Digital image processing

• US 20060290796A1
• Filed: 06/23/2005
• Published: 12/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Nikkanen, Jarno, Kalevo, Ossi
• Granted Patent: US 8,045,047 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/294
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/67 Focus control based on electronic image sensor signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/88 for colour balance, e.g. white-balance circuits or colour temperature control

Abstract

A method, module, device, and computer program product for digital imaging. Providing an image within an image sensor, selecting at least one first region within image for scaling with a first scaling rate, selecting at least one second region within the image for scaling with a second scaling rate, and providing the first and the second regions for further processing allows improved autofocusing.

Claims

1. A method for digital imaging comprising:

providing an image with an image sensor;

selecting at least one first region within the image for scaling with a first scaling rate;

selecting at least one second region within the image for scaling with a second scaling rate; and

providing the first and the second regions for further processing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the regions is selected within the image sensor.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving within the image sensor at least one of

A) information concerning the regions, and

B) information concerning the scaling rates.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an image for at least one region.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising

reconstructing the image outside the image sensor for storing the image.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first scaling rate is a 1:

1 scaling rate providing a image within the first region.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second scaling rate is 1:

N scaling rate, with N smaller than 1, providing a scaled down resolution image within the second region.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating autofocus information outside the image sensor using at least the first region.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the autofocus information comprise at least statistical information of the first region.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing at least for the first region manual focus information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first region for manual focus information is scaled for displaying on a viewfinder display.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first region is located at least partially within the second region and wherein the content of the first region is scaled with the first scaling rate and the second scaling rate.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first region is located at least partially within the second region and wherein the first region is re-scaled outside the image sensor with the second scaling rate.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing at least the second region to at least one of

A) a viewfinder display;

and

B) a video unit.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating the second scaling rate in relation to the first scaling rate providing smooth borders between the first region after resealing and the second region.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the first and the second regions with overlapping boundaries.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising buffering image information within the image sensor.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first region and the second region border each other on at least one of

A) a horizontal line, and

B) a vertical line.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating statistics for at least parts of the image, selecting a zoom region within the full resolution image, forwarding the zoom region for further processing, forwarding the statistics for automatic white balancing.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the statistics are calculated from subsamples of the full resolution image.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the subsamples are equally spaced within the full resolution image.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising carrying out on the statistics at least one of

A) pedestral removal;

B) vignetting elimination; and

C) noise reduction.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the zoom region is cropped from the image within the image sensor and wherein the zoom region is further processed for providing digital zooming.

24. An imaging module for digital imaging comprising:

an image sensor module for providing an image,

a processor for providing a scaled partial resolution image based on said image, and

a selection unit for selecting at least one first region within the image for scaling with a first scaling rate, and one second region within the image for scaling with a second scaling rate.

25. The module of claim 24, wherein the image sensor comprises an interface providing the first region and the second region for further processing outside the image sensor.

26. The module of claim 24, wherein the processor is arranged to scale at least one of the regions with a scaling rate of 1:

N, with N smaller 1.

27. The module of claim 24, wherein the image sensor is a CMOS sensor.

28. A digital camera comprising an imaging module of claim 24.

29. A mobile phone comprising an imaging module of claim 24.

30. A computer program product for digital imaging with a computer program tangibly stored thereon, the program comprising instructions to operate at least one processor for

providing an image with an image sensor;

selecting within the image sensor at least one first region within the image for scaling with a first scaling rate;

selecting within the image sensor at least one second region within the image for scaling with a second scaling rate; and

providing the first and the second regions for further processing.