Patent ID: 8780990

Claim:
An imaging device comprising: an image receiving unit configured to receive images captured at a second frame rate higher than a first frame rate; a frame rate conversion unit configured to synthesize the images which are captured at the second frame rate and received by said image receiving unit, so as to convert the images into a synthesized image having the first frame rate; a motion estimation unit configured to perform a motion estimation between consecutive frames of the images which are captured at the second frame rate and received by said image receiving unit; a motion vector synthesis unit configured to synthesize motion vectors obtained as a result of the motion estimation performed by said motion estimation unit between the frames of the images captured at the second frame rate, so as to generate a synthesized motion vector of a target macroblock in the synthesized image having the first frame rate; a motion blur amount determination unit configured to count, in an area surrounding the target macroblock, the number of macroblocks having a same synthesized motion vector as the synthesized motion vector of the target macroblock, and to compare a value derived from the number of counted macroblocks having the same synthesized motion vector with a threshold value, the counting and the comparison being performed for each target macroblock included in the synthesized image; a motion vector selection unit configured to select the synthesized motion vector generated by said motion vector synthesis unit, when said motion blur amount determination unit determines as a result of the comparison that the value derived from the number of counted macroblocks exceeds the threshold value; and an encoding unit configured to encode the synthesized image at the first frame rate using the synthesized motion vector selected by said motion vector selection unit.