JP2013157837A - Image processing program and image processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing program and an image processing device that are capable of effectively removing a noise component of an image group on a timeline.SOLUTION: An image processing program for performing image processing on an image group on one timeline causes a computer to execute a step for performing image averaging processing based on averaging of pixel values on m images in the image group, in which when the image averaging processing is performed on the n-th (1≤n≤m) image using the number k (1<k<m) of reference images, the image averaging processing is performed using 1 to k images from among the (n-k+1)-th to (n+k-1)-th images, and the obtained image is stored as the n-th image of the timeline.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing program and an image processing apparatus.

  Conventionally, various proposals for removing a noise component contained in a moving image and creating a clear moving image have been made. For example, in Patent Document 1, image data is binarized using a predetermined threshold, and noise removal is performed by selecting a noise removal filter depending on the binarized data.

JP-A-8-186714

  However, if the noise component of the original image is large, there is a limit to sharpening. Therefore, there has been a demand for more effective image processing when processing images on the timeline of moving images. The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and an object thereof is to provide an image processing program and an image processing apparatus capable of effectively removing noise components of an image group on a timeline. .

  An image processing program according to the present invention is an image processing program for performing image processing on an image group on one timeline, and averaging pixel values for m images from the image group When performing the image averaging process on the nth (1 ≦ n ≦ m) image using the reference image number k (1 <k <m), The image averaging process is performed using 1 to k images among the (n−k + 1) th to (n + k−1) th images, and the obtained image is stored as the nth image on the timeline. And causing the computer to execute.

  According to this configuration, when removing noise components of a plurality of image groups on the timeline, the noise component removal of each image is not performed using only the image, but the average of pixel values using a plurality of images. Image averaging processing is performed. That is, when the image averaging process is performed on the nth (1 ≦ n ≦ m) image, 1 to k images are selected from the (n−k + 1) th to (n + k−1) th images. And performing an image averaging process, and storing the obtained image as the nth image on the timeline. This makes it possible to remove noise components when image processing using a single image is difficult. Further, since the nth image subjected to image processing is stored as the nth image, the number of frames constituting the timeline does not decrease. Therefore, it is possible to remove noise components while maintaining the number of frames as a moving image. Note that n, k, and m are natural numbers.

  As described above, the image selection method when performing the image averaging process may use 1 to k images from the (n−k + 1) th to (n + k−1) th images. There are various other methods. For example, the image averaging process can be performed using 1 to k images among n to (n + k−1) -th images.

  Alternatively, the image averaging process can be performed using only images existing from the nth to (n + k−1) th images. For example, since the m-th image is the last image among the selected images, the (m + k−1) -th image does not exist. Therefore, in this case, image processing can be prevented from being performed. Alternatively, when there are only images less than the reference number of images, such as when processing the mth image, exceptionally, the image averaging process is performed using two or more images before the mth. You may go.

  When performing the image averaging process using the nth to (n + k−1) th images when processing the nth image, the nth image is stored in the area where the image is stored before the image averaging process. The nth image after the image averaging process can be stored. For example, when storing the processed image by overwriting the area where the nth image is stored, if an image before the nth image is used, the previous image has already been processed. Yes, since it is not an image before image processing, accurate image processing cannot be performed. Therefore, as described above, since the image after the nth image is used in the image averaging process, the image averaging process can be performed using only the image before the image processing, so the nth image is stored. The processed image can be stored in the area that has been processed by overwriting without using a buffer or the like, for example. Therefore, the hardware storage area can be saved.

  In the above program, the reference image number k may be set in advance, or the input of the reference image number k may be received from the user prior to the step of performing the image averaging process. By doing so, it is possible to perform image processing according to the user's preference.

  In the above program, the images to be subjected to image processing may be all images on the timeline or images arbitrarily selected by the user. For example, prior to the step of performing the image averaging process, a step of accepting selection of m images from the image group on the timeline from the user can be further provided. In this way, for example, only an image with a lot of noise components can be selected, and the time required for image processing can be shortened.

