JP2000217032A - Picture signal processor and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a still picture with excellent S/N and resolution by adopting a longer photographing time for a still object. SOLUTION: An image of an object made incident via a lens group 1 is fed to a CCD imaging device 2. An electronic shutter of the CCD imaging device 2 is driven and n-sets of picture signals set by a film number setting key 10 are captured for each frame. An image processing circuit 3 applies alignment, modification and summing to the captured n-sets of the picture signals in real time. The summed picture signal is divided into 1/n and outputted via a high frequency emphasis filter. A compression circuit 5 compresses the signal, from which the compressed picture signal with sub data added thereto is fed to a recording medium 6. An expansion circuit 7 applies expansion processing to the read compressed picture signal. The expanded picture signal is fed to a display circuit 8 from the expansion circuit 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image signal processing apparatus and method capable of generating one still image from a plurality of image signals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, when a still image is photographed using a camera-integrated digital VTR and a digital still camera having a still image mode (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as a digital camera), a moving subject It freezes and shoots the moment, and records it.

[0003]

However, as in the case of shooting a moving object, only a momentary light is used when shooting a still object. Therefore, a still image captured by a digital camera is S / N
And the resolution was inadequate.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image signal processing apparatus and method capable of producing a still image having better S / N and resolution by extending the photographing time of a still subject. .

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup device for sequentially picking up a predetermined number of n images, and an image pickup device for detecting two images temporally adjacent to each other among the n images. 1 /
An image signal comprising: means for detecting a positional shift with accuracy of m pixels; means for correcting the detected positional shift; and means for adding and averaging the n images corrected for the positional shift. Processing device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup device for sequentially picking up a predetermined number of n images, a recording medium for recording each of the n images, and an n image read from the recording medium.
A means for detecting a positional shift between two images temporally adjacent to each other with a precision of 1 / m pixel, a means for correcting the detected positional shift, and an image for correcting the positional shift of n images. And an averaging means.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, a predetermined number of images are sequentially picked up by an image sensor, and the n images are
A positional shift between two temporally adjacent images is detected with an accuracy of 1 / m pixel, the detected positional shift is corrected, and the n images corrected for the positional shift are added and averaged. An image signal processing method characterized in that:

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, a predetermined number of images are sequentially picked up by an image sensor, and the n images are respectively recorded, and among the n images read from the recording medium,
A positional shift between two temporally adjacent images is detected with an accuracy of 1 / m pixel, the detected positional shift is corrected, and the n images corrected for the positional shift are added and averaged. An image signal processing method characterized in that:

In order to align the photographed image signal P1 and the image signal P2 photographed in the next frame with an accuracy of 1 / m pixel, the image signal P1 is enlarged by m times, and the position of the image signal P1 is adjusted by a position detecting circuit. The position of the image signal P2 is detected with respect to P1. Based on the detection result, pixel shift interpolation, image deformation, and positioning of n image signals in pixel units are performed. After the n pieces of image signals are combined, divided by n for averaging, a high-frequency emphasis filter is further applied.
These image processes are performed in real time.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of a first embodiment to which the present invention is applied. The image of the subject incident through the lens group indicated by 1 is a CCD image sensor 2
Supplied to The lens group 1 is subjected to zoom control and focus control by a system controller (system controller) 9.

In the CCD image pickup device 2, incident light from a subject is accumulated as electric charges. On / off of the electronic shutter of the CCD image pickup device 2 is controlled by the system controller 9. Thus, the electronic shutter of the CCD imaging device 2 is driven, and the supplied image of the subject is captured. The captured image of the subject is digitized by an A / D converter (not shown) and supplied to the image processing circuit 3 as a digital image signal (hereinafter, referred to as an image signal).
The image signal supplied to the image processing circuit 3 is temporarily stored in the image memory 4.

