Patent ID: 8023010

Claim:
A defective pixel correction device comprising: a circuit for receiving image data from a sensor; a circuit for obtaining an estimated pixel value of a pixel of interest from pixel data of neighboring pixels of said pixel of interest; a circuit for obtaining a differential value between a sensor-input pixel value of said pixel of interest and said estimated pixel value; a modulation circuit for modulating a continuously varying predetermined threshold value by a brightness of said estimated pixel value, thereby obtaining a modulated threshold value used as a threshold value of said differential value; and a comparison circuit for comparing said differential value and said modulated threshold value, and when said differential value is greater than said modulated threshold value, outputting said estimated pixel value as a pixel value of said pixel of interest instead of said sensor-input pixel value, wherein said modulation circuit is configured to set said modulated threshold value in a dark area to a lower value than said modulated threshold value in a high-brightness area and a middle-brightness area, and said comparison circuit is configured to output said estimated pixel value by said modulated threshold value set in said modulation circuit instead of said sensor-input pixel value of a black-spot defective pixel in said dark area.