The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 27, 2009
Filed:
Mar. 16, 2006
Yuko Hattori, Yokohama, JP;
Yuko Hattori, Yokohama, JP;
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, KP;
Abstract
An imaging apparatus can provide final image data with a good quality irrespective of overexposure or underexposure. The imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit capturing a subject image to produce image data, a conversion unit performing a gradation conversion on the image data, a modification unit determining the level of brightness of the image data before the gradation conversion, and modifying input/output characteristics for the gradation conversion on the image data when a brightness level of the image data is lower than a reference level of brightness. The input/output characteristics include a gamma characteristic portion and a knee characteristic portion. The modification unit modifies the input/output characteristics such that output level is increased within a range of part of input level corresponding at least to the gamma characteristic portion, in comparison with the input/output characteristics of the image data with the reference level of brightness.