Method for processing image and electronic device supporting the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10506175-B2
Application number	US-201715722724-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2017
Priority date	Sep 30, 2016
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

An electronic device includes a lens part that receives light from the outside, an image sensor that changes the received light to electronic image data, and an image processing unit that processes the image data. If a saturated pixel is included in the image data, the image processing unit measures the amount of light of the saturated pixel by using an increasing or decreasing value of brightness of a plurality of unsaturated pixels around the saturated pixel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a lens part configured to receive light from the outside;
an image sensor configured to change the received light to electronic image data; and
an image processing unit configured to process the image data,
wherein if a saturated pixel is included in the image data, the image processing unit measures the amount of light of the saturated pixel by using an increasing or decreasing value of brightness of a plurality of unsaturated pixels around the saturated pixel.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the image processing unit measures the amount of light of the saturated pixel by using first and second adjacent pixels from a first direction with respect to the saturated pixel, and third and fourth adjacent pixels from a second direction opposite to the first direction.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the image processing unit measures the amount of light of the saturated pixel based on a slope value of the amount of light between the first and second adjacent pixels, and a slope value of the amount of light between the third and fourth adjacent pixels.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the image processing unit determines a location of a light source and the intensity of the light source by using a plurality of images having different exposure times, the plurality of images being captured within one of a consecutive time interval, and a specified time interval.

5. The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the image processing unit determines the location of the light source and the intensity of the light source in the first image having a first exposure time among the plurality of images, and applies a light source effect to a region corresponding to the location of the light source in the second image having a second exposure time among the plurality of images.

6. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the light source effect includes one of out-focusing, apodization, and light burst.

7. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein if the light source effect corresponds to a light burst, the image processing unit adjusts one of a size and a length of a blade of the light burst depending on a size of the light source.

8. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein if the light source effect corresponds to a light burst, the image processing unit measures the amount of light of the saturated pixel from an image having a reference exposure time among the plurality of images.

9. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein if the light source effect corresponds to one of out-focusing and apodization, the image processing unit changes a shape of the light source effect depending on a location of the image sensor.

10. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein if determining the intensity of the light source by using the plurality of images, the image processing unit measures the amount of light of each of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) of the saturated pixel from an image of one of a specified exposure time and a shorter exposure time among the plurality of images.

11. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein if the light source effect corresponds to out-focusing, the image processing unit determines a shape of the light source effect as one circle on a center of the image sensor, and
wherein if an image-formation region is changed in a direction radially away from the center of the image sensor, the image processing unit allows the light source effect to have a shape of a common region of a plurality of circles, the centers of which do not coincide with each other.

12. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein if the light source effect corresponds to apodization, the image processing unit sets transparencies of a central portion and a peripheral portion of the shape of the light source effect.

13. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the image processing unit applies the light source effect with reference to a lookup table associated with a shape to apply the light source effect.

14. The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the image processing unit determines the location of the light source and an intensity of the light source by using one of an image of a specified exposure time and a shorter exposure time among the plurality of images.

15. An image processing method performed in an electronic device, the method comprising:
changing light received from the outside to electronic image data through an image sensor;
collecting image data of a first image having a first exposure time;
if a saturated pixel is included in the image data, verifying an increasing or decreasing value of brightness of a plurality of unsaturated pixels around the saturated pixel; and
measuring the amount of light of the saturated pixel based on the increasing or decreasing value.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein verifying the increasing or decreasing value includes:
verifying the amounts of light of first and second adjacent pixels from a first direction with respect to the saturated pixel; and
verifying the amount of light of the saturated pixel by using third and fourth adjacent pixels from a second direction opposite to the first direction.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein verifying the increasing or decreasing value includes:
comparing a slope value of the amount of light between the first and second adjacent pixels and a slope value of the amount of light between the third and fourth adjacent pixels.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein collecting the image data includes:
collecting image data of a second image having a second exposure time longer than the first exposure time.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
applying a light source effect to a region corresponding to a saturated pixel of the second image.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein applying the light source effect includes:
applying one of out-focusing, apodization, and light burst as the light source effect.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Park Jae Hyoung
• Park Kyong Tae
• Park Kyoung Joon
• Lee Jeong Won
• Jun Jae Sung

Classifications

• H04N23/743

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

• H04N23/71

  Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation · CPC title

• H04N23/80

  Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof · CPC title

• G06T7/73

  using feature-based methods · CPC title

• H04N5/2628

  Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation · CPC title