Method and apparatus for transferring image data from an internal camera module
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method comprising:
- transferring image information from a camera module to an electronic device, wherein the camera module is constructed as an integral part of the electronic device, by;
capturing an image in the camera module by means of an image sensor comprising pixels which convert light to which the pixels are exposed into an analogue signal, the image being captured at a maximum resolution by using every pixel in the image sensor;
converting said analogue signal into digital image information by analogue-to-digital conversion,in response to the digital image information having been captured at the maximum resolution by the camera module, using the electronic device for determining whether the captured digital image information is to be transferred to the electronic device as captured, or in a reduced form suitable for a view finder mode display, said reduced form comprising image information from substantially the entire image area of the digital image information captured by using every pixel in the image sensor; and
transferring a selected form of the digital image information from the camera module to the electronic device via an internal serial connection bus of the electronic device.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method transfers image information from a camera module (1) to an electronic device, such as a mobile station (23). In the camera module (1), an image is formed by an image sensor (2) having pixels, where the light to which the pixel (P1,1-Pm,n) is exposed is converted into an analog signal which is converted into digital image information. The image information is transferred in serial form, and the transfer of the image information is controlled by the electronic device (23).
34 Citations
40 Claims
-
1. A method comprising:
-
transferring image information from a camera module to an electronic device, wherein the camera module is constructed as an integral part of the electronic device, by; capturing an image in the camera module by means of an image sensor comprising pixels which convert light to which the pixels are exposed into an analogue signal, the image being captured at a maximum resolution by using every pixel in the image sensor; converting said analogue signal into digital image information by analogue-to-digital conversion, in response to the digital image information having been captured at the maximum resolution by the camera module, using the electronic device for determining whether the captured digital image information is to be transferred to the electronic device as captured, or in a reduced form suitable for a view finder mode display, said reduced form comprising image information from substantially the entire image area of the digital image information captured by using every pixel in the image sensor; and transferring a selected form of the digital image information from the camera module to the electronic device via an internal serial connection bus of the electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A camera module constructed as an integral part of an electronic device, the camera module comprising:
-
an image sensor with pixels for conducting photoelectric conversion, and an analogue-to-digital converter for conversion of an analogue signal generated by said pixels into digital image information, the digital image information being captured at a maximum resolution by using all of the pixels of the image sensor, the camera module further comprising; a serial connection circuit for transferring digital image information to the electronic device and for receiving control information from the electronic device, wherein said control information operates to determine the amount of the digital image information, captured by the camera module, to be transferred to the electronic device, and further wherein, in response to the digital image information having been captured at the maximum resolution, said control information operates to determine whether the captured digital image information is to be transferred to the electronic device as captured, or in a reduced form suitable for a view finder mode display, said reduced form comprising image information from substantially the entire image area of the captured digital image information captured by using all of the pixels of the image sensor, the captured digital image information being captured at a maximum resolution by the camera module, via an internal serial connection bus of the electronic device and further wherein said control is executed by the electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
-
-
26. A mobile station, comprising a camera module constructed as an integral part of the mobile station, the camera module comprising an image sensor with pixels for conducting photoelectric conversion, an analogue-to-digital converter for converting an analogue signal generated by the image sensor into digital image information captured at a maximum resolution by using every pixel in the image sensor, the mobile station comprising an internal serial connection bus for transferring digital image information from the camera module to the mobile station, and in response to the digital image information having been captured at the maximum resolution, said control information operates to determine whether the digital image information is to be transferred to the mobile station as captured, or in a reduced form suitable for a view finder mode display, said reduced form comprising image information from substantially the entire image area of the captured digital image information captured by using every pixel of the image sensor;
- and to control the transfer of the selected form of the digital image information formed from the camera module to the mobile station, further wherein said control is executed by the mobile station.
- View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
-
38. A method comprising:
-
transferring image information from a camera module to an electronic device, the camera module constructed as a non-removable, integral part of the electronic device, the method further comprising; capturing an image in the camera module at a maximum resolution, by means of an image sensor comprising pixels which convert light to which the pixels are exposed into an analogue signal, using every pixel in the image sensor; converting said analogue signal into digital image information by analogue-to-digital conversion, and in response to the digital image information having been captured at the maximum resolution by the camera module, using the electronic device for determining, whether the digital image information, after having been captured by the camera module at a maximum resolution, is to be transferred to the electronic device as captured, or in a reduced form suitable for a view finder mode display, said reduced form comprising image information from substantially the entire image area of the digital image information captured using every pixel of the image sensor; and transferring a selected form of the digital image information from the camera module to the electronic device via an internal serial connection bus of the electronic device.
-
-
39. A camera module constructed as a non-removable, integral part of an electronic device, the camera module comprising an image sensor with pixels for conducting photoelectric conversion, and an analogue-to-digital converter for conversion of an analogue signal generated by said pixels into digital image information, the digital image information being captured at a maximum resolution by using every pixel in the image sensor, the camera module further comprising a serial connection circuit for transferring digital image information to the electronic device and for receiving control information from the electronic device, wherein, in response to the digital image information having been captured at the maximum resolution by the camera module, said control information operates to determine the amount of the digital image information to be transferred to the electronic device, and further wherein said control information operates to determine, whether the digital image information, after having been captured by the camera module at the maximum resolution, is to be transferred to the electronic device as captured, or in a reduced form suitable for a view finder mode display, said reduced comprising image information from substantially the entire image area of the digital image information captured by using every pixel in the image sensor via said serial connection circuit to the electronic device and further wherein said control is executed by the electronic device.
-
40. An apparatus comprising:
-
a mobile station; a camera module that is a non-removable, integral part of the mobile station, the camera module comprising an image sensor with pixels for conducting photoelectric conversion, an analogue-to-digital converter for converting an analogue signal generated by the image sensor into digital image information, the digital image information being captured at a maximum resolution by using every pixel in the image sensor; the mobile station comprising an internal serial connection bus for transferring digital image information from the camera module to the mobile station and, in response to the digital image information having been captured at the maximum resolution by the camera module for transferring control information relating to, said control information operating to determine whether the digital image information is to be transferred to the mobile station as captured, or in a reduced form suitable for a view finder mode display, said reduced form comprising image information from substantially the entire image area of the digital image information captured by using every pixel in the image sensor; and
to control the transfer of the selected form of the digital image information from the camera module to the mobile station, and further wherein said control is executed by the mobile station.
-
Specification