Image processing apparatus, method, and computer program with pixel brightness-change detection and value correction

An imaging apparatus comprising:

• an imaging device configured to generate, by a processor, image data comprising a long-time exposure image and a short-time exposure image, wherein the processor is configured to:
• detect a brightness-change pixel in which it is determined that a brightness change has occurred during a photographic period corresponding to a long-time exposure time on the basis of analysis of pixel values in the long-time exposure image and the short-time exposure image;
• and
• correct a pixel value of the brightness-change pixel detected by the image analysis unit, wherein the correcting a pixel value includes:
• selectively combining pixel values in the long-time exposure image and pixel values in the short-time exposure image to generate a combined image,
• generating an intermediate image, the intermediate image being a blurred image of the combined image, and
• determining a pixel value of the brightness-change pixel detected by the image analysis unit using a pixel value of a corresponding pixel in the combined image and a pixel value of a corresponding pixel in the intermediate image, the corresponding pixel in the combined and intermediate images being located at positions corresponding to the brightness-change pixel.

An image processing method for performing image processing in an image processing apparatus, the image processing method comprising the steps of:

• by an image input unit, receiving a long-time exposure image and a short-time exposure image;
• by an image analysis unit, detecting a brightness-change pixel in which it is determined that a brightness change has occurred during a photographic period corresponding to a long-time exposure time on the basis of analysis of pixel values in the long-time exposure image and the short-time exposure image;
• and
• by a pixel value correction unit, correcting a pixel value of the detected brightness-change pixel,
• wherein the step of correcting includes the steps of
• generating a combined image by selectively combining pixel values in the long-time exposure image and pixel values in the short-time exposure image,
• generating an intermediate image, the intermediate image being a blurred image of the combined image, and
• determining a pixel value of the brightness-change pixel detected by the image analysis unit using a pixel value of a corresponding pixel in the combined image and a pixel value of the corresponding pixel in the intermediate image, the corresponding pixel in the combined and intermediate images being located at positions corresponding to the brightness-change pixel.

A non-transitory computer storage medium comprising a computer program for causing an image processing apparatus to execute image processing, the computer program comprising the steps of:

• causing an image input unit to receive a long-time exposure image and a short-time exposure image;
• causing an image analysis unit to detect a brightness-change pixel in which it is determined that a brightness change has occurred during a photographic period corresponding to a long-time exposure time on the basis of analysis of pixel values in the long-time exposure image and the short-time exposure image;
• and
• causing a pixel value correction unit to correct a pixel value of the brightness-change pixel detected in the step of causing an image analysis unit to detect a brightness-change pixel,
• wherein the step of causing a pixel value correction unit to correct a pixel value includes the steps of
• generating a combined image by selectively combining pixel values in the long-time exposure image and pixel values in the short-time exposure image,
• generating a blurred image of the combined image, and
• generating an output image by determining a pixel value of the brightness-change pixel detected by the image analysis unit using a pixel value of a corresponding pixel in the combined image and a pixel value of the corresponding pixel in the intermediate image, the corresponding pixel in the combined and intermediate images being located at positions corresponding to the brightness-change pixel.