Dynamic camera mode switching
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsYongfang Liang, Munchiro Mori, Haitao Guo, Ting Chen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for automatic image capture control and digital imaging is described. An image buffer is initialized to store a digital image produced by an image sensor, through allocation of a region in memory for the buffer that is large enough to store a full resolution frame from the image sensor. While non-binning streaming frames, from the sensor and in the buffer, are being displayed in preview, the sensor is reconfigured into binning mode, and then binned streaming frames are processed in the buffer, but without allocating a smaller region in memory for the buffer. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
Claims21
A method for automatic image capture control in digital imaging, comprising:
- configuring an image sensor to operate in one of binning streaming mode and no-binning streaming mode;
- processing binned/non-binned streaming frames from the image sensor that capture a scene;
- performing a pre-flash sequence to determine one or more image capture parameters relating to effectiveness of illumination of the scene during an upcoming main flash sequence, the one or more image capture parameters including an estimate of distance to an object in the scene;
- reconfiguring the image sensor from binning streaming mode to no-binning streaming mode when the one or more determined image capture parameters indicates that a main flash is likely to be effective, and from no-binning streaming mode to binning streaming mode when the one or more determined image capture parameters indicates that the main flash is not likely to be effective;
- and
- processing non-binned/binned streaming frames from the image sensor during the main flash sequence.
A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored therein program instructions which when executed by an image capturing device cause the image capturing device to perform a method for automatic image capture control in digital imaging, the method comprising:
- configuring an image sensor to operate in one of binning streaming mode and no-binning streaming mode;
- processing binned/non-binned streaming frames from the image sensor that capture a scene;
- performing a pre-flash sequence to determine one or more image capture parameters relating to effectiveness of illumination of the scene during an upcoming main flash sequence, the one or more image capture parameters including an estimate of distance to an object in the scene;
- reconfiguring the image sensor from binning streaming mode to no-binning streaming mode when the one or more determined image capture parameters indicates that a main flash is likely to be effective, and from no-binning streaming mode to binning streaming mode when the one or more determined image capture parameters indicates that the main flash is not likely to be effective;
- and
- processing non-binned/binned streaming frames from the image sensor during the main flash sequence.
An image capturing system comprising:
- a lens;
- an image sensor coupled to the lens to receive an image of a scene;
- a flash light source;
- a processing system coupled to the image sensor and to the flash light source, the processing system
- to configure the image sensor to operate in one of binning streaming mode and no-binning streaming mode, to configure the flash light source to perform a pre-flash sequence to determine one or more image capture parameters relating to effectiveness of illumination of the scene during an upcoming main flash sequence, the one or more image capture parameters including an estimate of distance to an object in the scene, to reconfigure the image sensor from binning streaming mode to no-binning streaming mode when the one or more determined image capture parameters indicates that a main flash is likely to be effective,
- to reconfigure the image sensor from no-binning streaming mode to binning streaming mode when the one or more determined image capture parameters indicates that the main flash is not likely to be effective, and
- to process non-binned/binned streaming frames from the image sensor during the main flash sequence.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.