  An image processing apparatus according to the present invention is an image processing apparatus that performs image processing on an image group on one timeline, and averages pixel values for m images from the image group. Is an image processing unit that performs image averaging processing using the reference image number k (1 <k <m) and performs the image averaging processing on the nth (1 ≦ n ≦ m) image In addition, the image averaging process is performed using 1 to k images among the (n−k + 1) th to (n + k−1) th images, and the obtained image is used as the nth image on the timeline. As an image processing unit to be stored in the storage means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to effectively remove the noise component of the image group on the timeline.

1 is a block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure of the basic screen before image data is taken in. It is a figure of the basic screen after image data was taken in. It is a figure which shows the dialog box which inputs a reference | standard image number. It is the schematic explaining an image averaging process. It is a figure which shows an example of an image averaging process. It is the schematic explaining the other example of the image averaging process of FIG.

Hereinafter, an image processing program and an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image processing program and the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment perform noise component removal on an image group on the timeline. Hereinafter, an image to be subjected to image processing may be referred to as a frame image or simply an image.
<1. Overview of Image Processing Device>
As shown in FIG. 1, a general-purpose personal computer can be used as the image processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. The image processing apparatus 1 is installed with an image processing program 2 that is an embodiment of an image processing program according to the present invention. The image processing program 2 is application software for supporting image processing for moving images and still images, and causes the image processing apparatus 1 to execute steps included in the operations described later.

  The image processing apparatus 1 includes a display 10, an input unit 20, a storage unit 30, and a control unit 40, which are connected by a bus line 5 so as to be able to communicate with each other. In the present embodiment, the display 10 is a liquid crystal display, and displays a screen or the like to be described later to the user. The input unit 20 includes a mouse and a keyboard, and accepts an operation from the user for the image processing apparatus 1. The storage unit 30 includes a nonvolatile hard disk, and the control unit 40 includes a CPU, a ROM, a volatile RAM, and the like.

  In the storage unit 30, an image processing program 2 and a software management area 50 are secured. The software management area 50 is an area used by the image processing program 2. In the software management area 50, an original image area 51, a selected frame area 52, a reference image number area 53, and a processed image area 54 are secured. The role of each of the areas 51 to 54 will be described later.

  The control unit 40 reads and executes the image processing program 2 stored in the storage unit 30, thereby virtually operating as the image selection unit 41, the reference image number reception unit 42, and the image processing unit 43. The operation of each unit 41 to 43 will be described later.

<2. Details of Configuration and Operation of Image Processing Apparatus>
When the control unit 40 detects that the user has performed a predetermined operation via the input unit 20, the control unit 40 activates the image processing program 2. When the image processing program 2 is activated, a basic screen W1 (see FIG. 2) is displayed on the display 10. Note that the control unit 40 controls display of all elements such as a screen, a window, a button, and the like displayed on the display 10.

<2-1. Importing image data>
The basic screen W1 accepts a command for capturing image data into the original image area 51 from the user. The image data captured in the original image area 51 is a target of image processing to be described later. The control unit 40 captures image data from the still image file or the moving image file into the original image area 51. In this specification, a still image file is a data file in a still image format, and a moving image file is a data file in a moving image format.

  When capturing image data from a still image file, the user operates the input unit 20 to specify one still image file or one folder. In the former case, the control unit 40 causes the user to input the address path and file name in the storage unit 30 of the still image file. In the latter case, the control unit 40 allows the user to input the address path and folder name in the storage unit 30 of the folder. Thereafter, the control unit 40 stores the specified one still image file or all the still image files in the specified one folder as a still image file group in the original image area 51.

