Phase and exposure synchronization control of image acquisition devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12477234-B2
Application number	US-202318351663-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 13, 2023
Priority date	Aug 7, 2020
Publication date	Nov 18, 2025
Grant date	Nov 18, 2025

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a control method for an image acquisition device, a control device therefor, and a storage medium, relate to the field of the image acquisition device, and aim to realize synchronization of an operation timing signal of the image acquisition device and an external trigger signal. The method comprises: receiving image data acquired by the image acquisition device; analyzing the image data, obtaining an image timing according to an analysis result, and determining a frame synchronization signal of the image data output by the image acquisition device according to the image timing; determining a phase offset between the frame synchronization signal and a preset trigger signal; and adjusting a phase of a control signal based on the phase offset, wherein the control signal is configured for adjusting an operation timing of the image acquisition device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
achieving synchronous output of a plurality of image acquisition devices, by performing for each image acquisition device:
receiving image data acquired by an image acquisition device;
analyzing the image data, to obtain an analysis result;
obtaining an image timing according to the analysis result;
determining a frame synchronization signal with which the image acquisition device outputs the image data according to the image timing;
determining a phase offset between the frame synchronization signal and a preset trigger signal; and
adjusting a phase of a control signal based on the phase offset;
receiving image brightness values from the plurality of image acquisition devices; determining brightness difference values between the image brightness values of the image acquisition devices and an average brightness value of the plurality of image acquisition devices as brightness gains of the image acquisition devices; sending the brightness gains to the plurality of image acquisition devices; and controlling the plurality of image acquisition devices to expose in a uniform exposure duration and the different brightness gains, so that the plurality of image acquisition devices start exposure simultaneously and end exposure simultaneously.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
adjusting an operation timing of the image acquisition device using the control signal.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the adjusting the phase of the control signal based on the phase offset comprises:
adjusting the phase of the control signal using the phase offset in response to image data output time of the image acquisition device being coincident with exposure start time of the image acquisition device.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the adjusting the phase of the control signal based on the phase offset comprises:
determining a waiting duration between image data output time of the image acquisition device and exposure start time of the image acquisition device in response to the image data output time being not coincident with the exposure start time; adjusting the phase of the control signal using the phase offset; and advancing trigger time of the control signal by the waiting duration.

5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the adjusting the phase of the control signal using the phase offset comprises:
dividing the phase offset into a plurality of shifts smaller than a preset shift threshold, wherein the preset shift threshold is a maximum phase shift allowed by a single adjustment; and adjusting the phase of the control signal in a gradually approaching manner based on the plurality of shifts.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the uniform exposure duration of the plurality of image acquisition devices based on the image brightness values.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , further comprising:
performing a weighted summation on the image brightness values of the image acquisition devices according to brightness weights preset by the image acquisition devices, to obtain a weighted sum value; dividing the weighted sum value by a sum of brightness weights of the plurality of image acquisition devices to determine the average brightness value of the plurality of image acquisition devices.

8 . A system, comprising:
a plurality of image acquisition devices configured for obtaining image data; and a main control module configured for:
in order to achieve synchronous output of the plurality of image acquisition devices, for each image acquisition device:
receiving the image data from the image acquisition device ( 14 , 24 );
analyzing the image data, to obtain an analysis result;
obtaining an image timing according to the analysis result;
determining a frame synchronization signal with which the image acquisition device outputs the image data according to the image timing;
determining a phase offset between the frame synchronization signal and a preset trigger signal; and
adjusting a phase of a control signal based on the phase offset,
wherein the main control module is further configured for:
sending different brightness gains to the plurality of image acquisition devices; and
controlling the plurality of image acquisition devices to expose in an uniform exposure duration and the different brightness gains, so that the plurality of image acquisition devices start exposure simultaneously and end exposure simultaneously;
a serializer configured for performing parallel-serial conversion on the image data output by the image acquisition device to generate serial data; and a deserializer configured for receiving the serial data from the serializer and performing serial-parallel conversion to obtain converted image data and sending the converted image data to the main control module; wherein the serializer and the deserializer are connected between the image acquisition device and the main control module.

9 . The system according to claim 8 , wherein the adjusting the phase of the control signal based on the phase offset comprises:
adjusting the phase of the control signal using the phase offset in response to image data output time of the image acquisition device being coincident with exposure start time of the image acquisition device.

10 . The system according to claim 8 , wherein the adjusting the phase of the control signal based on the phase offset comprises:
determining a waiting duration between image data output time of the image acquisition device and exposure start time of the image acquisition device in response to the image data output time being not coincident with the exposure start time; adjusting the phase of the control signal using the phase offset; and advancing trigger time of the control signal by the waiting duration.

11 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein the adjusting the phase of the control signal using the phase offset comprises:
dividing the phase offset into a plurality of shifts smaller than a preset shift threshold, wherein the preset shift threshold is a maximum phase shift allowed by a single adjustment; and adjusting the phase of the control signal in a gradually approaching manner based on the plurality of shifts.

12 . The system according to claim 8 , wherein the main control module is further configured for:
receiving image brightness values from the plurality of image acquisition devices; determining the uniform exposure duration of the plurality of image acquisition devices based on the image brightness values; determining the different brightness gains of the image acquisition devices based on the uniform exposure duration and the image brightness values of the image acquisition devices.

13 . A device, comprising: at least one processor, at least one memory, and computer program instructions stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, implement operations comprising:
in order to achieve synchronous output of a plurality of image acquisition devices, for each image acquisition device:
receiving image data acquired by an image acquisition device;
analyzing the image data, to obtain an analysis result;
obtaining an image timing according to the analysis result;
determining a frame synchronization signal with which the image acquisition device outputs the image data according to the image timing;
determining a phase offset between the frame synchronization signal and a preset trigger signal;
adjusting a phase of a control signal based on the phase offset;
receiving image brightness

Assignees

• Beijing Tusen Weilai Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Yu
• Hao Jianan

Classifications

• H04N23/76

  by influencing the image signals · CPC title

• H04N23/71 Primary

  Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation · CPC title

• H04N23/90

  Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums · CPC title

• H04N23/73 Primary

  by influencing the exposure time · CPC title

• H04N23/60

  Control of cameras or camera modules · CPC title