Method and apparatus for reducing image acquisition time in a digital imaging device
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsJonathan C. Kagle, Gilad Odinak
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for reducing the image acquisition time in a digital imaging device by processing segments of the image through an image processing pipeline and storing the processed image segments. Processing segments of the image allows the digital imaging device to write processed data segments to a storage medium while other image segments are being processed. Any portion of the image processing pipeline may be divided to perform parallel processing on the image segments to increase processing speed.
Claims18
A digital image processing methodology, comprising:
- storing processed segments of a digital image to a persistent storage medium, wherein the number of segments is based at least upon image acquisition speed;
- stitching together the processed segments within the persistent storage medium to reconstruct the digital image;
- and making changes or modifications to image segments outside of processed segments currently being stitched together.
A digital camera, comprising:
- a persistent storage medium;
- and
- a processor that divides a digital image into a plurality of image segments, performs image processing on each of the plurality of image segments, stores the processed image segments on the persistent storage medium, and as respective processed image segments are stored stitches such segments together to regenerate the digital image within the persistent storage medium, wherein the processor determines the number of segments based in part on image acquisition speed, the processor makes changes or modifications to image segments outside of the image segments currently being stitched together.
A digital imaging processing system comprising:
- means for capturing a digital image;
- means for dividing the digital image into segments, processing the segments, initiating writing of the processed segments to a persistent storage medium, and stitching respective segments together after being written to the persistent storage medium, wherein the number of segments is based at least upon the length of time to process each segment means for making changes or modifications to image segments outside of the respective segments currently being stitched together.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.