The image memory 4 has a capacity for storing an image signal of a field or frame in which the number of images to be taken is set by at least the number setting key 10. In the image processing circuit 3, as described later, a synthesis process of a plurality of image signals stored in the image memory 4 is sequentially performed in real time. The image processing circuit 3 is controlled by the system controller 9. The synthesized image signal synthesized by the image processing circuit 3 is supplied to the compression circuit 5. The composite image signal supplied to the compression circuit 5 is supplied to the image memory 4 once.

The composite image signal stored in the image memory 4 is subjected to compression processing by a compression circuit 5. As an example, the combined image signal stored as a still image is JP
EG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is administered. Sub data supplied from the system controller 9 is added to the generated compressed image signal. The sub data includes, for example, date, time, focus state, shutter speed, aperture state, total number, number of sheets, direction of optical axis,.
And the like when the image signal is captured.

The compressed image signal to which the sub data is added is
The recording medium 6 is supplied. The compressed image signal and the sub data supplied to the recording medium 6 are recorded under the control of the system controller 9. As an example of the recording medium 6, a magnetic tape,
A recording medium appropriately selected from a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, and the like is used.

System controller 9 according to designation from operation key system
, The compressed image signal is read from the recording medium 6. The read compressed image signal is temporarily stored in the image memory 4 via the decompression circuit 7, and is subjected to decompression processing by the decompression circuit 7. That is, the decompression circuit 7 performs JPEG decoding. Further, the sub data separated from the compressed image signal is supplied to the system controller 9.
Information such as date, time, focus state, shutter speed, aperture state, total number of sheets, number of sheets, direction of optical axis,... Is read from the supplied sub-data. The expanded image signal is supplied from the expansion circuit 7 to the display circuit 8.

The above-mentioned image memory 4 is used when performing image processing on a plurality of image signals, when performing compression on a composite image signal, and when expanding a compressed image signal. At this time, the area where the image processing is performed, the area where the compression is performed, and the area where the expansion is performed may be divided according to the address, or a flag for image processing, a compression A flag for expansion or a flag for expansion may be added. Further, a memory for image processing, a memory for compression, and a memory for decompression may be separately provided.

Here, the above-described image processing circuit 3 will be described with reference to FIG. An image signal supplied from the CCD image sensor 2 is input from an input terminal 11. The input image signal is supplied to the input image memory 12. The input image memory 12 stores the current image signal that has just been shot. Then, the buffer memory 13 stores the image signal of the previous frame. As an example, the input image memory 12 and the buffer memory 13 are an 8-bit VGA
(Video Graphics Array) standard capacity.

The position detection circuit 14 determines the position of the current image signal with respect to the image signal of one frame before,
Further, it is examined what kind of geometric deformation has been caused. This position detection circuit 14 includes an enlargement interpolation circuit 15,
17, a position detection circuit 16 for each block and a processing operation circuit 18. The current image signal is input to the enlargement interpolation circuit 1
5 and is magnified 2 to 8 times. The image signal of one frame before is supplied to the enlargement interpolation circuit 17, and is multiplied by 2 to 8
It is enlarged twice. The enlarged current image signal and the image signal one frame before are supplied to the position detection circuit 16 for each block. At this time, since the processing is performed for each small block, the enlargement interpolation circuit 17 only needs to have a block size, and the enlargement interpolation circuit 15 needs a search range and thus needs a wider size than the enlargement interpolation circuit 17.

The position detection circuit 16 for each block detects the position of each block with an accuracy of 1/2 to 1/8 of one pixel. At this time, if the image in a certain block is flat,
Position detection is not possible. Therefore, the variance Va of a block is calculated, and when the variance is small, the block is not used for position detection. The variance Va is calculated as follows: Va = Σ (yi ² ) / K − (− (yi / K)) ² where yi is the luminance value and K is the number of pixels in the block.

In the processing operation circuit 18, the block number is set to i
The horizontal and vertical translation components are obtained for each block.
The obtained vertical translation component is y [i], and the horizontal translation component is x [i]. If the same value is obtained from x [i] and y [i] for many blocks, it is considered that the entire screen has been translated and the image is not deformed. If y [i] on the right side of the same image signal is larger than y [i] on the left side of the image signal, it can be understood that the image signal is inclined upward to the right. If x [i] on the left of the image signal is x on the right of the same image signal
When [i] is large, it can be seen that the image signal extends right and left.

