Electronic device including camera module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11048061-B2
Application number	US-201816017476-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2018
Priority date	Jun 28, 2017
Publication date	Jun 29, 2021
Grant date	Jun 29, 2021

Abstract

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a camera including a lens unit and a lens driving unit and a processor configured to obtain a first image of an object from the camera, move the lens unit by a specified amount using the lens driving unit, obtain a second image of the object that corresponds to a position to which the lens unit is moved, determine a focus position for an image of the object based on a difference between the first image, the second image, and the specified amount of movement, determine an amount of movement for moving the lens unit to the focus position including determining a distance between the object and the lens unit and correcting the determined amount of movement based on the determined distance, and move the lens unit by the determined amount of movement using the lens driving unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a camera including a lens unit and a lens driving unit configured to move the lens unit;
a memory configured to store a plurality of point spread functions each corresponding to a respective distance between the lens unit and an external object, wherein a magnitude of each point spread function is calculated depending on the position of the lens unit and the relevant respective distance; and
a processor configured to:
obtain a first image of an object from the camera;
move the lens unit by a first amount of movement using the lens driving unit;
obtain a second image of the object that corresponds to a position to which the lens unit is moved;
perform a first depth from defocus (DFD) operation based on a difference between the first image and the second image and the first amount of movement using a first point spread function among the plurality of point spread functions to determine a first focus position for the object;
determine a second amount of movement for moving the lens unit to the first focus position including determining a distance between the object and the lens unit;
move the lens unit by the second amount of movement using the lens driving unit;
obtain a third image of the object from the camera;
determine a second point spread function among the plurality of point spread functions corresponding to the determined distance;
perform a second depth from focus (DFD) operation based on a difference between the second image and the third image and the second amount of movement using the second point spread function to determine a second focus position for the object;
determine a third amount of movement for moving the lens unit to the second focus position; and
move the lens unit by the third amount of movement using the lens driving unit.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the memory is further configured to additionally store a correction value for correcting a difference in magnitude between the first point spread function and the second point spread function, and
wherein the processor is further configured to correct the second amount of movement or the third amount of movement using the correction value.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the lens driving unit is further configured to move the lens unit to each position of the lens unit by a specified moving distance, and the specified moving distance is set to generate a defocus change of a specified magnitude by a unit movement of the lens unit at each position of the lens unit.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Park Jae Hyoung
• Lee Jeong Won
• Yoon Kyung Hoon

Classifications

• H04N23/959 Primary

  by adjusting depth of field during image capture, e.g. maximising or setting range based on scene characteristics · CPC title

• H04N23/67 Primary

  Focus control based on electronic image sensor signals · CPC title

• H04N23/80

  Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof · CPC title

• G03B13/36 Primary

  Autofocus systems · CPC title

• G02B7/28

  Systems for automatic generation of focusing signals · CPC title