Enhanced image capture

• US 9,628,702 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2014
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• 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: Petrescu, Doina I., Lay, Thomas T., Petrie, Steven R., Ryan, Bill, Sinha, Snigdha, Vanhoof, Jeffrey S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Nhan T
• Application Number:
  US14/450,553
• Publication Number:
  US 20150341561A1
• Time in Patent Office: 988 Days
• Field of Search: 34833301, 34833302, 3482071, 34820711, 3482111, 3482112, 3482201, 382116
• 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:

entering a viewfinder mode;

capturing video and still images while in the viewfinder mode;

receiving, by the image-capture device, a still-image capture command from a user of the image-capture device;

responsive to receiving the still-image capture command, momentarily entering, by the image-capture device, a still-image capture mode during which the image-capture device captures a first still image and then re-entering the viewfinder mode;

presenting, by the image-capture device, notification that a second still image of a determined quality is available, the second still image captured by the image-capture device during the viewfinder mode and captured in temporal proximity to receipt of the still-image capture command; and

presenting, by the image-capture device, notification that a video segment of a determined quality is available, the video segment from the video captured by the image-capture device during the viewfinder mode.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein a modality of the notification is visual, aural, or haptic.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the notification that the video segment is available comprises presenting, on the display of the image-capture device, at least a portion of the video segment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined quality of the second still image is determined from face-detection information, pixel-frame statistics, activity detection, or scene analysis.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the determined quality of the video segment is determined from activity detection, intra-frame and inter-frame motion, or face detection.

6. The method of claim 5 where, in response to a user command, the video segment is further processed, by the image-capture device, through application of video compression techniques and copied, by the image-capture device, into longer term storage media on the image-capture device.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the viewfinder mode is entered, by the image-capture device, upon determination by the image-capture device that the mode is desired.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the viewfinder mode is entered, by the image-capture device, in response to a command from the user.

9. An image-capture device comprising:

an image-capture system configured for a viewfinder mode for capturing video and still images and, upon receipt of a still-image capture command, momentarily entering a still-image capture mode for capturing a first still image and then re-entering the viewfinder mode;

a user interface configured for receiving the still-image capture command from a user of the image-capture device; and

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

presenting a notification that a second still image of a determined quality is available, the second still image captured by the image-capture device during the viewfinder mode and captured in temporal proximity to receipt of the image capture command; and

presenting a notification that a video segment of a determined quality is available, the video segment from video captured by the image-capture device during the viewfinder mode.

10. The image-capture device of claim 9 wherein the image-capture device is a camera, a cellphone, or a tablet computer.

11. The image-capture device of claim 9 wherein a modality of the notification visual, aural, or haptic.

12. The image-capture device of claim 11 wherein presenting the notification of the availability of the video segment of the determined quality comprises presenting, on the display of the image-capture device, at least a portion of the video segment.

13. The image-capture device of claim 9 wherein presenting the notification of availability of the second still image of the determined quality comprises presenting, on a display of the image-capture device, a small version of the second still image of the determined quality.

14. The image-capture device of claim 13 where, in response to a user command, the full version of the second still image of the determined quality is presented on the display of the image-capture device.

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

entering a viewfinder mode;

capturing video while in the viewfinder mode;

receiving, by the image-capture device, a still-image capture command from a user of the image-capture device;

responsive to receiving the still-image capture command entering, by the image-capture device, a gallery mode;

presenting, on the image-capture device, a plurality of still images captured by the image-capture device in temporal proximity to receipt of the still-image capture command while in the viewfinder mode; and

automatically highlighting, from the plurality of captured still images, still images of a determined quality.