User feedback for real-time checking and improving quality of scanned image

A method of operating a portable electronic device, comprising a camera, to form an image of an object from a plurality of image frames captured with the camera, the method comprising:

• with the camera, capturing a first image frame and a second image frame at different times;
• with a processor, processing at least the first image frame of the plurality of image frames, to identify a feature in the first image frame representing an artifact associated with a relative position of the camera and a source of light;
• and
• when the artifact is detected in the first image frame, taking a corrective action, the corrective action comprising forming the image of the object with at least a portion of the second image frame, the portion of the second image frame representing a portion of the object depicted in a portion of the first image frame containing the artifact, wherein a value of a quality metric associated with the image of the object after taking the corrective action is greater than a value of the quality metric associated with the image of the object before the corrective action, wherein:
• processing at least the first image frame comprises processing image frames of the plurality of image frames in a sequence representing a scan of the object by:
• correlating the image frames in the sequence to detect a portion of the image frames representing the same item in the image frames in the sequence;
• and
• identifying the item as the artifact based on changes of shape and/or position of the item with respect to a common frame of reference from frame to frame of the image frames in the sequence.

A portable electronic device, comprising:

• a camera configured to capture a plurality of image frames comprising a first image frame captured with the portable electronic device at a first location relative to an object and a second image frame captured with the portable electronic device at a second location relative to the object different from the first location;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• form an image of the object from the plurality of image frames captured with the camera;
• process at least the first image frame of a plurality of image frames, to identify a feature in the first image frame representing an artifact associated with a relative position of the camera and a source of light, wherein the artifact comprises a specular highlight;
• and
• when the artifact is detected in the first image frame, take a corrective action, the corrective action comprising forming the image of the object with at least a portion of the second image frame not containing a feature representing the artifact, the portion of the second image frame representing a portion of the object depicted in a portion of the first image frame containing the artifact, the corrective action further comprising presenting on a user interface directions to a user to position the portable electronic device to reduce the artifact.

A portable electronic device, comprising:

• a camera configured to capture a plurality of image frames;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• form an image of an object from the plurality of image frames captured with the camera;
• process at least a first image frame of a plurality of image frames, to identify a feature in the first image frame representing an artifact associated with a relative position of the camera and a source of light, wherein the artifact comprises a specular highlight;
• and
• when the artifact is detected in the first image frame, take a corrective action, the corrective action comprising forming the image of the object with at least a portion of a second image frame not containing a feature representing the artifact, the portion of the second image frame representing a portion of the object depicted in a portion of the first image frame containing the artifact, the corrective action further comprising presenting on a user interface directions to a user to position the portable electronic device to reduce the artifact, wherein:
• processing at least the first image frame comprises processing image frames of the plurality of image frames in a sequence representing a scan of the object by:
• correlating the image frames in the sequence to detect a portion of the image frames representing the same item in the image frames in the sequence;
• and
• identifying the item as the artifact based on changes of shape and/or position of the item with respect to a common frame of reference from frame to frame of the image frames in the sequence.

At least one non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions, that when executed by a processor, perform a method of forming an image of an object from a plurality of image frames captured with a camera of a portable electronic device, the method comprising:

• processing at least a first image frame of the plurality of image frames, to identify a feature in the first image frame representing an artifact associated with a relative position of the camera and a source of light;
• and
• when the artifact is detected in the first image frame, taking a corrective action, the corrective action comprising forming the image of the object with at least a portion of a second image frame, the portion of the second image frame representing a portion of the object depicted in a portion of the first image frame containing the artifact,
• wherein processing at least the first image frame comprises processing image frames of the plurality of image frames in a sequence representing a scan of the object by:
• correlating the image frames in the sequence to detect a portion of the image frames representing the same item in the image frames in the sequence;
• and
• identifying the item as the artifact based on changes of shape and/or position of the item with respect to a common frame of reference from frame to frame of the image frames in the sequence.