An imaging device includes: a pixel array section having an array of pixels, each of which has a photoelectric converting device and outputs an electric signal according to an input photon; a sense circuit section having a plurality of sensor circuits each of which makes binary decision on whether there is a photon input to a pixel in a predetermined period upon reception of the electric signal therefrom; and a decision result IC section which integrates decision results from the sense circuits, pixel by pixel or for each group of pixels, multiple times to generate imaged data with a gradation, the decision result IC section including a count circuit which performs a count process to integrate the decision results from the sense circuits, and a memory for storing a counting result for each pixel from the count circuit, the sense circuits sharing the count circuit for integrating the decision results.

A method of focusing an imaging device includes acquiring an image. A determination is made whether contrast difference between a pixel and one or more adjacent pixels is likely due to noise, or whether the contrast difference is due to the image being out-of-focus. Focus of the imaging device is when the contrast difference is due to the image being out-of-focus while contrast difference determined to likely be due to noise is ignored.

The infrared imaging device includes an optical system, an infrared detector that captures an infrared image, a correction unit that corrects an infrared image based on basic correction data and outputs a corrected image, and an offset value calculation unit. The offset value calculation unit detects a subject region from the corrected image, calculates a subject value indicating a pixel value of a subject region, and calculates a subject value change amount which is a change amount of a pixel value of the subject region based on the reference subject value and the calculated subject value, and calculates the subject value change amount, as a representative offset value indicating a change amount of each pixel value of a plurality of pixels caused by a temperature change.

A focus detection apparatus includes a determination unit configured to determine a degree of effect of noise included in a pair of parallax image signals, and an acquisition unit configured to acquire information about a phase difference between the pair of parallax images based on a calculation of correlation between the pair of parallax image signals. The acquisition unit selects a filter used to acquire the information about the phase difference from among a plurality of filters having different frequency characteristics based on a determination result of the determination unit, and outputs, as a focus detection result, the information about the phase difference acquired by the correlation calculation based on the pair of parallax image signals applied to the selected filter.

Dehazed images are produced based on an atmospheric light image obtained form an input image as brightest pixels of a predetermined window and white map. The white map is median filtered, morphologically filtered and, in some examples, filtered with a guided filter, and the filtered image combined with the atmospheric light image to produce a dehazed image.

The invention concerns a method of image processing involving: receiving, by a processing device, an input image (IB) captured by a pixel array sensitive to infrared radiation; determining, based on the input image and on a column component vector (VCOL), a first scale factor (?) by estimating a level of the column spread present in the input image; generating column offset values (?.VCOL(y)) based on the product of the first scale factor with the values of the vector; determining, based on the input image and on a 2D dispersion matrix (IDISP), a second scale factor (?) by estimating a level of the 2D dispersion present in the input image; generating pixel offset values (?.IDISP(x,y)) based on the product of the second scale factor with the values of the matrix; and generating a corrected image (IC) by applying the column and pixel offset values.

Various techniques are provided for a stray light compensation method for an infrared (IR) camera. For example, a stray light compensation method includes: capturing an IR image of a scene by an IR camera, generating a fixed pattern noise estimate FPNest.sub.t0 for time t0 using the captured IR image and a stray light model associated with the IR camera, and performing a fixed pattern noise (FPN) compensation of the captured IR image based on said FPNest.sub.t0 to obtain a stray light compensated IR image. The fixed pattern noise estimate may be generated through operations in a frequency domain representation of the captured IR image and the stray light model according to one or more embodiments.

In one embodiment, an infrared (IR) sensor module includes an IR sensor assembly, including a substrate, a microbolometer array disposed on an upper surface of the substrate; and a cap disposed on the upper surface of the substrate and hermetically enclosing the microbolometer array. A base is disposed below the substrate, and a heat spreader having a generally planar portion is interposed between a lower surface of the substrate and an upper surface of the base. In some embodiments, the heat spreader can include a material having an anisotropic thermal conductivity, e.g., graphite.

Imaging systems and methods are disclosed that use locally flat scenes to adjust image data. An imaging system includes an array of photodetectors configured to produce an array of intensity values corresponding to light intensity at the photodetectors. The imaging system can be configured to acquire a frame of intensity values, or an image frame, and analyze the image frame to determine if it is locally flat. If the image frame is locally flat, then that image data can be used to determine gradients present in the image frame. An offset mask can be determined from the image data and that offset mask can be used to adjust subsequently acquired image frames to reduce or remove gradients.

Sensor calibration relative to common coordinates with depth, height and shift dimensions includes obtaining, via a mobile apparatus camera, an image of a calibration target. The calibration target includes first and second surfaces at first and second predefined depths, bearing first and second sets of indicia at heights encoded by the indicia and having predefined shifts. The method includes decoding the heights; generating first and second transforms between image coordinates and first and second planes at predefined common coordinate depths; applying the transforms to each of a plurality of calibration pixels to generate position pairs including calibration positions on each of the first and second planes; determining a common coordinate camera position from an intersection of calibration lines defined by the position pairs; and storing the camera position in association with a location of the mobile apparatus, for common coordinate mapping of subsequent images captured at subsequent mobile apparatus locations.