parameter by the gradation correction value to correct the noise suppression parameter; and a low-pass filter configured to vary characteristics thereof in accordance with the noise suppression parameter corrected by the parameter correction unit and to suppress noise of the gradation corrected image data.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method

A solid-state imaging device having: (a) a pixel array with an oblique pixel pattern in which pixels are obliquely disposed, an odd-numbered row vertical signal line in an odd-numbered row vertical signal line group being connected to each column of odd-numbered row pixels and an even-numbered row vertical signal line in an even-numbered row vertical signal line group being connected to each column of even-numbered row pixels; (b) a row selector for separately selecting an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row of the oblique pixel pattern; (c) an odd-numbered row column processing circuit group including column processing circuits and connected to the odd-numbered row vertical signal line group, for adding signals of the odd-numbered row pixels between columns; (d) an even-numbered row column processing circuit group including column processing circuits and connected to the even-numbered row vertical signal line group, for adding signals of the even-numbered row pixels in pixel columns; and (d) a column selector for selecting the column processing circuits of the odd-numbered row column processing circuit group and the column processing circuits of the even-numbered row column processing circuit group.

Drive method for solid-state imaging device, solid-state imaging device, and imaging apparatus

An image processing device to correct chromatic aberration of image data is provided. The image processing device includes an overexposed pixel detecting unit configured to detect overexposed pixels by using a luminance signal of the image data; an overexposure distribution information generating unit configured to generate overexposure distribution information indicating distribution of the overexposed pixels detected by the overexposed pixel detecting unit; and a chromatic aberration amount calculating unit configured to calculate the amount of chromatic aberration of each pixel by using the overexposure distribution information generated by the overexposure distribution information generating unit and chromatic aberration amount distribution information indicating distribution of the amount of chromatic aberration, which is the amount of correction regarding chromatic aberration of nearby pixels due to overexposure of a target pixel.

Image processing device, image processing method, and program

An image processing device includes a correlation value calculating unit calculating plural correlation values indicating degrees of correlation of an image for a pixel of attention to be interpolated on a solid-state imaging device having filters of predetermined color coding; a judging unit judging a direction in which interpolation should be performed by calculating, in different directions, at least two patterns of the plural correlation values calculated by the correlation value calculating unit and comparing the correlation values of at least two patterns with correlation lines obtained by plotting the correlation values with respect to straight lines of various angles; and an interpolating unit applying interpolation processing to the pixel of attention on the basis of information on pixels around the pixel of attention present in the direction judged by the judging unit.

Image processing device, image processing method, and imaging apparatus

An information processing apparatus for correcting chromatic aberration of video data, includes a white saturation pixel detecting unit for detecting a white saturation pixel having white saturation using a G signal of the video data composed of an RGB signal, a spatial signal processing unit for performing a spatial signal process on the RGB signal across a plurality of lines, a color signal generating unit for generating a color signal from the RGB signal processed by the spatial signal processing unit, a white saturation distribution information generating unit for generating white saturation distribution information representing a distribution of the white saturation pixels detected by the white saturation pixel detecting unit, and a chromatic aberration correcting unit for correcting a chromatic aberration of the color signal generated by the color signal generating unit, using the white saturation distribution information generated by the white saturation distribution information generating unit.

Apparatus, method, and computer program for processing information

When flash photography is performed, an exposure time at a time of a preliminary light emission of a flash is set as short as possible so that the appropriate amount of light required for a main light emission of the flash can be accurately computed. Before the main light emission of the flash, an exposure operation prior to preliminary light emission and an exposure operation at the time of preliminary light emission are performed. After each of these exposures, the pixel signals of individual pixels are intermittently read out at predetermined pixel intervals. The brightness levels of images captured in the exposure operation prior to preliminary light emission and the exposure operation at the time of preliminary light emission are individually detected based on the signals. The amount of light required for the main light emission of the flash is computed based on a difference between the brightness levels.

Apparatus and method for capturing an image using a flash and a solid-state image pickup device

An imaging apparatus for imaging an image using a solid-state image pickup device includes a first linear matrix operation unit configured to perform matrix conversion upon a color component of an image signal obtained by imaging using coefficients capable of improving color reproducibility; a second linear matrix operation unit configured to perform matrix conversion upon the color component using coefficients capable of achieving noise component reduction; a signal combining unit configured to combine image signals output from a plurality of signal processing systems each of which includes one of the first or second linear matrix operation units; and a combination ratio setting unit configured to set a combination ratio so that, when a subject is bright, an image signal output from the signal processing system that includes the first linear matrix operation unit can be combined in an amount larger than the image signals output from the other signal processing systems.

Imaging apparatus for imaging an image and image processor and method for performing color correction utilizing a number of linear matrix operations

An image pickup device and associated methodology are provided. The image pickup device is formed from a plurality of pixels, each of which can perform any of an exposure operation and a reading operation thereof at a timing different from that of the other, an imaging apparatus is provided, which can determine the amount of main-flashing light based on pre-flashing by a flash highly accurately. Before and during a preflash operation by a flash unit, an exposure operation is started simultaneously for all the pixels of the image pickup deviceto form an image before and during the preflash to obtain a detected value by a detector before and during the preflash, respectively. A computation circuit computes a differential detected value obtained by subtracting the before-preflash detected value from the during-preflash detected value. The differential detected value is a detected value containing only pre-flashed light with ambient light excluded. An amount of light for main flashing is computed on the basis of the differential detected value.

Image device and associated methodology of adjusting a flash exposure operation

A drive method for a solid-state imaging device having an oblique pixel pattern includes the steps of: adding, separately for an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row, x pixels in the horizontal direction and y pixels in the vertical direction, the x pixels and the y pixels having the same color, in an area having adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction, where n is an odd number of three or greater and n&#x2267;x&#x2267;y; and repeatedly adding the x pixels and the y pixels while shifting the n&#xd7;n area by m pixels in the vertical or horizontal direction, where m is an odd number of three or greater. The n&#xd7;n area of odd-numbered rows is displaced from that of even-numbered rows by m pixels in the oblique direction in the oblique pixel pattern.

A signal detection circuit and a controller receive signals from an imaging device, determine pixels having signal levels that exceed a predetermined defect determination level as defective pixels, and store the addresses of the defective pixels corresponding to read methods. When the imaging device images an object, a defect compensation circuit reads the addresses of the defective pixels that have been stored corresponding to the read methods and performs a predetermined compensation process for the defective pixels. A controller stores the signal levels of the defective pixels and converts the signal levels corresponding to the read methods. As a result, when defective pixels are detected in one read method, the defective pixels can be compensated in a plurality of read methods.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Takuya Chiba