Continuous autofocus mechanisms for image capturing devices
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsRalph Brunner, David Hayward
Life of this patent
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Abstract
At least certain embodiments described herein provide a continuous autofocus mechanism for an image capturing device, The continuous autofocus mechanism can perform an autofocus scan for a lens of the image capturing device and obtain focus scores associated with the autofocus scan. The continuous autofocus mechanism can determine an acceptable band of focus scores based on the obtained focus scores. Next, the continuous autofocus mechanism can determine whether a current focus score is within the acceptable band of focus scores. A refocus scan may be performed if the current focus score is outside of the acceptable band of focus scores.
Claims29
A method to implement a continuous autofocus mechanism for
- an image capturing device, the method comprising:
- performing an autofocus scan that positions a lens of the image capturing device in a plurality of positions;
- obtaining a plurality of focus scores with each focus score being associated with a respective lens position of the autofocus scan;
- and
- determining an acceptable band of focus scores based on the obtained plurality of focus scores, wherein determining the acceptable band of focus scores comprises determining a lower limit and an upper limit of the acceptable band of scores, wherein determining each of the lower limit and the upper limit of the acceptable band of focus scores is based on a peak focus score.
A machine readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method, the method comprising:
- performing an autofocus scan for a lens of the image capturing device;
- obtaining a plurality of focus scores associated with the autofocus scan;
- and
- determining an acceptable band of focus scores based on the obtained focus scores, wherein determining the acceptable band of focus scores comprises determining a lower limit and an upper limit of the acceptable band of scores, wherein determining each of the lower limit and the upper limit of the acceptable band of focus scores is based on a peak focus score.
An image capturing device, comprising:
- a storage device to store a plurality of captured images;
- a lens to receive incident light associated with an image to be captured;
- and
- a processing system coupled to the storage device, the processing system is configured to perform an autofocus scan, to obtain a plurality of focus scores associated with the autofocus scan;
- and to determine an acceptable band of focus scores for the lens based on the obtained focus scores, wherein determining the acceptable band of focus scores comprises determining a lower limit and an upper limit of the acceptable band of scores, wherein determining each of the lower limit and the upper limit of the acceptable band of focus scores is based on a peak focus score.
22-27. (canceled)
An image capturing device, comprising:
- a storage device to store a plurality of captured images;
- a lens to receive incident light associated with an image to be captured;
- and
- a processing system coupled to the storage device, the processing system is configured to perform an autofocus scan, to obtain a plurality of focus scores associated with the autofocus scan, to determine whether a refocus scan is needed and to start a refocus scan, to perform the refocus scan by positioning the lens in a plurality of positions, and to detect that the lens has moved past a predetermined position and to abort the refocus scan without moving the lens to the remaining positions of the refocus scan.
An image capturing device, comprising:
- a storage device to store a plurality of captured images;
- a lens to receive incident light associated with an image to be captured;
- and
- a processing system coupled to the storage device, the processing system is configured to determine motion information for the image capturing device using one or more motion sensors, to determine whether the image capturing device is moving based on the motion information, and to filter a plurality of focus scores based on the motion information, wherein each focus score is filtered by applying a dampening factor to each focus score based on the associated motion information with the dampening factor indicating how fast a filter reacts to changes in the focus scores.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.