In this manner, various deformation coefficients such as rotation, expansion and contraction, and trapezoidal distortion can be detected from at least four parallel movement components in the image signal as far apart as possible. The position data detected by the processing operation circuit 18 has an integer component exceeding one pixel and a decimal component less than one pixel. The integer component of the detected position data is
The decimal component is supplied to the output image memory 23, and the decimal component is supplied to the pixel shift interpolation circuit 20. The processing operation circuit 18
Is supplied to the image transformation circuit 21.

The pixel shift interpolation circuit 20 performs pixel shift interpolation on the image signal supplied from the buffer memory 13 according to the supplied decimal component. For example, if the position detection circuit 14 determines that the pixel is shifted by 3.7 pixels in the horizontal direction, the pixel shift interpolation circuit 20 is supplied with 0.7 as a decimal component from the position detection circuit 14. Therefore, the pixel shift interpolation circuit 20 generates the pixel C at a position shifted by 0.7 pixels from the pixel A to the pixel B by the weighted average. In this example, the pixel C is generated from A × (1−0.7) + B × 0.7 = C. In this way, the supplied image signal is shifted by 0.7 pixels, and an image signal shifted by 0.7 pixels is newly generated. The newly generated image signal is supplied from the pixel shift interpolation circuit 20 to the image transformation circuit 21.

The image transformation circuit 21 performs image transformation such as rotation, expansion and contraction, and trapezoidal distortion on the image signal subjected to the pixel shift interpolation in accordance with the supplied image transformation coefficient. The image signal subjected to the image transformation is supplied from the image transformation circuit 21 to the addition circuit 22.

The addition circuit 22 adds the image signal from the output image memory 23 and the image signal from the image transformation circuit 21. The added image signal is supplied to the output image memory 23.

In the output image memory 23, the position detecting circuit 1
The image signal is written so as to correct the deviation of the integer component supplied from the step S4. For example, if the position detection circuit 14 determines that the pixel is horizontally shifted by 3.7 pixels,
The output image memory 23 is supplied with the integer component 3 from the position detection circuit 14. In the output image memory 23, an image signal is written so as to be shifted from the pixel A to the pixel B by 3 pixels so as to correct the shift of 3 of the integer component. That is, the pixel is shifted by 0.7 pixels in the pixel shift interpolation circuit 20, and is shifted by 3 pixels in the output image memory 23. As a result, the image signal of the next frame which is shifted by 3.7 pixels in the horizontal direction is aligned with the stored image signal. The stored image signal having undergone the alignment and the image signal of the next frame are:
The addition is performed by the addition circuit 22 as described above.

In this example, 60 image signals can be added in 2 seconds, and when the number of added images is 64 or less, the output image memory 23 has a capacity conforming to the 14-bit VGA standard. . The added image signal is supplied from the output image memory 23 to the addition circuit 22 and the division circuit 24.

In the dividing circuit 24, the image signals obtained by adding n images are divided by n, and the image signals are averaged. The averaged image signal is supplied from the division circuit 24 to the high-frequency emphasis filter 25. In the high-frequency emphasis filter 25, the supplied image signal is finished into a clearer image signal, and a still image with a good S / N is obtained. As an example, a high-frequency emphasis filter 2
5 is composed of an HBF (High Boost Filter). The sharply finished image signal is supplied to the compression circuit 5 via the output terminal 26.

As described above, the image signals to be aligned are still images and have a correlation with each other. Further, noises of a plurality of image signals are random and have no correlation. Therefore, noise is canceled by adding and averaging a plurality of image signals, so that S / N is improved. When performing pixel-shift interpolation and further synthesizing a plurality of image signals, the information of a pixel at a position different from the pixel of the original image signal is stored, so that the resolution is improved.

