1. An image capturing apparatus for capturing an object using a solid-state imaging device, comprising:
subtraction means for subtracting second image data, which is captured with a shutter closed under a same exposure condition as an ordinary capturing, immediately before or after thereof and digitalized, from first image data, which is captured by an ordinary capturing mode with the shutter opened and digitalized;
adder means for adding an offset, for negative noise, to a signal value from said subtraction means;
limiter means for limiting a signal level from said adder means;
bright spot position detection means for detecting an occurrence position of a bright spot noise, which is a high level noise which produces a bright spot on a captured image, in said second image data; and
noise compensation means for compensating for data of a pixel corresponding to the occurrence position of said bright spot noise detected by said bright spot position detection means, with respect to output data from said limiter means, wherein:
said bright spot position detection means comprises detecting the occurrence position of said bright spot noise if a signal level of said pixel reaches a predetermined value.
2. The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said compensation means replaces data of each pixel corresponding to the occurrence position of said bright spot noise with average data of two pixels of a same color adjacent thereto.
3. The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said compensation means replaces data of each pixel corresponding to the occurrence position of said bright spot noise with data of either one of the two pixels of a same color adjacent thereto.
4. The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bright spot position detection means outputting a timing pulse at each pixel position at which the bright spot noise has occurred.
5. The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said noise compensation means determines a position of said bright spot noise based on the timing pulse output from said bright spot position detection means.
6. An image capturing apparatus for capturing an object using a solid-state imaging device, comprising:
subtraction means for subtracting second image data, which is captured with a shutter closed under a same exposure condition as an ordinary capturing, immediately before or after thereof and digitalized, from first image data, which is captured by an ordinary capturing mode with the shutter opened and digitalized;
adder means for adding an offset, for negative noise, to a signal value from said subtraction means;
limiter means for limiting a signal level from said adder means;
bright spot position detection means for detecting an occurrence position of a bright spot noise, which is a high level noise which produces a bright spot on a captured image, in said second image data; and
noise compensation means for compensating for data of a pixel corresponding to the occurrence position of said bright spot noise detected by said bright spot position detection means, with respect to output data from said limiter means, wherein:
said bright spot position detection means detects the occurrence position of said bright spot noise if a value, obtained by subtracting an average signal level of two pixels adjacent to said pixel from a signal level of said pixel, reaches the predetermined value.
7. An image capturing apparatus for capturing an object using a solid-state imaging device, comprising:
subtraction means for subtracting second image data, which is captured with a shutter closed under a same exposure condition as an ordinary capturing, immediately before or after thereof and digitalized, from first image data, which is captured by an ordinary capturing mode with the shutter opened and digitalized;
adder means for adding an offset, for negative noise, to a signal value from said subtraction means;
limiter means for limiting a signal level from said adder means;
bright spot position detection means for detecting an occurrence position of a bright spot noise, which is a high level noise which produces a bright spot on a captured image, in said second image data; and
noise compensation means for compensating for data of a pixel corresponding to the occurrence position of said bright spot noise detected by said bright spot position detection means, with respect to output data from said limiter means,
wherein said bright spot position detection means detects the occurrence position of said bright spot noise if a value, obtained by subtracting a signal level of either one of pixels adjacent to said pixel from a signal level of said pixel reaches the predetermined value.
8. A noise elimination method for eliminating a noise occurring at a time of capturing an object using a solid-state imaging device, comprising the steps of:
subtracting, from first image data which is captured by an ordinary capturing mode with a shutter opened and then digitalized, second image data which is captured immediately before or after the ordinary capturing with a shutter closed in a same exposure condition as said ordinary capturing and then digitalized;
adding an offset for a negative noise to data resulting from said subtraction;
limiting a signal level of the offset data;
detecting an occurrence position of a bright spot noise in said second image data, which is a high level noise which produces a bright spot on a captured image, if a signal level of a pixel in said second pixel data reaches a predetermined value; and
compensating for data of said pixel corresponding to the occurrence position of said bright spot noise detected, with respect to data resulting from said limiting.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method comprising:
generating a unique record identifier for each of a plurality of minor numbers for a plurality of volumes of a storage element to be backed up in a snapshot file system, each of the plurality of minor numbers referencing one of a plurality of bitmaps for a volume, wherein each of the plurality of minor numbers is assignable to one or more of the plurality of volumes, and wherein each of the plurality of bitmaps contains a pattern indicating blocks backed up in the snapshot file system;
associating each unique record identifier with the bitmap referenced by the corresponding minor number; and
tracking changes to one of the plurality of volumes using at least one unique record identifier, a length of the bitmap corresponding to that unique record identifier, and a length of the volume.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the unique record identifier is a floating point number comprising an integer and fractional portion, and wherein the unique record identifier is to be generated by a volume manager.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the unique record identifier is a floating point number comprising an integer and fractional portion, and wherein the unique record identifier is to be generated by a counter using sequential numbering.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the minor number is assigned by a volume manager.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein tracking the changes to one of the plurality of volumes using the at least one unique record identifier, the length of the bitmap corresponding to that unique record identifier, and the length of the volume comprises:
comparing the unique record identifier of the volume with the unique record identifier associated with the bitmap; and
performing an incremental backup operation based on the unique record identifier of the volume matching the unique record number associated with the bitmap, or generating a new bitmap for the volume as recreated by the volume manager based on the unique record identifier of the volume not matching with the unique record identifier associated with the bitmap.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein performing the incremental backup operation comprises:
comparing the length of the volume with the length of the bitmap; and
performing an incremental backup operation based on the length of the volume matching the length of the bitmap, or generating a new bitmap for the volume as recreated by the volume manager based on the length of the volume not matching the length of the bitmap.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the volume corresponds to a managed device, and wherein the new bitmap is created using the length of the volume.
