# US 9,438,785 B2 · Electronic device and focus adjustment method thereof > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,438,785 B2 - Document ID: US9438785B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 13/762,460 - Filed: 2013-02-08 - Published: 2013-09-12 - Granted: 2016-09-06 - Earliest claimed: 2012-03-09 - Assignees: HTC Corporation - Applicants: HTC Corporation - Inventors: Fu-Chang Tseng; Chen-si Dai; Wan-Ju Tseng; Wei-Ting Liu; Jing-Lung Wu; Yu-Chun Peng; Hsin-Ti Chueh - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9438785B2 ## CPC - H04N 23/673: {based on contrast or high frequency components of image signals, e.g. hill climbing method} - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract An electronic device and a focus adjustment method thereof are provided. The electronic device and the focus adjustment method thereof pre-process the image frames captured to provide focus information of the image frames and adjust the focus according to the focus information. Therefore, as the subject followed or the current scene is out of focus in response to movement of the electronic device, the present invention can immediately obtain the change of focus via the focus information and effectively adjust the focus according to the focus information. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An electronic device, comprising: an image sensor unit comprising at least one lens module, configured to capture a plurality of image frames with different scenes in response to movement of the electronic device; a pre-processing unit, coupled with the image sensor unit and configured to process the image frames to provide focus information of the image frames; and an image processing unit, coupled with the image sensor unit and the pre-processing unit and configured to analyze scene change among the image frames to determine a focus change condition of the image frames, determine whether focus of one of the image frames needs to be adjusted according to the focus change condition, and start to adjust the focus by adjusting the lens module according to the focus information when the focus change condition is determined to be satisfied. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pre-processing unit derives the focus information from a predefined region of the image frames according to predefined region information provided by the image processing unit. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the focus change condition is determined as being satisfied in response to a variance of at least one predetermined characteristic value of at least two consecutive image frames of the image frames exceeding a predetermined threshold, and the predetermined characteristic value is one of a brightness value, a motion value and a sharpness value. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The electronic device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a gravity sensor unit coupled with the image processing unit, the gravity sensor unit being configured to provide gravity sensor values, wherein the focus change condition is determined as being satisfied in response to a variance of the gravity sensor values over a time period exceeding a gravity sensor value threshold. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the image processing unit is further configured to: obtain a first focus state of one of the image frames according to the focus information; determine a first adjustment position of the lens module according to the first focus state; and transmit a first control signal carrying the first adjustment position to the image sensor unit to adjust the lens module. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The electronic device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the image processing unit is further configured to: calculate a first sharpness value of the image frame and determining a current position value of the lens module in response to the first focus state being out of a focus range of the lens module; determine a first adjustment direction according to the current position value of the lens module; and determine the first adjustment position of the lens module according to the first adjustment direction. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The electronic device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the lens module is adjusted close to the scene in response to one of the following conditions: the current position value is larger than a far reference position value and the current position value lies within a range between a close reference position value and a central reference position value; and the lens module is adjusted away from the scene in response to one of the following conditions: the current position value is smaller than the close reference position value and the current position value lies within a range between the far reference position value and the central reference position value. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The electronic device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the image processing unit is further configured to: determine a second focus state of the image frames upon the lens module being adjusted according to the first control signal; calculate a second sharpness value of the image frame in response to the second focus state being out of the focus range of the lens module; compare the second sharpness value with the first sharpness value to determine a second adjustment direction; determine a second adjustment position of the lens module according to the second adjustment direction; and transmit a second control signal carrying the second adjustment position to the image sensor unit to adjust the lens module. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The electronic device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the second adjustment direction is the same as the first adjustment direction in response to the second sharpness value being larger than the first sharpness value, and the second adjustment direction is opposite to the first adjustment direction in response to the second sharpness value being smaller than the first sharpness value. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The electronic device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the image processing unit is further configured to repeatedly adjust the lens module of the image sensor unit in the same way until an optimal adjustment position of the lens module with best focus is determined. ### Claim 11 A focus adjustment method for use in an electronic device, the electronic device comprising an image sensor unit comprising at least one lens module, a pre-processing unit coupled with the image sensor unit and an image processing unit coupled with the image sensor unit and the pre-processing unit, the focus adjustment method comprising the following steps of: (a) capturing a plurality of image frames with different scenes in response to movement of the electronic device by the image sensor unit; (b) processing the image frames to provide focus information of the image frames by the pre-processing unit; (c) analyzing scene change among the image frames to determine a focus change condition of the image frames by the image processing unit; and (d) determining whether focus of one of the image frames needs to be adjusted according to the focus change condition by the image processing unit and starting to adjust the focus by adjusting the lens module by the image processing unit according to the focus information when the focus change condition is determined to be satisfied. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the step (b) further comprises the following step of: (b1) deriving the focus information from a predefined region of the image frames by the pre-processing unit according to predefined region information provided by the image processing unit. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the focus change condition is determined as being satisfied in response to a variance of at least one predetermined characteristic value of at least two consecutive image frames of the image frames exceeding a predetermined threshold, and the predetermined characteristic value is one of a brightness value, a motion value and a sharpness value. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the electronic device further comprises a gravity sensor unit coupled with the image processing unit, and the focus change condition is determined as being satisfied in response to a variance of gravity sensor values provided by the gravity sensor unit over a time period exceeding a gravity sensor value threshold. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the step (d) further comprises the following steps of: (d1) obtaining a first focus state of one of the image frames by the image processing unit according to the focus information; (d2) determining a first adjustment position of the lens module by the image processing unit according to the first focus state; and (d3) transmitting a first control signal carrying the first adjustment position from the image processing unit to the image sensor unit to adjust the lens module. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the step (d2) further comprises the following steps: (d21) calculating a first sharpness value of the image frame and determining a current position value of the lens module by the image processing unit in response to the first focus state being out of a focus range of the lens module; (d22) determining a first adjustment direction by the image processing unit according to the current position of the lens module value; and (d23) determining the first adjustment position by the image processing unit according to the first adjustment position. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the lens module is adjusted close to the scene in response to one of the following conditions: the current position value is larger than a far reference position value and the current position value lies within a range between a close reference position value and a central reference position value; and the lens module is adjusted away from the scene in response to one of the following conditions: the current position value is smaller than the close reference position value and the current position value lies within a range between the far reference position value and the central reference position value. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising the following steps of: (d4) determining a second focus state of the image frames by the image processing unit upon the lens module being adjusted according to the first control signal; (d5) calculating a second sharpness value of the image frame by the image processing unit in response to the second focus state being out of the focus range of the lens module; (d6) comparing the second sharpness value with the first sharpness value by the image processing unit to determine a second adjustment direction; (d7) determine a second adjustment position of the lens module by the image processing unit according to the second adjustment direction; and (d8) transmitting a second control signal carrying the second adjustment position from the image processing unit to the image sensor unit to adjust the lens module. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the second adjustment direction is the same as the first adjustment direction in response to the second sharpness value being larger than the first sharpness value, and the second adjustment direction is opposite to the first adjustment direction in response to the second sharpness value being smaller than the first sharpness value. ### Claim 20 (depends on 18) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising the following step of: (d9) repeatedly adjusting the lens module of the image sensor unit in the same way by the image processing unit until an optimal adjustment position of the lens module with best focus is determined. ### Claim 21 A focus adjustment method for use in an electronic device, the focus adjustment method comprising the following steps of: (a) capturing a plurality of image frames with different scenes in response to movement of the electronic device by an image sensor unit; (a1) analyzing scene change among the image frames to determine a focus change condition of the image frames by an image processing unit; (b) determining a focus state and a sharpness value of one of the image frames by a pre-processing unit; and (c) determining whether focus of the image frame needs to be adjusted according to the focus change condition by the image processing unit and starting to adjust the focus by adjusting an adjustment position of a lens module of the image sensor unit by the image processing unit according to the focus state and the sharpness value. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the focus state and the sharpness value are determined in a raw image domain. ### Claim 23 (depends on 21) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the step (c) further comprises the following steps of: (c1) determining an adjustment algorithm by the image processing unit according to the focus state; (c2) adjusting the adjustment position of the lens module by the image processing unit according to a predetermined profile in response to the focus state being within a predefined range; and (c3) adjusting the adjustment position of the lens module by the image processing unit according to a position of the lens module and the sharpness value in response to the focus state being out of the predefined range. ### Claim 24 (depends on 21) The focus adjustment method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the step (c3) further comprises the following steps of: (c31) repeatedly adjusting the adjustment position of the lens module by the image processing unit according to a plurality of sharpness values of the image frame determined by the pre-processing unit; (c32) comparing the sharpness values by the image processing unit to obtain an optimal adjustment position of the lens module corresponding to the largest sharpness value of the sharpness values; and (c33) adjusting the adjustment position of the lens module to the optimal adjustment position by the image processing unit.