APPARATUS, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INCREASING QUALITY OF DIGITAL IMAGE CAPTURE

• US 20070181686A1
• Filed: 10/16/2006
• Published: 08/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 54 Essential Systems LLC
• Original Assignee: Mediapod LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Mowry, Craig
• Granted Patent: US 7,864,211 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/454
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 3/0006 Arrays G02B3/02, G02B5/188 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 3/0056 arranged along two different directions in a plane, e.g. honeycomb arrangement of lenses G02B3/0043 takes precedence; miniaturised objectives for electronic devices employing wafer level optics G02B13/0085
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 7/00 Mountings, adjusting means, or light-tight connections, for optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 37/04 with cameras or projectors providing touching or overlapping fields of view
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/04732 Detecting at infrequent intervals, e.g. once or twice per line for main-scan control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/58 Means for changing the camera field of view without moving the camera body, e.g. nutating or panning of optics or image sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/48 Increasing resolution by shifting the sensor relative to the scene

Abstract

An apparatus, system or method for increasing quality of digital image capture is provided. Imaging and, more particularly, capturing visuals to provide image manipulation options are provided to increase resolution of the subject images.

Claims

1. An electronic camera capture module comprising,

a mechanism to vary a position of said module relative to a light stimulus related to a selected visual, wherein said light stimulus affects a selected area at least as large as a light sensitive region of said module in two or more positions said module may assume, wherein said module is further operable to convert said light stimulus representative of a portion of an intended final image to information, said information being of a selected image information output type, and

a computer data transforming application to involve at least part of said information to form at least one composite image representative of said intended final image.

2. The module of claim 1 wherein said composite image embodies as much as a total image information output potential of said module multiplied by a number of image portions captured, relative to any one of said composite images.

3. The module of claim 1 wherein said mechanism is an electronic motor capable of moving said module relative to said light stimulus a selected number of times and returning said module to the original capture position after all portions of said composite image have been individually captured and relayed.

4. The module of claim 1 wherein a size of said selected area is directly related to the size of the light sensitive region of said module and the number and placement of image portion captures, and the size of said selected area is related to the total size of the capture area of all portions of a single composite image representative of said intended final image.

5. The module of claim 4 wherein the size of said selected area is selectively variable.

6. The module of claim 4 wherein the varying of said position of said module occurs intermittently.

7. The module of claim 1 wherein said application is operable to assemble said composite image as a seamless version of said intended final image, further factoring a secondary data aspect not provided by said module, in modifying said information relative to information of shifting image aspects unavailable within said composite image, said secondary data aspect having been generated in tandem with corresponding captures by said module, said secondary data aspect sampling at least some positioning aspects of at least some selectively distinguished zones of said composite image portion captures, said sampling occurring more frequently than information related to said positioning aspects provided by said module.

8. The module of claim 1 wherein said composite image functions selectively as a key frame image, informing multiple images by providing potentially higher resolution final images, said higher resolution final images occurring as a function of the multiple image portion captures of said key frames representative of said intended final image.

9. The module of claim 7 wherein said secondary data aspect is a second imaging component wherein said light stimulus is selectively provided to said component substantially concurrently as said light stimulus affects said module to generate representative information.

10. The module of claim 9 wherein said light stimulus provided substantially concurrently involves at least both the module and secondary data aspect generating image information within a same second of time from the same original light stimulus embodying the same visual related to said intended final image.

11. The module of claim 7 wherein said secondary data aspect includes a plurality of full frame captures per second, said full frame captures providing positioning data of at least some image aspects not provided by information generated by said module.

12. The module of claim 7 wherein said secondary data aspect includes an image diversion means for providing said light stimulus to an imaging device to provide full and partial intended final image data, in tandem during the same second of time.

13. The module of claim 1 wherein said computer data transforming application is a component designed to work in tandem at least in part with the output of said module employed by a computer to assemble at least two partial captured image information portions from said capture module to form said at least one composite image.

