Video transcoder based joint video and still image pipeline with still burst mode

A joint video and still image pipeline for a video camera system, comprising:

• one or more image sensors capable of concurrently acquiring regular size video frames and high resolution still image frames in burst mode, wherein the regular size video frames are downsampled into reduced size video frames;
• a sensor controller capable of storing the regular size video frames and the high resolution still image frames acquired during the burst mode into a memory;
• and
• one or more processors capable of concurrently processing the reduced size video frames and the high resolution still image frames acquired during the burst mode, wherein the reduced size video frames are processed using a video pipeline, and the high resolution still image frames are processed using a high resolution still image pipeline, and wherein the high resolution still image frames are processed concurrently with the reduced size video frames.

A computer readable medium providing instructions for concurrently processing digital video frames and high resolution still images in burst mode, the instructions comprising:

• acquiring regular size video frames and high resolution still image frames in burst mode from one or more image sensors;
• downsampling the regular size video frames into reduced size video frames, wherein the reduced size frames have frame sizes smaller than the regular size video frames;
• processing the high resolution still image frames acquired during the burst mode using a high resolution still image pipeline;
• and
• processing the reduced size video frames using a video pipeline, wherein the high resolution still image frames are processed concurrently with the reduced size video frames.