Information processing apparatus, information processing method, learning apparatus and learning method and program

A information processing method, comprising the steps of:

• classifying a first image obtained by taking images of a subject into a class according to a characteristic thereof;
• designating one coefficient memory from among plural coefficient memories having different image taking conditions at the time of image taking, which store prediction coefficients according the class obtained by learning, based on the image taking condition when the first image was obtained;
• and
• calculating a second image in which noise is removed from the first image by calculating using a prediction coefficient of the class of the first image, which is in the designated coefficient memory.

A program allowing a computer to execute the steps of:

• classifying a first image obtained by taking images of a subject into a class according to a characteristic thereof;
• designating one coefficient memory from among plural coefficient memories having different image taking conditions at the time of image taking, which store prediction coefficients according the class obtained by learning based on the image taking condition when the first image was obtained;
• and
• calculating a second image in which noise is removed from the first image by calculating using a prediction coefficient of the class of the first image, which is in the designated coefficient memory.

A learning apparatus for learning a prediction coefficient used when performing noise removal processing of an taken image which is the taken image, comprising:

• a condition decision means for deciding an image taking condition;
• an image taking means for taking images of a subject under the decided image taking condition;
• a noise image generating means for generating noise images in which noise included in images taken by the image taking means is extracted;
• a teacher image generating means for generating a teacher image to be a target image after the noise removal processing;
• a student image generating means for generating a student image corresponding to the taken image before the noise removal processing is performed by adding the noise image to the teacher image;
• and
• a storage means for storing data of pairs of the teacher image and the student image according to different image taking conditions.

A learning method for learning a prediction coefficient used for performing noise removal processing of a taken image which is the taken image, comprising the steps of:

• deciding the image taking condition;
• taking images of a subject under the decided image taking condition;
• generating a noise image in which noise included in the taken image is extracted;
• generating a teacher image to be a target image after noise removal processing;
• generating a student image corresponding to the taken image before the noise removal processing is performed by adding the noise image to the teacher image;
• and
• storing data of pairs of the teacher image and the student image according to different image taking conditions.

A program allowing a computer to execute processing of learning a prediction coefficient used for performing noise removal processing of a taken image which is the taken image, comprising the steps of:

• deciding the image taking condition;
• taking images of a subject under the decided image taking condition;
• generating a noise image in which noise included in the taken image is extracted;
• generating a teacher image to be a target image after noise removal processing;
• generating a student image corresponding to the taken image before the noise removal processing is performed by adding the noise image to the teacher image;
• and
• storing data of pairs of the teacher image and the student image according to different image taking conditions.

An information processing apparatus, comprising:

• an image taking unit configured to take images of a subject;
• a class-classification unit configured to classify a first image outputted by the image taking unit into a class according to a characteristic thereof;
• a storage unit configured to store plural coefficient memories having different image taking conditions at the time of image taking, which store prediction coefficients according to the class acquired by learning,
• a designation unit configured to designate one coefficient memory from among the plural coefficient memories based on the image taking condition when the image was taken by the image taking unit, and
• a calculation unit configured to calculate a second image in which noise is removed from the first image by calculating using a prediction coefficient of the class of the first image, which is in the designated coefficient memory.

A learning apparatus for learning a prediction coefficient used when performing noise removal processing of an taken image which is the taken image, comprising:

• a condition decision unit configured to decide an image taking condition;
• an image taking unit configured to take images of a subject under the decided image taking condition;
• a noise image generating unit configured to generate noise images in which noise included in images taken by the image taking unit is extracted;
• a teacher image generating unit configured to generate a teacher image to be a target image after the noise removal processing;
• a student image generating unit configured to generate a student image corresponding to the taken image before the noise removal processing is performed by adding the noise image to the teacher image;
• and
• a storage unit configured to store data of pairs of the teacher image and the student image according to different image taking conditions.