14. The module of claim 13 wherein said second imaging component captures a version representative of an entirety of said intended final image as embodied initially within said visual.

15. The module of claim 1 wherein said module is operable to move intermittently to vary the module position.

16. The module of claim 1 wherein said module is operable to move continuously to vary the module position.

17. The module of claim 1 wherein said module and at least one other component affecting said light stimulus work in tandem to deliver sequentially each portion of said intended final intended image to said module.

18. The module of claim 17 wherein said module is operable to move continuously to vary the module position during portion image captures.

19. The module of claim 13, wherein said module information is captured specifically to be subsequently transformed in part based on position information for each of said partial captured image information portions from a separate data sampling component designed to work in tandem with said module.

20. The module of claim 19 wherein said separate data sampling component generates readable and storable information related to aspects of said portions more frequently than said module.

21. The module of claim 20 wherein data output by said separate data sampling component is lower in total data volume than any composite image data volume potential generated by said module.

22. An optical assembly for sequentially altering and conveying partial lens image portions to at least one image capture target zone comprising,

a moving optical element whose position is physically shifted as a function of said assembly relative to a light source being conveyed at least in part through said element, said shift in said position resulting in said partial lens image portions being sequentially relayed to said at least one image capture target zone, and

wherein said assembly provides visual information for multiple image captures related to creating a single composite image representative of a single intended final image.

23. The optical assembly of claim 22, wherein said target zone at least in part contains an electronic image capture device operable and situated to receive stimuli relative to said light source related to said partial lens image portions.

24. The optical assembly of claim 22, wherein said moving element is a mirror.

25. The optical assembly of claim 22, wherein said moving element is a lens.

26. The optical assembly of claim 22, further comprising at least one imaging module within said target zone, said module remaining static relative to said light source.

27. The optical assembly of claim 26 wherein said imaging module is an electronic image capture and data relaying device.

28. The optical assembly of claim 27 wherein the device is a camera chip component operable to react to light stimuli and create a storable and readable electronic information representation of aspects of said light stimuli.

29. The optical assembly of claim 22 further comprising a data generating component operates in tandem with said image capture device, and provides information to at least perform subsequent modifications to information related to captures of said partial lens image portions in a computer assemblage of at least one intended final image.

30. The optical assembly of claim 22 wherein said partial lens image portions are sequentially relayed to at least one capture module operable to capture image portion data sequentially to represent a single composite image before repeating the first image portion relayed and repeating the sequence of relayed image portions, the totality of partial lens image portions related to a single composite image embodying at least part of the information related to at least one intended final image.

31. The optical assembly of claim 22, wherein said optical assembly moves intermittently to provide a static period for proper image portion capture by an image capture device occurring at least in part within said target zone.

32. The optical assembly of claim 22, wherein an optical element motion imposed by said assembly is at least in part a tandem function of a location changing motion imposed on at least one image capture device to be exposed to aspects of said lens image.

33. The optical assembly of claim 22 further comprising an image diversion component to relay said lens image to a separate imaging component prior to said lens image passing through said moving optical element toward a capture representative, at least relative to framing, of the full intended image, of which said partial lens image portions also comprise in tandem, information generated by said separate imaging component at least informing the change in position of selected image aspects, relative to each other, said information generated providing data not provided from captures related to said partial lens image portions.

34. The optical assembly of claim 22 wherein said optical assembly involves a focal length variation of said lens image prior to capture of said partial lens image portions, to enlarge said lens image prior to said partial lens image portions being conveyed to said image capture zone.

35. The optical assembly of claim 34 wherein said focal length variation is selectable and directly dependent on the quantity of portion captures desired of a single selected lens image representative of an intended final image.

36. The optical assembly of claim 35 wherein the fewer the number of portion captures the less extreme the focal length will be varied to achieve the proper size and image portion size to said image target zone, relative to a conveyance of the full lens image as a single complete capture, unaltered by said assembly.

