Apple Inc.

Agilent Technologies, Inc.

Micron Technology Incorporated

Avago Technologies General IP (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Avago Technologies Ecbu IP (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Avago Technologies Ecbu IP Pte. Ltd.

Aptina Imaging Corporation

Todd Stephen Sachs

Paul M Hubel

Marius Tico

Frank Doepke

Marco Zuliani

Farhan A Baqai

Claus Molgaard

Kevin L Hunter

Arthur Sobel

Claus Moelgaard

Jianping Zhou

Garrett M Johnson

Justin S Titi

Elliott B Harris

George E Williams

Dwight Poplin

Brett M Keating

Karl Hsu

Alexis Gatt

Jonah Alexander Harley

Rudolph Van Der Merwe

Xuemei Zhang

John Stewart Wenstrand

Jeffrey A Brasket

Airell Richard Clark, Ii

Mikael Rousson

Claus Mølgaard

Vincent Yue-Tao Wong

Michael J Zelman

Rene P Helbing

Richard Lawrence Baer

Michael John Brosnan

Dale W Schroeder

Yingjun Bai

Peng Lin

Ramakrishna Kakarala

Rolf Toft

Jason Klivington

Stephan Hengstler

Sebastien X Beysserie

Alex Tremain Nelson

Charles A Mezak

Gregory Michael Hunter

Fabio Riccardi

Douglas P Mitchell

Farid Matta

Wu Cheng

Gijesh Varghese

Arwen V Bradley

Yongfang Liang

James N Hollenhorst

Ethan J Tira-Thompson

Michael Rousson

Vincent Y Wong

Benjamin M Olson

Juanqing Chen

Zahra Sadeghipoor Kermani

Sebastien Marineau-Mes

Jeff Brasket

Vivek Athalye

Neda Nategh

Xuemel Zhang

Fabio Ricardi

In one embodiment, a method includes obtaining an image comprising a plurality of pixels, determining, for a particular pixel of the plurality of pixels, a gradient value, classifying, based on the gradient value, the particular pixel into a flat class or one of a plurality of edge classes, and denoising the particular pixel based on the classification.

Gradient-based noise reduction

In one embodiment, a method includes: obtaining a first image of a scene while an illumination component is set to an inactive state; obtaining a second image of the scene while the illumination component is set to a pre-flash state; determining one or more illumination control parameters for the illumination component for a third image of the scene that satisfy a foreground-background balance criterion based on a function of the first and second images in order to discriminate foreground data from background data within the scene; and obtaining the third image of the scene while the illumination component is set to an active state in accordance with the one or more illumination control parameters.

Method and device for balancing foreground-background luminosity

In various implementations a method includes obtaining a plurality of source images, stabilizing the plurality of source images to generate a plurality of stabilized images, and averaging the plurality of stabilized image to generate a synthetic long exposure image. In various implementations, stabilizing the plurality of source images includes: selecting one of the plurality of source images to serve as a reference frame; and registering others of the plurality of source images to the reference frame by applying a perspective transformation to others of the plurality of the source images.

Synthetic long exposure image with optional enhancement using a guide image

Systems and methods for improving automatic selection of keeper images from a commonly captured set of images are described. A combination of image type identification and image quality metrics may be used to identify one or more images in the set as keeper images. Image type identification may be used to categorize the captured images into, for example, three or more categories. The categories may include portrait, action, or 'other.' Depending on the category identified, the images may be analyzed differently to identify keeper images. For portrait images, an operation may be used to identify the best set of faces. For action images, the set may be divided into sections such that keeper images selected from each section tell the story of the action. For the 'other' category, the images may be analyzed such that those having higher quality metrics for an identified region of interest are selected.

Automated selection of keeper images from a burst photo captured set

Adaptive bracketing techniques for photography are described. An adaptive bracketing logic/module directs an imaging device to capture an adaptive bracket. The adaptive bracket can include a first image captured at a first exposure value, a second image captured at a second exposure value, and a third image captured at the first exposure value. The first exposure value can be underexposed in comparison to the second exposure value. The adaptive bracketing logic/module can determine that a difference between the first and second images; determine that the third image is more similar to the second image than the first image; and generate a composite image using the first image and the third image. The adaptive bracketing logic/module can also update the adaptive bracket to include the composite image. Optionally, the updated adaptive bracket can be used to generate one or more high dynamic range (HDR) images. Other embodiments are described.

Adaptive bracketing techniques

For cameras that capture several images in a burst mode, some embodiments of the invention provide a method that presents one or more of the captured images differently than the remaining captured images. The method identifies at least one captured image as dominant image and at least another captured image as a non-dominant image. The method then displays each dominant image different from each non-dominant image in a concurrent presentation of the images captured during the burst mode. The dominant images may appear larger than non-dominant images, and/or appear with a marking that indicates that the images are dominant.

Identifying dominant and non-dominant images in a burst mode capture

Lens flare mitigation techniques determine which pixels in images of a sequence of images are likely to be pixels affected by lens flare. Once the lens flare areas of the images are determined, unwanted lens flare effects may be mitigated by various approaches, including reducing border artifacts along a seam between successive images, discarding entire images of the sequence that contain lens flare areas, and using tone-mapping to reduce the visibility of lens flare.

Flare detection and mitigation in panoramic images

The present disclosure relates to image processing and analysis and in particular automatic segmentation of identifiable items in an image, for example the segmentation and identification of characters or symbols in an image. Upon user indication, multiple images of a subject are captured and variations between the images are created using lighting, spectral content, angles and other factors. The images are processed together so that characters and symbols may be recognized from the surface of the image subject.

System and method for assisting in computer interpretation of surfaces carrying symbols or characters

A method to improve the efficiency of the detection and tracking of machine-readable objects is disclosed. The properties of image frames may be pre-evaluated to determine whether a machine-readable object, even if present in the image frames, would be likely to be detected. After it is determined that one or more image frames have properties that may enable the detection of a machine-readable object, image data may be evaluated to detect the machine-readable object. When a machine-readable object is detected, the location of the machine-readable object in a subsequent frame may be determined based on a translation metric between the image frame in which the object was identified and the subsequent frame rather than a detection of the object in the subsequent frame. The translation metric may be identified based on an evaluation of image data and/or motion sensor data associated with the image frames.

Efficient machine-readable object detection and tracking

Techniques are disclosed for selectively capturing, retaining, and combining multiple sub-exposure images or brackets to yield a final image having diminished motion-induced blur and good noise characteristics. More specifically, after or during the capture of N brackets, the M best may be identified for combining into a single output image, (N&#x3e;M). As used here, the term 'best' means those brackets that exhibit the least amount of relative motion with respect to one another&#x2014;with one caveat: integer pixel shifts may be preferred over sub-pixel shifts.

Dynamic bracketing operations for image stabilization

Systems, methods, and computer readable media to capture and process high dynamic range (HDR) images when appropriate for a scene are disclosed. When appropriate, multiple images at a single&#x2014;slightly underexposed&#x2014;exposure value are captured (making a constant bracket HDR capture sequence) and local tone mapping (LTM) applied to each image. Local tone map and histogram information can be used to generate a noise-amplification mask which can be used during fusion operations. Images obtained and fused in the disclosed manner provide high dynamic range with improved noise and de-ghosting characteristics.

Constant bracket high dynamic range (cHDR) operations

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Todd Stephen Sachs