Method of removing an artefact from an image

A system for removing an artefact from an image captured with a motion invariant camera, said system comprising:

• a memory for storing data and a computer program;
• a processor coupled to said memory for executing said computer program, said computer program comprising instructions for:
• de-blurring the captured image using a spatially invariant blur kernel;
• applying an edge filter with a fixed offset to said de-blurred image to identify the location of at least one artefact;
• estimating a parameter based on a region either side of said identified location;
• and
• removing said at least one artefact from said de-blurred image using said parameter.

An apparatus for removing an artefact from an image captured with a motion invariant camera, said apparatus comprising:

• means for de-blurring the captured image using a spatially invariant blur kernel;
• means for applying an edge filter with a fixed offset to said de-blurred image to identify the location of at least one artefact;
• means for estimating a parameter based on a region either side of said identified location;
• and
• means for removing said at least one artefact from said de-blurred image using said parameter.

A computer readable medium comprising a computer program stored thereon for removing an artefact from an image captured with a motion invariant camera, said program comprising:

• code for de-blurring the captured image using a spatially invariant blur kernel;
• code for applying an edge filter with a fixed offset to said de-blurred image to identify the location of at least one artefact;
• code for estimating a parameter based on a region either side of said identified location;
• and
• code for removing said at least one artefact from said de-blurred image using said parameter.

A method of forming an image using an image sensor, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing an image shift trajectory and image shift acceleration function;
• providing an image intensity attenuation function that results in the formed image having a gradual fade in and fade out over an exposure period;
• capturing an image translated across the sensor in accordance with the image shift trajectory and the image shift acceleration function within the exposure period to produce a captured image;
• and
• forming the image based on the captured image being modified by the intensity attenuation function.

An image forming system comprising;

• a sensor for capturing the image;
• shifting means for shifting the image with respect to the sensor along an image shift trajectory;
• image attenuation means for modulating the image captured by the sensor;
• and
• one or more processors for;
• determining each of (i) the image shift trajectory, (iii) an image shift acceleration function and (iii) an image attenuation function;
• controlling the shifting means so as to, during an exposure period, capture the image by exposing the sensor to the image while shifting the image relative to the sensor, the relative shift of the image being effected along the image shift trajectory and according to the image shift acceleration function;
• and
• controlling the image attenuation means so as to form the image by modulating the image captured by the sensor according to the image attenuation function.