# US 2025/0166211 A1 · Hybrid auto focus tracking method and hybrid auto focus tracking device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2025/0166211 A1 - Document ID: US20250166211A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 18/537,452 - Filed: 2023-12-12 - Published: 2025-05-22 - Earliest claimed: 2023-11-17 - Assignees: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Jingyu FANG; Yonggang XIE - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20250166211A1 ## CPC - G06T 7/248: {involving reference images or patches} - H04N 23/67: Focus control based on electronic image sensor signals - G06T 7/70: Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras (camera calibration G06T7/80) - H04N 23/672: {based on the phase difference signals} - H04N 23/673: {based on contrast or high frequency components of image signals, e.g. hill climbing method} - H04N 23/675: {comprising setting of focusing regions} - G06T 2207/20221: Image fusion; Image merging - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract A hybrid auto focus tracking method and a hybrid auto focus tracking device are provided. The hybrid auto focus tracking method comprises: determining a first lens focusing position based on a phase difference of a phase detection image output by a phase detection image sensor; determining a second lens focusing position based on a zoom ratio of feature points within a region of interest in a scene image output by the phase detection image sensor; determining a final lens focusing position by fusing the first lens focusing position and the second lens focusing position; and performing focus tracking of the phase detection image sensor based on the final lens focusing position. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A hybrid auto focus tracking method, the hybrid auto focus tracking method comprising: determining a first lens focusing position based on a phase difference of a phase detection image output by a phase detection image sensor; determining a second lens focusing position based on a zoom ratio of feature points within a region of interest in a scene image output by the phase detection image sensor; determining a final lens focusing position by fusing the first lens focusing position and the second lens focusing position; and performing focus tracking of the phase detection image sensor based on the final lens focusing position. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The hybrid auto focus tracking method of claim 1, wherein the fusing the first lens focusing position and the second lens focusing position comprises: determining a first confidence of the first lens focusing position, wherein the first confidence indicates a reliability that the first lens focusing position is able to be the final lens focusing position; determining a second confidence of the second lens focusing position, wherein the second confidence indicates a reliability that the second lens focusing position is able to be the final lens focusing position; and fusing the first lens focusing position and the second lens focusing position as the final lens focusing position based on the first confidence and the second confidence. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The hybrid auto focus tracking method of claim 2, wherein the first confidence is determined based on one or more of a weight factor of signal-to-noise ratio, a texture weight factor, and a correlation weight factor during phase difference calculation, wherein the higher the signal-to-noise ratio of the phase detection image, the greater the weight factor of the signal-to-noise ratio, and the greater the first confidence, wherein the more complex a texture of the phase detection image, the greater the texture weight factor, and the greater the first confidence, wherein the smaller a correlation error of the phase detection image, the greater the correlation weight factor, and the greater the first confidence. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The hybrid auto focus tracking method of claim 2, wherein the smaller a fitting error when calculating the zoom ratio, the greater the second confidence. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The hybrid auto focus tracking method of claim 2, wherein the fusing the first lens focusing position and the second lens focusing position as the final lens focusing position comprises: obtaining an addition result by adding a product of the first lens focusing position and the first confidence to a product of the second lens focusing position and the second confidence; and calculating a resulting value obtained by dividing the addition result by a sum of the first confidence and the second confidence as the final lens focusing position. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The hybrid auto focus tracking method of claim 5, wherein the fusing the first lens focusing position and the second lens focusing position as the final lens focusing position further comprises: in response to the sum of the first confidence and the second confidence being less than or equal to a threshold, setting the final lens focusing position of a previous frame as the final lens focusing position of a current frame, wherein in response to the sum of the first confidence and the second confidence being greater than the threshold, performing the obtaining the addition result and the calculating the resulting value as the final lens focusing position. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The hybrid auto focus tracking method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first lens focusing position comprises: obtaining an addition result by adding a product of a first lens calibration coefficient and a lens current position to a product of a second lens calibration coefficient and the phase difference; and determining a result value obtained by dividing the addition result by a sum of the first lens calibration coefficient and the phase difference as the first lens focusing position, or the determining the first lens focusing position comprises: using a table lookup method to determine the first lens focusing position based on the phase difference. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The hybrid auto focus tracking method of claim 1, wherein the determining the second lens focusing position comprises: obtaining a first result by dividing the zoom ratio by a lens current position; obtaining a second result by dividing a difference between 1 and the zoom ratio by a focal length of a lens; and determining a reciprocal of a sum of the first result and the second result as the second lens focusing position, wherein the zoom ratio is obtained based on position fitting of the feature points in the region of interest and a camera projection model. