CAPTURING REAL-TIME VIDEO WITH ZOOMING CAPABILITY AND SCANNING HIGH RESOLUTION STILL IMAGES OF DOCUMENTS USING THE SAME APPARATUS

• US 20140160535A1
• Filed: 07/23/2013
• Published: 06/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pathway Innovations and Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Pathway Innovations and Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: SHEN, JI, Zhang, Dongbing
• Granted Patent: US 10,586,307 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/451
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00535 using rotatably mounted or foldable components
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00559 Mounting or support of components or elements H04N1/00538 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/19594 using a television camera or a still video camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/393 Enlarging or reducing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0041 Point to point H04N2201/0039 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0049 By wire, cable or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0436 Scanning a picture-bearing surface lying face up on a support H04N2201/0434 takes precedence; using cylindrical picture bearing surfaces H04N1/06; with manual scanning H04N1/107
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/40 Extracting pixel data from image sensors by controlling scanning circuits, e.g. by modifying the number of pixels sampled or to be sampled
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/443 by reading pixels from selected 2D regions of the array, e.g. for windowing or digital zooming

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of acquiring an image of a target to provide an output video image that has a plurality of frame images. The method includes the steps of receiving a series of frame images from a video camera, using a processor to manipulate the series of frame images, which includes determining a reference resolution for providing output frame images, and displaying and/or storing the manipulated series of frame images as the output video image without changing a resolution of the output frame images. Also disclosed is a document imaging apparatus that includes a digital imaging unit. The digital imaging unit contains optics that having an infinite focal length. The document imaging apparatus also includes a processor that is coupled to the digital imaging unit and that is configured to cause the digital imaging unit to zoom in or zoom out in real-time while maintaining a resolution value of stored images constant. A non-transitory storage medium stores images obtained from the digital imaging unit and a display displays the stored images. A folding suspension arm supports the digital imaging unit at a distance from a target to be imaged.

Claims

1. A method of acquiring an image of a target to provide an output video image comprising a plurality of frame images, the method comprising:

connecting a slave digital image sensing unit to a master personal processor, the master personal processor receiving a series of frame images from the slave digital image sensing unit;

using the master personal processor to manipulate the series of frame images without changing resolution of the frame images; and

displaying and/or storing the manipulated series of frame images as an output video image without changing resolution of the manipulated series of frame images,

wherein the slave digital image sensing unit is removably connected to the master personal processor via a master personal processor port; and

wherein manipulating is a step selected from the group consisting of cropping, zooming in and zooming out.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing the manipulation in response to a user request in real time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the personal processor is housed in an external personal computer, further comprising using an external personal computer to provide the processor used to manipulate the series of frame images.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the manipulation further comprises at least one of the operations selected from the group consisting of:

re-sizing the image;

panning the image in a selected direction;

rotating the image in a selected direction; and

annotating the image.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein annotating an image is conducted during re-sizing the image.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the at least one operation is conducted without changing a resolution of the output frame images.

3. (canceled)

8. A method of acquiring an image of a target comprising:

determining a reference resolution at which each frame image of a series of frame images will be maintained and storing the reference resolution in a non-transitory medium;

capturing a video image comprising the series of frame images in one instantaneous snapshot of a subject'"'"'s entire surface area without line-by-line scanning and using an external processor to compare a resolution of each frame image of the video image with the reference resolution and adjusting the resolution of each frame image to correspond to the reference resolution; and

after comparing the resolution of each frame image, storing and/or displaying in real-time each frame image on a display.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the external processor is housed in a personal computer.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising when displaying each frame image on a display re-sizing the image without changing a resolution of the output frame images.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising re-sizing a selected portion of the frame to provide a visual effect of rotating the image in three dimensions.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising when displaying each frame image on a display panning the image in a selected direction without changing a resolution of the output frame images.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising when displaying each frame image on a display rotating the image in a selected direction without changing a resolution of the output frame images.

14. The method of claim 8 further comprising when displaying each frame image on a display annotating the image without changing a resolution of the output frame images.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein annotating an image is conducted during a step of re-sizing the image.

16. The method of claim 8 further comprising when displaying each frame image on a display, performing an image manipulation selected from the group consisting of:

re-sizing the image,

re-sizing a selected portion of the frame to provide a visual effect of rotating the image in three dimensions,

panning the image in a selected direction,

rotating the image in a selected direction, and

annotating the image.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein annotating an image is conducted during a step of re-sizing the image.

18. A document imaging apparatus comprising

a personal computer containing a software programming unit

a miniaturized digital image sensing unit externally coupled to the personal computer comprising optics having an infinite focal length;

wherein the personal computer is configured to control all actions of the miniaturized digital image sensing unit and cause the digital imaging unit to pan, crop, zoom in and zoom out in real-time while maintaining a resolution of a series of real-time images;

a display for displaying the images; and

a suspension arm for supporting the digital imaging unit at a distance from a target to be imaged.

19. The document imaging apparatus as recited in claim 18 wherein the processor is housed in a folding suspension arm.

20. The document imaging apparatus as recited in claim 18 wherein the processor is housed in an external personal computing system.