Wide dynamic range image capturing apparatus

Abstract

A memory control block performs in parallel a process of writing a current frame of image data captured by an image capturing device into a system shared memory, a process of reading out a previous frame of image data stored in the system shared memory, and a process of writing combined image data generated in an image combining block into the system shared memory.

1 - 2 . (canceled) 
     
     
         3 . A wide dynamic range image capturing apparatus comprising:
 an image capturing device for capturing image data having an electric charge accumulation period varying every a frame;   a preprocess block for performing DC adjustment, gain adjustment, and gamma characteristics adjustment with respect to the image data;   a data storage memory for storing the image data;   a memory control block for controlling a write or read operation of the image data with respect to the data storage memory;   an image combining block for performing a combining operation process with respect to two frames of image data having the different electric charge accumulation periods to generate combined image data;   an image processing block for performing video signal processing with respect to the combined image data,   a dedicated frame buffer memory for storing the image data; and   a dedicated memory control block for controlling a write or read operation of the image data with respect to the dedicated frame buffer memory,   wherein the memory control block can perform in parallel a process of writing a current frame of image data captured by the image capturing device into the data storage memory, a process of reading a previous frame of image data stored in the data storage memory, and a process of writing the combined image data generated in the image combining block into the data storage memory,   the image capturing device captures a long-time exposure frame and a short-time exposure frame each every other frame, to successively output image data having an electric charge accumulation period varying every a frame,   the dedicated memory control block reads a previous frame of image data stored in the dedicated frame buffer memory while writing a current frame of image data captured by the image capturing device into the same address, and   the image combining block stores combined image data generated by performing a combining operation process with respect to the current frame of image data and the previous frame of image data, into the data storage memory.   
     
     
         4 . A wide dynamic range image capturing apparatus comprising:
 an image capturing device for capturing image data having an electric charge accumulation period varying every a frame;   a preprocess block for performing DC adjustment, gain adjustment, and gamma characteristics adjustment with respect to the image data;   a data storage memory for storing the image data;   a memory control block for controlling a write or read operation of the image data with respect to the data storage memory;   an image combining block for performing a combining operation process with respect to two frames of image data having the different electric charge accumulation periods to generate combined image data;   an image processing block for performing video signal processing with respect to the combined image data;   a dedicated frame buffer memory for storing the image data; and   a dedicated memory control block for controlling a write or read operation of the image data with respect to the dedicated frame buffer memory,   wherein the memory control block can perform in parallel a process of writing a current frame of image data captured by the image capturing device into the data storage memory, a process of reading a previous frame of image data stored in the data storage memory, and a process of writing the combined image data generated in the image combining block into the data storage memory,   the image capturing device captures a long-time exposure frame and a short-time exposure frame each every other frame, to successively output image data having an electric charge accumulation period varying every a frame,   the dedicated memory control block reads a previous frame of image data stored in the dedicated frame buffer memory while writing a current frame of image data captured by the image capturing device into the same address, and   the image combining block inputs combined image data generated by performing a combining operation process with respect to the current frame of image data and the previous frame of image data, directly into the image processing block so as to successively perform video signal processing.   
     
     
         5 . A wide dynamic range image capturing apparatus comprising:
 an image capturing device for capturing image data having an electric charge accumulation period varying every a frame;   a preprocess block for performing DC adjustment, gain adjustment, and gamma characteristics adjustment with respect to the image data;   a data storage memory for storing the image data;   a memory control block for controlling a write or read operation of the image data with respect to the data storage memory;   an image combining block for performing a combining operation process with respect to two frames of image data having the different electric charge accumulation periods to generate combined image data;   an image processing block for performing video signal processing with respect to the combined image data;   two dedicated frame buffer memories for storing the image data; and   a dedicated memory control block for controlling a write or read operation of the image data with respect to the dedicated frame buffer memories,   wherein the memory control block can perform in parallel a process of writing a current frame of image data captured by the image capturing device into the data storage memory, a process of reading a previous frame of image data stored in the data storage memory, and a process of writing the combined image data generated in the image combining block into the data storage memory,   the image capturing device captures a long-time exposure frame and a short-time exposure frame each every other frame, to successively output image data having an electric charge accumulation period varying every a frame,   the dedicated memory control block switches and writes data of the long-time exposure frame and data of the short-time exposure frame on a frame-by-frame basis into one of the two dedicated frame buffer memories while reading the other dedicated frame buffer memory during a frame period, and   the image combining block stores combined image data generated by performing a combining operation process with respect to the current frame of image data and the previous frame of image data, into the data storage memory.   
     
     
         6 . A wide dynamic range image capturing apparatus comprising:
 an image capturing device for capturing image data having an electric charge accumulation period varying every a frame;   a preprocess block for performing DC adjustment, gain adjustment, and gamma characteristics adjustment with respect to the image data;   a data storage memory for storing the image data;   a memory control block for controlling a write or read operation of the image data with respect to the data storage memory;   an image combining block for performing a combining operation process with respect to two frames of image data having the different electric charge accumulation periods to generate combined image data;   an image processing block for performing video signal processing with respect to the combined image data;   two dedicated frame buffer memories for storing the image data; and   a dedicated memory control block for controlling a write or read operation of the image data with respect to the dedicated frame buffer memories,   wherein the memory control block can perform in parallel a process of writing a current frame of image data captured by the image capturing device into the data storage memory, a process of reading a previous frame of image data stored in the data storage memory, and a process of writing the combined image data generated in the image combining block into the data storage memory,   the image capturing device captures a long-time exposure frame and a short-time exposure frame each every other frame, to successively output image data having an electric charge accumulation period varying every a frame,   the dedicated memory control block switches and writes data of the long-time exposure frame and data of the short-time exposure frame on a frame-by-frame basis into one of the two dedicated frame buffer memories while reading the other dedicated frame buffer memory during a frame period, and   the image combining block inputs combined image data generated by performing a combining operation process with respect to the current frame of image data and the previous frame of image data, directly into the image processing block so as to successively perform video signal processing.   
     
     
         7 . (canceled) 
     
     
         8 . The wide dynamic range image capturing apparatus of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 an output signal select block for receiving the image data output from the preprocess block and the combined image data output from the image combining block, and selectively outputting one of the image data and the combined image data.   
     
     
         9 - 18 . (canceled)