8. The method of claim 6 wherein the volume corresponds to a non-managed device, and wherein the new bitmap is created using an inputoutput control process.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein a first minor number referencing a first bitmap is similar to a second minor number referencing a second bitmap, wherein the second bitmap is different from the first bitmap, and wherein a first unique record number associated with the first bitmap is different from a second unique record number associated with the second bitmap.
10. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by one or more processors to implement a method comprising:
generating a unique record identifier for each of a plurality of minor numbers for a plurality of volumes of a storage element to be backed up in a snapshot file system, each of the plurality of minor numbers referencing one of a plurality of bitmaps for a volume, wherein each of the plurality of minor numbers is assignable to one or more of the plurality of volumes, and wherein each of the plurality of bitmaps contains a pattern indicating blocks backed up in the snapshot file system;
associating each unique record identifier with the bitmap referenced by the corresponding minor number; and
tracking changes to one of the plurality of volumes using at least one unique record identifier, a length of the bitmap corresponding to that unique record identifier, and a length of the volume.
11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the unique record identifier is a floating point number comprising an integer and fractional portion, and wherein the unique record identifier is generated by a volume manager or a counter using a sequential sequence.
12. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein tracking the changes to one of the plurality of volumes using the at least one unique record identifier, the length of the bitmap corresponding to that unique record identifier, and the length of the volume comprises:
comparing the unique record identifier of the volume with the unique record identifier associated with the bitmap; and
performing an incremental backup operation based on the unique record identifier of the volume matching the unique record number associated with the bitmap, or generating a new bitmap for the volume as recreated by the volume manager based on the unique record identifier of the volume not matching the unique record identifier associated with the bitmap.
13. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the minor number is assigned by a volume manager.
14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the computer-readable program code is further adapted to implement a method comprising:
comparing the length of the volume with the length of the bitmap; and
performing an incremental backup operation based on the length of the volume matching the length of the bitmap, or generating a new bitmap for the volume as recreated by the volume manager based on the length of the volume not matching the length of the bitmap.
15. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the volume corresponds to a managed device, and wherein the new bitmap is generated based on the length of the volume.
16. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the volume corresponds to a non-managed device, and wherein the new bitmap is generated using an inputoutput control process.
17. A system comprising:
a processor; and
memory configured to store one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of:
generating a unique record identifier for each of a plurality of minor numbers for a plurality of volumes of a storage element to be backed up in a snapshot file system, each of the plurality of minor numbers referencing one of a plurality of bitmaps for a volume, wherein each of the plurality of minor numbers is assignable to one or more of the plurality of volumes, and wherein each of the plurality of bitmaps contains a pattern indicating blocks backed up in the snapshot file system;
associating each unique record identifier with the bitmap referenced by the corresponding minor number; and
tracking changes to one of the plurality of volumes using at least one unique record identifier, a length of the bitmap corresponding to that unique record identifier, and a length of the volume.
18. The system of claim 17 wherein the unique record identifier is a floating point number comprising an integer and fractional portion, and wherein the unique record identifier is generated by a volume manager upon a backup operation performed on the volume or a counter configured to assign a unique sequential number for each backup operation performed on the volume.
19. The system of claim 18 wherein the processor is further configured to carry out the steps of:
comparing the unique record identifier for the specific minor number with the unique record identifier for the corresponding bitmap; and
performing an incremental backup operation based on the unique record identifier of the volume matching the unique record identifier associated with the bitmap, or creating a new bitmap for the volume as recreated by the volume manager based on the unique record identifier of the volume not matching the unique record identifier.
20. The system of claim 19 wherein the processor is further configured to carry out the steps of:
comparing the length of the volume with the length of the bitmap; and
performing an incremental backup operation based on the length of the volume matching the length of the bitmap, or creating a new bitmap for the volume as recreated by the volume manager based on the length of the volume not matching the length of the bitmap.