Image processing device and image processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10957047-B2
Application number	US-201716477724-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2017
Priority date	Feb 15, 2017
Publication date	Mar 23, 2021
Grant date	Mar 23, 2021

Abstract

An image processing device for synthesizing a plurality of mutually adjacent and partially overlapping pieces of image data, includes a boundary portion selection unit which, from boundary portions of adjacent image data, selects the boundary portion for calculating an image correction value, a correction value calculator which calculates the image correction value of the boundary portion selected by the boundary portion selection unit, and an image correction unit which, in the boundary portion selected by the boundary portion selection unit, performs image correction of the boundary portion using the image correction value calculated by the correction value calculator, and which, in the boundary portion that has not been selected by the boundary portion selection unit, performs image correction using the image correction value calculated in the past.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An image processing device for synthesizing a plurality of mutually adjacent and partially overlapping pieces of image data, the device comprising:
a boundary portion selection circuit which, from a plurality of boundary portions of a plurality of mutually adjacent and partially overlapping pieces of image data, selects a boundary portion for calculating an image correction value;
a correction value calculator which calculates the image correction value of the boundary portion selected by the boundary portion selection circuit;
an image correction circuit which, in the boundary portion selected by the boundary portion selection circuit, performs image correction of the boundary portion using the image correction value calculated by the correction value calculator, and which, in a boundary portion that has not been selected by the boundary portion selection circuit, performs image correction using a previously stored image correction value; and
a synthesizing circuit that synthesizes the plurality of mutually adjacent and partially overlapping pieces of image data,
wherein the image correction value is not calculated for the boundary portion among the plurality of boundary portions that is not selected by the boundary portion selection circuit.

2. The image processing device of claim 1 ,
wherein the image correction circuit performs image correction using the previously stored image correction value and a future image correction value in the boundary portion that has not been selected by the boundary portion selection circuit.

3. The image processing device of claim 1 ,
wherein the boundary portion selection circuit changes the boundary portion to be selected for each frame.

4. The image processing device of claim 3 ,
wherein the boundary portion selection circuit selects all of the boundary portions in a first frame, does not select at least one boundary portion in a second frame subsequent to the first frame, and selects all of the boundary portions in a third frame subsequent to the second frame.

5. The image processing device of claim 4 ,
wherein the image correction circuit corrects an image of the second frame using an image correction value of the first frame and an image correction value of the third frame.

6. The image processing device of claim 3 ,
wherein the boundary portion selection circuit selects a larger number of boundary portions as processing capability of the image correction circuit is higher.

7. The image processing device of claim 3 ,
wherein the boundary portion selection circuit selects a larger number of boundary portions as processing capability of the image correction circuit has more margin.

8. The image processing device of claim 1 ,
wherein the boundary portion selection circuit selects the boundary portion in which a change in a video image between frames exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

9. An image processing method of an image processing device for synthesizing a plurality of mutually adjacent and partially overlapping pieces of image data, the method comprising:
selecting a boundary portion for calculating an image correction value from a plurality of boundary portions of a plurality of mutually adjacent and partially overlapping pieces of image data;
calculating an image correction value of the boundary portion selected;
performing image correction of the boundary portion using the image correction value calculated in the boundary portion selected;
performing image correction using a previously stored image correction value in a boundary portion that has not been selected in the selecting; and
synthesizing the plurality of mutually adjacent and partially overlapping pieces of image data,
wherein the image correction value is not calculated for the boundary portion among the plurality of boundary portions that is not selected.

10. The image processing device of claim 1 ,
wherein the image correction value is calculated only for the selected boundary portion that is less than all of the plurality of boundary portions.

11. The image processing device of claim 1 ,
wherein the boundary portion selection circuit selects less than all of the plurality of boundary portions, such that at least one boundary portion among the plurality of boundary portions is not selected for calculating the image correction value.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Wang Qinhe
• Ogino Ryoji
• Tabei Kenji

Classifications

• H04N23/698

  for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture · CPC title

• H04N23/951

  by using two or more images to influence resolution, frame rate or aspect ratio · CPC title

• H04N23/60

  Control of cameras or camera modules · CPC title

• G06T7/174 Primary

  involving the use of two or more images · CPC title

• G06T7/97

  Determining parameters from multiple pictures (depth or shape recovery from multiple images G06T7/55; stereo camera calibration G06T7/85) · CPC title