  On the other hand, when capturing image data from a moving image file, the user operates the input unit 20 to input the address path and file name in the storage unit 30 of one moving image file. When the control unit 40 detects that the user has specified a moving image file, the control unit 40 displays a moving image capturing window (not shown) in an overlapping manner on the basic screen W1. The moving image capture window accepts selection of a time line of an arbitrary length from the user among all time lines of the specified moving image file. When the control unit 40 detects that the user has selected a timeline having an arbitrary length via the input unit 20, the control unit 40 generates a still image file group corresponding to the selection. This still image file group has a one-to-one correspondence with the frame group included in the moving image of the timeline related to the user's selection. Thereafter, the control unit 40 stores the still image file group in the original image area 51.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the target of image processing to be described later is not a moving image file but a still image file. The still image file is taken into the original image area 51 in file units, folder units, or all or part of time line units of moving image files.

<2-2. Playback of still image files>
When the still image file group is taken into the original image area 51, the control unit 40 displays the display window W2 (see FIG. 3) on the basic screen W1. The display windows W2 are displayed as many times as the number of operations for taking still image file groups into the original image area 51.

  First, one still image file (for example, a still image file corresponding to the first frame on the timeline) included in the still image file group captured in the original image area 51 is displayed in the display window W2. . Note that the control unit 40 arranges the still image files included in the still image file group along the timeline even if the still image file group is not derived from the moving image file but derived from the still image file. It is recognized that The array is automatically determined from file attributes (file name, creation date, update date, etc.).

  As will be described later, the frame displayed in the display window W2 is switched in response to a user operation. The control unit 40 manages the identification information of the frame currently displayed in the display window W2 in real time.

  The control unit 40 can reproduce the still image file group corresponding to the display window W2 as a moving image in the display window W2. As shown in FIG. 3, a window selection pull-down menu T1, a playback button T2, a frame advance button T3, a frame return button T4, and a timeline bar T5 are arranged on the basic screen W1.

  Even when there are a plurality of display windows W2, there is only one active display window W2. The control unit 40 receives a selection of which display window W2 is to be activated from the user via the window selection pull-down menu T1. Hereinafter, the still image file group corresponding to the active display window W2 is referred to as an active file group. A frame currently displayed in the active display window W2 is referred to as an active display frame.

  The playback button T2 accepts a playback command from the user as a moving image of the active file group. When the control unit 40 detects that the user has pressed the play button T2 via the input unit 20, the control unit 40 displays the frames of the active file group sequentially in the frame advance format along the timeline in the active display window W2. Let Note that the reproduction starts from the active display frame at the time when the reproduction button T2 is pressed. The playback button T2 accepts a playback stop command from the user. When the control unit 40 detects that the user has pressed the playback button T2 via the input unit 20 during playback, the control unit 40 fixes the display in the active display window W2 to the active display frame at that time.

  Each of the frame advance button T3 and the frame return button T4 receives an instruction from the user to switch the active display frame to the next previous frame along the timeline of the active file group.

  The timeline bar T5 schematically represents the timeline of the active file group. The timeline bar T5 is equally divided by the number of frames of the active file group in the direction in which the bar extends. The nth divided area from the left on the timeline bar T5 corresponds to the nth frame on the timeline of the active file group (n is a natural number).

  As shown in FIG. 3, the timeline bar T5 displays the divided area A1 corresponding to the selected frame group and the divided area A2 corresponding to the non-selected frame group in different modes. The selected frame group is a frame group corresponding to the currently selected section on the timeline of the active file group. The non-selected frame group is a frame group corresponding to a section that is not currently selected on the timeline of the active file group. In the present embodiment, the area A1 is displayed with a light tone color, and the area A2 is displayed with a dark tone color. The image selection unit 41 receives a selection of an arbitrary section on the timeline of the active file group from the user via the timeline bar T5. For example, an arbitrary section can be selected by dragging the mouse with the timeline bar T5. Then, as will be described later, image processing is performed on the selected frame group.

<2-3. Image processing>
Hereinafter, image processing for the selected frame group will be described. Here, image processing is performed to remove noise components from the image frame group. The image selection unit 41, the reference image number reception unit 42, and the image processing unit 43 described above can execute an image processing module for removing noise components. The image processing module is incorporated in the image processing program 2.

