Devices and methods for high dynamic range video
AssigneeContrast, Inc.
InventorsWillie C. Kiser, Nora Tocci, Michael D. Tocci
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Abstract
Systems and methods of the invention merge information from multiple image sensors to provide a high dynamic range (HDR) video. The present invention provides for real-time HDR video production using multiple sensors and pipeline processing techniques. According to the invention, multiple sensors with different exposures each produces an ordered stream of frame-independent pixel values. The pixel values are streamed through a pipeline on a processing device. The pipeline includes a kernel operation that identifies saturated ones of the pixel values. The streams of pixel values are merged to produce an HDR video.
Claims15
A method for producing real-time HDR video, the method comprising:
- streaming pixel values from each of multiple sensors in a frame independent-manner through a pipeline on a processing device, wherein the multiple image sensors include at least a high-exposure first sensor and a second sensor with a lower exposure than the high-exposure first sensor, and wherein the pipeline includes a kernel operation that identifies saturated pixel values,
- wherein kernel operation includes substituting saturated pixel values in the high-exposure sensor with corresponding values from the lower-exposure second sensor, wherein at least some of the saturated pixel values are identified before receiving values from all pixels of the multiple image sensors at the processing device;
- and
- merging the pixel values to produce an HDR image comprising pixel values from the high-exposure first sensor that are not saturated and pixel values from the lower-exposure second sensor corresponding to the saturated pixel values in the high-exposure first sensor.
An apparatus for HDR video processing, the apparatus comprising:
- a processing device comprising a field-programmable gate array or an application-specific integrated circuit;
- a lens and at least one beamsplitter;
- at least a high exposure first sensor and a second sensor with exposure lower than the first sensor coupled to the processing device, wherein the first sensor, the second sensor, the lens and the at least one beamsplitter are arranged to receive an incoming beam of light and split the beam of light into at least a first path that impinges and first sensor and a second path that impinges on the second sensor, wherein the beamsplitter directs a majority of the light to the first path and a lesser amount of the light to the second path, wherein the first path and the second path impinge on the first and the second sensor, respectively, to generate images that are optically identical but for light level,
- wherein the apparatus is configured to stream pixel values from each of the plurality of image sensors in a frame-independent manner through a pipeline on the processing device, wherein the pipeline includes a kernel operation that identifies saturated pixel values and a merge module to merge the pixel values to produce an HDR image, wherein the kernel operation operates on pixel values as they stream from each of the plurality of image sensors by examining, for a given pixel on the first sensor, values from a neighborhood of pixels surrounding the given pixel, finding saturated values in the neighborhood of pixels, and using information from a corresponding neighborhood on the second sensor to estimate a value for the given pixel,
- and further wherein the pipeline includes—in the order in which the pixel values flow:
- a sync module to synchronize the pixel values as the pixel values stream onto the processing device from the plurality of image sensors;
- the kernel operation;
- the merge module;
- a demosaicing module;
- and
- a tone-mapping operator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.