Image processing apparatus

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

an image capturing unit that captures image information picked up by an imaging element;

a processing region setting unit that sets a plurality of processing regions for the image information;

a processing sequence/frequency determination unit that determines at least a sequence, a frequency, and a timing of capturing the respective image information in the plurality of set processing regions, and at least a sequence, a frequency, and a timing of processing the respective image information; and

an image processing unit that captures the image information for each of the processing regions according to the sequence, the frequency, and the timing determined by the processing sequence/frequency determination unit, and processes the captured image information according to the sequence, the frequency, and the timing determined by the processing sequence/frequency determination unit

wherein the sequence, the frequency, and the timing determined by the processing sequence/frequency determination unit are determined on the basis of an exposure time, starting point coordinates, ending point coordinates, a capturing time, a processing time, and a reduction/enlargement ratio of the respective processing regions set by the processing region setting unit.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the image capturing unit has a function of setting a shutter or a gain which is exposure information of the imaging element.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the image capturing unit has a function of executing at least one processing of edge emphasis processing, noise removal processing, and brightness correction processing on the captured image information.

4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the processing region setting unit sets the processing regions according to a type of image processing executed by the image processing unit.

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4 ,

wherein the processing region setting unit sets the processing regions at different positions according to a type of image processing executed by the image processing unit.

6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the image capturing unit captures the image information of a second processing region different from a first processing region according to the sequence, the frequency, or the timing determined by the processing sequence/frequency determination unit while the image processing unit is processing the image information of the first processing region according to the sequence, the frequency, or the timing determined by the processing sequence/frequency determination unit.

7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: an image transfer unit that transfers the image information captured by the image capturing unit to the image processing unit according to the sequence, the frequency, or the timing determined by the processing sequence/frequency determination unit.

8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the image capturing unit captures a plurality of image information of the processing regions different in exposure during one exposure period.

9. An image processing apparatus comprising:

an image capturing unit that captures image information picked up by an imaging element;

a processing region setting unit that sets a plurality of processing regions for the image information;

a processing sequence/frequency determination unit that determines at least any one of a sequence, a frequency, and a timing of capturing the respective image information in the plurality of set processing regions, and at least any one of a sequence, a frequency, and a timing of processing the respective image information; and

an image processing unit that captures the image information for each of the processing regions according to the sequence, the frequency, or the timing determined by the processing sequence/frequency determination unit, and processes the captured image information according to the sequence, the frequency, or the timing determined by the processing sequence/frequency determination unit,

wherein the processing region setting unit sets the processing regions at different positions according to whether the image processing executed by the image processing unit is sign detection processing or pedestrian detection processing.

10. An image processing apparatus comprising:

an image capturing unit that captures image information picked up by an imaging element;

a processing region setting unit that sets a plurality of processing regions for the image information;

a processing sequence/frequency determination unit that determines at least any one of a sequence, a frequency, and a timing of capturing the respective image information in the plurality of set processing regions, and at least any one of a sequence, a frequency, and a timing of processing the respective image information;

an image processing unit that captures the image information for each of the processing regions according to the sequence, the frequency, or the timing determined by the processing sequence/frequency determination unit, and processes the captured image information according to the sequence, the frequency, or the timing determined by the processing sequence/frequency determination unit; and

an image transfer unit that transfers the image information captured by the image capturing unit to the image processing unit according to the sequence, the frequency, or the timing determined by the processing sequence/frequency determination unit,

wherein the image transfer unit transfers a processing region longer in transfer time among the plurality of processing regions to the image processing unit while the image processing unit is processing the processing region longer in processing time.