  The user operates the basic screen W1 via the input unit 20 to select a frame group to be subjected to image processing in the timeline. In order to make this determination, after confirming a target of image processing on the timeline, that is, a frame group having a large noise component, a frame group to be subjected to image processing is selected. In addition, it is of course possible to process all frames of the timeline. This frame group is the selected frame group described above. When the user detects an operation of selecting a selected frame group, the image selecting unit 41 stores in the selected frame area 52 which frame has been selected. In this way, the user starts image processing with the selected frame group selected. When detecting that the image processing for removing the noise component is selected from the pull-down menu on the basic screen W1 or the like, the reference image number receiving unit 42 displays a dialog box D1 as shown in FIG. Input the number of frames. The reference image number k is the number of images used in image processing related to noise component removal described below. At this time, if the number of frames included in the selected frame group is less than two, the image processing according to the present embodiment cannot be performed, so the dialog box does not appear, and the selected frame group including a plurality of images is displayed. A dialog box (not shown) for prompting the setting appears.

  As described above, when the dialog box D1 is displayed, the user inputs the number of frames which is the reference image number k. Here, only numbers of 2 or more can be input. Thus, when a numerical value of 2 or more is input and the OK button in the dialog box is clicked, the reference image number receiving unit 42 stores this numerical value in the reference image number region 53 and the image processing unit 43 performs image processing. To start.

  Here, the procedure of image processing will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, for example, when 12 images are included in the selected frame group and 3 (k = 3) is input as the reference image number k, the image processing unit 43 enters the reference image number region 53. After referring to the stored reference image number k, the processing of the first frame image is started. In the processing of the first frame image, the subsequent two frame images including the first frame image are used. That is, the first to third three frame images are used, and an image in which the pixel values of these frame images are averaged is generated. Hereinafter, this process is referred to as an image averaging process. Then, the generated image is stored in the post-processing image area 54 as the first frame image. In the image averaging process, noise components are removed by averaging pixel values (for example, luminance) of pixels included in each frame image. This process is similarly performed for the second and subsequent frame images. However, when the 11th frame and the 12th frame are processed, the number of frames used for the image averaging process is less than 3. In this case, image averaging processing is performed using only existing frame images, or image processing is not performed when there is one frame image. For example, for the processing of the 11th frame image, the image averaging process is performed using the 11th and 12th frame images, and the image processing is not performed for the 12th frame image. In this way, the 12 newly generated frame images constitute part or all of the timeline. Here, if the 12 frame images are part of the timeline, that is, if the selected frame group is part of the timeline, the image processing unit 43 Then, one timeline is generated by combining with the unselected image group, and this is stored in the processed image area 54.

  An example of the image averaging process is shown in FIG. FIG. 6 shows an example in which the image averaging process is performed using three frames. FIG. 6A shows one frame image on the timeline before image processing, and FIG. 6B shows a frame image after image processing. As shown in the figure, it can be seen that flicker (noise) in the image is reduced when the image averaging process is performed.

<3. Features>
As described above, according to the present embodiment, when removing noise components of a plurality of image groups on the timeline, noise component removal of each frame image is not performed using only the frame image, Image averaging processing is performed by averaging pixel values using frame images. That is, when the image averaging process is performed on the nth frame image, the image averaging process is performed using the nth to (n + k−1) th images, and the obtained frame image is converted to the nth frame in the timeline. As an image. This makes it possible to remove noise components when image processing using a single image is difficult. In addition, after the n-th image is processed, it is stored as the n-th image, so the number of frames constituting the timeline does not decrease. Therefore, it is possible to remove noise components while maintaining the number of frames as a moving image.

<4. Modification>
As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change is possible unless it deviates from the meaning. For example, the following changes can be made.

