Enhanced image capture

• US 9,571,727 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2014
• Issued: 02/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Lay, Thomas T
• Primary Examiner(s): Monk, Mark T
• Application Number:
  US14/450,573
• Publication Number:
  US 20150341550A1
• Time in Patent Office: 925 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00 Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/21 Intermediate information storage H04N1/387, H04N1/41 take precedence ; for control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32358; indexing, editing G11B27/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/212 Motion video recording combined with still video recording television signal recording H04N5/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2145 of a sequence of images for selection of a single frame before final recording, e.g. from a continuous sequence captured before and after shutter-release
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/215 Recording a sequence of still pictures, e.g. burst mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3247 Data linking a set of images to one another, e.g. sequence, burst or continuous capture mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/60 Control of cameras or camera modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/61 based on recognised objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/631 Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters
• 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 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6811 based on the image signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6812 based on additional sensors, e.g. acceleration sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/683 performed by a processor, e.g. controlling the readout of an image memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof

Abstract

Disclosed are techniques that provide a “best” picture taken within a few seconds of the moment when a capture command is received (e.g., when the “shutter” button is pressed). In some situations, several still images are automatically (that is, without the user'"'"'s input) captured. These images are compared to find a “best” image that is presented to the photographer for consideration. Video is also captured automatically and analyzed to see if there is an action scene or other motion content around the time of the capture command. If the analysis reveals anything interesting, then the video clip is presented to the photographer. The video clip may be cropped to match the still-capture scene and to remove transitory parts. Higher-precision horizon detection may be provided based on motion analysis and on pixel-data analysis.

Claims

1. A method on an image-capture device, the method comprising:

capturing, within a viewfinder mode and by the image-capture device, a first still image and a plurality of still images in temporal proximity to the first still image;

first analyzing, by the image-capture device, motion-sensor data associated with the capturing of the first still image and the plurality of still images;

second analyzing, by the image-capture device, the captured first still image;

based on the first and second analyzing, detecting a horizon in the captured first still image; and

selecting, by the image capture device and based on the detected horizon in the captured first still image, a still image from the plurality of captured still images, the selected still image being more level than the captured first still image.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the selected still image is further based on an element, the element being motion-sensor data, face-detection information, pixel-frame statistics, activity detection, camera-sensor metadata, camera-sensor state, input from scene analysis, a stated preference of a user of the image-capture device, past behavior of the user of the image-capture device, a privacy setting, or information received from a server remote from the image-capture device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the viewfinder mode is automatically entered.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected horizon is used to further process and rotate the selected still image to be level.

5. An image-capture device comprising:

an image-capture system configured for capturing, within a viewfinder mode, a first still image and a plurality of still images in temporal proximity to the first still image; and

a processing system operatively connected to the image-capture system and configured for;

first analyzing motion-sensor data associated with the capturing of the first still image and the plurality of still images;

second analyzing the captured first still image; and

based on the first and second analyzing, detecting a horizon in the captured first still image; and

selecting, based on the detected horizon in the captured first still image, a still image from the plurality of captured still images, the selected still image being more level than the captured first still image.

6. The image-capture device of claim 5 wherein the image-capture device is a camera, a cellphone, or a tablet computer.

7. The image-capture device of claim 5 wherein selecting the selected still image is further based on an element, the element being motion-sensor data, face-detection information, pixel-frame statistics, activity detection, camera-sensor metadata, camera-sensor state, input from scene analysis, a stated preference of a user of the image-capture device, past behavior of the user of the image-capture device, a privacy setting, or information received from a server remote from the image-capture device.

8. The image-capture device of claim 5, wherein the image-capture system automatically enters the viewfinder mode prior to capturing the first still image and the plurality of still images.

9. The image-capture device of claim 5, wherein the image-capture system is further configured to process and rotate the selected still image into level.

10. A method on an image-capture device, the method comprising:

capturing, within a viewfinder mode and by the image-capture device, a video including a first captured frame;

determining, based on motion sensor data associated with capturing of the video, a horizon in the first captured frame, the horizon indicating that the first captured frame is of low quality;

analyzing the video for other captured frames to determine one or more other captured frames having a quality higher than the low quality of the first captured frame; and

responsive to a determination of one or more other captured frames having a quality higher than first captured frame of low quality, presenting a notification to a user of the image-capture device, the notification indicating that the one or more other captured frames are available.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determined horizon is used to further process and rotate the video into level.