Device and method for blur processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9456152-B2
Application number	US-201213823557-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2012
Priority date	Jul 12, 2011
Publication date	Sep 27, 2016
Grant date	Sep 27, 2016

Abstract

Provided is a blur processing method and apparatus that may determine whether a blur occurs in an image generated by a Time of Flight (ToF) camera, and may deblur a blur using a value of a normal adjacent pixel in which the blur is absent when the blur occurs.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for processing a blur, the apparatus comprising:
a light sensor configured to integrate, based on a plurality of control signals, electrons generated by a reflected light signal corresponding to a light signal radiated toward and returned from an object; and
a processor configured to,
generate the plurality of control signals, each of the plurality of control signals having different phases and controlling a timing for integrating the electrons, and
determine whether a blur occurs based on a relationship between quantities of the electrons integrated for each of the plurality of control signals.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the blur occurs, by comparing the relationship between the quantities of the integrated electrons to a reference electric charge quantity relationship information indicating a case in which a blur is absent.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, the processor is configured to determine whether the blur occurs in an image acquired through a Time of Flight (TOF) camera, based on a phase difference of the reflected light signal when the radiated light signal is emitted through the Time of Flight (ToF) camera.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the processor is configured to determine depth information by calculating a phase difference between the reflected light signal and the plurality of control signals having different phases.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein
the light sensor is configured to obtain a quantity of electric charges received by the reflected light signal, and
the processor is configured to determine whether the blur occurs in the acquired image, based on whether a relationship between the obtained quantity of electric charges, and each quantity of electric charges defined by the different phases of the plurality of control signals is out of a range.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein
the light sensor is configured to obtain n reflected light signals, and
the processor is configured to,
determine n pieces of depth information by determining a phase difference between the plurality of control signals and each of the n reflected light signals, and
determine an average value of the determined n pieces of depth information,
wherein n denotes a natural number.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to determine that the blur occurs in the image when at least one of the n pieces of depth information determined is not flat.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to deblur the blur in an image acquired through a Time of Flight (ToF) camera, by replacing a value of a pixel in which the blur occurs with a value of a normal adjacent pixel in which the blur is absent.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to replace depth information of a blurred area in which the blur occurs with the value of the normal adjacent pixel in which the blur is absent, based on a neighboring frame present at a time different from a time at which a frame in which the blur occurs is present in the image.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to,
identify a blur model corresponding to a structure of a Time of Flight (ToF) camera,
search for a pattern associated with the blur model in an image acquired through the ToF camera, and
deblur the blur in the acquired image by filtering a blurred area in the pattern found during the search.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to filter the blurred area in an R-Theta space.

12. A method of processing a blur, the method comprising:
generating a plurality of control signals, each of the plurality of control signals having different phases and controlling a timing for integrating the electrons;
integrating, based on the plurality of control signals generated, electrons generated by a reflected light signal corresponding to a light signal radiated toward and returned from an object; and
determining whether the blur occurs, based on a relationship between quantities of the electrons integrated for each of the plurality of control signals.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the determining comprises comparing the relationship between the quantities of the integrated electrons to a reference electric charge quantity relationship information indicating a case in which a blur is absent.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein, the determining comprises determining whether the blur occurs in an image acquired through a Time of Flight (ToF) camera based on a phase difference of the reflected light signal when the radiated light signal is emitted through the ToF camera.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the determining comprises determining depth information based on a phase difference between the reflected light signal and the plurality of control signals having different phases.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the determining comprises:
first determining a phase difference between n obtained reflected light signals, and the plurality of control signals having different phases;
second determining n pieces of depth information, based on a result of the first determining; and
third determining an average value of the n pieces of depth information determined in second determining,
wherein n denotes a natural number.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
deblurring the blur in an image acquired through a Time of Flight (ToF) camera, by replacing a value of a pixel in which the blur occurs with a value of a normal adjacent pixel in which the blur is absent.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the deblurring deblurs the blur by replacing depth information of a blurred area in which the blur occurs with the value of the normal adjacent pixel in which the blur is absent, based on a neighboring frame present at a time different from a time at which a frame in which the blur occurs is present in the image.

19. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
identifying a blur model corresponding to a structure of a Time of Flight (ToF) camera;
searching for a pattern associated with the blur model in an image acquired through the ToF camera;
filtering a blurred area in which the blur occurs in a found pattern; and
deblurring the blur in the image in which the blurred area is filtered.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the filtering filters the blurred area in an R-Theta space.

Assignees

• Lee Seung Kyu
• Kang Byong Min
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Seung Kyu
• Kang Byong Min

Classifications

• H04N25/60

  Noise processing, e.g. detecting, correcting, reducing or removing noise · CPC title

• G01S7/4865

  Time delay measurement, e.g. time-of-flight measurement, time of arrival measurement or determining the exact position of a peak (peak detection in noise, signal conditioning G01S7/487) · CPC title

• G06T5/003

  Physics · mapped topic

• G01S17/10

  using transmission of interrupted, pulse-modulated waves (determination of distance by phase measurements G01S17/32) · CPC title

• G01S7/497

  Means for monitoring or calibrating · CPC title