The image sizes of the input image memory 12 and the buffer memory 13 may be set to one input image + α. For example, when α = 0.2, the number of horizontal pixels is 764 and the number of vertical pixels is 576. The number of bits of the image signals in the input image memory 12 and the buffer memory 13 may be the same as that of the input image. For example, 8
Bit x 3 colors is sufficient.

The image size of the output image memory 23 may be one input image. Output image memory 2
The number of bits of the image signal of No. 3 depends on the number of image signals to be added, and increases by one bit every time the number of images is doubled. For example, if the number of image signals to be added is 16, 12 bits ×
It becomes 3 colors, and if it is 64 sheets, it will be 14 bits × 3 colors, so
If there are 16 bits × 3 color bits, 256 image signals can be added. The number of image signals to be added is preferably a power of 2 for convenience of division.

Here, a timing chart is shown in FIG. When the shutter is pressed, as shown in FIG.
As shown in B, an image signal that becomes a still image is continuously output from the CCD image pickup device 2 for each frame. As shown in FIG. 3C, the output image signal P1 is stored in the input image memory 1
2 is stored. Then, as shown in FIG. 3D, the image signal P1 is stored in the buffer memory 13 in the next frame.

Then, the image signal P is stored in the input image memory 12.
2 is stored, and when the image signal P1 is stored in the buffer memory 13, the position detection circuit 14 detects the position of the image signal P1 with respect to the image signal P2. FIG. 3E
As shown in the figure, the detection result of the position detection includes an integer component, a decimal component, and an image deformation coefficient. As described above, the integer component is supplied to the output image memory 23, and the decimal component is supplied to the pixel shift interpolation circuit 20. , And the image transformation coefficient are supplied to the image transformation circuit 21.

As shown in FIG. 3F, based on the detection result, the pixel shift interpolation circuit 20 and the image transformation circuit 21
In, the image signal is processed. And FIG. 3G
As shown in (1), the processed image is stored in the output image memory 23. At this time, by controlling the writing of the image signal to the output image memory 23 based on the integer component of the detection result of the position detection as described above, the positioning is performed, and a plurality of image signals are synthesized.

As described above, after the synthesis of the predetermined number of image signals, in this example, four image signals, is completed, the synthesized image signal is supplied to the division circuit 24 and the high-frequency emphasis filter 25 as shown in FIG. 3H. And processing is performed.

FIG. 4 shows the overall configuration of the second embodiment to which the present invention is applied. The second embodiment is an example in which image processing is performed by software. The same blocks as those in the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. The switch circuit 31 selects one of a composite image signal output from the image processing circuit 34 included in the system controller 9 and an image signal from the CCD image sensor 2. The composite image signal or image signal selected by the switch circuit 31 is supplied to the compression circuit 5 and the switch circuit 32.

In the switch circuit 32, the composite image signal or image signal reproduced by the decompression circuit 7 and the switch circuit 3
1 is selected from the composite image signal or the image signal supplied via the control unit 1. The selected synthesized image signal or image signal is output to an external monitor via the output terminal 33 and is also supplied to the display circuit 8.

A plurality of image signals output from the expansion circuit 7 are supplied to an image processing unit 34 and a data conversion circuit 35. In the image processing unit 34, image processing similar to that of the image processing circuit 3 described above is performed by software. The data conversion circuit 35 outputs the data to an external personal computer (personal computer) via an output terminal 36,
The image signal is converted so that it can be received by a personal computer.

As described above, all the n image signals are recorded on the recording medium 6 simultaneously with the photographing. When image processing is performed by the system controller 9, processing similar to that of the hardware shown in the block diagram of the image processing circuit in FIG. 2 described above is performed, and the processed image signal is recorded again in another area of the recording medium 6. Is done. When image processing is performed by an external personal computer, all image signals are transferred to the personal computer, and the same processing as in the case of hardware is performed, and the result is recorded on a hard disk of the personal computer.

