Volume control linked with zoom control

• US 7,430,004 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2003
• Issued: 09/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Cazier, Robert P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ye; Lin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lam; Hung H
• Application Number:
  US10/705,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20050099511A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,788 Days
• Field of Search: 348/231.4, 348/240.99, 348/240.2, 348/240.1, 348/462, 348/460, 348/231.99, 381/104, 381/108, 381/107, 381/56, 715/727, 715/978, 396/312, 386/96
• US Class Current: 348/231.4
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/30 in amplifiers having semiconductor devices
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/301 the gain being continuously variable
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9201 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the video signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9265 with processing of the sound signal

Abstract

Digital cameras and methods wherein volume control is linked with zoom control. The present invention captures audio along with recorded images at different zoom settings, and upon playback adjusts the sound output volume (audio apparatus gain) based upon the zoom control setting.

Claims

1. A camera comprising:

a record button;

an audio microphone;

a lens;

an image sensor for receiving images viewed by the lens;

a speaker;

an audio amplifier; and

processing circuitry that comprises a control algorithm that implements an automated zoom control function that automatically records images having different zoom levels while depressing the record button, and which, upon playback and postview zooming, adjusts the gain of the audio amplifier to adjust the sound output volume in an amount related to the zoom level recorded by the zoom control function;

wherein the processing circuitry simultaneously changes the gain of the audio amplifier, but not an audio recording gain of the audio microphone, while the images are being recorded of a subject to mimic actual human movement to and from the subject as the zoom level changes and wherein the processing circuitry creates betadata having a pointer to a file name of the recorded image, and during postview, alters the betadata to automatically increase the volume of associated audio as the amplifier using an original picture size as a reference;

wherein the processing circuitry keeps the audio recording gain of the audio microphone at a same audio recording level while the zoom levels change during recording of the images.

2. The camera recited in claim 1 which comprises digital zoom control wherein pixels of a recorded image are removed from the recorded image and the resultant image is scaled to its original size to create the illusion of zoom capture, and wherein the control algorithm adjusts the gain of the audio amplifier as a function of the digital zoom.

3. The camera recited in claim 1 wherein the control algorithm, when viewing the recorded images, creates metadata corresponding to recorded audio and alters the metadata to automatically increase the volume of audio as the apparent zoom is increased.

4. The camera recited In claim 1 which has headphones coupled thereto, and wherein the control algorithm automatically adjust headphone gain.

5. A camera comprising:

a record button;

an audio microphone;

a lens;

a mechanical zoom control that moves certain optical elements of the lens to different physical positions;

an image sensor for receiving images viewed by the lens;

a speaker;

an audio amplifier; and

processing circuitry that comprises a control algorithm that implements an automated zoom control function that zooms the lens while recording images and simultaneously adjusts the gain of the audio amplifier as a function of zoom position, and which, upon playback and postview zooming, adjusts the gain of the audio amplifier to adjust the sound output volume in an amount related to the zoom level recorded by the zoom control function;

wherein the processing circuitry simultaneously changes the gain of the audio amplifier, but not an audio recording gain of the audio microphone, while the images are being recorded of a subject to mimic actual human movement to and from the subject as the zoom level changes and wherein the processing circuitry creates betadata having a pointer to a file name of the recorded image, and during postview, alters the betadata to automatically increase the volume of associated audio as the image is cropped by automatically determining a scale of the gain of the audio amplifier using an original picture size as a reference;

wherein the processing circuitry keeps the audio recording gain of the audio microphone at a same audio recording level while the zoom levels change during recording of the images.

6. The camera recited in claim 5 wherein the control algorithm, when viewing the recorded images, creates metadata corresponding to recorded audio and alters the metadata to automatically increase the volume of audio as the apparent zoom is increased.

7. The camera recited in claim 5 which has headphones coupled thereto, and wherein the control algorithm automatically adjust headphone gain.

