Image processing system, image pickup apparatus, image pickup method, image reproducing apparatus, and image reproducing method

Abstract

An image processing system including: an image pickup apparatus for picking up an image of a subject; and an image reproducing apparatus for reproducing the image picked up by the image pickup apparatus; wherein the image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup unit for obtaining an image by image pickup, an image pickup rate controlling unit for controlling an image pickup rate of the image pickup unit, a line reducing unit for removing a plurality of lines from the image obtained by the image pickup, and an image storing unit for storing a reduced image in which the plurality of lines are removed on a storage medium, and the image reproducing apparatus includes an image reading unit for reading the image stored on the storage medium, an up-converter for up-converting the read image, and a reproduction displaying unit for displaying the up-converted image.

1 . An image pickup apparatus comprising:
 an image pickup unit for obtaining an image by image pickup;   an image pickup rate controlling unit for controlling an image pickup rate of said image pickup unit;   a line adding unit for adding a plurality of image pickup lines of said image pickup unit; and   an image storing unit for storing an addition image to which said plurality of lines are added on a storage medium.   
   
   
       2 . The image pickup apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein
 said image pickup rate controlling unit controls the image pickup rate to N/M (N≦M, and N and M are an integer) times a normal image pickup rate, and   said line adding unit adds the image pickup lines such that a number of image pickup lines is M/N times a normal number of image pickup lines.   
   
   
       3 . The image pickup apparatus as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein
 said image storing unit stores numerical information of N and M on the storage medium together with said addition image.   
   
   
       4 . The image pickup apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising an encoder for compressing the addition image to which said plurality of lines are added, wherein
 said image storing unit stores said compressed image on the storage medium.   
   
   
       5 . The image pickup apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein
 said storage medium is in a form of a disk, and   said image storing unit includes a disk buffer for temporarily retaining said addition image and outputting said addition image in timing of access to said storage medium.   
   
   
       6 . An image pickup method comprising the steps of:
 image-picking up for obtaining an image by image pickup;   controlling an image pickup rate in said image pickup step;   adding a plurality of image pickup lines in said image pickup step; and   storing an addition image to which said plurality of lines are added on a storage medium.   
   
   
       7 . An image reproducing apparatus comprising:
 an image reading unit for reading images stored on a storage medium;   a reproduction rate controlling unit for controlling a reproduction rate by performing interpolation between the read said images; and   a reproduction displaying unit for displaying the images with the controlled said reproduction rate.   
   
   
       8 . The image reproducing apparatus as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein
 said reproduction rate controlling unit controls the reproduction rate to M/N (N≦M, and N and M are an integer) times a normal reproduction rate.   
   
   
       9 . The image reproducing apparatus as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein
 when said M is an integral multiple of N, said reproduction rate controlling unit performs the interpolation between said images at equal intervals.   
   
   
       10 . The image reproducing apparatus as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein
 said image reading unit reads numerical information of N and M from said storage medium together with said images, and transmits the numerical information of N and M to said reproduction rate controlling unit.   
   
   
       11 . The image reproducing apparatus as claimed in  claim 7 , further comprising a decoder for decompressing compressed images read by said image reading unit, wherein
 said reproduction rate controlling unit controls the reproduction rate by performing the interpolation between said decompressed images.   
   
   
       12 . The image reproducing apparatus as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein
 said storage medium is in a form of a disk, and   said image reading unit includes a display buffer for temporarily retaining an image read in timing of access to said storage medium, and outputting the image to said reproduction displaying unit.   
   
   
       13 . An image reproducing method comprising the steps of:
 reading images stored on a storage medium;   controlling a reproduction rate by performing interpolation between the read said images; and   displaying the images with the controlled said reproduction rate.