Resolution proportional digital zoom
AssigneeJai Pulnix, Inc.
InventorSteven R. Kinney
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A resolution proportional digital zoom system comprises a CCD imaging device with over a million pixels resolution. A standard fixed-1X optical lens is fitted to the imager. A communication channel with a limited bandwidth is used to transmit video. Such bandwidth is substantially less than the imager's full resolution times its frame rate. A user is provided with controls to pan and zoom within the imager's field of view. The pixel resolution is proportionally controlled such that video output data rate on the communication channel is optimal and held within maximum limits at any pan/zoom setting.
Claims10
A resolution proportional digital zoom system, comprising:
- a digital camera with an image and an output for a video frame with a frame-rate “f”;
- characterized by:
- a video communications uplink for connection to a remote user control site, and having a limited bandwidth “BW”;
- a front end control for reading out every imager pixel, or less than every imager pixel from said imager;
- a device to pass through every imager pixel to a back-end computation where a virtual display pixel can be computed from an average of at least two imager pixels;
- a field-of-view (FOV) cropping controller for selecting a video subframe with a resolution of m*n pixels from said video frame for zoom control in response to a user command;
- and
- a resolution controller for sampling pixels within said video subframe such that samples “S” times m*n times “f” is less than or equal to the bandwidth “BW”, S(m+n)*F≦BW;
- wherein, the image resolution of video frames ultimately delivered to a user is manageable with either the front end control or said back-end computation.
A method of resolution proportional digital zoom control, comprising:
- using a digital camera to image a field-of-view (FOV) through an optics system to produce a video frame;
- responding to a user zoom command with a video subframe selection having pixel dimensions of m-by-n included within said video frame;
- sampling said video subframe at a rate “S” to manipulate its resolution such that the product of S(m*n) remains a constant, and such that a frame rate “f” times S(m*n) over a range of zoom dimensions m*n does not exceed a bandwidth “BW” of a communications channel;
- and
- transmitting a sampled video subframe out through a video uplink at a data rate that does not exceed “BW”.
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system, comprising:
- an aerial vehicle with a communications link to a control center for a video uplink having a limited bandwidth “BW”and a command downlink;
- a digital camera with an imager disposed in the UAV, and having an output for a video frame of pixels with a frame-rate “f”;
- a front end control for reading out every imager pixel, or less than every imager pixel from said imager;
- a device to pass through every imager pixel to a back-end computation where a virtual display pixel can be computed from an average of at least two imager pixels;
- a field-of-view (FOV) cropping controller disposed in the UAV, and for selecting a video subframe with a resolution of m*n pixels from said video frame for zoom control responsive to said command downlink;
- and
- a resolution controller disposed in the UAV, and for sampling pixels within said subframe such that samples “S” times m*n times “f” does not exceed the bandwidth “BW” of said video uplink to a remote user display.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.