8. A method comprising the steps of:

configuring a camera to have a record button, a lens, an audio microphone, an image sensor for receiving images viewed by the lens, and processing circuitry that comprises a control algorithm;

automatically recording a plurality of images while depressing the record button to capture a series of very closely related images having different zoom levels;

during playback and postview zooming, adjusting the gain of the audio amplifier to adjust the sound output volume in an amount related to the zoom level recorded by tile zoom control function; and

simultaneously changing the gain of the audio amplifier, but not an audio recording gain of the audio microphone, while the images are being recorded of a subject to mimic actual human movement to and from the subject as the zoom level changes, creating betadata having a pointer to a file name of the recorded image and during postview, and altering the betadata to automatically increase the volume of associated audio as the image is cropped by automatically determining a scale of the gain of the audio amplifier using an original picture size as a reference; and

keeping the audio recording gain of the audio microphone at a same audio recording level while the zoom levels change during recording of the images.

9. The method recited in claim 8 wherein the step of automatically recording the images comprises removing pixels of a recorded image from the recorded image and scaling the resultant image to its original size to create the illusion of zoom capture.

10. The method recited in claim 8 wherein the step of automatically recording the images comprises automatically recording a plurality of images to capture a series of very closely related images having different zoom levels.

11. The method recited in claim 8 wherein the step of adjusting the gain comprises creating metadata corresponding to recorded audio and altering the metadata to automatically adjust the volume of audio as the apparent zoom is adjusted.

12. A method comprising the steps of:

configuring a camera to have a record button, a lens, an audio microphone, an image sensor for receiving images viewed by the lens, and processing circuitry that comprises a control algorithm;

automatically recording a plurality of images while depressing the record button to capture a series of very closely related images having different zoom levels by moving certain optical elements of the lens to different physical positions;

upon playback and postview zooming, adjusting the gain of the audio amplifier to adjust the sound output volume in an amount related to the zoom level recorded by the zoom control function; and

simultaneously changing the gain of the audio amplifier, but not an audio recording pain of the audio microphone, while the images are being recorded of a subject to mimic actual human movement to and from the subject as the zoom level changes, creating betadata having a pointer to a file name of the recorded image and during postview, and altering the betadata to automatically increase the volume of associated audio as the image is cropped by automatically determining a scale of the gain of the audio amplifier using an original picture size as a reference; and

keeping the audio recording gain of the audio microphone at a same audio recording level while the zoom levels change during recording of the images.

13. The method recited in claim 12 wherein the step of adjusting the gain comprises creating metadata corresponding to recorded audio and altering the metadata to automatically adjust the volume of audio as the apparent zoom is adjusted.

14. The method recited in claim 12 wherein the step of adjusting the gain comprises the steps of:

keeping the gain the same during recording; and

adjusting the gain of the audio amplifier, and hence the audio output volume of the speaker, during playback in an amount related to the zoom level.

15. A camera comprising:

a record button;

an audio microphone;

image means for receiving images viewed by the camera;

audio apparatus; and

processing means that implements an automated zoom control function for automatically recording images having different zoom levels while depressing the record button, and which, upon playback and postview zooming, adjusts audio apparatus gain to adjust the sound output volume in an amount related to the zoom level recorded by the zoom control function;

wherein the processing circuitry simultaneously changes the gain of the audio amplifier, but not an audio recording gain of the audio microphone, while the images are being recorded of a subject to mimic actual human movement to and from the subject as the zoom level changes and wherein the processing circuitry creates betadata having a pointer to a file name of the recorded image, and during postview, alters the betadata to automatically increase the volume of associated audio as the image is cropped by automatically determining a scale of the gain of the audio amplifier using an original picture size as a reference;

wherein the processing circuitry keeps the audio recording gain of the audio microphone at a same audio recording level while the zoom levels change during recording of the images.

16. The camera recited in claim 15 wherein the processing means comprises a mechanical zoom control that moves certain optical elements of the lens to different physical positions, and which zooms the image means while recording the images and simultaneously adjusts the gain of the audio apparatus as a function of zoom position.

17. The camera recited in claim 15 wherein the processing means comprises digital zoom control wherein pixels of a recorded image are removed from the recorded image and the resultant image is scaled to its original size to create the illusion of zoom capture, and which adjusts the gain of the audio apparatus as a function of the digital zoom.