DIGITAL CAMERA HAVING VARIABLE DURATION BURST MODE

• US 20120257071A1
• Filed: 04/06/2011
• Published: 10/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Prentice, Wayne E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,736,716 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/220.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2625 for obtaining an image which is composed of images from a temporal image sequence, e.g. for a stroboscopic effect sequence generated by event triggered capturing H04N7/188

Abstract

A digital camera for having a variable time duration burst capture mode, comprising: an image sensor; an optical system; a data processing system; a frame buffer memory; and a program memory. The program memory stores instructions including: specifying a first frame rate; initiating an image capture sequence; storing a sequence of digital images captured at the first frame rate in the frame buffer memory; determining whether the frame buffer memory has been filled to a predetermined capacity. If the frame buffer memory has been filled to the predetermined capacity, the program memory further includes instructions for specifying a second frame rate, wherein the second frame rate is lower than the first frame rate; designating a set of stored digital images that can be overwritten; and storing a sequence of digital images captured at the second frame rate in the frame buffer memory, overwriting the designated set of stored digital images.

Claims

1. A digital camera for having a variable time duration burst capture mode, comprising:

an image sensor for capturing a digital image;

an optical system for forming an image of a scene onto the image sensor;

a data processing system;

a frame buffer memory for temporarily storing captured digital images; and

a program memory communicatively connected to the data processing system and storing instructions configured to cause the data processing system to implement a method for capturing a sequence of digital images in the variable time duration burst capture mode, wherein the method includes;

specifying a first frame rate;

initiating an image capture sequence;

storing a sequence of digital images captured at the first frame rate in the frame buffer memory;

determining whether the frame buffer memory has been filled to a predetermined capacity, and if so;

specifying a second frame rate, wherein the second frame rate is lower than the first frame rate;

designating a set of stored digital images that can be overwritten; and

storing a sequence of digital images captured at the second frame rate in the frame buffer memory, overwriting the designated set of stored digital images.

2. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the image capture sequence is initiated by pressing an image capture button, and wherein the image capture sequence is terminated when the image capture button is released.

3. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the burst capture mode is used to capture a sequence of digital images for a scene including one or more moving foreground objects in front of a background, and wherein the image capture sequence is terminated when no substantial object motion is detected.

4. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the burst capture mode is used to capture a sequence of digital images for a scene including a moving foreground object in front of a background, and wherein the image capture sequence is terminated when moving the foreground object exits a field of view of the camera.

5. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the image capture sequence is terminated after a maximum time duration.

6. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the instructions further include processing each digital image in the stored sequence of digital images using one or more image processing operations to form processed digital images.

7. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the instructions further include storing each digital image in the stored sequence of digital images in an image memory as individual image files.

8. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the instructions further include:

combining a plurality of the digital images in the stored sequence of digital images to form a composite digital image; and

storing the composite digital image in an image memory.

9. The digital camera of claim 8 wherein the composite image is a montage image including a plurality of the digital images in the stored sequence of digital images.

10. The digital camera of claim 8 wherein the composite digital image is formed by combining foreground objects from a plurality of the digital images in the stored sequence of digital images onto a common image background.

11. The digital camera of claim 10 wherein the common background image corresponds to the background from one of the digital images in the stored sequence of digital images, or to a combination of the backgrounds from a plurality of the digital images in the stored sequence of digital images.

12. The digital camera of claim 8 wherein the composite digital image is a panoramic image.

13. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the stored sequence of digital images is combined to form a video sequence which is stored in an image memory.

14. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein first frame rate is an integer multiple of the second frame rate.

15. The digital camera of claim 14 wherein any stored digital images having capture times not corresponding to the second frame rate are designated as stored digital images that can be overwritten.

16. The digital camera of claim 14 wherein the first frame rate is double the second frame rate, and wherein either even-numbered digital images or odd-numbered digital images are designated as stored digital images that can be overwritten.

17. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the instructions further include:

determining whether the frame buffer memory has been filled to a predetermined capacity while digital images are being captured at the second frame rate, and if so;

specifying a third frame rate;

designating a second set of stored digital images that can be overwritten; and

storing a sequence of digital images captured at the third frame rate in the frame buffer memory, overwriting the designated second set of stored digital images.

18. A method for capturing an image sequence having a variable time duration for storage in a frame buffer memory having a predetermined capacity, comprising:

specifying a first frame rate;

initiating an image capture sequence;

capturing a sequence of digital images the first frame rate;

storing the digital images captured at the first frame rate in the frame buffer memory;

determining whether the frame buffer memory has been filled to a predetermined capacity, and if so;

specifying a second frame rate, wherein the second frame rate is lower than the first frame rate;

designating a set of stored digital images that can be overwritten;

capturing a sequence of digital images the second frame rate;

storing the digital images captured at the second frame rate in the frame buffer memory, overwriting the designated set of stored digital images.

19. A digital camera for having a variable time duration burst capture mode, comprising:

an image sensor for capturing a digital image;

an optical system for forming an image of a scene onto the image sensor;

a data processing system;

a frame buffer memory for storing captured digital images, the frame buffer memory being adapted to store a particular number of captured digital images; and

a program memory communicatively connected to the data processing system and storing instructions configured to cause the data processing system to implement a method for capturing a variable time duration image burst, wherein the method includes;

specifying a first frame rate;

initiating an image capture sequence;

storing a sequence of digital images captured at the first frame rate in the frame buffer memory;

determining whether the frame buffer memory has been filled to a predetermined capacity, and if so;

specifying a reduced frame rate;

storing a sequence of digital images captured at the second frame rate in the frame buffer memory.