An example of control for changing the direction of the optical axis for each of the plurality of image signals will be described. A first method is to change the direction of the optical axis in response to camera shake by holding a digital camera. At this time, if the lens group 1 includes an optical axis variable element that can control the direction of the optical axis, no control is required. The second method is a method of controlling the optical axis variable element included in the lens group 1 so that the directions of the optical axes of the n image signals to be photographed are at different angles. The third method uses the optical axis variable element included in the lens group 1 to control only camera shake correction, and shifts the error to a pixel, thereby achieving the same effect as changing the direction of the optical axis. It is a technique that can be obtained. The fourth method is to control camera shake correction and to perform shooting n
This is a technique for controlling the optical axis variable element so that the directions of the optical axes of the image signals of the sheets become different angles. One of the four methods is appropriately selected, and a plurality of image signals are captured.

Here, the camera shake correction will be described with reference to FIG. The detection results detected by the angular velocity sensors 41X and 41Y are supplied to a camera shake correction unit 42 included in the system controller 9. The camera shake correction unit 42 drives the optical axis variable element included in the lens group 1 based on the supplied detection result. That is, camera shake correction is performed by changing the optical axis in the direction opposite to the direction in which the digital camera moves.

When the digital camera is supported by a tripod or the like, the direction of the optical axis does not change. However, when the digital camera is supported by hand, camera shake may occur. In order to suppress this camera shake, as described above, the lens group 1 may include an optical axis variable element that can change the direction of the optical axis.

FIG. 6 shows a first example of this optical axis changing element. FIG. 6 is an example in which a shift lens serving as an optical axis variable element is provided in a lens group 1 including a plurality of lenses. Normally, the shift lens is located at a position P indicated by a dotted line in FIG.
1 The subject at the position A1 is projected onto the position A1 ′ on the CCD 2 via the shift lens at the position P1. When the subject is being projected onto the position A1 ′ on the CCD image sensor 2, for example, when the digital camera is facing downward, the subject is moved onto the position A2 ′ on the CCD image sensor 2.
Is projected to That is, when viewed from the digital camera, the subject moves from the position A1 to the position A2. In such a case, the movement of the digital camera is detected by the angular velocity sensor, and the shift lens is moved to the position P2 indicated by the solid line according to the detected movement amount. By moving the shift lens to the position P2, the subject at the position A2 is projected at the same position A1 'as before the digital camera turned downward. Camera shake correction can be performed using this shift lens.

Further, as a second example of the optical axis variable element,
A schematic diagram of the active prism is shown in FIG. 7 and will be described briefly. In this active prism, a front glass 51 and a rear glass 52 are connected by bellows 53. A liquid 54 having a high refractive index n is sealed between the two glasses. Each of the two glasses is provided with a rotation axis vertically and horizontally so that the glass can freely operate. By using this active prism as an optical axis variable element, the optical axis can be bent vertically and horizontally.

The liquid 54 at this time is (1) a substance having a refractive index n close to that of the front glass 51 and the rear glass 52 (2) a substance which does not cause abnormalities such as freezing in the operating temperature range of the camera (3) Even if the liquid 54 flows out, the substance is harmless to the human body.

The operation of the active prism will be briefly described. The front glass 51 is held, for example, on a horizontal axis, and the rear glass 52 is held, for example, on a vertical axis, and can rotate independently around each axis. A movable coil is attached to the rotating shaft. The rotation angle (vertical angle) is determined by the current flowing through the coil. For example, when the camera is turned upward due to camera shake, the state of the active prism shown in FIG. 7A changes to the state of the active prism shown in FIG. 7B.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7A, when the two glass plates are parallel, the light beam incident on the active prism goes straight. Here, if camera shake occurs and the two glass plates are rotated by a certain angle from the parallel position, the refraction index n inside the active prism causes a refraction as shown in FIG. I do.

