Digital image acquisition system with portrait mode
First Claim
1. A portable digital image acquisition apparatus having no photographic film (hereinafter “
- portable apparatus”
), the portable apparatus comprising a housing that contains an image sensor and a lens for capturing digital images and a flash unit coupled with the housing for providing illumination during image capture, the portable apparatus having a portrait mode for generating in-camera an image of a foreground object against a blurred background, the portrait mode being operable to capture first, second and third images of nominally the same scene, not necessarily in the order stated, one of the first and second images being taken with flash and the other being taken without flash, and the third image being blurred compared to the first and second images, the portrait mode further being operable to determine foreground and background regions of the scene using the first and second images, and to substitute the blurred background of the third image for the background of an in focus image of the scene, thereby generating in-camera a digital image of an in-focus foreground object against a blurred background, wherein the in-focus image comprises one of the first and second images, wherein the first and second images have different pixel resolutions with the in-focus image having the higher resolution, and the apparatus is further configured to determine the foreground and background regions including matching pixel resolutions of the first and second images by at least one of up-sampling the image of lower resolution and sub-sampling the image of higher resolution.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A digital image acquisition system having no photographic film comprises an apparatus for capturing digital images and a flash unit for providing illumination during image capture. The system has a portrait mode for generating an image of a foreground object against a blurred background, the portrait mode being operable to capture first, second and third images (A, B and C) of nominally the same scene. One of the first and second images (A, B) is taken with flash and the other is taken without flash, and the third image (C) is blurred compared to the first and second images. The portrait mode is further operable to determine foreground and background regions of the scene using the first and second images (A, B), and to substitute the blurred background of the third image (C) for the background of an in-focus image of the scene. In one embodiment the in-focus image is one of the first and second images. In another embodiment the in-focus image is a fourth image.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A portable digital image acquisition apparatus having no photographic film (hereinafter “
- portable apparatus”
), the portable apparatus comprising a housing that contains an image sensor and a lens for capturing digital images and a flash unit coupled with the housing for providing illumination during image capture, the portable apparatus having a portrait mode for generating in-camera an image of a foreground object against a blurred background, the portrait mode being operable to capture first, second and third images of nominally the same scene, not necessarily in the order stated, one of the first and second images being taken with flash and the other being taken without flash, and the third image being blurred compared to the first and second images, the portrait mode further being operable to determine foreground and background regions of the scene using the first and second images, and to substitute the blurred background of the third image for the background of an in focus image of the scene, thereby generating in-camera a digital image of an in-focus foreground object against a blurred background, wherein the in-focus image comprises one of the first and second images, wherein the first and second images have different pixel resolutions with the in-focus image having the higher resolution, and the apparatus is further configured to determine the foreground and background regions including matching pixel resolutions of the first and second images by at least one of up-sampling the image of lower resolution and sub-sampling the image of higher resolution. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
- portable apparatus”
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12. A portable digital image acquisition apparatus having no photographic film (hereinafter “
- portable apparatus”
), the portable apparatus comprising a housing that contains an image sensor and a lens for capturing digital images and a flash unit coupled with the housing for providing illumination during image capture, the portable apparatus having a portrait mode for generating in-camera an image of a foreground object against a blurred background, the portrait mode being operable to capture first, second and third images of nominally the same scene, not necessarily in the order stated, one of the first and second images being taken with flash and the other being taken without flash, and the third image being blurred compared to the first and second images, the portrait mode further being operable to determine foreground and background regions of the scene using the first and second images, and to substitute the blurred background of the third image for the background of an in focus image of the scene, thereby generating in-camera a digital image of an in-focus foreground object against a blurred background, wherein the in-focus image comprises a fourth image captured in the portrait mode, wherein the first and second images have a lower pixel resolution than the fourth image, wherein the first and second images are pre- and/or post-view images, and the apparatus is further configured to provide the image of the in-focus foreground object against the blurred background including matching pixel resolutions of one or more images at the lower resolution of the first and/or second images with the third and/or fourth image by at least one of up-sampling the image of lower resolution and sub-sampling the image of higher resolution.
