DRONE PROVIDED WITH A VIDEO CAMERA AND MEANS FOR COMPENSATING FOR THE ARTEFACTS PRODUCED AT THE HIGHEST ROLL ANGLES
First Claim
1. A motorized flying machine such as a drone (10) provided with a system for stabilizing the captured images comprising:
- a camera (14) linked to the drone body, said camera comprising;
a hemispherical-field lens of the fisheye type, anda digital sensor acquiring the image formed by the lens,where only one part, located inside a capture area (ZC), of the pixels of the image formed on the digital sensor is captured to deliver raw pixel data;
an inertial unit (50), adapted to measure the Euler angles (φ
, θ
, ψ
) describing the instantaneous attitude of the drone with respect to an absolute terrestrial reference system;
an extractor module (52), receiving as an input said raw pixel data of said capture area (ZC) and delivering as an output pixel data of an image area (ZI) of reduced size inside the capture area and corresponding to an angular sector (36) captured by a conventional camera; and
a feedback-control module (54, 56), receiving as an input angle values delivered by the inertial unit, and adapted to dynamically modify the position and the orientation of the image area inside the capture area, in the direction opposite to that of the changes of the angle values measured by the inertial unit,characterized in that;
the digital sensor is able to operate according to a plurality of different configurations of operation, able to be dynamically selected during a same sequence of image taking of the camera, said configurations of operation comprising;
a base configuration using a base capture area (ZCB) as a capture area (ZC), andat least one degraded mode configuration using as a capture area (ZC) an extended capture area (ZCE) of greater size than the base capture area (ZCB), with application to the pixels of the extended capture area of a conversion processing adapted to reduce the size of the extended capture area to that of the base capture area, andit is further provided a compensator module (58), receiving as an input successive values of roll angle (θ
) of the drone delivered by the inertial unit, and adapted to dynamically modify the current configuration of operation of the digital sensor so that the digital sensor operates;
according to the base configuration for roll angle values (θ
) lower than a first limit, andaccording to a degraded mode configuration for roll angle values (θ
) higher than a second limit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The drone comprises a camera, an inertial unit measuring the drone angles, and an extractor module delivering data of an image area (ZI) of reduced size defined inside a capture area (ZC) of the sensor. A feedback-control module dynamically modifies the position and the orientation of the image area inside the capture area, in a direction opposite to that of the angle variations measured by the inertial unit. The sensor may operate according to a plurality of different configurations able to be dynamically selected, with a base configuration using a base capture area (ZCB) for low values of roll angle (θ), and at least one degraded mode configuration using an extended capture area (ZCE) of greater size than the base capture area (ZCB), for high values of roll angle (θ).
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Citations
3 Claims
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1. A motorized flying machine such as a drone (10) provided with a system for stabilizing the captured images comprising:
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a camera (14) linked to the drone body, said camera comprising; a hemispherical-field lens of the fisheye type, and a digital sensor acquiring the image formed by the lens, where only one part, located inside a capture area (ZC), of the pixels of the image formed on the digital sensor is captured to deliver raw pixel data; an inertial unit (50), adapted to measure the Euler angles (φ
, θ
, ψ
) describing the instantaneous attitude of the drone with respect to an absolute terrestrial reference system;an extractor module (52), receiving as an input said raw pixel data of said capture area (ZC) and delivering as an output pixel data of an image area (ZI) of reduced size inside the capture area and corresponding to an angular sector (36) captured by a conventional camera; and a feedback-control module (54, 56), receiving as an input angle values delivered by the inertial unit, and adapted to dynamically modify the position and the orientation of the image area inside the capture area, in the direction opposite to that of the changes of the angle values measured by the inertial unit, characterized in that; the digital sensor is able to operate according to a plurality of different configurations of operation, able to be dynamically selected during a same sequence of image taking of the camera, said configurations of operation comprising; a base configuration using a base capture area (ZCB) as a capture area (ZC), and at least one degraded mode configuration using as a capture area (ZC) an extended capture area (ZCE) of greater size than the base capture area (ZCB), with application to the pixels of the extended capture area of a conversion processing adapted to reduce the size of the extended capture area to that of the base capture area, and it is further provided a compensator module (58), receiving as an input successive values of roll angle (θ
) of the drone delivered by the inertial unit, and adapted to dynamically modify the current configuration of operation of the digital sensor so that the digital sensor operates;according to the base configuration for roll angle values (θ
) lower than a first limit, andaccording to a degraded mode configuration for roll angle values (θ
) higher than a second limit.- View Dependent Claims (3)
and wherein the compensator module is further adapted to dynamically modifies the current configuration of operation of the digital sensor such that the digital sensor operates; according to the base configuration for roll angle values lower than the first limit, according to the moderately degraded mode configuration for roll angle values higher than the second limit and lower than the third limit, and according to the strongly degraded mode configuration for roll angle values higher than those of the third limit.
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2. (canceled)
Specification