FIG. 8 shows a third example of the variable optical axis element. The third example of the optical axis variable element shown in FIG. 8 is an active mirror, which is not included in the lens group 1 and is not included in the lens group 1.
Placed before the 8A is a schematic view of the two-axis active mirror as viewed from the front, FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view of AA ′ in FIG. 8A, and FIG. 8C is a schematic view of a magnetic circuit provided on the movable frame. FIG. 8D is a schematic view of a magnetic sensor provided on a shaft.

As shown in FIG. 8A, an elliptical mirror 81 is provided.
A shaft 82 is provided along the major axis of the shaft. The shaft 82 is connected to a movable frame 83, and a mirror 81 is mounted on one surface of the movable frame 83. A coil 84 is fixed to the outside of the mirror 81 along the minor axis of the mirror 81. The shaft 82 is supported by a bearing 86 of the movable frame 85.

As shown in FIG. 8B, the center of the coil 84 is on the extension of the display surface of the mirror 81. By doing so, when the mirror 81 rotates about the axis 87, the gap between the center of rotation and the reflection surface of the mirror 81 is the smallest gap. A soft iron column 89 is provided in the loop of the coil 84, and a magnet 90 is fixed outside the coil 84. The magnet 90 and the column 89 are connected by a yoke 91 to form a magnetic circuit 92. A prism may be used instead of the cylinder 89.

As shown in FIG. 8C, the coil 93 is fixed to the movable frame 85 near the bearing 86. This coil 93 enters the gap of the magnetic circuit 94. Magnetic circuit 94
May be the same as a speaker. Since the coil 93 and the magnetic circuit 94 move only in an arc when the mirror 81 rotates about the axis 87, the gap between the coil 93 and the magnetic circuit 94 can be narrowed. That is, even if the mirror 81 rotates about the axis 82, there is no influence such as interference between the coil 93 and the magnetic circuit 94.

As shown in FIG. 8D, a magnetic stripe 95 in which a fine SN pattern is magnetized on an arc-shaped ferromagnetic material around an axis 82 is fixed. A magnetic sensor 96 such as an MR sensor is mounted on the movable frame 85 outside the magnetic stripe 95.
It is provided close to the upper part, and this is an angle sensor. Although not shown, the shaft 87 is provided with the same one as the magnetic stripe 95, and the fixed frame 97 is also provided with the same one as the magnetic sensor 96.

As described above, by using the analog angle sensor including the magnetic circuits 92 and 94 and the digital angle sensor including the magnetic stripe 95 and the magnetic sensor 96, the direction of the optical axis is further stabilized. Also, since no heavy magnet is provided on the movable part,
High-speed operation becomes possible.

By using such an optical axis variable element, the direction of the optical axis is changed every time a plurality of image signals are photographed so as to fill the space between pixels even when a tripod is used. Then, a high-resolution image signal can be generated by perfectly aligning and combining the positions of the pixels of the plurality of captured image signals.

[0054]

According to the present invention, the same subject is photographed by a predetermined number of images, a plurality of photographed image signals are added and averaged, so that the S / N is dramatically improved. . In addition, the direction of the optical axis is changed little by little for each predetermined number of images, the same subject is photographed, a plurality of photographed image signals are added, and the signals are averaged to fill the space between pixels. As described above, the effect of shifting the pixels is obtained, and the resolution is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of a camera-integrated digital VTR to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an image processing circuit to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of a camera-integrated digital VTR to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining camera shake correction.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining a first example of an optical axis variable element applied to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining a second example of the optical axis variable element applied to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining a third example of the optical axis variable element applied to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Lens group, 2 ... CCD image sensor, 3 ...
Image processing circuit, 4 image memory, 5 compression circuit, 6 recording medium, 7 expansion circuit, 8 display circuit, 9 system controller, 10 sheets Setting key

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] April 1, 1999 (1999.4.1)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Claims]

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0005

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup device for sequentially picking up a predetermined number of n images, and two images or two images temporally adjacent to each other in the n images.
Means for detecting misregistration of other images for the first sheet with an accuracy of 1 / m pixel, means for correcting the detected misalignment, and means for adding and averaging the n images corrected for misalignment An image signal processing device comprising:

[Procedure amendment 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0006

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup device for sequentially picking up a predetermined number of n images, a recording medium for recording each of the n images, and an n image read from the recording medium.
Of two images, two images or the first image that are temporally adjacent
Means for detecting misregistration of other images with respect to 1 / m pixel accuracy, means for correcting the detected misregistration,
An image signal processing device comprising: means for adding and averaging n images whose position has been corrected.

