Camera with image enhancement functions

Imaging apparatus, comprising:

• objective optics, which are arranged to focus optical radiation from an object onto a focal plane with a characteristic point spread function (PSF);
• an array of optical sensing elements, which is positioned at the focal plane and is adapted to generate a signal in response to the optical radiation that is incident on the elements, the signal corresponding to an electronic image of the object comprising pixels having respective pixel values;
• an image processor, which is coupled to receive the signal from the array and is adapted to identify one or more bad elements in the array and, responsively to the PSF, to modify the pixel values of the pixels in a vicinity of the bad elements in the input image so as to produce a corrected blurred image while reducing propagation of artifacts due to the bad elements, and to apply a deconvolution filter, based on the PSF, to the corrected blurred image so as to generate a restored output image,
• wherein the image processor is adapted to determine substitute values with which to replace the pixel values of the bad pixels responsively to the PSF using a correction map M[x]substantially of a form given by
• M
• ⁡
• [
• x
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• =
• {
• (
• 1
• M
• '
• ⁡
• [
• x
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• -
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• M
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• ⁡
• [
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• ≠
• 0
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• M
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• [
• x
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• =
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• ,
• wherein x is a pixel coordinate, and M′[x]is a convolved map given by a convolution of a map of the bad elements with a conjugate of the PSF.