Patent ID: 7692692

Claim:
An imaging apparatus comprising: a solid-state image pickup device which has a pixel structure formed by a plurality of two-dimensionally arrayed pixels constructed by aligning vertically a plurality of pixel lines each consisting of a predetermined number of pixels aligned horizontally and outputs charge signals generated in the respective pixels; A/D converting means for converting analog signals of the charge signals from the respective pixels of the solid-state image pickup device into digital data signals; and digital signal processing means for performing signal processing for the data signals outputted from the A/D converting means, wherein the digital signal processing means comprises: image data storing means for storing the data signals inputted from the A/D converting means into the digital signal processing means in units of data signal sequences each consisting of a predetermined number of data signals corresponding to the pixel lines in the solid-state image pickup device; mask processing means for executing, for image data composed of a plurality of data signals corresponding to the plurality of pixels in the solid-state image pickup device, mask processing for dilating an image component in the image data to n×n by setting an integer n not less than 2 as a dilation coefficient; and data storing control means for controlling storing and input/output of the data signals in the image data storing means, and according to the dilation coefficient n set by the mask processing means, setting n calculation memory regions in which n data signal sequences corresponding to the n pixel lines continuous in the vertical direction in the solid-state image pickup device are stored, respectively, in the image data storing means.