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US 12,641,346 B2Granted
High-dynamic range imaging using partial polarisation mask
AssigneeVarjo Technologies Oy
InventorMikko Ollila
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is an imaging system with an image sensor and processor(s). The image sensor has a plurality of photo-sensitive cells arranged on a photo-sensitive surface of the image sensor; a colour filter array with colour filters of at least three different colours; and a polarisation mask with polarisation filters arranged on an optical path of at most a first predefined percent of the colour filters. The processor(s) is/are configured to: read out image data from the image sensor; and process the image data to generate at least one of: a full-resolution colour image, a full-resolution polarisation image, a high-dynamic range (HDR) image.
Claims12
An imaging system comprising:
- an image sensor comprising:
- a plurality of photo-sensitive cells arranged on a photo-sensitive surface of the image sensor;
- a colour filter array comprising colour filters of at least three different colours;
- and
- a polarisation mask comprising polarisation filters arranged on an optical path of at most a first predefined percent of the colour filters;
- and
- at least one processor configured to:
- read out image data from the image sensor;
- and
- process the image data to generate at least one of:
- a full-resolution colour image, a full-resolution polarisation image, a high-dynamic range (HDR) image;
- and
- a wobulator configured to perform sub-pixel shifts when capturing sub-images with the image sensor, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
- when reading out the image data, obtain a first sub-image and a second sub-image from the image sensor, the image data comprising first image data and second image data corresponding to the first sub-image and the second sub-image, respectively, wherein when obtaining, the at least one processor is configured to:
- for the first sub-image, read out the first image data from those photo-sensitive cells that correspond to the colour filters on whose optical path the polarisation filters are arranged and remaining colour filters on whose optical path the polarisation filters are not arranged;
- and
- for the second sub-image, read out the second image data from those photo-sensitive cells that correspond to the remaining colour filters on whose optical path the polarisation filters are not arranged, whilst skipping reading out from those photo-sensitive cells that correspond to the colour filters on whose optical path the polarisation filters are arranged;
- control the wobulator to perform a sub-pixel shift between the first sub-image and the second sub-image;
- and
- when processing the image data, process the first sub-image and the second sub-image, to generate at least one of:
- the full-resolution colour image, the full-resolution polarisation image, the HDR image.
18 more elements
A method comprising:
- reading out image data from an image sensor, wherein the image sensor comprises:
- a plurality of photo-sensitive cells arranged on a photo-sensitive surface of the image sensor;
- a colour filter array comprising colour filters of at least three different colours;
- and a polarisation mask comprising polarisation filters arranged on an optical path of at most a first predefined percent of the colour filters;
- wherein reading out the image data comprises obtaining a first sub-image and a second sub-image from the image sensor, the image data comprising first image data and second image data corresponding to the first sub-image and the second sub-image, respectively, by:
- for the first sub-image, reading out the first image data from those photo-sensitive cells that correspond to the colour filters on whose optical path the polarisation filters are arranged and remaining colour filters on whose optical path the polarisation filters are not arranged;
- and
- for the second sub-image, reading out the second image data from those photo-sensitive cells that correspond to the remaining colour filters on whose optical path the polarisation filters are not arranged, whilst skipping reading out from those photo-sensitive cells that correspond to the colour filters on whose optical path the polarisation filters are arranged,
- wherein the method further comprises controlling a wobulator to perform a sub-pixel shift between the first sub-image and the second sub-image,
- further wherein the step of processing the image data comprises processing the first sub-image and the second sub-image, to generate at least one of:
- the full-resolution colour image, the full-resolution polarisation image, the HDR image
- and
- processing the image data to generate at least one of:
- a full-resolution colour image, a full-resolution polarisation image, a high-dynamic range (HDR) image by performing interpolation and demosaicking on a part of the image data that is read out from those photo-sensitive cells that correspond to remaining colour filters on whose optical path the polarisation filters are not arranged, to generate the full-resolution colour image.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.