Image processing method, image processing program, image processing apparatus, and digital still camera using the image processing apparatus
Electronic data output from CCD is separated into a brightness component Y and color difference components Cb and Cr and an edge is extracted for each of the components. The edge amounts are calculated from the extracted edges and the component having the maximum edge amount is selected. Edge information (for example, edge gradient direction) is calculated based on the selected component having the maximum edge amount, a filter is selected based on the calculated edge information about the component having the maximum edge amount, and smoothing processing is performed for the electronic data output from the CCD based on the filter. The electronic data subjected to the smoothing processing is written into flash memory.
1. An image processing method for processing electronic data of an input image, comprising:
a signal separation step of separating the electronic data into R, G, and B color components;
an edge amount calculation step of calculating the R edge amount, the G edge amount, and the B edge amount for each of the color components provided at said signal separation step;
a maximum edge amount selection step of selecting the maximum edge amount from among the R edge amount, the G edge amount, and the B edge amount calculated at said edge amount calculation step;
an edge information calculation step of calculating edge information of the component corresponding to the maximum edge amount based on the maximum edge amount selected at said maximum edge amount selection step; and
an electronic data processing step of processing the electronic data based on the edge information calculated at said edge information calculation step,
wherein at said maximum edge amount selection step and said edge information calculation step, the maximum edge amount is selected and the edge information of the component corresponding to the maximum edge amount is calculated for each of pixels of the input image.
2. An image processing program, stored on a computer readable medium, for causing a computer to process electronic data of an input image by executing:
a signal separation step of separating the electronic data into R, G, and B color components;
an edge amount calculation step of calculating the R edge amount, the G edge amount, and the B edge amount for each of the color components provided at said signal separation step;
a maximum edge amount selection step of selecting the maximum edge amount from among the R edge amount, the G edge amount, and the B edge amount calculated at said edge amount calculation step;
an edge information calculation step of calculating edge information of the component corresponding to the maximum edge amount based on the maximum edge amount selected at said maximum edge amount selection step; and
an electronic data processing step of processing the electronic data based on the edge information calculated at said edge information calculation step,
wherein at said maximum edge amount selection step and said edge information calculation step, the maximum edge amount is selected and the edge information of the component corresponding to the maximum edge amount is calculated for each of pixels of the input image.
3. An image processing apparatus comprising:
image input means, to which image information is input, being capable of outputting the image information as electronic data;
edge information calculation means for detecting R, G, and B color components from the electronic data output from said image input means and calculating edge information about the component having the maximum edge amount, of the color components;
image processing means for processing the electronic data based on the edge information calculated by said edge information calculation means;
record means being capable of recording filter information and the electronic data; and
filter information selection means for selecting filter information to process the electronic data based on the edge information calculated by said edge information calculation means.
4. A digital still camera comprising an image processing apparatus as claimed in claim 3 .