Digital image production method and apparatus

• US 20050168623A1
• Filed: 01/30/2004
• Published: 08/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Stavely, Donald J., Sobol, Robert E., Battles, Amy E., Hall, Kenneth Jay, Barrios, Sarah Jean
• Granted Patent: US 8,804,028 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/362
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/70 Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/741 by increasing the dynamic range of the image compared to the dynamic range of the electronic image sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8047 using transform coding

Abstract

Multiple uncompressed digital images, each at a different exposure, may be captured automatically in response to an image capture request. The set of uncompressed digital images may be stored as a single data object and manipulated to produce a final digital image.

Claims

1. A method for producing a digital image, comprising:

capturing automatically a plurality of uncompressed digital images of a scene in response to an image capture request, each uncompressed digital image being captured at a different exposure; and

storing the plurality of uncompressed digital images as a single data object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each uncompressed digital image is interpolated to supply missing color information prior to being stored.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each uncompressed digital image is converted from a first color space to a second color space prior to being stored.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the exposures is a nominal exposure and the other exposures bracket the nominal exposure.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of uncompressed digital images are combined into a single composite uncompressed digital image prior to being stored.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the uncompressed digital images comprises a base image and the other uncompressed digital images comprise difference images with respect to the base image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the uncompressed digital images are compressed using one of a lossless and a near-lossless compression scheme prior to being stored.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the stored plurality of uncompressed digital images; and

manipulating at least one of the uncompressed digital images to produce the digital image.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of uncompressed digital images are captured and stored in a first device and the stored plurality of uncompressed digital images are transferred to and accessed by a second device.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein manipulating at least one of the uncompressed digital images comprises at least one of adjusting brightness, contrast, levels, a color component, hue, saturation, and tone reproduction.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein manipulating at least one of the uncompressed digital images comprises compressing the at least one of the uncompressed digital images.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein manipulating at least one of the uncompressed digital images comprises combining portions of at least two of the uncompressed digital images.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein manipulating at least one of the uncompressed digital images comprises interpolating the at least one of the uncompressed digital images to supply missing color information.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein manipulating at least one of the uncompressed digital images comprises converting the at least one of the uncompressed digital images from a first color space to a second color space.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of uncompressed digital images are compressed using one of a lossless and a near-lossless compression scheme prior to being stored.

16. A digital imaging device, comprising:

an imaging module to convert optical images to uncompressed digital images;

image capture logic configured to capture automatically, in response to an image capture request, a plurality of uncompressed digital images of a scene produced by the imaging module, the image capture logic being configured to capture each uncompressed digital image in the plurality at a different exposure; and

a memory in which to store the plurality of uncompressed digital images, the image capture logic being configured to store the plurality of uncompressed digital images as a single data object.

17. The digital imaging device of claim 16, further comprising:

a communication interface to transfer the stored plurality of uncompressed digital images to an external device.

18. The digital imaging device of claim 16, wherein the image capture logic is further configured to interpolate each uncompressed digital image to supply missing color information.

19. The digital imaging device of claim 16, wherein the image capture logic is further configured to convert each uncompressed digital image in the plurality from a first color space to a second color space.

20. The digital imaging device of claim 16, wherein one of the exposures is a nominal exposure and the other exposures bracket the nominal exposure.

21. The digital imaging device of claim 16, wherein the image capture logic is further configured to combine the plurality of uncompressed digital images into a single composite uncompressed digital image.

22. The digital imaging device of claim 16, wherein the image capture logic is further configured to establish one of the uncompressed digital images in the plurality as a base image and to represent the other uncompressed digital images in the plurality as difference images with respect to the base image.

23. The digital imaging device of claim 16, wherein the image capture logic is further configured to compress the plurality of uncompressed digital images using one of a lossless and a near-lossless compression scheme.

24. The digital imaging device of claim 16, wherein the digital imaging device is one of a digital camera, a PDA, and a digital camcorder.

25. An image editing system, comprising:

a memory in which to store a single data object comprising a plurality of uncompressed digital images of a scene, each uncompressed digital image having been captured at a different exposure automatically by a digital imaging device in response to an image capture request; and

image editing logic configured to manipulate at least one of the uncompressed digital images in the plurality to produce a final digital image.

26. The image editing system of claim 25, further comprising:

a communication interface to receive the single data object from an external device.

27. The image editing system of claim 25, wherein the image editing logic is configured to interact with a user.

28. The image editing system of claim 25, wherein the image editing logic is configured to manipulate the at least one of the uncompressed digital images by performing at least one of adjusting brightness, contrast, levels, a color component, hue, saturation, and tone reproduction.

29. The image editing system of claim 25, wherein the image editing logic is configured to compress the at least one of the uncompressed digital images in producing the final digital image.

30. The image editing system of claim 25, wherein the image editing logic is configured to combine portions of at least two of the uncompressed digital images in producing the final digital image.

31. The image editing system of claim 25, wherein the image editing logic is configured to interpolate the at least one of the uncompressed digital images to supply missing color information.

32. The image editing system of claim 25, wherein the image editing logic is configured to convert the at least one of the uncompressed digital images from a first color space to a second color space.

33. The image editing system of claim 25, wherein the single data object comprises a plurality of compressed digital images generated by compressing the plurality of uncompressed digital images using one of a lossless and a near-lossless compression scheme.

34. The image editing system of claim 25, wherein the image editing system is one of a digital camera, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, and a PDA.

35. A computer-readable storage medium containing digital image data, the digital image data comprising a single data object, the single data object comprising a plurality of uncompressed digital images of a scene captured automatically by a digital imaging device in response to an image capture request, each uncompressed digital image having been captured at a different exposure.

36. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 35, wherein the single data object comprises a single digital image file.

37. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 35, wherein one of the uncompressed digital images in the plurality comprises a base image and the other uncompressed digital images in the plurality comprise difference images with respect to the base image.

38. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 35, wherein the single data object comprises a plurality of compressed digital images generated by compressing the plurality of uncompressed digital images using one of a lossless and a near-lossless compression scheme.

39. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 35, wherein the uncompressed digital images in the plurality have been interpolated to supply missing color information.

40. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 35, wherein the computer-readable storage medium comprises one of a magnetic disk, an optical disc, and a solid-state memory.

41. A digital imaging device, comprising:

means for converting optical images to uncompressed digital images;

means for capturing automatically, in response to an image capture request, a plurality of uncompressed digital images of a scene produced by the means for converting optical images to uncompressed digital images, each uncompressed digital image in the plurality being captured at a different exposure; and

means for storing the plurality of uncompressed digital images as a single data object.

42. An image editing system, comprising:

means for storing a single data object comprising a plurality of uncompressed digital images of a scene, each uncompressed digital image having been captured at a different exposure automatically by a digital imaging device in response to an image capture request; and

means for manipulating at least one of the uncompressed digital images in the plurality to produce a final digital image.