Apple Inc.

Damien J Thivent

Richard Lawrence Baer

Jianping Zhou

Sebastien X Beysserie

George E Williams

Rolf Toft

Rudolph Van Der Merwe

Jason Klivington

Xiaoxing Li

Anders M Holtsberg

Martin Lindberg

Paul M Hubel

Richard John Topliss

Richard H Tsai

Parin Patel

Scott Thomas Smith

Ryan J Dunn

Morgan T McClure

David C Beard

Edward T Chang

In a portable camera device, a variable voltage regulator produces a power supply voltage of a VCM driver circuit that conducts the coil current of a VCM actuator as part of an optical image stabilization (OIS) mechanism. A processor signals the variable voltage regulator to increase the power supply voltage when the camera device transitions from still capture mode or preview mode to video capture mode, where the increase causes an increase in stroke of the VCM OIS actuator. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Camera voice coil motor driver circuit with variable power supply input voltage

Techniques to improve a digital image capture device's ability to stabilize a video stream are presented. According to some embodiments, improved stabilization of captured video frames is provided by intelligently harnessing the complementary effects of both optical image stabilization (OIS) and electronic image stabilization (EIS). In particular, OIS may be used to remove intra-frame motion blur that is typically lower in amplitude and dominates with longer integration times, while EIS may be used to remove residual unwanted frame-to-frame motion that is typically larger in amplitude. The techniques disclosed herein may also leverage information provided from the image capture device's OIS system to perform improved motion blur-aware video stabilization strength modulation, which permits better video stabilization performance in low light conditions, where integration times tend to be longer, thus leading to a greater amount of motion blurring in the output stabilized video.

Combined optical and electronic image stabilization

Techniques to permit a digital image capture device to stabilize a video stream in real-time (during video capture operations) are presented. In general, techniques are disclosed for stabilizing video images using an overscan region and a look-ahead technique enabled by buffering a number of video input frames before generating a first stabilized video output frame. (Capturing a larger image than is displayed creates a buffer of pixels around the edge of an image; overscan is the term given to this buffer of pixels.) More particularly, techniques are disclosed for buffering an initial number of input frames so that a 'current' frame can use motion data from both 'past' and &#x201c;future&#x201d; frames to adjust the strength of a stabilization metric value so as to keep the current frame within its overscan. This look-ahead and look-behind capability permits a smoother stabilizing regime with fewer abrupt adjustments.

Video image stabilization

Some embodiments include an optical image stabilization system. The optical image stabilization system includes a sensor. The sensor is configured for measuring movements of a camera module stabilized by the optical image stabilization system. Some embodiments further include an optical image stabilization control system for calculating from the movements a calculated position of a moving body. In some embodiments, the moving body is part of a camera module. Some embodiments further include an actuator control for generating electrical signals to move at least two actuators to achieve a calculated position of the moving body. In some embodiments, the actuator control system receives measurements from positions sensors that assess the position of the moving body.

Optical image stabilization compensations

In some embodiments, a method for compensating for lens motion includes estimating a starting position of a lens assembly associated with captured pixel data. The captured pixel data is captured from an image sensor. In some embodiments, the method further includes calculating from the starting position and position data received from the one or more position sensors lens movement associated with the captured pixel data. The lens movement is mapped into pixel movement associated with the captured pixel data. A transform matrix is adjusted to reflect at least the pixel movement. A limit factor associated with the position data is calculated. The captured pixel data is recalculated using the transform matrix and the limit factor.

Video rolling shutter correction for lens movement in optical image stabilization cameras

A system and method for creating a super-resolution image using an image capturing device. In one embodiment, an electronic image sensor captures a reference optical sample through an optical path. Thereafter, an optical image stabilization (OIS) processor to adjusts the optical path to the electronic image sensor by a known amount. A second optical sample is then captured along the adjusted optical path, such that the second optical sample is offset from the first optical sample by no more than a sub-pixel offset. The OIS processor may reiterate this process to capture a plurality of optical samples at a plurality of offsets. The optical samples may be combined to create a super-resolution image.

Super-resolution based on optical image stabilization

The color response of camera devices may be calibrated, using a correction factor that can account for differences in the spectra of light emitted by different light sources used during calibration. The correction factor may be calculated based on the expected spectral sensitivities of the camera devices, the power spectrum of an actual light source, and the power spectrum of a canonical light source. The correction factor is then applied to adjust a measured color response of a given camera device, so that the adjusted color response is effectively the response of the given camera device if it had been illuminated by the canonical light source. In this manner, any measured color response differences, which may be due to differences between the actual light source used and the canonical light source, can be effectively reduced (if not essentially eliminated.) Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Correction factor for color response calibration

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Damien J Thivent