IMAGING SYSTEM WITH FOVEATED IMAGING CAPABILITES
First Claim
1. A system, comprising:
- a central processing unit;
memory;
input-output circuitry; and
an imaging device, wherein the imaging device comprises;
an array of image sensing pixels divided into at least first and second regions; and
image readout circuitry coupled to the array of image sensing pixels, wherein the image readout circuitry is operable to readout image data from the first region of the array at a first resolution and is operable to readout image data from the second region of the array at a second resolution, wherein the first resolution is greater than the second resolution.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic device may have a camera module. The camera module may include a camera sensor capable of capturing foveated images. The camera sensor may be hardwired to capture foveated images with fixed regions of different quality levels or may be dynamically-reconfigurable to capture foveated images with selected regions of different quality levels. As one example, the camera module may be hardwired to capture a center region of an image at full resolution and peripheral regions at reduced resolutions, so that a user can merely center objects of interest in the image to capture a foveated image. As another example, the camera module may analyze previous images to identify objects of interest and may then reconfigure itself to capture the identified objects of interest at a high quality level, while capturing other regions at reduced quality levels.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A system, comprising:
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a central processing unit; memory; input-output circuitry; and an imaging device, wherein the imaging device comprises; an array of image sensing pixels divided into at least first and second regions; and image readout circuitry coupled to the array of image sensing pixels, wherein the image readout circuitry is operable to readout image data from the first region of the array at a first resolution and is operable to readout image data from the second region of the array at a second resolution, wherein the first resolution is greater than the second resolution. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 7)
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- 5. The system defined in claim I wherein the image readout circuitry is operable to readout image data from first region at the first resolution and from the second region at the second resolution as part of capturing a first image and wherein, as part of capturing a second image, the image readout circuitry is operable to readout image data from the first region at the second resolution and is operable to readout image data from the second region at the first resolution.
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8. A method of using an image sensor that includes first and second pluralities of image sensing pixels, the method comprising:
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capturing a first image portion at a first resolution using the first plurality of image sensing pixels; capturing a second image portion at a second resolution using the second plurality of image sensing pixels, wherein the first resolution is greater than the second resolution; and combining the first and second image portions into a foveated image. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method comprising:
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using an image sensor, capturing an image of a scene; using image processing circuitry and the image, identifying at least a first point of interest in a first region of the scene; and configuring the image sensor to capture a foveated image in which the first region of the scene is captured at a first resolution and in which at least a second region of the scene is captured at a second resolution that is less than the first resolution. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification