Digital camera with built-in lens calibration table
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A digital camera that automatically corrects dust artifact regions within acquired images, comprising:
- (a) an optical system for acquiring an image including a lens assembly and an aperture stop;
(b) an electronic sensor array for collecting image data with multiple pixels that collectively correspond to the acquired image;
(c) a lens calibration table corresponding to said optical system that includes information describing dust location and appearance as a function of optical parameters at least including exit pupil dimension of the lens assembly, or distance of dust from a surface of the electronic sensor array that corresponds to a focal plane of the lens assembly, or both;
(d) a master dust map describing a physical manifestation of dust artifacts on said sensor array;
(e) a manifestation of the master dust map for a specific lens and focal length, calculated as a transformation of the master dust map based on the lens calibration table; and
(f) digital processing electronics including a processor for converting processing the digital data according to programming instructions; and
(g) wherein said dust artifacts are corrected for said acquired image based on the manifestation of the master dust map.
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Abstract
A digital camera that automatically corrects dust artifact regions within acquired images by compiling a dust map includes an optical system for acquiring an image with a corresponding dust calibration table for such optical system, including a lens assembly and an aperture stop, in which the corresponding dust calibration map can reside. A transformation between the dust map and the specific lens calibration table, enables the use for a single dust map in multiple instances of lenses and focal length, without the need to recalibrate the digital camera for each instance.
150 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A digital camera that automatically corrects dust artifact regions within acquired images, comprising:
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(a) an optical system for acquiring an image including a lens assembly and an aperture stop; (b) an electronic sensor array for collecting image data with multiple pixels that collectively correspond to the acquired image; (c) a lens calibration table corresponding to said optical system that includes information describing dust location and appearance as a function of optical parameters at least including exit pupil dimension of the lens assembly, or distance of dust from a surface of the electronic sensor array that corresponds to a focal plane of the lens assembly, or both; (d) a master dust map describing a physical manifestation of dust artifacts on said sensor array; (e) a manifestation of the master dust map for a specific lens and focal length, calculated as a transformation of the master dust map based on the lens calibration table; and (f) digital processing electronics including a processor for converting processing the digital data according to programming instructions; and (g) wherein said dust artifacts are corrected for said acquired image based on the manifestation of the master dust map. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method performed within a digital image acquisition device including a sensor array that is coupled with a lens assembly including optical and signal coupling, the method for automatically correcting dust artifact within images acquired by the device, comprising:
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(a) acquiring one or more initial digital images within said digital acquisition device; (b) determining that certain pixels correspond to dust artifact regions within said mages; (c) receiving through said signal coupling one or more values of one or more extracted parameters relating to the optical system that are embedded within the lens assembly at least including exit pupil dimension of the lens assembly, or distance of dust from a surface of the electronic sensor array that corresponds to a focal plane of the lens assembly, or both; (d) based on a master dust map describing a physical manifestation of dust artifacts on the sensor array, generating manifestation of the master dust map for a specific lens and focal length, calculated as a transformation of the master dust map based on the extracted parameters; and (e) correcting pixels corresponding to correlated dust artifact regions within further digitally-acquired images based on the determining and the one or more extracted parameter values. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method performed within a digital image acquisition device including a sensor array that is coupled with a lens assembly including optical and signal coupling, the method for automatically correcting imaging artifacts within images acquired by the device, comprising:
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(a) acquiring one or more initial digital images within said digital acquisition device; (b) determining that certain pixels correspond to artifact regions within said images; (c) receiving through said signal coupling data based on a lens calibration table corresponding to said lens assembly that includes information describing artifact location and appearance as a function of one or more values of one or more extracted parameters relating to the optical system that are embedded within the lens assembly at least including exit pupil dimension of the lens assembly, or distance of dust from a surface of the electronic sensor array that corresponds to a focal plane of the lens assembly, or both; (d) based on a master dust map describing a physical manifestation of dust artifacts on the sensor array, generating a manifestation of the master dust map for a specific lens and focal length, calculated as a transformation of the master dust map based on the extracted parameters; and (e) correcting pixels corresponding to correlated artifact regions within further digitally-acquired images based on the determining and the one or more extracted parameter values. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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Specification