Systems, methods, and computer program products for high depth of field imaging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9344608-B2
Application number	US-201213628888-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2012
Priority date	Sep 27, 2012
Publication date	May 17, 2016
Grant date	May 17, 2016

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products allow for the capturing of a high depth of field (DOF) image. A comprehensive depth map of the scene may be automatically determined. The scene may then be segmented, where each segment of the same corresponds to a respective depth of the depth map. A sequence of images may then be recorded, where each image in the sequence is focused at a respective depth of the depth map. The images of this sequence may then be interleaved to create a single composite image that includes the respective in-focus segments from these images.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
apportioning points of a first image of a scene amongst a number of groups, wherein the number of groups is based on a number of distinct depth values in a depth map of the first image, and wherein the apportioning includes associating each group with a respective one of the distinct depth values of the depth map and associating each point of the first image with one of the groups based on a depth value of the respective point and the distinct depth values associated with the respective groups;
determining a focal distance for each group based on the distinct depth value associated with the respective group of points;
controlling an image capture device to capture an additional image of the scene for each group including, for each additional image, focusing the image capture device at the focal distance determined for a respective one of the groups to capture a respective group of points of the additional image in-focus; and
combining the groups of points of the respective additional images to provide a composite image of the scene for which an object of the scene nearest to the image capture device and an object of the scene further from the image capture device are in-focus.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein points of each group have approximately equal depth values.

3. A system, comprising a processor and memory configure to:
apportion points of a first image of a scene amongst a number of groups, wherein the number of groups is based on a number of distinct depth values in a depth map of the first image, including to associate each group with a respective one of the distinct depth values of the depth map and to associate each point of the first image with one of the groups based on a depth value of the respective point and the distinct depth values associated with the respective groups;
determine a focal distance for each group based on the distinct depth value associated with the respective group of points;
control an image capture device to capture an additional image of the scene for each group including, for each additional image, to focus the image capture device at the focal distance determined for a respective one of the groups to capture a respective groups of points of the additional image in-focus; and
combine the groups of points of the respective additional images to provide a composite image of the scene for which an object of the scene nearest to the image capture device and an object of the scene further from the image capture device are in-focus.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein points of each group have approximately equal depth values.

5. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with a computer program including instructions to cause a processor to:
apportion points of a first image of a scene amongst a number of groups, wherein the number of groups is based on a number of distinct depth values in a depth map of the first image, including to associate each group with a respective one of the distinct depth values of the depth map and to associate each point of the first image with one of the groups based on a depth value of the respective point and the distinct depth values associated with the respective groups;
determine a focal distance for each group based on the distinct depth value associated with the respective group of points;
control an image capture device to capture an additional image of the scene for each group including, for each additional image, to focus the image capture device at the focal distance determined for a respective one of the groups to capture a respective groups of points of the additional image in-focus; and
combine the groups of points of the scene of the respective additional images to provide a composite image of the scene for which an object of the scene nearest to the image capture device and an object of the scene further from the image capture device are in-focus.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 5 , wherein points of each group have approximately equal depth values.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Ferens Ron

Classifications

• G06T2207/10016

  Video; Image sequence · CPC title

• G06T5/50

  using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction · CPC title

• H04N5/2226 Primary

  Determination of depth image, e.g. for foreground/background separation (determining depth by image analysis in general G06T7/50; segmentation by image analysis in general G06T7/10) · CPC title

• G06T2207/20221

  Image fusion; Image merging · CPC title

• G06T5/003

  Physics · mapped topic