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0007

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, a predetermined number of images are sequentially picked up by an image sensor, and the n images are
Two images that are temporally adjacent to each other or the first image
An image characterized in that a misregistration of another image is detected with an accuracy of 1 / m pixel, the detected misregistration is corrected, and the n images corrected for the misregistration are added and averaged. This is a signal processing method.

[Procedure amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0008

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, a predetermined number of images are sequentially picked up by an image sensor, and the n images are respectively recorded, and among the n images read from the recording medium,
Two images that are temporally adjacent to each other or the first image
An image characterized in that a misregistration of another image is detected with an accuracy of 1 / m pixel, the detected misregistration is corrected, and the n images corrected for the misregistration are added and averaged. This is a signal processing method.

[Procedure amendment 6]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] Fig. 8

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG. 8

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup device for sequentially picking up a predetermined number of n images, and:
means for detecting a position shift with accuracy of m pixels, means for correcting the detected position shift, and means for adding and averaging the n images corrected for the position shift. Image signal processing device. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a compression unit for compressing the averaged image; a recording medium for recording the compressed image; and a decompression unit for expanding the image read from the recording medium. An image signal processing device comprising: 3. An imaging device for sequentially capturing n images set in advance, a recording medium for recording each of the n images, and a temporally different one of the n images read from the recording medium. A means for detecting a positional shift between two adjacent images with an accuracy of 1 / m pixel; a means for correcting the detected positional shift; and the n images corrected for the positional shift are added and averaged. And an image signal processing device. 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: compression means for compressing the n images sequentially captured, and expansion means for expanding the n images read from the recording medium. An image signal processing device characterized by the above-mentioned. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for detecting the position shift comprises: a first image; and a second image temporally adjacent to the first image.
An image signal processing apparatus characterized in that each of the first and second images is magnified m times, and the position of the second image is detected with respect to the first image magnified m times. 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the means for correcting the position shift is based on a decimal component of the detection result of the position shift.
Performing pixel shift interpolation on the image of the above, performing image deformation on the first image based on the image deformation coefficient of the detection result of the position shift, and performing the image deformation on the basis of the integer component of the result of the position shift detection First
An image signal processing apparatus, wherein registration is performed on an image. 7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an optical axis changing unit that changes a direction of the optical axis, wherein the direction of the optical axis is directed to n directions at a predetermined angle. An image signal processing apparatus characterized by taking n images. 8. The image signal processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the camera shake is corrected using the optical axis changing unit. 9. An image signal processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said n images are photographed while performing a camera shake correction without adding a camera shake component. 10. The image signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transfer unit configured to transfer the n images to an external image processing apparatus. 11. The image signal processing device according to claim 2, wherein the n images and the added image are recorded on the recording medium. 12. The image signal processing device according to claim 2, wherein the image added in real time is generated, and only the generated image is recorded on the recording medium. 13. An image pickup device sequentially picks up a predetermined number of n images with an image sensor, and sets two temporally adjacent images of the n images to 1 /
An image signal processing method, comprising detecting a position shift with an accuracy of m pixels, correcting the detected position shift, adding and averaging the n images corrected for the position shift. 14. An image pickup device sequentially picks up a predetermined number of n images with an image sensor, records the n images, and reads two images temporally adjacent to each other in the n images read from the recording medium. The method is characterized in that the position shifts of the images are detected with an accuracy of 1 / m pixel, the detected position shifts are corrected, and the n images corrected for the position shifts are added and averaged. Image signal processing method.