Patent ID: 7643075
Filing Date: 2010-01-05
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An image pickup device comprising: an image pickup unit having an electronic shutter function that is able to change an exposure time, the image pickup unit picking up an image formed of a plurality of pixels; an attribute information adding unit for adding attribute information to the plurality of pixels of the image, said attribute information including an image pickup condition of the pixels of the image picked up by the image pickup unit; a pickup image generating unit for generating a pickup image by selecting the image of every pixel on the basis of the added attribute information; a selecting condition judging unit for judging whether the attribute information added to each pixel by said attribute information adding unit satisfies a selecting condition for selecting a pixel that corresponds to the attribute information; a selecting pixel synthesizing unit for selecting the pixel corresponding to the attribute information judged so as to satisfy selecting condition, and generating the pickup Image; a recording unit for recording the image picked up by said image pickup unit, and, when it is judged that the attribute information of the pixel included in the image picked up later by said image pickup unit satisfies said selecting condition, said selecting pixel synthesizing unit replaces the pixel with a corresponding pixel of the pickup image recorded to said recording unit; wherein the attribute information of said pixel includes at least one of information showing an exposure time of said pixel, information showing that a brightness value of said pixel is an upper limit value of a dynamic range, and information showing an image pickup time of said pixel; wherein said selecting condition judging unit sequentially executes from a higher preferential order processes for judging whether the selecting condition of said pixel is satisfied a first judgment process for judging whether the image pickup time of an object pixel of the image newly picked up is separated from the image pickup time of the corresponding pixel of the pickup image recorded to said recording unit by a predetermined time or more on the basis of said attribute information added to each pixel; a second judgment process for judging whether or not the brightness value of the object pixel of the image newly picked up is smaller than the upper limit value of the dynamic range and the brightness value of the corresponding pixel of the pickup image recorded to said recording unit is greater than the upper limit value of the dynamic range; and a third judgment process for judging whether or not the exposure time of the object pixel of the image newly picked up is longer than the exposure time of the corresponding pixel of the pickup image recorded to said recording unit when the brightness value of the object pixel of the image newly picked up is smaller than the upper limit value of the dynamic range and the brightness value of the corresponding pixel of the pickup image recorded to said recording unit is smaller than the upper limit value of the dynamic range; wherein said judgment processes are terminated when said selecting condition is satisfied in one of said first to third judgment processes.