Hybrid auto-focus mechanism

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9420163-B2
Application number	US-201514842238-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 1, 2015
Priority date	Dec 23, 2014
Publication date	Aug 16, 2016
Grant date	Aug 16, 2016

Abstract

An autofocus method determines that a ranging device of a digital camera has failed in an attempt to provide a distance estimation. The ranging device provides one or more parameters indicating conditions related to the failure of the ranging device to provide the distance estimation. An autofocus sequence based on the one or more parameters is then performed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An autofocus method, comprising:
determining by a processing device of a digital camera having a ranging device that the ranging device failed in an attempt to provide a distance estimation between the digital camera and an object;
receiving by the processing device from the ranging device one or more parameters indicating conditions related to the failure of the ranging device to provide the distance estimation;
determining, based on the one or more parameters, a subset of a whole autofocus search range, wherein the subset has a higher probability of including the object than a remainder of the autofocus search range; and
performing by the processing device an autofocus sequence within the determined subset of the whole autofocus search range before performing a further autofocus sequence in the remainder of the autofocus search range.

2. The autofocus method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more parameters comprise one or more of:
an error code from the ranging device; and
a distance value representing an estimation of a maximum distance for which the ranging device is capable of determining a distance estimation.

3. The autofocus method of claim 1 , wherein the digital camera comprises at least one lens controllable to have N unique focusing positions, and wherein, based on the one or more parameters, the autofocus sequence comprises an iterative search covering a subset of the N unique focusing positions, an initial lens position of the autofocus sequence being selected based on the one or more parameters.

4. The autofocus method of claim 3 , wherein the digital camera comprises an image sensor on which the at least one lens forms an image of an image scene, the method further comprising:
processing by the processing device of images captured by the image sensor to determine focus measures; and
performing the iterative autofocus search based on the focus measures.

5. The autofocus method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more parameters comprise a distance value representing an estimation of a maximum distance (Dmax) for which the ranging device is capable of determining a distance estimation.

6. The autofocus method of claim 5 , wherein the distance value is determined based on an ambient light measure.

7. The autofocus method of claim 6 , further comprising estimating a reflectance of the object of the autofocus method, and determining the distance value based also on the estimated reflectance of the object.

8. The autofocus method of claim 7 , wherein estimating the reflectance of the object comprises detecting a color of the object.

9. The autofocus method of claim 5 , wherein processing comprises:
comparing the distance value with a first distance threshold; and
if the distance value is higher than the first distance threshold, performing the autofocus operation by selecting a lens position corresponding to infinity.

10. The autofocus method of claim 9 , wherein the first distance threshold is a distance corresponding to less than one lens position from the infinity lens position.

11. The autofocus method of claim 5 , wherein processing comprises:
comparing the distance value with a second distance threshold, and
if the distance value is higher than the second distance threshold, performing the autofocus operation by performing an iterative autofocus operation with fine steps for a range of lens positions corresponding to distances in a range from Dmax to infinity.

12. The autofocus method of claim 11 , wherein the second distance threshold is equal to a focusing distance corresponding to six or less lens positions from the lens position corresponding to infinity.

13. An autofocus system, comprising:
a digital camera comprising at least one lens controllable to have N unique focusing positions;
a ranging device configured to estimate a distance to an object; and
a processing device configured to:
determine that the ranging device failed in an attempt to provide a distance estimation;
receive from the ranging device one or more parameters indicating conditions related to the failure of the ranging device to provide the distance estimation;
determine, based on the one or more parameters, a subset of a whole autofocus search range, wherein the subset has a higher probability of including the object than a remainder of the autofocus search range; and
perform an autofocus operation within the subset of the whole autofocus search range before performing a further autofocus operation in the remainder of the autofocus search range.

14. The autofocus system of claim 13 , wherein the processing device is configured to perform the autofocus operation by performing an iterative search starting at a lens position selected based on the one or more parameters.

15. The autofocus system of claim 13 , wherein the digital camera comprises an image sensor on which the at least one lens forms an image of an image scene, and wherein the processing device is configured to process images captured by the image sensor to determine focus measures and to perform the iterative autofocus search based on the focus measures.

16. The autofocus system of claim 13 , further comprising a memory storing a table indicating a mapping between distances in the image scene and corresponding lens positions of the at least one lens for focusing at said distances.

17. The autofocus system of claim 13 , wherein the one or more parameters comprise a distance value representing an estimation of a maximum distance for which the ranging device is capable of determining a distance estimation, and wherein the ranging device is configured to generate the distance value based on an ambient light measure.

18. An autofocus method, comprising:
determining by a processing device of a digital camera having a ranging device that the ranging device failed in an attempt to provide a distance estimation, wherein the digital camera comprises at least one lens controllable to have N unique focusing positions;
receiving by the processing device from the ranging device one or more parameters indicating conditions related to the failed attempt of the ranging device to provide the distance estimation; and
performing by the processing device an autofocus sequence based on the one or more parameters, wherein, based on the one or more parameters, the autofocus sequence comprises an iterative search covering a subset of the N unique focusing positions, with an initial lens position of the autofocus sequence being selected based on the one or more parameters, and
wherein the one or more parameters comprise a distance value representing an estimation of a maximum distance (Dmax) for which the ranging device is capable of determining a distance estimation; and
wherein performing by the processing device comprises:
comparing the distance value with a distance threshold, and
if the distance value is higher than the distance threshold, performing the autofocus operation by performing an iterative autofocus operation with fine steps for a range of lens positions corresponding to distances in a range from Dmax to infinity.

Assignees

• Stmicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) Sas
• Stmicroelectronics (Research & Development) Ltd
• St Microelectronics Asia Pacific Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Plaza Laurent
• Lemarchand Olivier
• Varillon Paul
• Cascio Francesco
• Hall Duncan
• Lee Sam

Classifications

• H04N23/673 Primary

  based on contrast or high frequency components of image signals, e.g. hill climbing method · CPC title

• H04N23/57

  Mechanical or electrical details of cameras or camera modules specially adapted for being embedded in other devices · CPC title

• H04N23/71

  Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation · CPC title

• H04N9/045

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N5/2351

  Electricity · mapped topic