CAMERA WITH MULTIPLE VIEWFINDERS

• US 20130063626A1
• Filed: 03/06/2012
• Published: 03/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: BOCKING, Andrew, ANDRADE, Russell
• Granted Patent: US 8,681,246 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/240.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/632 for displaying or modifying preview images prior to image capturing, e.g. variety of image resolutions or capturing parameters

Abstract

A method and apparatus for controlling the display of a portable electronic device having a camera application, a viewfinder having at least two viewfinder resolutions, and a sensor array, is provided. When a zoom level of the camera application is 1×, a first image is generated by scaling a predetermined number of rows and columns of pixels of the sensor array to a first viewfinder resolution at a given frame rate. When the zoom level is greater than 1×, a region of interest of the predetermined number of rows and columns of pixels is cropped in accordance with the zoom level and a second image is generated by scaling the cropped region of interest to a second viewfinder resolution smaller than the first viewfinder resolution at a frame rate higher than the given frame rate.

Claims

1. A method in a portable electronic device having a camera application, a viewfinder having at least two viewfinder resolutions, and a sensor array, the method comprising:

when a zoom level of the camera application is 1×

, generating a first image by scaling a predetermined number of rows and columns of pixels of the sensor array to a first viewfinder resolution at a given frame rate; and

when the zoom level is greater than 1×

, cropping a region of interest of the predetermined number of rows and columns of pixels in accordance with the zoom level and generating a second image by scaling the cropped region of interest to a second viewfinder resolution smaller than the first viewfinder resolution at a frame rate higher than the given frame rate.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the viewfinder resolutions comprise one or more of 240×

180 and 320×

240.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the predetermined number of rows and columns of pixels is 1600×

1200.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the 1600×

1200 pixels are scaled to 320×

240 for a 1×

zoom level.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the 1600×

1200 pixels are cropped to 800×

600 and scaled to 320×

240 for a 2×

zoom level.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the 1600×

1200 pixels are cropped to 400×

300 and scaled to 320×

240 for a 4×

zoom level.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a rate at which image data is clocked out is proportional to an amount of zoom being applied during a digital zoom operation.

8. A portable electronic device comprising:

a sensor array having a predetermined number of rows and columns of pixels for converting light into electronic signals at a first frame rate;

a camera application;

a viewfinder comprising at least two viewfinder resolutions for displaying images for the camera application; and

,

a processor coupled to the sensor array and the viewfinder and enabled to;

when a zoom level of the camera application is 1×

, generate a first image by scaling a predetermined number of rows and columns of pixels of the sensor array to a first viewfinder resolution at a given frame rate; and

when the zoom level is greater than 1×

;

crop a region of interest of the predetermined number of rows and columns of pixels in accordance with the zoom level; and

,

generate a second image by scaling the cropped region of interest to a second viewfinder resolution smaller than the first viewfinder resolution at a frame rate higher than the given frame rate.

9. The device of claim 8, further comprising at least one user input for receiving an indication of the zoom level and a viewfinder resolution.

10. The device of claim 9 wherein the at least one user input comprises a microphone for voice activating the processor to generate an image according to one of either an enlarged or reduced field of view of the image on the viewfinder based on user voice commands.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the at least one user input is a microphone for voice activating the processor to crop the region of interest based on user voice commands.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein the at least one user input comprises a multidirectional input device and wherein the processor is further enabled to receive input from the multidirectional input device and to generate the images according to one of either an enlarged or reduced field of view on the viewfinder depending on a direction of the input.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further enabled to receive a signal corresponding to the multidirectional input device being depressed, and, responsive to the signal, capture for saving on a persistent storage device a captured image;

the captured image corresponding to an image on the viewfinder.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the input in a first direction is indicative of zooming-in and input in a second direction is indicative of zooming-out.

15. The device of claim 8, wherein the viewfinder resolutions comprise one or more of 240×

180 and 320×

240.

16. The device of claim 8, wherein the predetermined number of rows and columns of pixels is 1600×

1200.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the processor is further enabled to scale the 1600×

1200 pixels to 320×

240 for a 1×

zoom level.

18. The device of claim 16, wherein the processor is further enabled to crop the 1600×

1200 pixels to 800×

600 and scale the pixels to 320×

240 for a 2×

zoom level.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the processor is further enabled to crop the 1600×

1200 pixels to 400×

300 and scale the pixels to 320×

240 for a 4×

zoom level.

20. The device of claim 8, wherein a rate at which image data is clocked out is proportional to an amount of zoom being applied during a digital zoom operation.

21. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method comprising:

when a zoom level of the camera application is 1×

, generating a first image by scaling a predetermined number of rows and columns of pixels of the sensor array to a first viewfinder resolution at a given frame rate; and

when the zoom level is greater than 1×

, cropping a region of interest of the predetermined number of rows and columns of pixels in accordance with the zoom level and generating a second image by scaling the cropped region of interest to a second viewfinder resolution smaller than the first viewfinder resolution at a frame rate higher than the given frame rate.