ENHANCED IMAGE CAPTURE

• US 20150341550A1
• Filed: 08/04/2014
• Published: 11/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lay, Thomas T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,571,727 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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, by the image-capture device, a first image;

first analyzing, by the image-capture device, motion-sensor data;

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

based, at least in part, on the first and second analyzing, detecting a horizon in the captured first image.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the captured first image is a still image.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

capturing, by the image-capture device, a plurality of still images, wherein the plurality of still images comprises the captured first image; and

selecting, by the image-capture device, a still image from the plurality of captured images;

wherein selecting a still image is based, at least in part, on the detected horizon in the captured first image.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein selecting a still image is further based, at least in part, on an element selected from the group consisting of:

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, and information received from a server remote from the image-capture device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

correcting the first image;

wherein the correcting is based, at least in part, on the detected horizon.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the captured image is a portion of a video.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

capturing, by the image-capture device, video, wherein the video comprises the captured first image;

third analyzing, by the image-capture device, the captured video; and

if the third analyzing yields an interest score for a segment of the video above a threshold, then presenting, by the image-capture device on a user interface of the image-capture device, a notification that a video is available;

wherein third analyzing the captured video is based, at least in part, on the detected horizon in the captured first image.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the third analyzing is based, at least in part, on an element selected from the group consisting of:

activity detection, intra-frame motion estimation, inter-frame motion estimation, face detection, motion-sensing, camera-state sensing, 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, and information received from a server remote from the image-capture device.

9. An image-capture device comprising:

an image-capture system configured for capturing a first image; and

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

first analyzing motion-sensor data;

second analyzing the captured first image; and

based, at least in part, on the first and second analyzing, detecting a horizon in the captured first image.

10. The image-capture device of claim 9 wherein the device is selected from the group consisting of:

a camera, a cellphone, and a tablet computer.

11. The image-capture device of claim 9 wherein the captured first image is a still image.

12. The image-capture device of claim 11:

wherein the image-capture system is further configured for capturing a plurality of still images, wherein the plurality of still images comprises the captured first image; and

wherein the processing system is further configured for;

selecting a still image from the plurality of captured images;

wherein selecting a still image is based, at least in part, on the detected horizon in the captured first image.

13. The image-capture device of claim 12 wherein selecting a still image is further based, at least in part, on an element selected from the group consisting of:

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, and information received from a server remote from the image-capture device.

14. The image-capture device of claim 9:

wherein the image-capture system is further configured for correcting the first image; and

wherein the correcting is based, at least in part, on the detected horizon.

15. The image-capture device of claim 9 wherein the captured image is a portion of a video.

16. The image-capture device of claim 15:

wherein the image-capture system is further configured for capturing video, wherein the video comprises the captured first image; and

wherein the processing system is further configured for;

third analyzing the captured video; and

if the third analyzing yields an interest score for a segment of the video above a threshold, then presenting, on a user interface of the image-capture device, a notification that a video is available;

wherein third analyzing the captured video is based, at least in part, on the detected horizon in the captured first image.

17. The image-capture device of claim 16 wherein the third analyzing is based, at least in part, on an element selected from the group consisting of:

activity detection, intra-frame motion estimation, inter-frame motion estimation, face detection, motion-sensing, camera-state sensing, 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, and information received from a server remote from the image-capture device.