Image acquisition method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A digital image acquisition apparatus, comprising:
- an image acquisition sensor coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images;
an image store for storing one or more of said sequence of images acquired by said sensor;
a dedicated motion detector hardware unit for providing hardware-based sensor control including causing said sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement of the apparatus in acquiring said image exceeds a threshold, and for selectively transferring said one or more of said images acquired by said sensor to said image store;
a temporary image cache for receiving image data directly from said image acquisition sensor; and
a dedicated motion extractor hardware unit configured for directly accessing said image data received at said temporary image cache and for providing hardware-based determination of motion parameters of at least one selected image stored in said temporary cache based on analyzing said image data received at said temporary image cache,wherein the dedicated motion extractor hardware unit is configured toestimate a point spread function (PSF) for said selected image; and
tocalculate a Cepstrum for said selected image;
identify one or more spikes in said Cepstrum; and
select one of said spikes in said Cepstrum as an end point for said PSF.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An image acquisition sensor of a digital image acquisition apparatus is coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images. Images acquired by the sensor are stored. A motion detector causes the sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement in acquiring the image exceeds a threshold. A controller selectively transfers acquired images for storage. A motion extractor determines motion parameters of a selected, stored image. An image re-constructor corrects the selected image with associated motion parameters. A selected plurality of images nominally of the same scene are merged and corrected by the image re-constructor to produce a high quality image of the scene.
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Citations
70 Claims
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1. A digital image acquisition apparatus, comprising:
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an image acquisition sensor coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images; an image store for storing one or more of said sequence of images acquired by said sensor; a dedicated motion detector hardware unit for providing hardware-based sensor control including causing said sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement of the apparatus in acquiring said image exceeds a threshold, and for selectively transferring said one or more of said images acquired by said sensor to said image store; a temporary image cache for receiving image data directly from said image acquisition sensor; and a dedicated motion extractor hardware unit configured for directly accessing said image data received at said temporary image cache and for providing hardware-based determination of motion parameters of at least one selected image stored in said temporary cache based on analyzing said image data received at said temporary image cache, wherein the dedicated motion extractor hardware unit is configured to estimate a point spread function (PSF) for said selected image; and
tocalculate a Cepstrum for said selected image; identify one or more spikes in said Cepstrum; and select one of said spikes in said Cepstrum as an end point for said PSF. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A digital image acquisition apparatus, comprising:
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an image acquisition sensor coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images; an image store for storing one or more of said sequence of images acquired by said sensor; a dedicated motion detector hardware unit for providing hardware-based control of said sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement of the apparatus in acquiring said image exceeds a first threshold, and for controlling the sensor to restart capture when the degree of movement of the apparatus is less than a given second threshold and for selectively transferring said one or more of said sequence of images acquired by said sensor to said image store; a temporary image cache for receiving image data directly from said image acquisition sensor; and a dedicated motion extractor hardware unit configured for directly accessing said image data received at said temporary image cache and for providing hardware-based determination of motion parameters of at least one selected image stored in said temporary cache based on analyzing said image data received at said temporary image cache, wherein the dedicated motion extractor hardware unit is configured to estimate a point spread function (PSF) for said selected image; and
tocalculate a Cepstrum for said selected image; identify one or more spikes in said Cepstrum; and select one of said spikes in said Cepstrum as an end point for said PSF. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A digital image acquisition apparatus, comprising:
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an image acquisition sensor coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images; an image store for storing one or more of said images acquired by said sensor; a dedicated motion detector hardware unit for providing hardware-based control of said sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement of the apparatus in acquiring said image exceeds a threshold; a controller for selectively transferring said one or more of said images acquired by said sensor to said image store; a temporary image cache for receiving image data directly from said image acquisition sensor; and a dedicated motion extractor hardware unit configured for directly accessing said image data received at said temporary image cache and for providing hardware-based determination of motion parameters of at least one selected image stored in said temporary cache based on analyzing said image data received at said temporary image cache, wherein the dedicated motion extractor hardware unit is configured to; calculate a Cepstrum for said selected image; identify one or more spikes in said Cepstrum; and select one of said spikes in said Cepstrum as an end point for said hardware-based determination of motion parameters. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A digital image acquisition apparatus, comprising:
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an image acquisition sensor coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images; an image store for storing one or more of said images acquired by said sensor; a dedicated motion detector hardware unit for providing hardware-based control of said sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement of the apparatus in acquiring said image exceeds a first threshold; one or more controllers that causes the sensor to restart capture when the degree of movement of the apparatus is less than a given second threshold and that selectively transfers said one or more of said images acquired by said sensor to said image store; a temporary image cache for receiving image data directly from said image acquisition sensor; and a dedicated motion extractor hardware unit configured for directly accessing said image data received at said temporary image cache and for providing hardware-based determination of motion parameters of at least one selected image stored in said temporary cache based on analyzing said image data received at said temporary image cache, wherein the dedicated motion extractor hardware unit is configured to; calculate a Cepstrum for said selected image; identify one or more spikes in said Cepstrum; and select one of said spikes in said Cepstrum as an end point for said hardware-based determination of motion parameters. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. One or more dedicated hardware units for installation within a digital image acquisition apparatus having an image acquisition sensor coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images, a temporary image cache for receiving image data directly from said image acquisition sensor, and an image store for storing one or more of said sequence of images acquired by said sensor, the one or more dedicated hardware units comprising:
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a dedicated motion detector hardware unit for providing hardware-based sensor control including causing said sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement of the apparatus in acquiring said image exceeds a threshold, and for selectively transferring said one or more of said images acquired by said sensor to said image store; and a dedicated motion extractor hardware unit configured for directly accessing said image data received at said temporary image cache and for providing hardware-based determination of motion parameters of at least one selected image stored in said temporary cache based on analyzing said image data received at said temporary image cache, wherein said dedicated motion extractor hardware unit is configured to; estimate a point spread function (PSF) for said selected image; and
tocalculate a Cepstrum for said selected image; identify one or more spikes in said Cepstrum; and select one of said spikes in said Cepstrum as an end point for said PSF. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. One or more dedicated hardware units for installation within a digital image acquisition apparatus having an image acquisition sensor coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images, a temporary image cache for receiving image data directly from an image acquisition sensor, and an image store for storing one or more of said sequence of images acquired by said sensor, the one or more dedicated hardware units comprising:
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a dedicated motion detector hardware unit for providing hardware-based control of said sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement of the apparatus in acquiring said image exceeds a first threshold, and for controlling the sensor to restart capture when the degree of movement of the apparatus is less than a given second threshold and for selectively transferring said one or more of said sequence of images acquired by said sensor to said image store; and a dedicated motion extractor hardware unit configured for directly accessing said image data received at said temporary image cache and for providing hardware-based determination of motion parameters of at least one selected image stored in said temporary cache based on analyzing said image data received at said temporary image cache, wherein the dedicated motion extractor hardware unit is configured to; calculate a Cepstrum for said selected image; identify one or more spikes in said Cepstrum; and select one of said spikes in said Cepstrum as an end point for said hardware-based determination of motion parameters. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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56. One or more dedicated hardware units for installation within a digital image acquisition apparatus having an image acquisition sensor coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images, a temporary image cache for receiving image data directly from an image acquisition sensor, and an image store for storing one or more of said sequence of images acquired by said sensor, the one or more dedicated hardware units comprising:
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a dedicated motion detector hardware unit for providing hardware-based control of said sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement of the apparatus in acquiring said image exceeds a threshold; a controller for selectively transferring said one or more of said images acquired by said sensor to said image store; and a dedicated motion extractor hardware unit configured for directly accessing said image data received at said temporary image cache and for providing hardware-based determination of motion parameters of at least one selected image stored in said temporary cache based on analyzing said image data received at said temporary image cache, wherein the dedicated motion extractor hardware unit is configured to; calculate a Cepstrum for said selected image; identify one or more spikes in said Cepstrum; and select one of said spikes in said Cepstrum as an end point for said hardware-based determination of motion parameters. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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63. One or more dedicated hardware units for installation within a digital image acquisition apparatus having an image acquisition sensor coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images, a temporary image cache for receiving image data directly from an image acquisition sensor, and an image store for storing one or more of said sequence of images acquired by said sensor, the one or more dedicated hardware units comprising:
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a dedicated motion detector hardware unit for providing hardware-based control of said sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement of the apparatus in acquiring said image exceeds a first threshold; one or more controllers that causes the sensor to restart capture when the degree of movement of the apparatus is less than a given second threshold and that selectively transfers said one or more of said images acquired by said sensor to said image store; and a dedicated motion extractor hardware unit configured for directly accessing said image data received at said temporary image cache and for providing hardware-based determination of motion parameters of at least one selected image stored in said temporary cache based on analyzing said image data received at said temporary image cache, wherein the dedicated motion extractor hardware unit is configured to; calculate a Cepstrum for said selected image; identify one or more spikes in said Cepstrum; and select one of said spikes in said Cepstrum as an end point for said hardware-based determination of motion parameters. - View Dependent Claims (64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70)
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Specification