Patent ID: 7710472

Claim:
A method for correcting a vertical line artifact, the method comprising: accessing image data captured from a digital camera, the image data including a vertical line artifact arising from a defect in the digital camera, the vertical line artifact corresponding to a column of pixels; determining that the vertical line artifact includes at least one pixel in the column of pixels having a non-zero suppressed signal; determining a value of the at least one pixel having the non-zero suppressed signal; determining a correction for the at least one pixel having the non-zero suppressed signal based on the determined value of the at least one pixel; and based on the determination that the at least one pixel has a non-zero suppressed signal, applying the correction to the at least one pixel having the non-zero suppressed signal, wherein determining the correction for the at least one pixel having the non-zero suppressed signal based on the determined value of the at least one pixel comprises: determining a distance between the determined value of the at least one pixel and a mean of a corresponding pixel in a non-defective column as a number of standard deviations; generating a random number between zero and the number of standard deviations; determining a standard deviation at an exposure level between two gray cards by interpolating between two known standard deviations at two known exposure levels; calculating a statistical delta at the exposure level in which the at least one pixel exists using the number of standard deviations and the determined standard deviation; and calculating a correction factor using the calculated statistical delta, the generated random number, and the determined value of the at least one pixel.