Patent ID: 7808534

Claim:
Apparatus for compensating image signals produced by a CCD imager for smears, the CCD imager including an image area having a plurality of rows of pixels for accumulating charge during an image acquisition period, each row corresponding to a line of the image, an output register for receiving accumulated charge row by row during a transfer mode to produce line signals, at least one row of pixels being masked from incident radiation arranged on the side of the image area opposite the output register, and a multiplication register for multiplying charge produced by the CCD imager, the apparatus comprising: an image data analyser for detecting the boundaries of a smear; an image data replacer for replacing data between the boundaries of a detected smear with alternative image data, wherein the image data analyser is arranged to detect the boundaries of horizontal smears produced by incomplete charge transfer in the multiplication register; and a subtractor for subtracting a signal corresponding to the charge accumulated during the transfer mode and transferred to the output register as lines corresponding to the at least one masked row, from the line signals corresponding to the rows of the image area.