Imaging Systems And Methods Using Square Image Sensor For Flexible Image Orientation

• US 20140320715A1
• Filed: 04/25/2014
• Published: 10/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omnivision Technologies Incorporated (Will Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Shanghai)
• Original Assignee: Omnivision Technologies Incorporated (Will Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Shanghai)
• Inventors: Haji-Khamneh, Bahman, Iyer, Harish, Margasahayam, Vinoo
• Granted Patent: US 9,531,970 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/302
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof

Abstract

An imaging system for generating flexibly oriented electronic images includes an image sensor having a square pixel array, imaging optics for forming an optical image on at least a portion of the square pixel array, wherein the portion is within an image circle of the imaging optics and includes at least two rectangular sub-portions differing from each other in aspect ratio and/or orientation, and a processing module capable of generating an electronic image from each of the at least two rectangular sub-portions. An imaging method for generating electronic images of flexible orientation, using a square image sensor pixel array, includes forming an optical image on at least a portion of the square image sensor pixel array, selecting, according to a desired orientation, a rectangular sub-portion of the at least a portion of the square image sensor pixel array, and generating a final electronic image from the sub-portion.

Claims

1. An imaging system for generating flexibly oriented electronic images, comprising:

an image sensor having a square pixel array;

imaging optics for forming an optical image on at least a portion of the square pixel array, the portion being within an image circle of the imaging optics and the portion including at least two rectangular sub-portions differing from each other in at least one of aspect ratio and orientation; and

a processing module capable of generating an electronic image from each of the at least two rectangular sub-portions.

2. The imaging system of claim 1, the at least two rectangular sub-portions including a first sub-portion having aspect ratio a:

b, where a is different from b, and a second sub-portion having size and aspect ratio identical to the first sub-portion and orientation orthogonal to the first sub-portion.

3. The imaging system of claim 2, the square pixel array comprising N×

N pixels, the first and second sub-portions having sides parallel with sides of the square pixel array, the first sub-portion including columns of N pixels parallel to a first side of the square pixel array, and the second sub-portion including rows of N pixels, the rows being orthogonal to the columns.

4. The imaging system of claim 2, the at least two rectangular sub-portions further including a third sub-portion having aspect ratio c:

d, where c is different from d and c/d is different from a/b, and a fourth sub-portion having size and aspect ratio identical to and orientation orthogonal to the third sub-portion.

5. The imaging system of claim 4, the first, second, third, and fourth sub-portions having sides parallel with sides of the square pixel array, the first and third sub-portions including columns of N pixels parallel to a first side of the square pixel array, and the second and fourth sub-portions including rows of N pixels, the rows being orthogonal to the columns.

6. The imaging system of claim 2, the at least two rectangular sub-portions further including a third sub-portion having aspect ratio 1:

1, the third sub-portion including all pixels of the square pixel array.

7. The imaging system of claim 1, further comprising a gravitational orientation sensor for detecting gravitational orientation of the imaging system relative to gravity, and wherein the at least two rectangular sub-portions include a plurality of sub-portions having aspect ratio a:

b and mutually different orientations, and the processing module is capable of selecting one of the plurality of sub-portions, according to the gravitational orientation, such that the electronic image reflects a desired orientation relative to gravity.

8. The imaging system of claim 7, the plurality of sub-portions including all possible orientations of sub-portions having aspect ratio a:

b.

9. The imaging system of claim 1 being implemented in a handheld camera.

10. An imaging method for generating electronic images of flexible orientation using a square image sensor pixel array, comprising:

forming an optical image on at least a portion of the square image sensor pixel array;

selecting, according to a desired orientation, a rectangular sub-portion of the at least a portion of the square image sensor pixel array; and

generating a final electronic image from the sub-portion.

11. The method of claim 10, the step of selecting comprising selecting a rectangular sub-portion of the at least a portion of the square image sensor pixel array, the rectangular sub-portion having sides parallel with sides of the square image sensor pixel array.

12. The method of claim 11, the step of selecting a rectangular sub-portion comprising selecting a rectangular sub-portion from a set of a landscape-oriented sub-portion and a portrait-oriented sub-portion.

13. The method of claim 10, the step of selecting comprising selecting the rectangular sub-portion, of the at least a portion of the square image sensor pixel array, according to the desired orientation and an aspect ratio.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising a step of receiving the desired orientation.

15. The method of claim 14, the step of selecting being performed by a processing module using the desired orientation received in the step of receiving.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising a step of determining gravitational orientation of the square image sensor pixel array using a gravitational orientation sensor, the step of selecting comprising selecting, according to a desired orientation relative to the gravitational orientation, a rectangular sub-portion of the at least a portion of the square image sensor pixel array.

17. The method of claim 16, the step of generating further comprising populating each pixel of the final electronic image with values associated with signals from at least one of pixels of the square image sensor pixel array located nearest a location corresponding to the pixel of the final electronic image.

18. The method of claim 16, the electronic images being a video stream, the method comprising repeating the steps of determining, forming, selecting, and generating for each of the electronic images in the video stream to produce an orientation-stabilized video stream.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising, prior to the step of generating, a step of capturing a square electronic image, the step of generating comprising cropping the square electronic image in accordance with the rectangular sub-portion selected in the step of selecting.

20. The method of claim 10, the step of generating comprising capturing a rectangular image using the rectangular sub-portion selected in the step of selecting.

21. The method of claim 10 being implemented in a handheld camera.