- portable apparatus”
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13. An in-camera method of generating a digital image of a foreground object against a blurred background within a portable digital image acquisition apparatus having no photographic film (hereinafter “
- portable apparatus”
), the portable apparatus comprising a housing that contains an image sensor and a lens for capturing digital images and a flash unit coupled with the housing for providing illumination during image capture, the method comprising;capturing with said portable apparatus first, second and third images of nominally the same scene, not necessarily in the order stated, one of the first and second images being taken with flash and the other being taken without flash, and the third image being blurred compared to the first and second images, determining foreground and background regions of the scene using the first and second images, and substituting the blurred background of the third image for the background of an in focus image of the scene, thereby generating in-camera a digital image of an in-focus foreground object against a blurred background, wherein the in-focus image comprises one of the first and second images, wherein the first and second images have different pixel resolutions with the in-focus image having the higher resolution, and wherein the apparatus is further configured to determine the foreground and background regions including matching pixel resolutions of the first and second images by at least one of up-sampling the image of lower resolution and sub-sampling the image of higher resolution.
- portable apparatus”
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14. An in-camera method of generating a digital image of a foreground object against a blurred background within a portable digital image acquisition apparatus having no photographic film (hereinafter “
- portable apparatus”
), the portable adulates comprising a housing that contains an image sensor and a lens for capturing digital images and a flash unit coupled with the housing for providing illumination during image capture, the method comprising;capturing with said portable apparatus first, second and third images of nominally the same scene, not necessarily in the order stated, one of the first and second images being taken with flash and the other being taken without flash, and the third image being blurred compared to the first and second images, determining foreground and background regions of the scene using the first and second images, and substituting the blurred background of the third image for the background of an in focus image of the scene, thereby generating in-camera a digital image of an in-focus foreground object against a blurred background, and wherein the in-focus image comprises a fourth image, and wherein the first and second images have a lower pixel resolution than the fourth image, and wherein the first and second images have a lower pixel resolution than the fourth image, wherein the first and second images are pre- and/or post-view images, and wherein the method further comprises matching pixel resolutions of one or more images at the lower resolution of the first and/or second images with the third and/or fourth image by at least one of up-sampling the image of lower resolution and sub-sampling the image of higher resolution.
- portable apparatus”
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15. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform on in-camera method of generating a digital image of a foreground object against a blurred background within a portable digital image acquisition apparatus having no photographic film (hereinafter “
- portable apparatus”
), the portable apparatus comprising a housing that contains an image sensor and a lens for capturing digital images and a flash unit coupled with the housing for providing illumination during image capture, the method comprising;
capturing with said portable apparatus first, second and third images of nominally the same scene, not necessarily in the order stated, one of the first and second images being taken with flash and the other being taken without flash, and the third image being blurred compared to the first and second images,determining foreground and background regions of the scene using the first and second images, and substituting the blurred background of the third image for the background of an in focus image of the scene, thereby generating in-camera a digital image of an in-focus foreground object against a blurred background, wherein the in-focus image comprises one of the first and second images, wherein the first and second images have different pixel resolutions with the in-focus image having the higher resolution, and wherein the apparatus is further configured to determine the foreground and background regions including matching pixel resolutions of the first and second images by at least one of up-sampling the image of lower resolution and sub-sampling the image of higher resolution.
- portable apparatus”
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16. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform an in-camera method of generating a digital image of a foreground object against a blurred background within a portable digital image acquisition apparatus having no photographic film (hereinafter “
- portable apparatus”
), the portable apparatus comprising a housing that contains an image sensor and a lens for capturing digital images and a flash unit coupled with the housing for providing illumination during image capture, the method comprising;capturing with said portable apparatus first, second and third images of nominally the same scene, not necessarily in the order stated, one of the first and second images being taken with flash and the other being taken without flash, and the third image being blurred compared to the first and second images, determining foreground and background regions of the scene using the first and second images, and substituting the blurred background of the third image for the background of an in focus image of the scene, thereby generating in-camera a digital image of an in-focus foreground object against a blurred background, and wherein the in-focus image comprises a fourth image, wherein the first and second images have a lower pixel resolution than the fourth image, wherein the first and second images are pre- and/or post-view images, and wherein the method further comprises matching pixel resolutions of one or more images at the lower resolution of the first and/or second images with the third and/or fourth image by at least one of up-sampling the image of lower resolution and sub-sampling the image of higher resolution.
- portable apparatus”
Specification