Patent ID: 8553097

Claim:
An image processing device that processes a degraded image that has camera shake blur into a restored image in which the blur is reduced, comprising: a contracted image generation section that generates a plurality of contracted degraded images that have different resolutions from a resolution of an input degraded image; a kernel estimation section configured to receive from the contracted image generation section the contracted degraded images that have the different resolutions and sequentially perform estimation of a blur kernel that defines camera shake blur in an increasing order of resolution based on the contracted degraded images, thereby generating a blur kernel that has a resolution corresponding to a resolution of each of the contracted degraded images; and a kernel enlargement section configured to receive the blur kernel generated by the kernel estimation section and increases a resolution of the received blur kernel, thereby generating an initial value of a blur kernel that has a higher resolution than the resolution of the received blur kernel, wherein when performing estimation of a blur kernel based on a contracted degraded image that has a first resolution, the kernel estimation section performs the estimation based on an initial value of a blur kernel that has a resolution corresponding to the first resolution, and thereafter, when performing estimation of a blur kernel based on a contracted degraded image that has a second resolution that is higher than the first resolution, the kernel estimation section performs the estimation based on an initial value of a blur kernel that has a resolution corresponding to the second resolution, and the kernel enlargement section extracts interest points of a blur kernel received from the kernel estimation section, performs an enlargement transformation on coordinates of the interest points, and connects new interest points obtained by performing the enlargement transformation on the coordinates of the interest points, thereby generating an initial value of a blur kernel that has an increased resolution, and wherein the kernel enlargement section provides elements of the enlarged blur kernel that are penetrated by a straight line extending between two interest points with non-zero coefficients, and provides the other elements of the enlarged blur kernel with zero coefficients.