Storyboards for capturing images

• US 9,565,350 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2015
• Issued: 02/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Khawand, Charbel, Milausnic, Robert, Moon, Junghwan, Demandolx, Denis, Glenner, Steve
• Primary Examiner(s): Osinski, Michael
• Application Number:
  US14/828,313
• Publication Number:
  US 20160050355A1
• Time in Patent Office: 540 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/64 Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/222 Studio circuitry; Studio devices; Studio equipment cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors, or control thereof H04N23/00

Abstract

Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of tools and techniques for using storyboards in controlling a camera for capturing images, photographs, or video. According to one exemplary technique, at least two storyboards are stored. In addition, at least one storyboard identifier from a camera application is received. Also, using the storyboard identifier, a storyboard of the stored at least two storyboards is retrieved. The retrieved storyboard includes a sequence of control frames for controlling a camera. Additionally, a sequence of image frames is captured at least by controlling a camera using the retrieved storyboard.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

at least one processor; and

computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, based on execution by the at least one processor, configure the computing device to;

receive multiple storyboard identifiers from a camera program executing on the computing device;

retrieve multiple storyboards, using the storyboard identifiers, each storyboard comprising a plurality of control frames, each control frame including one or more control instructions associated with controlling camera settings and one or more camera instructions associated with capturing a sequence of images; and

capture a sequence of images by executing at least one control instruction from each storyboard to control at least one of a timing or order that at least one of the plurality of control frames is executed during capture of the sequence of images.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the camera program is an application-level program and wherein the retrieving of the multiple storyboard identifiers is in a device driver executing on the at least one processor.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one control instruction comprises an instruction for looping.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more control instructions comprise an instruction for delaying at least one of the plurality of control frames.

5. A method of controlling a camera, comprising:

storing a first camera program and a second camera program in the camera;

storing, by the second camera program, at least two storyboards received from the first camera program during an initialization period to build imaging controls for capturing multishot images automatically;

receiving, in the second camera program, a storyboard identifier from the first camera program after the initialization period and during execution of the first camera program;

using the storyboard identifier and, without further input from the first camera program, retrieving a storyboard of the stored at least two storyboards, the retrieved storyboard comprising a sequence of control frames, each control frame including a set of instructions for controlling the camera including controlling camera settings and for capturing a sequence of single image shots in accordance with the storyboard; and

capturing a sequence of images at least by controlling the camera using the retrieved storyboard.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first camera program is a camera application executing on a processor within the camera, the first camera program controlling the sequence of single shots and the camera settings using the storyboard identifier.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the retrieved storyboard further comprises at least one instruction for modifying an order that control frames of the sequence of control frames are executed.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the storing of the at least two storyboards and the retrieving of the storyboard is performed by a device driver.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the retrieved storyboard further comprises at least one instruction that indicates one or more formats in which image data is captured.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the storyboard comprises at least one camera instruction for setting the camera settings or causing a performance of an operation of the camera.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the set of instructions includes at least one instruction loop that repeats a subset of the set of instructions until a condition is satisfied.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the retrieved storyboard further comprises at least one instruction for delaying execution of a control frame of the sequence of control frames.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein using the retrieved storyboard comprises using at least one control frame in the sequence of control frames to set one or more settings of one or more camera devices.

14. The method of claim 5, wherein the retrieved storyboard is a first storyboard and the using the retrieved storyboard comprises executing a second storyboard of the at least two storyboards based on an instruction in the first storyboard.

15. The method of claim 5, further comprising, synchronizing capture of contextual information with a capture of at least one of the sequence of images.

16. The method of claim 5, wherein the retrieved storyboard further comprises at least one instruction that indicates an image format, wherein the image format comprises an idealized pre-demosaiced raw format, a demosaiced format, or a pre-demosaiced raw format.

17. The method of claim 5, wherein the capturing the sequence of images using the retrieved storyboard comprises, by a device driver, executing a control instruction and camera instructions in synchronization with one or more image captures.

18. One or more computer-readable nonvolatile storage devices storing computer-executable instructions for causing a computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

sending at least one storyboard from a first camera program to a second camera program;

caching the at least one storyboard, the at least one storyboard comprising a sequence of control frames for controlling a camera;

receiving, at the second camera program, a request to execute the at least one storyboard from the first camera program, the request including an identifier of the at least one storyboard; and

using the second camera program, capturing a plurality of image frames at least by executing at least one control frame of the at least one storyboard corresponding to the received identifier, the at least one control frame including a set of instructions for controlling camera settings and for controlling the capturing of the plurality of image frames.

19. The one or more computer-readable nonvolatile storage devices of claim 18, wherein the first camera program is a camera application and the second camera program is a device driver logically positioned between the camera application and a processor executing on the camera.

20. The one or more computer-readable nonvolatile storage devices of claim 18, wherein the retrieved storyboard further comprises at least one instruction for modifying an order that control frames are executed.