Patent ID: 11882247
Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
Field: Audio-visual technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. An image acquisition apparatus that combines a plurality of images acquired in a time sequential manner and generates a combined image having a higher resolution than each of the plurality of images, the image acquisition apparatus comprising:
an optical system that comprises a lens and that forms a subject image by focusing light coming from a subject;
an image acquisition device that has an image acquisition surface on which the subject image is formed and that acquires the plurality of images;
a shifting mechanism that causes the image acquisition device and the optical system to relatively shift in a direction parallel to the image acquisition surface; and
a processor comprising hardware, the processor being configured to:
calculate a movement amount of the subject image on the image acquisition surface;
calculate a relative shift amount of the image acquisition device and the optical system on the basis of the movement amount of the subject image, wherein the shift amount increases with a decrease in the movement amount of the subject image; and
cause, by controlling the shifting mechanism, the image acquisition device and the optical system to relatively shift, between acquisitions of the plurality of images, by the calculated shift amount,

wherein the image acquisition device acquires a plurality of pre-images before acquiring the plurality of images, and
the processor is configured to calculate the movement amount of the subject image on the image acquisition surface from a movement amount of the subject between the plurality of pre-images.