Patent ID: 7202894

Claim:
An apparatus for correcting pixel image data, comprising: a plurality of memory banks each for receiving and temporarily storing a line of image data of an image obtained from an image sensor array, each line containing signal value data respectively corresponding to a line of pixels in the array; a plurality of sets of shift registers for each memory bank for receiving the image data from the plurality of memory banks; a correction circuit for testing the signal value of a test pixel in the image data in one of the sets of shift registers, determining if the signal value of the test pixel is defective, and correcting the defective signal value if found to be defective by comparing the signal value of a test pixel with the signal values of at least eight pixels surrounding the test pixel in the image, and replacing the signal value of the test pixel with one of either the largest signal value from among the eight surrounding pixels or the smallest signal value from among the eight surrounding pixels, leaving the signal values of the eight surrounding pixels unchanged; and a delay register for inputting a line of image data directly from the image sensor array into one of the plurality of sets of shift registers in column synchrony with the image data being inputted into the shift registers from the memory banks.