SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING A PHOTOGRAPH WITH VARIABLE IMAGE QUALITY

• US 20090129672A1
• Filed: 11/15/2007
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Camp, William O. JR., Marcinkiewicz, Walter M., Bowen, Toby J., Kokes, Mark G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,045,799 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/173
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/17 the unit being an image region, e.g. an object

Abstract

Image data for a digital photograph is segmented into a first portion and a second portion. The image data of the second portion is processed to have a quality lower than the image data of the first portion. An image file for the scene is stored where the image file contains image data corresponding to the first and second portions so that the image file has a high quality portion and a low quality portion.

Claims

1. A method of managing image data for a digital photograph, comprising:

capturing image data corresponding to a scene with a camera assembly,

segmenting the image data into a first portion and a second portion,

processing the image data of the second portion to have a quality lower than the image data of the first portion; and

storing an image file for the scene, the image file containing image data corresponding to the first and second portions so that the image file has a high quality portion and a low quality portion.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing the image data corresponding to the first portion to reduce a quality of the image data corresponding to the first portion.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the second portion of the image data is carried out by retaining a predetermined amount of the image data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the second portion of the image data is carried out by applying a compression algorithm.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing image data adjacent the first portion of the image data such that the adjacent image data has a quality between the quality of the second portion of the image data and the quality of the first portion of the image data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the adjacent image data is processed to have a graduated quality from the quality of the second portion of the image data to the quality of the first portion of the image data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion corresponds to a predetermined area of the photograph.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion corresponds to a visual element in the scene that has a proximity relationship with a predetermined location within the photograph.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion corresponds to a visual element in the scene that is identified using pattern recognition.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the pattern recognition is used to identify a face of a person.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion corresponds to a visual element in the scene that is identified by a user of the camera assembly.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion corresponds to a visual element in the scene that draws visual attention from the user of the camera assembly during capturing of the image data.

13. A camera assembly for taking a digital photograph, comprising:

a sensor that captures image data corresponding to a scene,

a controller that segments the image data into a first portion and a second portion, and that processes the image data of the second portion to have a quality lower than the image data of the first portion; and

a memory that stores an image file for the scene, the image file containing image data corresponding to the first and second portions so that the image file has a high quality portion and a low quality portion.

14. The camera assembly of claim 13, wherein the controller processes the image data corresponding to the first portion to reduce a quality of the image data corresponding to the first portion.

15. The camera assembly of claim 13, wherein the second portion of the image data is processed by retaining a predetermined amount of the image data.

16. The camera assembly of claim 13, wherein the second portion of the image data is processed by applying a compression algorithm.

17. The camera assembly of claim 13, wherein the controller processes image data adjacent the first portion of the image data such that the adjacent image data has a quality between the quality of the second portion of the image data and the quality of the first portion of the image data.

18. The camera assembly of claim 17, wherein the adjacent image data is processed to have a graduated quality from the quality of the second portion of the image data to the quality of the first portion of the image data.

19. The camera assembly of claim 13, wherein the first portion corresponds to a predetermined area of the photograph.

20. The camera assembly of claim 13, wherein the first portion corresponds to a visual element in the scene that has a proximity relationship with a predetermined location within the photograph.

21. The camera assembly of claim 13, wherein the first portion corresponds to a visual element in the scene that is identified using pattern recognition.

22. The camera assembly of claim 21, wherein the pattern recognition is used to identify a face of a person.

23. The camera assembly of claim 13, wherein the first portion corresponds to a visual element in the scene that is identified by a user of the camera assembly.

24. The camera assembly of claim 13, further comprising a second camera assembly that images a user of the camera assembly during the capturing of the image data, and wherein:

the controller analyzes an output of the second camera assembly to identify a visual element in the scene that draws visual attention from the user of the camera assembly during capturing of the image data; and

the first portion corresponds to the identified visual element in the scene.

25. The camera assembly of claim 13, wherein the camera assembly forms part of a mobile telephone that includes call circuitry to establish a call over a network.