Image stabilizing method and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10136063-B2
Application number	US-201615288788-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2016
Priority date	Jul 12, 2013
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

Provided are an image stabilizing apparatus and method thereof. The image stabilizing apparatus performs image stabilization by using both an image sensor and a motion sensor. Image distortion and movement are stably corrected by using both the position of a feature point, which is extracted by the image sensor and image processing, and the movement position of the feature point, which is predicted by the motion sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image capturing apparatus comprising:
an image sensor configured to obtain a first image;
a motion sensor configured to detect movement of the image capturing apparatus; and
an image stabilizer configured to estimate image movement in a second image, obtained by the image sensor after the first image, based on the movement of the image capturing apparatus, and correct image distortion of the second image by compensating for the image movement,
wherein the image stabilizer configured to predict a movement point of a first feature point, extracted in the first image, in the second image based on the movement of the image capturing apparatus, and detect a second feature point, corresponding to the first feature point, from the movement point of the first feature point, in the second image by feature point tracking, and
wherein the image stabilizer corrects the image distortion based on a determination on whether a distance between the movement point of the first feature point in the second image and the second feature point in the second image is within a predetermined range.

2. The image capturing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the image stabilizer configured to detect the second feature point in the second image by removing a feature point of a moving object,
wherein the image stabilizer configured to detect the moving object from a difference image between a reference image, corresponding to the first image, and an image of which image distortion of a previous image, obtained before the first image, is corrected, and
wherein the image stabilizer configured to resize the reference image and the previous image, and detect the moving object from a difference image between the resized reference image and the resized previous image.

3. The image capturing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the reference image is obtained before the previous image.

4. An image capturing apparatus comprising:
an image sensor configured to obtain an image;
a motion sensor configured to detect movement of the image capturing apparatus; and
an image stabilizer, implemented by at least one processor, configured to stabilize the image by compensating for image movement using the movement of the image capturing apparatus, and detect a moving object from a difference image between a reference image and the stabilized image,
wherein the image stabilizer configured to resize the reference image and the stabilized image, and detect the moving object from a difference image between the resized reference image and the resized stabilized image.

5. The image capturing apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the reference image is obtained before the stabilized image.

6. The image capturing apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the image stabilizer is configured to estimate the image movement based on the movement of the image capturing apparatus.

7. A method of stabilizing images obtained by an image capturing apparatus, comprising:
obtaining a first image;
detecting movement of the image capturing apparatus which obtains the first image; and
estimating image movement in a second image, obtained by the image capturing apparatus after the first image, and correcting image distortion of the second image by compensating for the image movement;
predicting a movement point of a first feature point, extracted in the first image, in the second image based on the movement of the image capturing apparatus; and
detecting a second feature point, corresponding to the first feature point, in the second image by feature point tracking,
wherein the image distortion is corrected based on a determination on whether a distance between the movement point of the first feature point in the second image and the second feature point in the second image is within a predetermined range.

Assignees

• Hanwha Techwin Co Ltd
• Hanwha Aerospace Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ryu Yeongeol
• Park Sangji
• Lee Hwalsuk

Classifications

• H04N23/683

  performed by a processor, e.g. controlling the readout of an image memory · CPC title

• H04N23/6811

  based on the image signal · CPC title

• H04N23/6812

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

• G06V10/757

  Matching configurations of points or features · CPC title

• G06T7/246

  using feature-based methods, e.g. the tracking of corners or segments · CPC title