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US 8,947,575 B2Granted
Image pickup apparatus having warning region detection related to dynamic range expansion
AssigneeOlympus Imaging Corp.
InventorTakeyuki Ajito
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image pickup apparatus generates a display image signal by implementing predetermined dynamic range expansion processing on an image signal obtained by performing underexposed image pickup, and detects an image region in which a pixel within a predetermined gradation range exists as a warning region from the image signal either prior to implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing or following implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing. The image pickup apparatus synthesizes the display image signal with a warning pattern corresponding to the warning region and displays the synthesized image as a live view image.
Claims20
An image pickup apparatus comprising:
- an image pickup unit that converts an optical image of an object received via an imaging lens into an image signal;
- an exposure control unit capable of controlling an exposure time of the image pickup unit such that the object image is underexposed relative to an appropriate exposure;
- an image processing unit that generates a display image signal by implementing predetermined dynamic range expansion processing on an image signal obtained by performing underexposed image pickup;
- a warning region detection unit that detects an image region in which a pixel within a predetermined gradation range exists as a warning region from the image signal either prior to implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing or following implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing;
- a synthesis unit that synthesizes the display image signal generated by the image processing unit with a warning pattern corresponding to the warning region detected by the warning region detection unit;
- and
- a display unit that displays the image synthesized by the synthesis unit as a live view image,
- wherein the image processing unit performs the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing by performing different gradation conversion processing on each pixel of the image, and
- the warning region detection unit detects a region in which a loss of gradation occurs in accordance with a dynamic range expansion ratio as the warning region in relation to the image signal prior to implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing.
6 more elements
An image pickup apparatus comprising:
- an image pickup unit that converts an optical image of an object received via an imaging lens into an image signal;
- an exposure control unit capable of controlling an exposure time of the image pickup unit such that the object image is underexposed relative to an appropriate exposure and capable of controlling the exposure time of the image pickup unit such that the object image is overexposed relative to the appropriate exposure;
- a synthesized image generation unit that generates a synthesized image signal by synthesizing an image signal obtained by underexposed image pickup with an image signal obtained by overexposed image pickup;
- an image processing unit that generates a display image signal by implementing predetermined dynamic range expansion processing on the synthesized image signal generated by the synthesized image generation unit;
- a warning region detection unit that detects an image region in which a pixel within a predetermined gradation range exists as a warning region from the image signal either prior to implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing or following implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing;
- a synthesis unit that synthesizes the display image signal generated by the image processing unit with a warning pattern corresponding to the warning region detected by the warning region detection unit;
- and
- a display unit that displays the image synthesized by the synthesis unit as a live view image,
- wherein the image processing unit performs the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing by performing different gradation conversion processing on each pixel of the image, and
- the warning region detection unit detects a region in which a loss of gradation occurs in accordance with a dynamic range expansion ratio as the warning region in relation to the image signal prior to implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing.
7 more elements
An image pickup apparatus comprising:
- an image pickup unit that converts an optical image of an object received via an imaging lens into an image signal;
- an exposure control unit that controls an exposure time of the image pickup unit such that the object image is underexposed relative to an appropriate exposure;
- an image processing unit that generates a display image signal by implementing predetermined dynamic range expansion processing on an image signal obtained by performing underexposed image pickup;
- a warning region detection unit that detects an image region in which a pixel within a predetermined gradation range exists as a warning region from the image signal either prior to implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing or following implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing;
- a luminance histogram creation unit that creates a luminance histogram corresponding to the warning region detected by the warning region detection unit and a luminance histogram corresponding to an entire region of the display image generated by the image processing unit;
- a superimposing unit that superimposes the luminance histogram corresponding to the warning region and the luminance histogram corresponding to the entire region of the display image, created by the luminance histogram creation unit, onto the display image signal generated by the image processing unit;
- and
- a display unit that displays the image on which the luminance histogram corresponding to the warning region and the luminance histogram corresponding to the entire region of the display image have been superimposed by the superimposing unit as a live view image.
5 more elements
An image pickup apparatus comprising:
- an image pickup unit that converts an optical image of an object received via an imaging lens into an image signal;
- an exposure control unit capable of controlling an exposure time of the image pickup unit such that the object image is underexposed relative to an appropriate exposure and capable of controlling the exposure time of the image pickup unit such that the object image is overexposed relative to the appropriate exposure;
- a synthesized image generation unit that generates a synthesized image signal by synthesizing an image signal obtained by underexposed image pickup with an image signal obtained by overexposed image pickup;
- an image processing unit that generates a display image signal by implementing predetermined dynamic range expansion processing on the synthesized image signal generated by the synthesized image generation unit;
- a warning region detection unit that detects an image region in which a pixel within a predetermined gradation range exists as a warning region from the image signal either prior to implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing or following implementation of the predetermined dynamic range expansion processing;
- a luminance histogram creation unit that creates a luminance histogram corresponding to the warning region detected by the warning region detection unit and a luminance histogram corresponding to an entire region of the display image generated by the image processing unit;
- a superimposing unit that superimposes the luminance histogram corresponding to the warning region and the luminance histogram corresponding to the entire region of the display image, created by the luminance histogram creation unit, onto the display image signal generated by the image processing unit;
- and
- a display unit that displays the image on which the luminance histogram corresponding to the warning region and the luminance histogram corresponding to the entire region of the display image have been superimposed by the superimposing unit as a live view image.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.