Imaging device capable of combining a plurality of image data, and control method for imaging device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10063768-B2
Application number	US-201715717688-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2017
Priority date	Jun 3, 2014
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

An imaging device comprises an image data acquisition circuit that determines a plurality of focus positions by repeatedly shifting focus position by a given amount, forms subject images at respective focus positions, and acquires, from the subject images that have been formed, a plurality of image data of a first resolution, or a plurality of image data of a second resolution that is different to the first resolution, and an image combination circuit that generates first image data by combining the plurality of image data of the first resolution, or generates second image data by combining the plurality of image data of the second resolution.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An imaging device, comprising:
an image data acquisition circuit that determines a plurality of focus positions by repeatedly shifting focus position by a given amount, forms subject images at respective focus positions, and acquires, from the subject images that have been formed, a plurality of image data of a first resolution, or a plurality of image data of a second resolution that is different to the first resolution, and
an image combination circuit that generates first image data by combining the plurality of image data of the first resolution, or generates second image data by combining the plurality of image data of the second resolution, wherein
when generating the first image data, the image data acquisition circuit acquires image data at a focus position that has been shifted by a first given amount, a plurality of image data at a plurality of focus positions is acquired by repeating this image data acquisition for a first number of repetitions, and after that the image combination circuit generates the first image data, while when generating the second image data, the image data acquisition circuit acquires image data at a focus position that has been shifted by a second given amount that larger than the first given amount, a plurality of image data are acquired by repeating this image data acquisition for a second number of repetitions, and after that the image combination circuit generates the second image data.

2. The imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the first resolution is higher than the second resolution.

3. The imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the first image data is for storage and the second image data is for effect confirmation.

4. The imaging device of claim 1 , wherein a movement range of focus position resulting from shifting by the first given amount for the first number of repetitions, and a movement range of focus position resulting from shifting by the second given amount for the second number of repetitions, are the same range.

5. The imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the first image data is used in order to detect contrast peak of the focus position.

6. The imaging device of claim 1 , wherein, a number of the plurality of images of the second resolution that are combined when generating the second image data in the image combination circuit is fewer than the second number of repetitions.

7. The imaging device of claim 6 , wherein a number of the plurality of images of the second resolution that are combined is calculated from resolution of the second image data and shift amount of focus position when the second image data was acquired.

8. An imaging method, comprising:
determining a plurality of focus positions by repeatedly shifting focus position by a given amount, forming subject images at respective focus positions, and acquiring, from the subject images that have been formed, a plurality of image data of a first resolution or a plurality of image data of a second resolution that is different to the first resolution, and
generating first image data by combining the plurality of image data of the first resolution, or generating second image data by combining the plurality of image data of the second resolution, wherein
when generating the first image data, image data is acquired at a focus position that has been shifted by a first given amount, a plurality of image data at a plurality of focus positions are acquired by repeating this image data acquisition for a first number of repetitions, and after that the first image data are generated, while when generating the second image data, image data is acquired at a focus position that has been shifted by a second given amount that is more that the first given amount, a plurality of image data are acquired by repeating this image data acquisition for a second number of repetitions, and after that the second image data are generated.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a processor executable code, which when executed by at least one processor, performs an imaging method, the imaging method comprising:
determining a plurality of focus positions by repeatedly shifting focus position by a given amount, forming subject images at respective focus positions, and acquiring, from the subject images that have been formed, a plurality of image data of a first resolution or a plurality of image data of a second resolution that is different to the first resolution, and
generating first image data by combining the plurality of image data of the first resolution, or generating second image data by combining the plurality of image data of the second resolution, wherein
when generating the first image data, image data is acquired at a focus position that has been shifted by a first given amount, a plurality of image data at a plurality of focus positions are acquired by repeating this image data acquisition for a first number of repetitions, and after that the first image data are generated, while when generating the second image data, image data is acquired at a focus position that has been shifted by a second given amount that is more that the first given amount, a plurality of image data are acquired by repeating this image data acquisition for a second number of repetitions, and after that the second image data are generated.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Toyoda Tetsuya

Classifications

• H04N23/63

  by using electronic viewfinders · CPC title

• H04N23/6815

  by distinguishing pan or tilt from motion · CPC title

• H04N23/673 Primary

  based on contrast or high frequency components of image signals, e.g. hill climbing method · CPC title

• H04N23/743

  Bracketing, i.e. taking a series of images with varying exposure conditions · CPC title

• H04N23/6812

  based on additional sensors, e.g. acceleration sensors · CPC title