Patent Document ID: 20060245008
Application ID: 11410076
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. An image processing apparatus performing a noise reduction one pixel by one pixel, the image processing apparatus comprising: a data generating unit that generates a two dimensional array of image data based on input image data, the two dimensional array of image data being allocated to a first set of pixels that includes a target pixel, the input image data being supplied one pixel by one pixel from an image pickup element; a luminance-chrominance generating unit that generates a plurality of luminance signals and a plurality of chrominance signals based on the two dimensional array of image data; a luminance average calculating unit that calculates, based on the plurality of luminance signals, an average of luminance signals that are allocated to a second set of pixels including the target pixel, the second set of pixels being included in the first set of pixels; a chrominance average calculating unit that calculates, based on the plurality of chrominance signals, an average of chrominance signals that are allocated to a third set of pixels including the target pixel, the third set of pixels being included in the first set of pixels; a noise estimation unit that generates at least one of a luminance noise estimate value and a chrominance noise estimate value in accordance with the average of luminance signals, the luminance noise estimate value estimating a luminance noise of the target pixel, the chrominance noise estimate value estimating a chrominance noise of the target pixel; and a noise reduction unit that performs a noise reduction to the target pixel based on one of first and second sets of information, the first set of information including the average of luminance signals and the luminance noise estimate value, the second set of information including the average of chrominance signals and the chrominance noise estimate value.