37. The optical assembly of claim 34 wherein said moving optical element affects said focal length variation.

38. The optical assembly of claim 22 wherein said composite image empowers a selected capture component to provide information over a plurality of distinct captures informing the creation of at least in part one final image, said final image having an overall amount of data captured higher than any single capture provided by said capture component and said amount directly increased by each additional portion captured and factored in the creating of any single composite image.

39. A computer readable medium comprising a computer data transforming application to factor at least some data recorded as partial visual capture information, representative of portions of an intended final image, to form at least one seamless composite image from said partial visual capture information initially captured by at least one imaging module.

40. The computer of readable medium claim 39, further comprising a data gathering component to capture and store information related to changing positions of selectively distinguished image aspects represented within said partial captured image information portions, said data gathering component sampling at least one aspect of the entirety of an intended full final image more frequently than any one of said portions as captured.

41. The computer readable medium of claim 40, wherein said data gathering component is a second imaging module operable to capture a version of the entirety of the intended full final image delivered initially as a visual aspect of a light source, said data gathering component providing a plurality of image aspect positioning data captures related to each composite image, said positioning data captures related to selectively distinguished zones of an intended final image.

42. The computer readable medium of claim 41, wherein said data gathering component samples data related to the final intended image at least 24 times per second.

43. The computer readable medium of claim 41, wherein said data gathering component receives light from said light source intermittently.

44. The computer readable medium of claim 41, wherein said data gathering component receives light continuously from said light source, by image diversion means not limited to those affected by image splitting optical components.

45. The computer readable medium of claim 41, wherein at least portions of two separate datastreams, related to the intended final image captures, inform modifications to said composite image toward a plurality of said intended final images toward said final images embodying selected properties of said composite image as selectively modified in accordance with aspects of the datastream unrelated to said image portions.

46. The computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein a moving optical element of an optical assembly and at least one imaging module are physically repositioned in tandem in order to affect each capture of each of said partial lens image information portions.

47. The computer readable medium of claim 46 wherein said optical element is operable to move intermittently.

48. The computer readable medium of claim 46 wherein said optical element is operable to move continuously in relaying varied partial lens image portions of said visual aspect delivered by said light source.

49. The computer readable medium of claim 40, wherein at least one image capture related to said data gathering component is a photographic emulsion based image capture.

50. The computer readable medium of claim 49 wherein said emulsion based image capture is related to images derived from the same light source as at least two other distinct image capturing components.

51. A computer readable medium comprising a computer data transforming application to factor as least some data derived from multiple image portion captures related to an intended final image to form at least one seamless composite image from partial captured image information portions initially captured by an electronic capture module, wherein a composite image is further employed by said computer data transforming application in creating subsequent versions of said composite image, that may vary from the initially created composite image, said subsequent versions at least generated in part through modification instructions provided by secondary information acquired during origination of said partial captured image information.

52. A camera comprising

an electronic camera capture module operable to vary a position of said module relative to a light stimulus related to a selected visual, wherein said light stimulus affects a selected area internal to said camera at least as large as a light sensitive region of said module in two or more positions said module may assume, wherein said module is operable to convert said light stimulus representative of a portion of an intended final image to information, said information being of a selected image information output type, and

a computer data transforming application involves at least part of said information to form at least one composite image representative of said intended final image, which is directly related to said selected visual.

53. The camera of claim 52 wherein said composite image embodies as much as the total image information output potential of said module multiplied by the number of final image portions captured, relative to any one composite image.

54. The camera of claim 52 further comprising an electronic motor capable of moving said module relative to said light stimulus a selected number of times and returning said module to the original capture position, after all portions of said composite image have been individually captured and relayed.

55. The camera of claim 54 wherein the number of said final image portions captured is variable and selectable.

56. A camera comprising an optical assembly for affecting a lens image prior to capture wherein a full frame visual intended for a final image is fragmented by at least one moving optical element, said element operable to convey selected portions of said visual to at least one capture device within said camera, sequentially, said device receiving at least information related to the entirety of said full frame visual as embodied within said portions.

