Patent ID: 7750956

Claim:
A device comprising: an image capture device comprising an array of detector elements; a memory coupled to said image capture device and having stored therein a plurality of chronologically-ordered frames of data generated using said array, each of said frames comprising a plurality of pixel values; a display device coupled to said memory; and a graphics processing unit (GPU) operable to execute a method of processing said frames, said method comprising: comparing a first pixel value from a first frame of said frames to a second pixel value from a second frame of said frames, wherein said second frame is the next frame following said first frame in chronological order, and wherein said first pixel value and said second pixel value are generated by a same detector element of said array; incrementing a counter value if said first pixel value and said second pixel value are considered equal and otherwise initializing said counter value; repeating said comparing for each pixel value generated by said detector element for each of said frames in chronological order; incrementing said counter value each time pixel values generated by said detector element are considered equal over two successive chronologically-ordered frames and otherwise initializing said counter value; if said counter value is incremented, then determining whether said counter value exceeds a specified threshold value; if said counter value exceeds said threshold value, then designating said detector element as defective; and if said detector element is designated as defective, then calculating new values for pixel values generated by said detector element.