Google Inc.

Motorola Mobility LLC

Motorola Corporation

Google Technology Holdings LLC

Doina I Petrescu

Bill Ryan

Thomas T Lay

Jeffrey S Vanhoof

Steven R Petrie

Snigdha Sinha

John Christopher Pincenti

George C John

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.

Enhanced image capture

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 &#x201c;best&#x201d; 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.

Techniques for classes of tables for use in image compression are described. Classes of tables for use in image compression may provide increased compression without a reduction in quality compared to conventional image compression techniques. In at least some implementations, a plurality of table classes are generated that correspond to a particular camera subsystem, each table class containing a Huffman table and a quantization table. When an image captured by the particular camera subsystem is encoded, a table class is selected based on camera subsystem parameters associated with the image, and the Huffman table and the quantization table of the selected table class are utilized to encode the image.

Classes of tables for use in image compression

A method, a system, and computer program product for correcting image artifacts in image data captured by a camera sensor in conjunction with a flash. The method includes extracting, from a buffer, an image data captured by at least one camera sensor. The method then includes determining, from a metadata of the image data, a face in the image data and a position of a first eye and a second eye. The method then includes selecting at least one region of interest around at least one of the first and the second eye based on a size of the face and a distance between the eyes. In response to selecting the at least one region of interest, at least one correction is applied to the at least one region of interest to reduce or eliminate the appearance of at least one image artifact in the image data.

Applying corrections to regions of interest in image data

Digital video stabilization is selectively turned off in circumstances where it could actually decrease the quality of a captured video. A video camera includes a device for directly detecting physical motion of the camera. Motion data from the motion detector are analyzed to see if video stabilization is appropriate. If the motion data indicate that the video camera is stable, for example, then video stabilization is not applied to the video, thus preventing the possibility of introducing 'motion artifacts' into the captured video. In another example, motion as detected by the motion detector can be compared with motion as detected by the video-stabilization engine. If the two motions disagree significantly, then the video-stabilization engine is probably responding more to motion in the captured video rather than to motion of the camera itself, and video stabilization should probably not be applied to the video.

Preventing motion artifacts by intelligently disabling video stabilization

A method () and image capture device () are provided for determining whether an image incident upon an image sensor () is sufficiently stable prior to executing an auto-focus process. An image stability mechanism () compares attribute data&#x2014;such as luminance or frequency spectrum&#x2014;from successive images to determine whether a change between the attribute data from image to image is within a predetermined range (). The image stability mechanism () can also be configured to determine whether a scene incident upon the image sensor () has changed. Where the image is sufficiently stable, an indicator module () provides an image stability indication to a control circuit (). The control circuit () can then be configured to execute the auto-focus operation when the image is sufficiently stable, or when both the scene has changed and the image is sufficiently stable.

Method and apparatus for motion detection in auto-focus applications

Disclosed are devices including a mobile imaging device having memory, a video camera system and a still camera system. The video camera system can be configured for video imaging, and configured to generate motion detection output. An application can be stored in memory of the device and configured to process the motion detection output of the video camera system to form motion correction input for the still camera system. The still camera system is configured for still photography imaging and configured to process the motion correction input. Also disclosed are methods of a mobile imaging device including a still camera system and a video camera system. A method includes processing the sequential image data of the video camera system to generate motion detection output, processing the motion detection output to form motion correction input and processing still image correction by the still camera system based on the motion correction input.

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Vernon Hills, IL, United States of America

Doina I Petrescu