DUAL IMAGE CAPTURE PROCESSING

• US 20130021447A1
• Filed: 12/22/2011
• Published: 01/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Plowman, David, Sewell, Benjamin, Patuck, Naushir, Brisedoux, Laurent, Fridental, Ron, Harding, Cressida
• Granted Patent: US 9,270,875 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/47
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/289 Switching between monoscopic and stereoscopic modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/45 for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/741 by increasing the dynamic range of the image compared to the dynamic range of the electronic image sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/81 for suppressing or minimising disturbance in the image signal generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/951 by using two or more images to influence resolution, frame rate or aspect ratio

Abstract

Embodiments of imaging devices of the present disclosure automatically utilize simultaneous image captures in an image processing pipeline. In one embodiment, control processing circuitry initiates simultaneous capture of the first image by the first image sensor and the second image by the second image sensor; and image processing circuitry generates an enhanced monoscopic image comprising at least portions of the first image and the second image.

Claims

1. An image capture device, comprising:

a first image sensor for recording a first image;

a second image sensor for recording a second image;

control processing circuitry to initiate simultaneous capture of the first image by the first image sensor and the second image by the second image sensor; and

image processing circuitry to generate an enhanced monoscopic image comprising at least portions of the first image and the second image.

2. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein the enhanced monoscopic image comprises a first portion obtained from the first image and a second portion obtained from the second image,

wherein the first portion comprises at least one of having an exposure level that is different from the second portion or having a depth of field that is different from the second portion.

3. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein a resolution of the enhanced monoscopic image is greater than individual resolutions of the first image and the second image.

4. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein the second image is analyzed and compared with the first image to isolate a defect in the first image, wherein the enhanced monoscopic image is a corrected version of the first image with the defect removed.

5. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein the control processing circuitry is configured to operate in a stereoscopic mode utilizing simultaneous operation of the first image sensor and the second image sensor to generate a stereoscopic image;

a monoscopic mode utilizing singular operation of the first image sensor to generate a monoscopic image; and

an enhanced monoscopic mode utilizing simultaneous operation of the first image sensor and the second image sensor to generate the enhanced monoscopic image.

6. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein the control processing circuitry is configured to automatically switch between modes of operation comprising at least two of the monoscopic mode, the stereoscopic mode, or the enhanced monoscopic mode.

7. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein the first image is used as image data for the enhanced monoscopic image and the second image is used as enhancement data to enhance at least one image characteristic of the first image, wherein the enhanced monoscopic image comprises the first image with the at least one improved characteristic.

8. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein the image processing circuitry processes similar pixels shared by the first image and the second image in a first processing path and processes dissimilar pixels of the second image in a second processing path.

9. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein the first image sensor operates at a first binning level during the simultaneous capture that is different from a second binning level at which the second image sensor operates during the simultaneous capture.

10. An image processing method, comprising:

recording a first image captured by a first image sensor;

recording a second image captured by a second image sensor, wherein the first image and the second image are simultaneously captured;

comparing at least portions of the first image and the second image; and

responsive to results of the comparing of the first image and the second image, generating an enhanced monoscopic image.

11. An image processing method of claim 10, wherein the first image is used as image data for the enhanced monoscopic image and the second image is used as enhancement data to enhance at least one image characteristic of the first image, wherein the enhanced monoscopic image comprises the first image with the at least one improved characteristic.

12. The image processing method of claim 10, wherein the at least one improved characteristic comprises at least one of an improved depth of field, an improved resolution;

or an improved exposure level.

13. The image processing method of claim 10, wherein the second image is analyzed and compared with the first image to isolate a defect in the first image, wherein the enhanced monoscopic image is a corrected version of the first image with the defect removed.

14. The image processing method of claim 13, wherein the defect comprises a lens shading defect.

15. The image processing method of claim 10, wherein an image capture device comprises the first image sensor and the second image sensor, the method further comprising:

switching operation of the image capture device between a stereoscopic mode utilizing simultaneous operation of the first image sensor and the second image sensor to generate a stereoscopic image;

a monoscopic mode utilizing singular operation of the first image sensor to generate a monoscopic image; and

an enhanced monoscopic mode utilizing simultaneous operation of the first image sensor and the second image sensor to generate the enhanced monoscopic image.

16. The image processing method of claim 10, wherein the first image sensor comprise an image sensor that passes red, green, or blue light to sensor pixels and the second image sensor comprises a different type of image sensor than the first image sensor.

17. A computer readable medium having an image processing program, when executed by a hardware processor, causing the hardware processor to:

record a first image captured by a first image sensor;

record a second image captured by a second image sensor, wherein the first image and the second image are simultaneously captured;

compare at least portions of the first image and the second image; and

responsive to results of the comparing of the first image and the second image, generate an enhanced monoscopic image.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein an image capture device comprises the first image sensor and the second image sensor, the image processing program further causing the hardware processor to:

switch operation of the image capture device between a stereoscopic mode utilizing simultaneous operation of the first image sensor and the second image sensor to generate a stereoscopic image;

a monoscopic mode utilizing singular operation of the first image sensor to generate a monoscopic image; and

an enhanced monoscopic mode utilizing simultaneous operation of the first image sensor and the second image sensor to generate the enhanced monoscopic image.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the first image is used as image data for the enhanced monoscopic image and the second image is used as support data to correct a defect in the first image.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the first image is used as image data for the enhanced monoscopic image and the second image is used as enhancement data to enhance at least one image characteristic of the first image, wherein the enhanced monoscopic image comprises the first image with the at least one improved characteristic.