Burst Image Capture Method and Image Capture System thereof

• US 20130222671A1
• Filed: 02/21/2013
• Published: 08/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Original Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Inventors: Tseng, Fu-Chang, Dai, Chen-Si, Lin, Sung-Hao, Hsu, Li-Chun, Yeh, Jeng-Yu, Wu, Jing-Lung, Chueh, Hsin-Ti
• Granted Patent: US 9,247,141 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/333.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/632 for displaying or modifying preview images prior to image capturing, e.g. variety of image resolutions or capturing parameters
• 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

Abstract

The present invention discloses an image capture method comprises capturing a sequence of image frames; providing the sequence of image frames for preview along a first path and buffering the sequence of image frames into a buffer along a second path separately and concurrently; receiving an input command via an input interface unit; and in response to the input command, extracting a portion of the sequence of image frames from the buffer and encoding the portion of image frames along the second path; and storing the portion of encoded image frames in a memory unit.

Claims

1. A burst image capture method, comprising:

capturing a first sequence of image frames;

generating a second sequence of image frames according to the first sequence of image frames;

providing the second sequence of image frames for preview;

generating a third sequence of image frames according to the first sequence of image frames and buffering the third sequence of image frames concurrently with the displaying of the second sequence of image frames;

receiving an input command; and

in response to the input command, extracting a fourth sequence of image frames out of the third sequence of image frames, encoding the fourth sequence of image frames into a fifth sequence of image frames, and storing the fifth sequence of image frames.

2. The burst image capture method of claim 1, wherein the input command is triggered by pressing a long tap on a touch screen, and terminated by releasing the long tap from the touch screen.

3. The burst image capture method of claim 1, wherein the input command is triggered by pressing a first short tap on a touch screen and releasing the first short tap from the touch screen right away, and the input command is terminated by pressing a second short tap on the touch screen and releasing the second short tap from the touch screen right away.

4. The burst image capture method of claim 1, wherein the first sequence image frames, the second image frames and the third image frames are of different resolution respectively.

5. The burst image capture method of claim 4, wherein the second sequence of image frames are of lower resolution than the third sequence of image frames.

6. The burst image capture method of claim 4, wherein the second sequence of image frames and the third sequence of image frames are displayed and buffered at different frame rates respectively.

7. The burst image capture method of claim 1, wherein the fifth sequence of image frames are stored in JPEG format.

8. An image capture method, comprising:

capturing a sequence of image frames;

providing the sequence of image frames for preview along a first path and buffering the sequence of image frames into a buffer along a second path separately and concurrently;

receiving an input command via an input interface unit; and

in response to the input command, extracting a portion of the sequence of image frames from the buffer and encoding the portion of image frames along the second path; and

storing the portion of encoded image frames in a memory unit.

9. The image capture method of claim 8, wherein the sequence of image frames is captured by a first resolution, provided along the first path by a second resolution and provided along the second path by a third resolution.

10. The image capture method of claim 9, wherein the first resolution is higher than the third resolution, and the third resolution is higher than the second resolution.

11. The image capture method of claim 8, wherein the extracting and encoding of the portion of the image frames along the second path are performed concurrently with the providing of the sequence of image frames for preview along the first path.

12. The image capture method of claim 8, wherein the receiving of the input command further comprises:

detecting a tap and hold on the input interface unit;

starting extracting and encoding the portion of image frames in response to the tap and hold;

detecting a release of the tap and hold on the interface unit; and

terminating extracting and encoding the portion of the image frames in response to the release.

13. The image capture method of claim 8, wherein the sequence of image frames is provided along the first path at a first frame rate and buffered along the second path at a second frame rate, the first frame rate is higher than the second frame rate.

14. An image capture system, comprising:

an image sensor module, configured to capture a first sequence of image frames;

an image signal processor, configured to generate and provide a second sequence of image frames and a third sequence of image frames according to the first sequence of image frames;

a touch screen, configured to display the second sequence of image frames and configured to receive an input command;

a backend processing unit, configured to buffer the third sequence of image frames, and in response to the input command, extract a fourth sequence of image frames out of the third sequence of image frames and encode the fourth sequence of image frames into a fifth sequence of image frames; and

a memory unit, configured to store the fifth sequence of image frames;

wherein the second sequence of image frames and the third sequence of image frames are of different resolutions and provided along separate paths concurrently.

15. The image capture system of claim 14, wherein the backend processing unit further comprises:

a preview module configured to receive and provide the second sequence of image frames to the touch screen along a first path;

a buffer, configured to buffer the third sequence of image frames concurrently with the display of the second sequence of image frames on the touch screen along a second path; and

an image encoder, configured to encode the fourth sequence of image frames into the fifth sequence of image frames in response to the input command;

wherein the fourth sequence of image frames is a continuous portion of the third sequence of image frames.

16. The image capture system of claim 15, wherein the image signal processor is further configured to provide the second sequence of image frames to the preview module at a first frame rate and provide the third sequence of image frames to the buffer at a second frame rate;

and wherein the first frame rate is higher than the second frame rate.

17. The image capture system of claim 14, wherein the input command is triggered by pressing a long tap on the touch screen, and is terminated by releasing the long tap from the touch screen.

18. The image capture system of claim 17, wherein the resolution of the first sequence of image frames is higher than the resolution of the third sequence of image frames, and the resolution of the third sequence of image frames is higher than the resolution of the second sequence of image frames.

19. The image capture system of claim 14, wherein the touch screen is further configured to provide thumbnails corresponding to the fifth sequence of image frames concurrently with the display of the second sequence of image frames during execution of the input command.

20. The image capture system of claim 19, wherein the preview module is further configured to generate the thumbnails from a corresponding portion of the second sequence of image frames.