Camera apparatus and method of taking pictures

2 A camera apparatus, comprising:

• a camera unit which acquires an image;
• a line-of-sight detection unit which detects a point of eye fixation of a user within a camera screen;
• an importance computation unit which determines levels of importance for respective areas of the image acquired by said camera unit in accordance with the detection by said line-of-sight detection unit;
• and
• a color interpolation processing unit which changes color interpolation processing for the respective areas of the image in response to the determination by the importance computation unit.

3 A camera apparatus, comprising:

• a camera unit which acquires an image;
• a line-of-sight detection unit which detects a point of eye fixation of a user within a camera screen;
• an importance computation unit which determines levels of importance for respective areas of the image acquired by said camera unit in accordance with the detection by said line-of-sight detection unit;
• and
• a sharpness enhancement processing unit which changes sharpness enhancement processing for the respective areas of the image in response to the determination by the importance computation unit.

4 A camera apparatus, comprising:

• a camera unit which acquires an image;
• a line-of-sight detection unit which detects a point of eye fixation of a user within a camera screen;
• an importance computation unit which determines levels of importance for respective areas of the image acquired by said camera unit in accordance with the detection by said line-of-sight detection unit;
• and
• a noise removal processing unit which changes noise removal processing for the respective areas of the image in response to the determination by the importance computation unit.

9 A camera apparatus, comprising:

• a camera unit which acquires an image;
• a line-of-sight detection unit which detects a point of eye fixation of a user within a camera screen;
• an importance computation unit which determines levels of importance for respective areas of the image acquired by said camera unit in accordance with the detection by said line-of-sight detection unit;
• and
• an image processing unit which performs at least one of processing of changing a number of gray scale levels for the respective areas of the image, processing of changing color interpolation processing for the respective areas of the image, processing of changing sharpness enhancement processing for the respective areas of the image, and processing of changing noise removal processing for the respective areas of the image in response to the determination by the importance computation unit.

10 A method of acquiring an image, comprising the steps of:

• acquiring an image;
• detecting a point of eye fixation of a user within a camera screen;
• determining levels of importance for respective areas of the acquired image in accordance with the detection of the point of eye fixation;
• and
• changing a number of gray scale levels for the respective areas of the image in response to the determined levels of importance.

11 A method of acquiring an image, comprising the steps of:

• acquiring an image;
• detecting a point of eye fixation of a user within a camera screen;
• determining levels of importance for respective areas of the acquired image in accordance with the detection of the point of eye fixation;
• and
• changing color interpolation processing for the respective areas of the image in response to the determined levels of importance.

12 A method of acquiring an image, comprising the steps of:

• acquiring an image;
• detecting a point of eye fixation of a user within a camera screen;
• determining levels of importance for respective areas of the acquired image in accordance with the detection of the point of eye fixation;
• and
• changing sharpness enhancement processing for the respective areas of the image in response to the determined levels of importance.

13 A method of acquiring an image, comprising the steps of:

• acquiring an image;
• detecting a point of eye fixation of a user within a camera screen;
• determining levels of importance for respective areas of the acquired image in accordance with the detection of the point of eye fixation;
• and
• changing noise removal processing for the respective areas of the image in response to the determined levels of importance.