Patent ID: 8599288

Claim:
A noise reduction apparatus comprising: an image noise reduction means for reducing noise in an image, wherein the image noise reduction means includes an operation means and a judgment means, and wherein the operation means shifts the level of the signal value of a target pixel, which is a target of processing in the image, so that an average value of the signal value of the target pixel and the signal values of pixels in a predetermined area in the vicinity of the target pixel becomes a value at the origin of a color space of each of a plurality of color components, performs an operation for noise reduction processing on the target pixel, the level of the signal value of which has been shifted, and restores the level of the signal value of the target pixel, the noise of which has been reduced, based on the amount of the shifted level, and wherein the judgment means estimates a noise amount of the target pixel based on the signal value of the target pixel, the signal values of the pixels in the predetermined area, and a noise property of the imaging device which obtains the image, calculates a statistic representing the noise of the target pixel based on the signal value of the target pixel and the signal values of the pixels in the predetermined area, compares the estimated noise amount and the statistic with each other, and determines, based on the result of comparison, which of the estimated noise amount and the statistic to use to perform the operation for noise reduction processing.