Apparatuses, methods, and computer program products for flicker reduction in a multi-sensor environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12088926-B2
Application number	US-202318343400-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 28, 2023
Priority date	Feb 28, 2020
Publication date	Sep 10, 2024
Grant date	Sep 10, 2024

Abstract

Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to flicker reduction in a multi-imager environment. Embodiments include methods, computer program products, and apparatuses for producing a near-field illumination using a near-field illuminator, the near-field illumination produced at a defined pulse train. A near-field image sensor may be exposed near the start of a near-field illumination pulse, and a far-field image sensor may be exposed between pulses of the near-field illumination. Some embodiments, additionally or alternatively, are configured for detecting an illuminator switch event, deactivating the near-field illuminator source, and producing, using a far-field illuminator source, a far-field illumination. Upon switching the illuminator source, some such embodiments are configured for exposing a far-field illuminator near the start of the far-field illumination pulse, and exposing a near-field image sensor near the start of the next available far-field illumination pulse. Such image capture may repeat until a task such as barcode reading is successful.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for flicker reduction in a multi-imager environment, the method comprising:
producing, using a first illuminator source of a plurality of illuminator sources, a first illumination, wherein the plurality of illuminator sources comprises more than two illuminator sources, and wherein the first illuminator source produces the broadest illumination among the plurality of illuminator sources;
exposing a first image sensor during the first illumination;
generating at least one first image based on the exposure of the first image sensor;
exposing a second image sensor such that the exposure of the second image sensor is not during any pulse associated with the first illumination;
generating at least one second image based on the exposure of the second image sensor;
detecting an illuminator switch event; and
in response to the detection of the illuminator switch event:
deactivating the first illuminator source; and
producing, using a second illuminator source of the plurality of illuminator sources, a second illumination associated with at least one second illumination pulse, wherein a second field of view illuminated by the second illuminator source is different than a first field of view illuminated by the first illuminator source, and wherein the second illuminator source produces the narrowest illumination among the plurality of illuminator sources.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
exposing the first image sensor during the second illumination;
generating a third image based on the exposure of the first image sensor during the second illumination;
exposing the second image sensor such that the exposure of the second image sensor is not during any pulse associated with the second illumination; and
generating a fourth image based on the exposure of the second image sensor during the second illumination.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of illuminator sources comprises one or more light emitting diode(s) (LEDs), laser(s) or other similar light source(s).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second field of view illuminated by the second illuminator source is narrower than the first field of view illuminated by the first illuminator source.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
prior to exposing the first image sensor during the first illumination, determining that the first image sensor was last utilized for capturing an image that was successfully processed.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first pulse associated with the first illumination is produced at a same rate and for a same length as a second pulse associated with the second illumination.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each illuminator source of the plurality of illuminator sources is configured to produce illumination pulses based on a respective defined pulse frequency and a respective defined pulse phase.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the illuminator switch event comprises:
determining each captured image of a captured image set is associated with an image property that does not satisfy an image property threshold,
wherein the captured image set comprises a number of captured images, wherein the number of captured images satisfies a near-illuminator capture threshold, and wherein the image property comprises an image white level value, and wherein the image property threshold comprises a minimum white level threshold.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first image sensor is utilized to capture a plurality of images prior to exposing the second image sensor.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beginning of the exposure of the second image sensor is near-aligned with a first pulse end time of a first pulse associated with the first illumination.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
processing the at least one second image corresponding to the second image sensor to determine an image property associated with the captured image does not satisfy an image property threshold associated with the image property; and
altering at least one of an exposure time value for the second image sensor or a gain value for the second image sensor.

12. An apparatus for flicker reduction in a multi-imager environment, the apparatus comprising:
a multi-sensor imaging engine comprising a plurality of illuminator sources, a first image sensor, and a second image sensor; and
a processor that configures the apparatus to:
produce, using a first illuminator source of the plurality of illuminator sources, a first illumination, wherein the plurality of illuminator sources comprises more than two illuminator sources, and wherein the first illuminator source produces the broadest illumination among the plurality of illuminator sources;
expose the first image sensor during the first illumination;
generate at least one first image based on the exposure of the first image sensor;
expose the second image sensor such that the exposure of the second image sensor is not during any pulse associated with the first illumination;
generate at least one second image based on the exposure of the second image sensor;
detect an illuminator switch event; and
in response to the detection of the illuminator switch event:
deactivate the first illuminator source; and
produce, using a second illuminator source of the plurality of illuminator sources, a second illumination associated with at least one second illumination pulse, wherein a second field of view illuminated by the second illuminator source is different than a first field of view illuminated by the first illuminator source, and wherein the second illuminator source produces the narrowest illumination among the plurality of illuminator sources.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the apparatus is further configured to:
expose the first image sensor during the second illumination;
generate a third image based on the exposure of the first image sensor during the second illumination;
expose the second image sensor such that the exposure of the second image sensor is not during any pulse associated with the second illumination; and
generate a fourth image based on the exposure of the second image sensor during the second illumination.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of illuminator sources comprises one or more light emitting diode(s) (LEDs), laser(s) or other similar light source(s).

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the second field of view illuminated by the second illuminator source is narrower than the first field of view illuminated by the first illuminator source.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , the apparatus further configured to, prior to exposing the first image sensor during the first illumination:
determine that the first image sensor was last utilized for capturing an image that was successfully processed.

17. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein a first pulse associated with the first illumination is produced at a same rate and for a same length as a second pulse associated with the second illumination.

18. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein each illuminator source of the plurality of illuminator sources is configured to produce illumination pulses based on a respective defined pulse frequency and a respective defined pulse phase.

19. A computer program product for flicker reduction in a multi-imager environment, the computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer program code stored thereon, the computer program

Assignees

• Hand Held Prod Inc

Inventors

• Hejl Benjamin
• Au Ka Man
• Van Horn Erik
• Wilz David M
• Miraglia Michael V
• Giordano Patrick

Classifications

• G06K7/1095

  the scanner comprising adaptations for scanning a record carrier that is displayed on a display-screen or the like · CPC title

• G06K7/10881

  constructional details of hand-held scanners · CPC title

• H04N23/745 Primary

  Detection of flicker frequency or suppression of flicker wherein the flicker is caused by illumination, e.g. due to fluorescent tube illumination or pulsed LED illumination · CPC title

• 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

• H04N23/74

  by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means · CPC title