Image capturing apparatus, control method thereof, and program

A method of controlling an image capturing apparatus having an image capture unit configured to generate an image signal by photo-electric conversion of an object image, comprising the steps of:

• detecting in a foreign substance detection image capturing mode, from a foreign substance detection image signal obtained by the image capture unit, foreign substance information that is information of a position and size of a foreign substance in an image sensing plane of the image capture unit;
• acquiring in the foreign substance detection image capturing mode, lens information of a lens used upon capturing the object;
• registering in the foreign substance detection image capturing mode, the detected foreign substance information and the acquired lens information;
• detecting in a normal image capturing mode, a region of a personal face from the captured image signal obtained by capturing the object;
• recording in the normal image capturing mode, the detected foreign substance information, the acquired lens information, and information of the detected region of the personal face in a file header of captured image data obtained by capturing the object;
• converting the foreign substance information detected by said foreign substance information detecting step into second foreign substance information on the basis of the lens information recorded by said recording unit;
• determining whether the region of the second foreign substance information is overlapped with the region of the face region information;
• and
• interpolating a pixel corresponding to the foreign substance in the captured image data on the basis of the second foreign substance information,
• wherein said interpolating step interpolates the pixel in a case that the region of the second foreign substance information is not overlapped with the region of the face region information and said interpolating step does not interpolate the pixel in a case that the region of the second foreign substance information is overlapped with the region of the face region information.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing a program characterized by causing a computer to execute a method of controlling an image capturing apparatus having an image capture unit configured to generate an image signal by photo-electric conversion of an object image, comprising the steps of:

• detecting in a foreign substance detection image capturing mode, from a foreign substance detection image signal obtained by the image capture unit, foreign substance information that is information of a position and size of a foreign substance in an image sensing plane of the image capture unit;
• acquiring in the foreign substance detection image capturing mode, lens information of a lens used upon capturing the object;
• registering in the foreign substance detection image capturing mode, the detected foreign substance information and the acquired lens information;
• detecting in a normal image capturing mode, a region of a personal face from the captured image signal obtained by capturing the object;
• recording in the normal image capturing model the detected foreign substance information, the acquired lens information, and information of the detected region of the personal face in a file header of captured image data obtained by capturing the object;
• converting the foreign substance information detected by said foreign substance information detecting step into second foreign substance information on the basis of the lens information recorded by said recording unit;
• determining whether the region of the second foreign substance information is overlapped with the region of the face region information;
• and
• interpolating a pixel corresponding to the foreign substance in the captured image data on the basis of the second foreign substance information,
• wherein said interpolating step interpolates the pixel in a case that the region of the second foreign substance information is not overlapped with the region of the face region information and said interpolating step does not interpolate the pixel in a case that the region of the second foreign substance information is overlapped with the region of the face region information.

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• image data acquisition unit configured to acquire captured image data that is recorded in association with foreign substance information and face region information;
• an interpolation unit configured to interpolate a pixel corresponding to the foreign substance in the captured image on the basis of the foreign substance information,
• wherein the foreign substance information includes a position information of a foreign substance region in the captured image,
• wherein the face region information includes a position information of a personal face region in the captured image,
• wherein the interpolation unit interpolates the pixel in a case that the foreign substance region is not overlapped with the personal face region, and wherein the interpolation unit does not interpolate the pixel in a case that the foreign substance region is overlapped with the personal face region.