CAMERA IMAGE SELECTION BASED ON DETECTED DEVICE MOVEMENT

• US 20100309334A1
• Filed: 06/05/2009
• Published: 12/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: James, Bryan, Lindahl, Aram, Hodge, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,624,998 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/231.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/68 for stable pick-up of the scene, e.g. compensating for camera body vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/144 Movement detection for video coding H04N19/503; analysis of motion in general G06T7/20

Abstract

Systems and methods are providing for selecting one or more of several images captured in sequence and stored in a buffer in response to receiving a user instruction to store a captured image. An electronic device can capture information describing the movement of the device at the time each of the several images was captured, such that each image can be associated with specific device movement information. The electronic device can then select the one of the captured and buffered images for which the movement information of the device satisfies particular criteria. This can ensure that the particular image stored is not blurry due to device movement at the time the image was captured.

Claims

1. A method for storing an image captured by a lens, comprising:

capturing a sequence of a plurality of images using the lens;

storing the captured images in a buffer;

detecting movement information describing movement of the electronic device using a motion sensing component;

associating each captured image in the buffer with movement information detected at the time the image was captured;

receiving an instruction to store a captured image; and

selecting one of the buffered captured images for storage based on the movement information associated with each of the captured images.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the buffer is full; and

replacing the oldest captured image in the buffer with the newest image captured by the lens.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the detected movement information in a second buffer; and

defining references associating a particular detected movement information of the seed buffer with each of the captured images stored in the buffer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein associating further comprises:

associating a time stamp with each of the captured image in the buffer;

associating a time stamp with each of the particular movement information stored in the second buffer; and

defining references associating captured images and particular information for which associated time stamps substantially match.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein associating further comprises:

embedding as metadata, for each captured image in the buffer, the detected movement information detected at the time the image was captured.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a maximum movement threshold;

identifying particular detected movement information that does not exceed the threshold; and

selecting the captured image associated with the identified particular detected movement information.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of particular detected movement information that do not exceed the threshold;

determining the time at which the instruction was received;

identifying the one of the plurality of detected movement information detected closest in time to the determined time; and

selecting the captured image associated with the identified one of the plurality of detected movement information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the particular detected movement information describing the smallest device movement; and

selecting the captured image associated with the identified particular detected movement information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing the motion sensing component output to define at least one of velocity and displacement information from an acceleration output.

10. An electronic device operative to capture and store images, comprising:

a lens operative to capture images;

memory operative to store captured images in a buffer;

a motion sensing component operative to quantify movement of the electronic device; and

a processor operative to;

direct the lens to sequentially capture images;

direct the motion sensing component to quantify device movement at the times that the lens captures images;

direct the memory to store each of the sequentially captured images in a buffer, wherein the most recently captured images replace older captured images stored in the buffer when the buffer is full;

receive an instruction to store a captured image;

identify a quantified device movement satisfying a movement threshold; and

select the captured image stored in the buffer that was captured at substantially the same time as the identified quantified device movement.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further operative to:

retain the captured images stored in the buffer in response to receiving the instruction;

direct the lens to continue to continuously capture images;

direct the memory to store the images captured after receiving the instruction in a second buffer; and

select a captured image from one of the buffer and second buffer.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further operative to:

determine that at least one device movement quantified after receiving the instruction satisfies the movement threshold;

identify at least one captured image stored in the second buffer that was captured at the same time as the at least one device movement was quantified; and

direct the memory to store the identified at least one captured image.

13. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the processor is further operative to:

identify a plurality of quantified device movement satisfying the movement threshold;

identify the one of the plurality of quantified device movement that was quantified at a time closest to the time at which the instruction was received; and

direct the memory to store the image captured at the same time the identified one of the plurality of quantified device movement that was quantified.

14. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further operative to:

associate a first time stamp with each of the captured images, wherein the first time stamp is indicative of the time at which the image is captured; and

associate a second time stamp with each of the quantified device movements, wherein the second time stamp is indicative of the time at which the device movement is quantified.

15. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the buffer length is selected based on at least one of:

an amount of memory available;

a number of captured images to store; and

a duration from the current time.

16. A method for selecting from a plurality of captured images, comprising:

storing a plurality of images;

associating movement data with each of the plurality of images, wherein the movement data describes the movement of the electronic device at the time the corresponding image was captured;

receiving an instruction to store an image; and

storing one of the plurality of images in response to receiving the instruction, wherein the stored one of the plurality of images is associated with movement data that satisfies predetermined criteria.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

assigning a time stamp to each of the plurality of images; and

assigning a time stamp to each instance of the movement data, wherein the timestamp of each of the plurality of images substantially matches the timestamp of a particular instance of the movement data.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

identifying the instance of movement data describing the smallest device movement;

selecting the particular image associated with the identified instance of movement data; and

storing the particular image in memory.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of instances of movement data describing device movement that does not exceed a threshold;

identifying the one of the plurality of instances of movement data that describes device movement nearest in time to when the instruction was received;

selecting the particular image associated with the identified one of the plurality of instances of movement data; and

storing the particular image in memory.

20. Computer readable media for storing an image captured by a lens, comprising computer-readable instructions recorded thereon for:

continuously capturing a plurality of images using the lens;

storing the captured images in a buffer;

detecting movement information describing movement of the electronic device using a motion sensing component;

associating each captured image in the buffer with detected movement information detected at the time the image was captured;

receiving an instruction to store a captured image; and

selecting one of the buffered captured images for storage based on the movement information associated with each of the captured images.

21. The computer readable media of claim 20, further comprising additional computer-readable instructions recorded thereon for:

determining a maximum movement threshold;

identifying particular detected movement information that does not exceed the threshold; and

selecting the captured image associated with the identified particular detected movement information.