Image Processing Device Shimmer Correction for Moving Objects
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image processing technologies face challenges in effectively correcting shimmer, particularly for moving objects, as they often result in smear and deteriorated image quality due to heat haze, and struggle to accurately separate shimmer correction from subject motion.
Innovation Solution
An image processing device that includes a motion compensation unit to acquire motion information from temporally proximate images and a shimmer correction unit for time smoothing, using both approximate and pixel accuracy motion compensation to produce a corrected image with reduced shimmer for moving objects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If time smoothing is applied to correct shimmer in images, then visibility of static subjects is improved, but moving objects produce smear and afterimage effects that deteriorate image quality
Solution Approach 1:
The image is divided into multiple blocks, and motion compensation is performed independently for each block. This segmentation allows the system to apply time smoothing to static regions while preserving motion information in moving object regions, thereby resolving the contradiction between improving visibility through smoothing and maintaining image quality by avoiding smear effects.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the correction strength for each block based on detected motion information. Blocks with significant motion have reduced correction strength to prevent smear, while static blocks receive full correction. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction by making the correction process responsive to local motion conditions.
2Measurement precision
If local shimmer correction is performed by pixel, then shimmer correction accuracy is improved, but computation amount increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The image is divided into multiple blocks for independent processing. This segmentation reduces the computation amount by allowing parallel processing and avoiding redundant calculations across the entire image, while still maintaining local correction accuracy within each block.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies motion compensation and time smoothing selectively to blocks that require correction, rather than processing every pixel uniformly. This partial action approach reduces overall computation while maintaining necessary correction accuracy in affected regions.
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed is a method for correcting for shimmer due to thermal turbulence, even for moving subjects, on a time smoothed base. The device is provided with: a movement compensation means (202) that, for a correction-targeted block (205) of a correction-targeted image within an input image (21), uses a temporally proximate correction image (206) to derive movement information about a moving object, performs motion compensation, and outputs a correction block (208) and a cost value (209) ; and a shimmer correction means (203) that carries out time averaging processing, in accordance with the cost value (209), of the correction-targeted block (205) and the correction block (208), and outputs a corrected block (211) in which shimmer of the moving object has been corrected, and correction information (210). Through two-stage motion detection, the movement compensation means (202) extracts and compensates for movement of a moving object, in a manner unaffected by thermal turbulence.