System and method for capturing image data

• US 20050078197A1
• Filed: 10/08/2003
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ASML Netherlands BV (ASML Holding NV), Carl Zeiss AG (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung), Tarsium B.V.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Gonzalez, Patrick F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,352,390 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/231.990
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8047 using transform coding

Abstract

A digital camera has an image sensor, a capture trigger, a processing system, and a capture buffer having multiple buffer locations. The processing system receives auxiliary image frames from the image sensor and stores each auxiliary image frame in a buffer location. When the capture trigger is activated, a corresponding image frame is received by the processing system from an image sensor and stored in an available buffer location. Blur correction is performed on the corresponding image frame using at least one auxiliary image frame in at least one other buffer location. All buffer locations used for the blur correction are unavailable for storage of other data until the blur correction is complete. In one embodiment, Image frames are continuously stored in the buffer locations not designated as unavailable.

Claims

1. A digital camera for capturing an image comprising:

an image sensor;

a capture trigger;

a capture buffer comprising a plurality of buffer locations, each of which is available for storing image data; and

a processing system configured to receive a plurality of auxiliary image frames from the image sensor and to store each auxiliary image frame in an available buffer location, to detect activation of the capture trigger and receive a corresponding image frame from the image sensor, to store the corresponding image frame in another available buffer location, to perform blur correction on the corresponding image frame using at least one auxiliary image frame, and to designate the buffer locations in which the corresponding image frame and the at least one auxiliary image frame are stored as unavailable for image storage until the blur correction is complete.

2. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the processing system further is configured to perform blur correction on the corresponding image frame using a plurality of auxiliary image frames and to designate the buffer locations in which the plurality of auxiliary image frames are stored as unavailable for image storage until the blur correction is complete.

3. The digital camera of claim 2 wherein the plurality of auxiliary image frames comprise at least one auxiliary image frame before the corresponding image frame and one auxiliary image frame after the corresponding image frame.

4. The digital camera of claim 2 wherein the plurality of auxiliary image frames comprise a plurality of auxiliary image frames before the corresponding image frame.

5. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the processing system further is configured to perform the blur correction by:

determining a blur component from the at least one auxiliary image frame; and

removing the blur component from the corresponding image frame to determine a blur corrected image frame.

6. The digital camera of claim 5 wherein the processing system further is configured to determine the blur component by integrating a blur correction function for the at least one auxiliary image frame.

7. The digital camera of claim 5 wherein the processing system further is configured to remove the blur component from the corresponding image frame by dividing the at least one auxiliary image frame by the blur component to result in the blur corrected image frame.

8. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the processing system further is configured to detect a second activation of the capture trigger and to receive a second corresponding image frame from the image sensor, to store the second corresponding image frame in a second available buffer location, to perform second blur correction on the second corresponding image frame using at least one second auxiliary image frame, and to designate the buffer locations in which the second corresponding image frame and the at least one second auxiliary image frame are stored as unavailable for image storage until the second blur correction is complete

9. The digital camera of claim 1 wherein the processing system further is configured to compress the corresponding image frame prior to storing the corresponding image frame in the another available buffer location with at least one compression algorithm selected from a group consisting of A-law compression, μ

-law compression, and discard mode compression.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting a second activation of the capture trigger at the processing system and storing a second corresponding image frame from the image sensor in a second another available buffer location; and

performing blur correction with the processing system on the second corresponding image frame using at least one second auxiliary image frame.

10. A method for capturing an image in a digital camera, the digital camera comprising an image sensor, a capture trigger, a capture buffer comprising a plurality of buffer locations each of which is available for storing image data, and a processing system, the method comprising:

storing each of a plurality of auxiliary image frames from the image sensor in an available buffer location;

detecting activation of the capture trigger at the processing system and storing a corresponding image frame from the image sensor in another available buffer location; and

performing blur correction with the processing system on the corresponding image frame using at least one auxiliary image frame.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising designating the buffer locations in which the corresponding image frame and the at least one auxiliary image frame are stored as unavailable for image storage until the blur correction is complete.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising performing blur correction on the corresponding image frame using a plurality of auxiliary image frames and designating the buffer locations in which the corresponding image frame and the plurality of auxiliary image frames are stored as unavailable for image storage until the blur correction is complete.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein using a plurality of auxiliary image frames comprises using at least one auxiliary image frame before the corresponding image frame and at least one auxiliary image frame after the corresponding image frame.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein using a plurality of auxiliary image frames comprises using a plurality of auxiliary image frames before the corresponding image frame.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein performing the blur processing step comprises:

determining a blur component from the at least one auxiliary image frame; and

removing the blur component from the corresponding image frame to determine a blur corrected image frame.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the determining the blur component step comprises integrating a blur correction function for the at least one auxiliary image frame.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein removing the blur component from the corresponding image frame to determine the blur corrected image frame comprises dividing the at least one auxiliary image frame by the blur component to result in the blur corrected image frame.

19. The method of claim 10 further comprising compressing the corresponding image frame prior to storing the corresponding image frame in the another available buffer location with at least one compression algorithm selected from a group consisting of A-law compression, μ

-law compression, and discard mode compression.

20. A method for capturing an image in a digital camera, the digital camera comprising an image sensor, a capture trigger, a first section of memory, a second section of memory, and a processing system, the method comprising:

storing each of a plurality of auxiliary image frames from the image sensor in the first section of memory;

detecting activation of the capture trigger at the processing system and storing a corresponding image frame from the image sensor in the second section of memory; and

performing blur correction with the processing system on the corresponding image frame using at least one of the plurality of auxiliary image frames in the first section of memory.