57. The camera of claim 56, wherein said camera includes a secondary data capture component operable to sample and provide at least electronic information related to the shifting in position of selectively distinguished image aspects related to said full frame visual for use in affecting aspects of a composite image created from said portions as captured, toward creating a selective number of modified subsequent final images to occur between available captured composite images generated by captures of said portions by said camera.

58. The camera of claim 56, further comprising a computer data transforming application involves at least part of said information to form at least one composite image representative of said intended final image, which is directly related to said selected visual.

65. The method of claim 57 wherein a size of said selected area is directly related to the size of the light sensitive portion of said module and the number and placement of the image portion captures, and the size of said selected area is related to the total size of the capture area of all portions of a single composite image representative of said intended final image.

66. The method of claim 65 wherein the size of said selected area is selectively variable.

67. The method of claim 65 wherein the varying of said position of said module occurs intermittently.

59. A system comprising,

a hybrid camera having two components for generating distinct data outputs related to visual information derived from a single, shared light source,

a position variable image capture module, operable to sequentially capture distinct portions of an intended final image, and

a data transform operable on a computer to at least factor image data generated by said image capture module in creating composite images from a plurality of captures of said module of said distinct portions.

60. A system comprising,

a hybrid camera having two components for generating distinct data outputs related to visual information derived from a single, shared light source,

at least one position variable optical component, operable to sequentially relay distinct portions of said visual information derived from said light source to at least one light sensitive image capturing component, and

a data transform operable on a computer to at least factor image data generated by said capturing component in creating composite images from a plurality of captures of said capturing component of said distinct portions.

61. A system comprising,

a hybrid camera providing two components for generating distinct data outputs related to visual information derived from a single, shared light source,

at least one position variable optical component, operable to sequentially relay distinct portions of said visual information derived from said light source to at least one light sensitive image capturing component,

a selectively position variable image capture module, operable to sequentially capture distinct portions of an intended final image selectively in tandem with said visual information as relayed by said optical component, and

a data transform operable on a computer to at least factor image data generated by said module in creating composite images from a plurality of captures of said module of said distinct portions.

62. A method for capturing images toward creating final images of a selectively higher resolution than any single initial image capture comprising,

varying a position of an electronic camera capture module relative to a light stimulus related to a selected visual, wherein said light stimulus affects a selected area at least as large as a light sensitive region of said module in two or more positions said module may assume,

converting said light stimulus representative of a portion of an intended final image to information, said information being of a selected image information output type, and

analyzing at least part of said information with a computer data transforming application to form at least one composite image representative of said intended final image.

63. The method of claim 62 wherein said composite image embodies as much as the total image information output potential of said module multiplied by the number of image portions captured, relative to any one of said composite images.

64. The method of claim 62 further comprising providing an electronic motor capable of moving said module relative to said light stimulus a selected number of times and returning said module to the original capture position after all portions of said composite image have been individually captured and relayed.

68. The method of claim 62 further comprising assembling with said application said composite image as a seamless version of said intended final image, further factoring a secondary data aspect not provided by said module, in modifying said information relative to information of shifting image aspects unavailable within said composite image, said secondary data aspect sampling at least some module positioning aspects of at least some selectively distinguished zones of said composite image portion captures more frequently than information provided by said module.

69. The method of claim 62 wherein said composite image functions selectively as a key frame, informing multiple images by providing potentially higher resolution final images, said higher resolution final images occurring as a function of the multiple image portion captures of said key frames representative of said intended final image.

70. The method of claim 68 wherein said secondary data aspect is a second imaging component wherein said light stimulus is selectively provided to said component substantially concurrently as said light stimulus affects said module.

71. The method of claim 70 wherein said light stimulus provided substantially concurrently involves at least both the module and secondary data aspect generating image information within the same second of time from the same original light stimulus embodying the same visual related to said intended final image.