Electronic devices having multiple position cameras

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10462364-B2
Application number	US-201616079137-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2016
Priority date	Oct 25, 2016
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A technique includes selecting at least one boundary for a panoramic image to be captured by a camera of an electronic device. The technique includes, based at least in part on the at least one selected boundary, moving the camera relative to a housing of the electronic device to acquire data representing a plurality of images that are associated with different imaged areas; and processing the acquired data to construct the panoramic image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
an input device to receive an input to identify boundaries of a scene, wherein the identified boundaries correspond to boundaries of a panoramic image, the panoramic image has an associated first field of vision, and the boundaries comprise a first boundary and a second boundary;
a multiple position camera having an optical axis and having an associated second field of vision less than the first field of vision, wherein the camera to acquire sub-images of the panoramic image, and the sub-images correspond to different parts of the scene; and
an actuator to move the camera based on the input to pan the optical axis of the camera across the scene to acquire the sub-images, wherein the panning of the camera comprises moving the camera such that the optical axis of the camera moves from a first position at which the camera acquires a first sub-image of the sub-images coinciding with the first boundary to a second position at which the camera acquires a second sub-image of the sub-images coinciding with the second boundary.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a controller to control the actuator to move the camera based at least in part on the input; and
a processor-based engine to combine data associated with the plurality of images to form the panoramic image.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a housing; and
a mount to hold the camera and allow the camera to pivot about at least one axis relative to the housing to acquire the sub-images.

4. The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the mount comprises a socket or a gimbal.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the input device comprises a touch screen to display a viewfinder image acquired by the camera and receive a touch-based input to select the boundaries.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the actuator comprises a motor, an electromagnet or an electroactive polymer.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the input further identifies a pattern of time sequenced locations to acquire the sub-images.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a telephony device; and
a housing to contain the camera, the actuator, the input device and the telephony device,
wherein the input device comprises a touch screen to acquire the input.

9. The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the camera has an orientation to face a viewer of the touch screen or an orientation to face away from the viewer of the touch screen.

10. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the actuator moves the camera such that the sub-images completely cover the scene.

11. An article comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to store instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to:
receive an input to identify boundaries of a scene, wherein the identified boundaries correspond to boundaries of a panoramic image to be acquired using a multiple position camera, the panoramic image has an associated first field of vision, the boundaries comprise a first boundary and a second boundary, the camera has an optical axis and has an associated second field of vision less than the first field of vision, the camera to acquire sub-images of the panoramic image, and the sub-images correspond to different parts of the scene; and
control an actuator to move the camera based on the input to pan the optical axis of the camera across the scene to acquire the sub-images, wherein the panning of the camera comprises moving the camera such that the optical axis of the camera moves from a first position at which the camera acquires a first sub-image of the sub-images coinciding with the first boundary to a second position at which the camera acquires a second sub-image of the sub-images coinciding with the second boundary.

12. The article of claim 11 , wherein:
the computer comprises a housing;
the computer comprises a touch screen; and
the storage medium to store instructions that when executed by the computer cause the computer to receive the input in response to physical interaction with the touch screen.

13. The article of claim 11 , wherein the storage medium to store instructions that when executed by the computer cause the computer to change a viewing angle associated with the panoramic image in response to the input.

14. The article of claim 11 , wherein the storage medium to store instructions that when executed by the computer cause the computer to provide a graphic user interface on a display of the computer to allow entry of the input representing the boundaries in response to a viewfinder image being displayed on the display.

15. A method comprising:
in response to an input, identifying boundaries of a scene, wherein the identified boundaries correspond to boundaries of a panoramic image, the panoramic image has an associated first field of vision, and the boundaries comprise a first boundary and a second boundary;
moving a multiple position camera to acquire data representing sub-images of the panoramic image, wherein the camera has an optical axis and has an associated second field of vision less than the first field of vision, the sub-images correspond to different parts of the scene, moving the camera comprises moving the camera based on the input to pan the optical axis of the camera across the scene to acquire the sub-images, and the panning of the camera comprises moving the camera such that the optical axis of the camera moves from a first position at which the camera acquires a first sub-image of the sub-images coinciding with the first boundary to a second position at which the camera acquires a second sub-image of the sub-images coinciding with the second boundary; and
processing the acquired data to construct the panoramic image.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein moving the camera comprises moving the camera such that the sub-images completely cover the scene.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein processing the acquired data comprises stitching the sub-images together to form the panoramic image.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
identifying a pattern of time sequenced locations to acquire the sub-images, wherein moving the camera comprises moving the camera such that the optical axis of the camera moves to each location of the pattern of time sequenced locations.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein moving the camera further comprises moving the camera about a socket or a gimbal.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein moving the camera further comprises moving.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Russi-Vigoya Maria Natalia
• Bartha Michael C
• Mehandjiysky Dimitre
• Cao Zheng

Classifications

• H04N23/54

  Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils · CPC title

• H04N23/58 Primary

  Means for changing the camera field of view without moving the camera body, e.g. nutating or panning of optics or image sensors · CPC title

• H04N23/695

  Control of camera direction for changing a field of view, e.g. pan, tilt or based on tracking of objects · CPC title

• H04N23/698 Primary

  for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture · CPC title

• H04N23/51

  Housings · CPC title