METHOD FOR PERFORMING PREVIEW CONTROL IN AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE, AND ASSOCIATED APPARATUS

• US 20160212357A1
• Filed: 01/19/2015
• Published: 07/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Original Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Inventors: Cheng, Chia-Ming, Huang, Po-Hao, Lee, Yuan-Chung
• Granted Patent: US 9,426,386 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/57 Mechanical or electrical details of cameras or camera modules specially adapted for being embedded in other devices
• 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 23/67 Focus control based on electronic image sensor signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/57 Control of the dynamic range

Abstract

A method for performing preview control in an electronic device and an associated apparatus are provided, where the method may include the steps of: obtaining a specific preview image from a camera module of the electronic device, and obtaining a specific focus-related parameter corresponding to the specific preview image, wherein the specific focus-related parameter is related to focus control of the camera module; determining a specific resize parameter corresponding to the specific preview image according to a predetermined relationship between the specific resize parameter and the specific focus-related parameter; and performing a resize operation on the specific preview image according to the specific resize parameter, to control the specific preview image to be displayed in a quasi-scale-invariant manner with respect to a plurality of preview images.

Claims

1. A method for performing preview control in an electronic device, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining a specific preview image from a camera module of the electronic device, and obtaining a specific focus-related parameter corresponding to the specific preview image, wherein the specific focus-related parameter is related to focus control of the camera module;

determining a specific resize parameter corresponding to the specific preview image according to a predetermined relationship between the specific resize parameter and the specific focus-related parameter; and

performing a resize operation on the specific preview image according to the specific resize parameter, to control the specific preview image to be displayed in a scale-invariant manner with respect to a plurality of preview images.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific focus-related parameter is an autofocus control parameter that is utilized for performing autofocus control on the camera module.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the specific focus-related parameter is a digital value to be applied to a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and the DAC is positioned on a control path of the camera module.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific focus-related parameter is associated to an autofocus status of the camera module.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the preview images are displayed in the scale-invariant manner;

and the method further comprises;

obtaining a plurality of focus-related parameters corresponding to the preview images respectively, wherein the focus-related parameters comprises the specific focus-related parameter; and

determining a plurality of resize parameters corresponding to the preview images according to a plurality of predetermined relationships between the resize parameters and the focus-related parameters respectively, wherein the resize parameters comprises the specific resize parameter.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein for an object that is shown in both of a displayed version of the specific preview image and a displayed version of another preview image of the preview images, a size of the object is invariant.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein for the object that is shown in both of the displayed version of the specific preview image and the displayed version of the other preview image of the preview images, a position of the object is invariant.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

performing a plurality of resize operations on the preview images according to the resize parameters, respectively, to control the preview images to be displayed in the scale-invariant manner.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining the predetermined relationship between the specific resize parameter and the specific focus-related parameter from a look up table (LUT).

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining the predetermined relationship between the specific resize parameter and the specific focus-related parameter from a predetermined model according to a set of predetermined data.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

obtaining the set of predetermined data from a look up table (LUT).

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a plurality of learning operations according to a set of preview images, to generate a plurality of learning results, respectively; and

obtaining the predetermined relationship between the specific resize parameter and the specific focus-related parameter from a predetermined model according to a specific learning result of the learning results.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

obtaining a plurality of user inputs from a user interface (UI) of the electronic device, wherein the user inputs corresponds to the set of preview images, respectively;

wherein the step of performing the learning operations according to the set of preview images to generate the learning results respectively further comprises;

performing the learning operations according to the set of preview images and according to the user inputs, to generate the learning results respectively.

14. An apparatus for performing preview control in an electronic device, the apparatus comprising at least one portion of the electronic device, the apparatus comprising:

a focus control module, arranged for controlling the apparatus to obtain a specific preview image from a camera module of the electronic device, and obtaining a specific focus-related parameter corresponding to the specific preview image, wherein the specific focus-related parameter is related to focus control of the camera module;

a resize control module, coupled to the focus control module, arranged for determining a specific resize parameter corresponding to the specific preview image according to a predetermined relationship between the specific resize parameter and the specific focus-related parameter; and

an image resize module, coupled to the resize control module, arranged for performing a resize operation on the specific preview image according to the specific resize parameter, to control the specific preview image to be displayed in a scale-invariant manner with respect to a plurality of preview images.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the resize control module is integrated into the focus control module.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the focus control module, the resize control module, and the image resize module are positioned within an image signal processor (ISP);

and the ISP is coupled to the camera module.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the focus control module comprises an autofocus control circuit arranged for performing autofocus control of the camera module;

and the apparatus further comprises;

an autofocus statistics module, coupled between the camera module and the image resize module, and further coupled to the autofocus control circuit, arranged for performing a plurality of autofocus statistics operations on the preview images to generate a plurality of autofocus statistics results respectively.

18. A method for performing preview control in an electronic device, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining a specific preview image from a camera module of the electronic device, and obtaining a specific focus-related parameter corresponding to the specific preview image, wherein the specific focus-related parameter is related to focus control of the camera module;

determining a specific resize parameter corresponding to the specific preview image according to a predetermined relationship between the specific resize parameter and the specific focus-related parameter; and

performing a resize operation on the specific preview image according to the specific resize parameter, to control the specific preview image to be displayed in a quasi-scale-invariant manner with respect to a plurality of preview images, wherein the quasi-scale-invariant manner represents that an image scale difference between the specific preview image and any preview image falls within a predetermined range.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the specific focus-related parameter is a digital value to be applied to a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and the DAC is positioned on a control path of the camera module.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the preview images are displayed in the quasi-scale-invariant manner;

and the method further comprises;

obtaining a plurality of focus-related parameters corresponding to the preview images respectively, wherein the focus-related parameters comprises the specific focus-related parameter; and

determining a plurality of resize parameters corresponding to the preview images according to a plurality of predetermined relationships between the resize parameters and the focus-related parameters respectively, wherein the resize parameters comprises the specific resize parameter.