Positional sensor-assisted motion filtering for panoramic photography
First Claim
1. An image processing method, comprising:
- receiving a first stream of images from an image sensor in a device;
receiving rotational information for the device, wherein the rotational information comprises information related to the rotation of the device during the capture of the first stream of images;
storing, based at least in part on the rotational information, a subset of the first stream of images to generate a second sequence of images, wherein the act of storing occurs in response to the rotational information indicating that the device has rotated more than a threshold amount;
discarding the remainder of the first stream of images that are not a part of the subset;
combining a portion of each of the images comprising the second sequence of images so that each combined portion of each image in the second sequence of images overlaps at least one other portion of one other image in the second sequence of images; and
blending each of the overlaps between the portions of the images in the second sequence of images to produce a panoramic image,wherein the rate at which the act of storing occurs changes dynamically during the receiving of the first stream of images in response to an amount of rotation imparted to the device.
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Abstract
This disclosure pertains to devices, methods, and computer readable media for perforating positional sensor-assisted panoramic photography techniques in handheld personal electronic devices. Generalized steps that may be used to carry out the panoramic photography techniques described herein include, but are not necessarily limited to: 1.) acquiring image data from the electronic device'"'"'s image sensor; 2.) performing “motion filtering” on the acquired image data, e.g., using information returned from positional sensors of the electronic device to inform the processing of the image data; 3.) performing image registration between adjacent captured images; 4.) performing geometric corrections on captured image data, e.g., due to perspective changes and/or camera rotation about a non-center of perspective (COP) camera point; and 5.) “stitching” the captured images together to create the panoramic scene, e.g., blending the image data in the overlap area between adjacent captured images. The resultant stitched panoramic image may be cropped before final storage.
98 Citations
31 Claims
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1. An image processing method, comprising:
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receiving a first stream of images from an image sensor in a device; receiving rotational information for the device, wherein the rotational information comprises information related to the rotation of the device during the capture of the first stream of images; storing, based at least in part on the rotational information, a subset of the first stream of images to generate a second sequence of images, wherein the act of storing occurs in response to the rotational information indicating that the device has rotated more than a threshold amount; discarding the remainder of the first stream of images that are not a part of the subset; combining a portion of each of the images comprising the second sequence of images so that each combined portion of each image in the second sequence of images overlaps at least one other portion of one other image in the second sequence of images; and blending each of the overlaps between the portions of the images in the second sequence of images to produce a panoramic image, wherein the rate at which the act of storing occurs changes dynamically during the receiving of the first stream of images in response to an amount of rotation imparted to the device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for generating a panoramic image from a plurality of images taken at a device, the method comprising:
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receiving a first image, wherein the first image is taken with the device at a first position; receiving data indicative of device movement from the first position to a second position; filtering out a second image from the plurality of images based, at least in part, on a determination that the device'"'"'s movement from the first position to the second position has not exceeded a threshold amount of movement, wherein the second image is taken at the second position; receiving data indicative of device movement from the second position to a third position; receiving a third image from the plurality of images, wherein the third image is taken with the device at the third position; performing image registration between the first image and the third image based, at least in part, on a determination that the device'"'"'s movement from the first position to the third position has exceeded the threshold amount of movement; and generating the panoramic image using portions of at least the first image and the third image, wherein the rate at which the act of filtering occurs changes dynamically during the receiving of the plurality of images in response to an amount of rotation imparted to the device. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification