Patent ID: 7973827

Claim:
An apparatus for generating image data, the apparatus comprising: a light splitting section for splitting incoming light that has come from a subject according to its wavelength ranges; a first image capturing section, which receives a portion of the split light that falls within a wavelength range with the highest luminosity factor, thereby getting a first image; a second image capturing section, which receives the rest of the light that falls within the remaining wavelength ranges, other than the one with the highest luminosity factor, thereby getting a second image that has a lower spatial resolution, and a higher temporal resolution, than the first image; and a resolution converting section for converting the temporal resolution of the first image into that of the second image using the first and second images; wherein the resolution converting section associates a first predetermined pixel in the first image with a second pixel, which is present, in the second image converted, at the same pixel location as the first pixel, and retains their correspondence, and determines a third pixel, which has a higher degree of similarity to an image portion of the second pixel, of the second image converted that has been captured at a different time from the first image than any other pixel.