IMAGE PROCESSING ARCHITECTURES AND METHODS
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Abstract
Cell phones and other portable devices are equipped with a variety of technologies by which existing functionality is improved, and new functionality is provided. Some aspects relate to imaging architectures, in which a cell phone'"'"'s image sensor is one in a chain of stages that successively act on instructions/data, to capture and later process imagery. Other aspects relate to distribution of processing tasks between the device and remote resources (“the cloud”). Elemental image processing, such as filtering and edge detection—and even some simpler template matching operations—may be performed on the cell phone. Other operations are referred out to remote service providers. The remote service providers can be identified using techniques such as a reverse auction, though which they compete for processing tasks. Other aspects of the disclosed technologies relate to visual search capabilities, and determining appropriate actions responsive to different image inputs. Still others concern metadata generation, processing, and representation. A great number of other features and arrangements are also detailed.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1-20. -20. (canceled)
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21. A mobile device including a battery and a screen, and further comprising:
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a processing system powered by the battery and adapted to process plural frames of image data, the processing system including; a first processing unit comprising first hardware circuitry, a second processing unit comprising second hardware circuitry different than the first hardware circuitry, and an interconnect that conveys output data from the first processing unit to an input of the second processing unit; a memory containing instructions that cause the processing system to process one frame of image data with one of said processing units, while processing a different frame of image data with another of said processing units; and a setup module that sends information specifying operations to be performed on a first frame of data by the first and second processing units, before the first processing unit begins processing said first frame of data; wherein said instructions and information; cause the first processing unit to process the first frame of data at a first time, applying a first function; cause the same first processing unit to process said first frame of data at a second, later time, applying a second function different than the first function; and cause the second processing unit to process said first frame of data between said first and second times, the second processing unit applying a third function different than the first and second functions. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36)
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34. A mobile device comprising:
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a processing system adapted to process plural frames of image data and including plural processing units, including a first hardware processing unit comprising first circuitry, and a second hard processing unit comprising second circuitry different than the first circuitry; an interconnect that permits a frame of data output by the first processing unit to be input to the second processing unit for further processing, and also permits a frame of data output by the second processing unit to be input to the first processing unit for further processing; and a memory containing instructions that cause the processing system to process one frame of data while another of said processing units processes a different frame of data, wherein said instructions; cause the first processing unit to process a first frame of data at a first time, applying a first function; cause the same first processing unit to process said first frame of data at a second, later time, applying a second function different than the first function; and cause the second processing unit to process said first frame of data between said first and second times, the second processing unit applying a third function different than the first and second functions. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39)
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40. A method comprising:
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capturing first and second frames of image data, and providing each frame of data to an image processing system of a mobile device, said image processing system including plural different hardware circuitry processing units, including a dedicated purpose processing unit whose function is fixed, and a programmable processing unit that can be configured to perform at least first and second different functions; operating said processing units in an arrangement wherein data from an output of one of said processing units is conveyed to an input of another of said processing units, and wherein one of said processing units processes one frame of data while another of said processing units processes a different frame of data; at a first time, processing said one frame of data with the programmable processing unit, configured to perform the first function, while also processing said different frame of data with the dedicated purpose processing unit; at a second, later, time, again processing said one frame of data with said programmable processing unit, now configured to perform the second function; and between said first and second times, processing said one frame of data with another processing unit different than said programmable processing unit, which performs a function different than said first function and different than said second function; wherein said programmable processing unit in said image processing system is used first and second times to perform first and second different functions on said one frame of data, with said different processing unit processing said one frame of data between said first and second times. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification