Electronic device including light-emitting elements and method of operating electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10142554-B2
Application number	US-201715476162-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2017
Priority date	Aug 24, 2016
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

An electronic device and a method of operating the electronic device are provided. The electronic device includes an imaging device configured to obtain an image of a subject, a light source including light-emitting elements configured to emit light in different directions, and a controller configured to determine a position of the subject and a distance to the subject in the image, and control a luminance of the light-emitting elements based on the position of the subject and the distance to the subject.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
an imaging device configured to obtain an image of a subject;
a light source comprising a plurality of light-emitting elements that comprises:
a first light-emitting element configured to emit a first light in a first direction;
a second light-emitting element configured to emit a second light in a second direction; and
a third light-emitting element configured to emit a third light in a third direction; and

a controller configured to:
determine a distance to the subject, in the image;
control a luminance of each of the plurality of light-emitting elements, based on the distance to the subject;
divide the image into a first region in which the subject is not included and a second region in which the subject is included;
control the first direction of the first light-emitting element and the third direction of the third light-emitting element to correspond to the first region; and
control the second direction of the second light-emitting element to correspond to the second region,

wherein the controller is further configured to control the first direction, the second direction, and the third direction by adjusting angles between planes on which the first light-emitting element, the second light-emitting element, and the third light-emitting element are respectively disposed.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of light-emitting elements is disposed on different planes.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
increase the luminance of the second light-emitting element configured to emit the second light in the second direction corresponding to the second region in which the subject is included, in response to the distance to the subject being determined to increase; and
decrease the luminance of the second light-emitting element configured to emit the second light in the second direction corresponding to the second region, in response to the distance to the subject being determined to decrease.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine the distance to the subject, using a depth map representing the distance to the subject.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device is further configured to focus on distance measuring points to acquire a focal distance of each of the distance measuring points, and
the controller is further configured to determine the distance to the subject, based on the focal distance of each of the distance measuring points.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
divide the image into a plurality of regions;
determine a distance to each of the plurality of regions, based on any one or any combination of an area of the subject included in each of the plurality of regions, the distance to the subject, and whether the subject is a main subject; and
control the luminance of each of the plurality of light-emitting elements configured to emit the first light, the second light, and the third light respectively to the plurality of regions, based on the distance to each of the plurality of regions.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine a subject color or a subject color temperature of the subject in the image; and
control an emitted color or an emitted color temperature of each of the plurality of light-emitting elements, based on the subject color or the subject color temperature.

8. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to control the emitted color or the emitted color temperature of the second light-emitting element configured to emit the second light in the second direction corresponding to the second region in which the subject is included, based on the subject color or the subject color temperature.

9. The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the controller is further configured to control the emitted color or the emitted color temperature of the second light-emitting element configured to emit the second light in the second direction corresponding to the second region, to adjust a white balance of the second region.

10. A method of operating an electronic device comprising a plurality of light-emitting elements that comprises a first light-emitting element configured to emit a first light in a first direction, a second light-emitting element configured to emit a second light in a second direction, and a third light-emitting element configured to emit a third light in a third direction, the method comprising:
obtaining an image of a subject;
determining a distance to the subject, in the image;
controlling a luminance of each of the plurality of light-emitting elements, based on the distance to the subject;
dividing the image into a first region in which the subject is not included and a second region in which the subject is included;
controlling the first direction of the first light-emitting element and the third direction of the third light-emitting element to correspond to the first region; and
controlling the second direction of the second light-emitting element to correspond to the second region,
wherein the controlling the first direction, the second direction, and the third direction comprises adjusting angles between planes on which the first light-emitting element, the second light-emitting element, and the third light-emitting element are respectively disposed.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the controlling the luminance comprises:
increasing the luminance of the second light-emitting element configured to emit the second light in the second direction corresponding to the second region in which the subject is included, in response to the distance to the subject being determined to increase; and
decreasing the luminance of the second light-emitting element configured to emit the second light in the second direction corresponding to the second region, in response to the distance to the subject being determined to decrease.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the determining comprises determining the distance to the subject, using a depth map representing the distance to the subject.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising focusing on distance measuring points to acquire a focal distance of each of the distance measuring points,
wherein the determining comprises determining the distance to the subject, based on the focal distance of each of the distance measuring points.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
dividing the image into a plurality of regions;
determining a distance to each of the plurality of regions, based on any one or any combination of an area of the subject included in each of the plurality of regions, the distance to the subject, and whether the subject is a main subject; and
controlling the luminance of each of the plurality of light-emitting elements configured to emit the first light, the second light, and the third light respectively to the plurality of regions, based on the distance to each of the plurality of regions.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining a subject color or a subject color temperature of the subject in the image; and
controlling an emitted color or an emitted color temperature of each of the plurality of light-emitting elements, based on the subject color or the subject color temperature.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the controlling the emitted color or the emitted color temperature

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ryu Jae-Yeol
• Choi Jong-Chul
• Popov Mikhail
• Panchenko Ivan
• Park Jae-Hyoung
• Hong Hyun-Seok
• Kim Jong-Tae
• Kim Jin-Sung
• Kim Ju-Hee

Classifications

• H04N23/671

  in combination with active ranging signals, e.g. using light or sound signals emitted toward objects · CPC title

• H04N23/56

  provided with illuminating means · CPC title

• H04N23/74 Primary

  by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means · CPC title

• H05B45/20 Primary

  Controlling the colour of the light · CPC title

• H04N23/10

  for generating image signals from different wavelengths · CPC title