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The hybrid auto focus tracking method of claim 1, wherein the performing the focus tracking of the phase detection image sensor comprises: obtaining the lens focusing position of a current frame by filtering and smoothing the final lens focusing position of the current frame and the final lens focusing positions of one or more previous frames; and performing the focus tracking of the phase detection image sensor based on the lens focusing position. ### Claim 10 A hybrid auto focus tracking device, the hybrid auto focus tracking device comprising: a memory, storing executable instructions, and a processor configured to execute the executable instructions to: determine a first lens focusing position based on a phase difference of a phase detection image output by a phase detection image sensor; determine a second lens focusing position based on a zoom ratio of feature points within a region of interest in a scene image output by the phase detection image sensor; determine a final lens focusing position by fusing the first lens focusing position and the second lens focusing position; and perform focus tracking of the phase detection image sensor based on the final lens focusing position. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The hybrid auto focus tracking device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to: determine a first confidence of the first lens focusing position, wherein the first confidence indicates a reliability that the first lens focusing position is able to be the final lens focusing position; determine a second confidence of the second lens focusing position, wherein the second confidence indicates a reliability that the second lens focusing position is able to be the final lens focusing position; and fuse the first lens focusing position and the second lens focusing position as the final lens focusing position based on the first confidence and the second confidence. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The hybrid auto focus tracking device of claim 11, wherein the first confidence is determined based on one or more of a weight factor of signal-to-noise ratio, a texture weight factor, and a correlation weight factor during phase difference calculation, wherein the higher the signal-to-noise ratio of the phase detection image, the greater the weight factor of the signal-to-noise ratio, and the greater the first confidence, wherein the more complex a texture of the phase detection image, the greater the texture weight factor, and the greater the first confidence, wherein the smaller a correlation error of the phase detection image, the greater the correlation weight factor, and the greater the first confidence. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The hybrid auto focus tracking device of claim 11, wherein the smaller a fitting error when calculating the zoom ratio, the greater the second confidence. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The hybrid auto focus tracking device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain an addition result by adding a product of the first lens focusing position and the first confidence to a product of the second lens focusing position and the second confidence; and calculate a resulting value obtained by dividing the addition result by a sum of the first confidence and the second confidence as the final lens focusing position. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The hybrid auto focus tracking device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to: in response to the sum of the first confidence and the second confidence being less than or equal to a threshold, setting the final lens focusing position of a previous frame as the final lens focusing position of a current frame, wherein in response to the sum of the first confidence and the second confidence being greater than the threshold, performing the obtaining the addition result and the calculating the resulting value as the final lens focusing position. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The hybrid auto focus tracking device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain an addition result by adding a product of a first lens calibration coefficient and a lens current position to a product of a second lens calibration coefficient and the phase difference; and determine a result value obtained by dividing the addition result by a sum of the first lens calibration coefficient and the phase difference as the first lens focusing position, or the processor is configured to: use a table lookup method to determine the first lens focusing position based on the phase difference. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The hybrid auto focus tracking device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain a first result by dividing the zoom ratio by a lens current position; obtain a second result by dividing a difference between 1 and the zoom ratio by a focal length of a lens; and determine a reciprocal of a sum of the first result and the second result as the second lens focusing position, wherein the zoom ratio is obtained based on position fitting of the feature points in the region of interest and a camera projection model. ### Claim 18 (depends on 10) The hybrid auto focus tracking device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain the lens focusing position of a current frame by filtering and smoothing the final lens focusing position of the current frame and the final lens focusing positions of one or more previous frames; and perform the focus tracking of the phase detection image sensor based on the lens focusing position. ### Claim 19 A hybrid auto focus tracking method, the hybrid auto focus tracking method comprising: determining a first lens focusing position based on a phase difference of a phase detection image output by a phase detection image sensor; determining a second lens focusing position based on a zoom ratio of feature points within a region of interest in a scene image output by the phase detection image sensor; determining a first confidence of the first lens focusing position, wherein the first confidence indicates a reliability that the first lens focusing position is able to be the final lens focusing position; determining a second confidence of the second lens focusing position, wherein the second confidence indicates a reliability that the second lens focusing position is able to be the final lens focusing position; determining a final lens focusing position by fusing the first lens focusing position and the second lens focusing position based on the first confidence and the second confidence; and performing refocusing based on the difference between the final lens focusing position and a lens current focusing position. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The hybrid auto focus tracking method of claim 19, wherein the smaller a fitting error when calculating the zoom ratio, the greater the second confidence.