Patent ID: 7852383
Filing Date: 2010-12-14
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An image pickup apparatus having an image pickup device which outputs image signals subjected to photoelectric conversion, the image pickup apparatus comprising: a defective pixel position detector detecting a position of a defective pixel in the image pickup device in accordance with the image signals outputted from the image pickup device; a storage unit storing position information on the position detected by the defective pixel position detector; a defective pixel compensator correcting the image signals corresponding to the position of the defective pixel in accordance with the position information stored in the storage unit; an optical member arranged on a light axis for image capturing and arranged in front of the image pickup device; a foreign substance detector detecting foreign substance adhering to the optical member in accordance with the image signals outputted from the defective pixel compensator; and a controller controlling the defective pixel position detector, the storage unit, the defective pixel compensator, and the foreign substance detector, so that for the foreign substance detector to perform detection, firstly the defective pixel position detector performs detection to update the position information stored in the storage unit, then based on the updated position information, the defective pixel compensator performs correction, and thereafter, the foreign substance detector performs the detection.