<4-1>
In the above-described embodiment, the frame image subjected to the image averaging process is stored in the post-processing image area 54. However, in the original image area 51, the frame image before the image averaging process can be overwritten. . For example, when a frame image processed by overwriting is stored, if an image before the nth image is used, the image before the image is processed. That is, since the image before image processing cannot be used, accurate image processing cannot be performed. In the above embodiment, since the image after the nth image is used in the image averaging process, the image averaging process can be performed using only the image before the process, and therefore the nth image is stored. The processed image can be stored in the area by overwriting without using a buffer or the like, for example. As a result, the storage area of the hardware can be saved.

<4-2>
In the above-described embodiment, the reference image number receiving unit 42 inputs the reference image number used for the image averaging process from the user. However, the reference image number is set to 2 or more in advance, and the user arbitrarily sets the reference image number. It can also be changed. Alternatively, the reference image number k can be fixed.

<4-3>
In the above embodiment, the user can set an image to be subjected to the image averaging process as a selected frame group from the image group on the timeline. For example, when one timeline is read, the image The selection unit 41 may be configured to automatically set all images on the timeline as a selected frame group and store which image is selected in the selected frame group region 52.

<4-4>
In the above embodiment, when the image averaging process is performed on the nth frame image, the nth to (n + k−1) th images are used, but the nth to (n + k−1) th images are used. It is not necessary to use all images, and two or more of them may be used. For example, an image to be used may be arbitrarily selected. However, since there is an image that does not exist after this, as in the twelfth image in the example of FIG. 5, in this case, the image averaging process may be performed only with the existing image.

<4-5>
Further, as the image used for averaging, when processing the nth image, the (n−k + 1) th to (n + k−1) th can be used. Use it. For example, in the example of FIG. 7, when the nth image is processed with the reference image number k set to 3, the image averaging process is performed using the (n−1) th to (n + 1) th images. . In this case, when the first image is processed, since there is no image before that, the existing first and second images are used. Further, when processing the twelfth image, since there is no image after that, processing is performed using the eleventh and twelfth images. However, when such (n−k + 1) th to (n + k−1) th images are used, the processed frame image is stored in another region different from the original image region 51 as described above. Or an area for saving the original image using the buffer area. In addition, when there are only images less than the reference image number k, such as the first image or the twelfth image described above, an image averaging process is performed using two or more images before and after the exception. May be performed.

1 Image processing device (computer)
2 Image processing program 43 Image processing unit

Claims (7)

An image processing program for performing image processing on an image group on one timeline,
A step of performing an image averaging process by averaging pixel values on m images in the image group, using a reference image number k (1 <k <m) and an nth (1 ≦ n) ≦ m) When performing the image averaging process, the image averaging is performed using 1 to k images among the (n−k + 1) th to (n + k−1) th images. Performing the process and storing the resulting image as the nth image in the timeline;
An image processing program for causing a computer to execute.   2. The image processing program according to claim 1, wherein in the step of performing the image averaging process, the image averaging process is performed using 1 to k images among n to (n + k−1) -th images. .   3. The image processing program according to claim 1, wherein in the step of performing the image averaging process, the image averaging process is performed using only an image existing from the n-th (n + k−1) -th images.   The step of performing the image averaging process stores the nth image after the image averaging process in an area where the nth image is stored before the image averaging process. The image processing program described.   The image processing program according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a step of receiving an input of the reference image number k from a user prior to the step of performing the image averaging process.   6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of accepting selection of the m images from a group of images on the timeline from a user prior to the step of performing the image averaging process. The image processing program described. An image processing apparatus that performs image processing on an image group on one timeline,
An image processing unit that performs an image averaging process by averaging pixel values for m images in the image group, using a reference image number k (1 <k <m), and an nth (1 When performing the image averaging process on an image of ≦ n ≦ m), the image is used by using 1 to k images among the (n−k + 1) th to (n + k−1) th images. An image processing unit that performs an averaging process and stores the obtained image in the storage unit as the nth image of the timeline;
An image processing apparatus.