Patent attributes
A circuit for detecting a pixel defect includes the following elements. A first defect detector compares a level of a target pixel signal on one horizontal pixel signal line of pixel signals input from an imaging device with levels of a plurality of surrounding pixel signals of the target pixel signal to determine whether or not a pixel corresponding to the target pixel signal is a possible defective pixel according to a comparison result. A second defect detector calculates a correlation between the detected possible defective pixel signal and the surrounding pixel signals to determines whether or not the possible defective pixel is a pseudo-defective pixel. A third defect detector performs the detection of the detected possible defective pixel on pixel signals in a predetermined number of frames, and determines that the pseudo-defective pixel is a true defective pixel when the pseudo-defective pixel is detected in all frames.