Image capturing apparatus and method for limiting image blurring
View Patent ↗Provided is an image capturing apparatus and method, in which the limit of the application of blurring to an input image is determined with the use of a database of recognizable blur levels, and the input image is processed by applying filtering properties corresponding to variations in digital gain and an exposure time. The image capturing apparatus includes a light reception module which receives an optical signal; and an image processing module which adjusts an exposure time-to-digital gain ratio with reference to the amount of light included in the optical signal.
1. An image capturing apparatus comprising:
a light reception module which receives an optical signal;
a sensor module which converts the optical signal into an electric signal;
an image generation module which generates an image from the electric signal; and
an image processing module which adjusts an exposure time-to-digital gain ratio by determining an amount of light included in the optical signal and a sharpness of the image,
wherein the image processing module comprises a ratio extraction unit which extracts a recognizable blur level for the image with reference to the sharpness of the image.
2. The image capturing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the image processing module comprises a light-amount determination unit which determines the amount of light included in the optical signal.
3. The image capturing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the image processing module comprises a property determination unit which determines the sharpness of the image.
4. The image capturing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the property determination unit determines the sharpness of the image by calculating a discrete cosine transform (DCT) level of the image.
5. The image capturing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ratio extraction unit extracts the exposure time-to-digital gain ratio with reference to the extracted recognizable blur level.
6. The image capturing apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising a storage module which includes a database of a plurality of recognizable blur levels.
7. The image capturing apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the database is created based on a blur level graph showing a relationship between a discrete cosine transform (DCT) level of an input image and a DCT level of an output image.
8. The image capturing apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the database is obtained based on the blur level graph which is made by more than one user's decisions.
9. The image capturing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the image processing module comprises a filtering unit which filters the optical signal using first and second filters corresponding to the exposure time-to-digital gain ratio.
10. The image capturing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the first filter is a low pass filter and the second filter is a high pass filter.
11. The image capturing apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising a storage module which includes a database of information regarding properties of the first filter.
12. The image capturing apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising a storage module which includes a database of information regarding properties of the second filter.
13. An image capturing method comprising:
receiving an optical signal;
converting the optical signal into an electric signal;
generating an image from the electric signal; and
adjusting an exposure time-to-digital gain ratio by determining an amount of light included in the optical signal and a sharpness of the image,
wherein the adjusting comprises extracting a recognizable blur level for the image with reference to the sharpness of the image.
14. The image capturing method of claim 13 , wherein the determining of the sharpness of the image comprises determining the sharpness of the image by calculating a discrete cosine transform (DCT) level of the image.
15. The image capturing method of claim 13 , further comprising storing a plurality of recognizable blur levels in a database.
16. The image capturing method of claim 15 , wherein the database is created based on a blur level graph showing a relationship between an input discrete cosine transform (DCT) level and an output DCT level.
17. The image capturing method of claim 16 , wherein the database is obtained based on the blur level graph which is made by more than one user's decisions.
18. The image capturing method of claim 13 , wherein the adjusting comprises extracting the exposure time-to-digital gain ratio with reference to the extracted recognizable blur level.
19. The image capturing method of claim 13 , wherein the adjusting comprises filtering the optical signal using first and second filters corresponding to the exposure time-to-digital gain ratio.
20. The image capturing method of claim 19 , wherein the first filter is a low pass filter and the second filter is a high pass filter.
21. The image capturing method of claim 19 , further comprising storing information regarding properties of the first filter in a database.
22. The image capturing method of claim 19 , further comprising storing information regarding properties of the second filter in a database.
23. An image capturing method comprising:
receiving an optical signal;
converting the optical signal into an electric signal;
generating an image from the electric signal; and
adjusting an exposure time-to-digital gain ratio by determining an amount of light included in the optical signal and a sharpness of the image,
wherein the adjusting further comprises:
extracting a recognizable blur level for the image with reference to the sharpness of the image;
extracting the exposure time-to-digital gain ratio with reference to the extracted recognizable blur level; and
filtering the optical signal using first and second filters corresponding to the exposure time-to-digital gain ratio.