Varying a zoom level of an image recorded with a lens having a fixed zoom level

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11108973-B2
Application number	US-201916564985-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2019
Priority date	Oct 5, 2018
Publication date	Aug 31, 2021
Grant date	Aug 31, 2021

Abstract

Presented here is a system and method to record images having varying zoom levels using a lens having a substantially fixed zoom level. The resulting image can have varying zoom levels and can be of high quality. The light sensor recording the image can have a resolution higher than the desired resolution of the resulting image. The high resolution of the light sensor allows digital zooming, i.e., cropping of the image. The light sensor can operate in two modes, where each mode produces varying resolutions of the resulting image. Operating the light sensor in the mode producing a high resolution of the resulting image, however, does not produce images of satisfactory quality in low light conditions, and the light sensor may need to be switched between the first and the second mode depending on the zoom level and the lighting conditions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method to record an image having a varying zoom level using a lens having a fixed zoom level, the method comprising:
obtaining lighting conditions and a zoom level associated with the image wherein the obtained zoom level is different from the fixed zoom level;
based on the lighting conditions, determining a mode in which to operate a dual-mode light sensor comprising a plurality of sub-sensors and configured to operate in a first mode and record light focused by the lens by combining measurements obtained by at least two sub-sensors in the plurality of sub-sensors and producing a first image based on the combined measurement, the dual-mode light sensor configured to operate in a second mode and record light focused by the lens by producing a second image based on a measurement obtained by a sub-sensor in the plurality of sub-sensors;
operating the dual-mode light sensor in the determined mode; and
creating the image having the obtained zoom level using the lens having the fixed zoom level.

2. A method comprising:
obtaining lighting conditions and a zoom level associated with an image;
based on the lighting conditions, determining a mode in which to operate a dual-mode light sensor comprising a plurality of sub-sensors and configured to operate in a first mode to record light focused by a lens by combining measurements obtained by at least 2 sub-sensors in the plurality of sub-sensors and producing the image based on the combined measurement, and the dual-mode light sensor configured to operate in a second mode different from the first mode;
operating the dual-mode light sensor in the determined mode; and
providing the image having the obtained zoom level using the lens having a substantially fixed zoom level.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising operating the dual-mode light sensor in the second mode by recording light focused by the lens and producing the image based on a measurement obtained by a sub-sensor in the plurality of sub-sensors.

4. The method of claim 2 , comprising operating the dual-mode light sensor in the first mode and upscaling the image when the lighting conditions indicate low light.

5. The method of claim 2 , comprising operating the dual-mode light sensor in the first mode when the zoom level is within an extremely low zoom level.

6. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
when the zoom level is within a low zoom level and the lighting conditions indicate more lighting than low light, operating the dual-mode light sensor in the second mode, cropping the image, and downscaling the image.

7. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
when the zoom level is within a medium zoom level and the lighting conditions indicate more lighting than low light, setting the dual-mode light sensor to the second mode and cropping the image.

8. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
when the zoom level is within a high zoom level and the lighting conditions indicate more lighting than low light, operating the dual-mode light sensor in the second mode, cropping the image, and upscaling the image.

9. The method of claim 2 , said combining the measurements obtained by at least 2 sub-sensors comprising adding measurements obtained by a plurality of neighboring sub-sensors.

10. The method of claim 9 , the plurality of neighboring sub-sensors having a square shape including 2×2 sub-sensors or 4×4 sub-sensors.

11. A system comprising:
a lens having a predetermined focal length and a substantially fixed zoom level;
a dual-mode light sensor comprising a plurality of sub-sensors, the dual-mode light sensor configured to operate in a first mode and record light focused by the lens by combining measurements obtained by at least two sub-sensors in the plurality of sub-sensors and producing an image based on the combined measurement, and configured to operate in a second mode different from the first mode; and
a processor configured to obtain lighting conditions and a zoom level associated with the image and to set the dual-mode light sensor to the second or the first mode based on the lighting conditions or the zoom level associated with the image.

12. The system of claim 11 , comprising the dual-mode light sensor configured to operate in the second mode and record light focused by the lens by producing the image based on a measurement obtained by a sub-sensor in the plurality of sub-sensors.

13. The system of claim 11 , when the lighting conditions indicate low light, the processor configured to operate the dual-mode light sensor in the first mode, and to upscale the image by a factor proportional to the zoom level.

14. The system of claim 11 , when the zoom level varies within an extremely low zoom level, the processor configured to operate the dual-mode light sensor in the first mode.

15. The system of claim 11 , when the zoom level varies within a low zoom level and the lighting conditions indicate more lighting than low light, the processor configured to set the dual-mode light sensor to the first mode, to crop and to downscale the image.

16. The system of claim 11 , when the zoom level varies within a medium zoom level and the lighting conditions indicate more lighting than low light, the processor configured to operate the dual-mode light sensor in the second mode and to crop the image.

17. The system of claim 11 , when the zoom level varies within a high zoom level and the lighting conditions indicate more lighting than low light, the processor configured to operate the dual-mode light sensor in the second mode, to crop and to upscale the image.

18. The system of claim 11 , the dual-mode light sensor configured to combine the measurements obtained by at least 2 sub-sensors comprising the dual-mode light sensor configured to add the measurements obtained by a plurality of neighboring sub-sensors.

19. The system of claim 18 , the plurality of neighboring sub-sensors having a square shape including 2×2 sub-sensors or 4×4 sub-sensors.

20. The system of claim 11 , the lens comprising a wide angle lens.

Assignees

• Essential Products Inc

Inventors

• Ling Yazhu
• Akiyoshi Kumi
• Sharma Ashish
• Nguyen Tien Viet

Classifications

• H04N23/667 Primary

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• H04N23/45

  for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images · CPC title

• H04N23/54

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

• H04N23/55

  Optical parts specially adapted for electronic image sensors; Mounting thereof · CPC title

• H04N23/69

  Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming · CPC title