Detection and removal of blemishes in digital images utilizing original images of defocused scenes

A digital image acquisition device having no photographic film, comprising an optical system, a processor and one or more storage devices for programming the processor to control the camera to perform a method of automatically correcting color or luminance defect conditions, or a combination thereof, within acquired images, the method comprising:

• acquiring one or more original digital images through a translucent lens cap disposed along an optical path between an object and one or more components of the optical system including a digital sensor;
• automatically acquiring a defocused calibration image when a trigger automatically detects that the translucent lens cap is in place;
• determining probabilities that certain pixels correspond to color or luminance defect regions, or a combination thereof, within said one or more original digital images;
• associating the color and/or luminance defect regions with one or more acquisition parameters when the one or more original digital images were acquired;
• forming a statistical color and/or luminance defect map including mapped color and/or luminance defect regions based on the calibration image and the color and/or luminance defect region probability determining and associating;
• and correcting pixels corresponding to color and/or luminance defect regions within each of said one or more original images based on the associated statistical color and/or luminance defect map;
• and wherein said determining probabilities further comprises statistically combining a plurality of individual probabilities based on each said region within two or more images.

A digital image acquisition device having no photographic film, comprising an optical system, a processor and one or more storage devices for programming the processor to control the camera to perform a method of automatically correcting color or luminance defect conditions, or a combination thereof, within acquired images, the method comprising:

• acquiring one or more original digital images through a translucent lens cap disposed along an optical path between an object and one or more components of the optical system including a digital sensor;
• automatically acquiring a defocused calibration image when a trigger automatically detects that the translucent lens cap is in place;
• determining probabilities that certain pixels correspond to color or luminance defect regions, or a combination thereof, within said one or more original digital images;
• associating the color and/or luminance defect regions with one or more acquisition parameters when the one or more original digital images were acquired;
• forming a statistical color and/or luminance defect map including mapped color and/or luminance defect regions based on the calibration image and the color and/or luminance defect region probability determining and associating;
• and correcting pixels corresponding to color and/or luminance defect regions within each of said one or more original images based on the associated statistical color and/or luminance defect map;
• and judging certain probable color and/or luminance defect regions as having a probability above a second threshold value such as to be subject to said correcting;
• and wherein said determining probabilities further comprises statistically combining a plurality of individual probabilities based on each said region within two or more said images.

A digital image acquisition device having no photographic film, comprising an optical system, a processor and one or more storage devices for programming the processor to control the camera to perform a method of automatically correcting color or luminance defect conditions, or a combination thereof, within acquired images, the method comprising:

• acquiring one or more original digital images through a translucent lens cap disposed along an optical path between an object and one or more components of the optical system including a digital sensor;
• automatically acquiring a defocused calibration image when a trigger automatically detects that the translucent lens cap is in place;
• determining probabilities that certain pixels correspond to color or luminance defect regions, or a combination thereof, within said one or more original digital images;
• associating the color and/or luminance defect regions with one or more acquisition parameters when the one or more original digital images were acquired;
• forming a statistical color and/or luminance defect map including mapped color and/or luminance defect regions based on the calibration image and the color and/or luminance defect region probability determining and associating;
• and correcting pixels corresponding to color and/or luminance defect regions within each of said one or more original images based on the associated statistical color and/or luminance defect map;
• and digitally-acquiring additional images with said digital acquisition device, repeating said determining and associating, and updating said statistical defect map including updating said mapped defect regions based on the additional defect region determining and associating, and wherein said determining includes dynamically updating said probabilities based on comparisons with suspected equivalent defect regions within the additional digitally-acquired images.