Enhanced video capture in adverse lighting conditions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9565368-B2
Application number	US-201514727907-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 2, 2015
Priority date	Jun 2, 2015
Publication date	Feb 7, 2017
Grant date	Feb 7, 2017

Abstract

A device and method of capturing a video frame using an electronic device to provide enhanced video. A first sub-frame is captured using ambient light, and a second sub-frame is captured using ambient light and a light source under control of the electronic device. A primary frame is generated based on a combination of the first sub-frame and the second sub-frame.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of capturing a video frame using an electronic device, comprising:
capturing a first sub-frame using ambient light;
capturing a second sub-frame using ambient light and a light source under control of the electronic device; and
generating a primary frame based on a combination of the first sub-frame and the second sub-frame, said generating including
comparing, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, pixels of the first sub-frame with corresponding pixels of the second sub-frame;
for each comparison, flagging one of a pixel of the first sub-frame or a pixel of the second sub-frame that satisfies a predefined characteristic; and
using the pixels flagged in the first sub-frame and the pixels flagged in the second sub-frame to generate the primary frame.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein generating includes using data from both the first sub-frame and the second sub-frame to generate the primary frame.

3. The method according to claim 1 , where the predefined characteristic comprises a highest luminance level.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predefined characteristic comprises a luminance level or a chrominance level.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising prior to the generating step synchronizing the second sub-frame with the first sub-frame.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein synchronizing comprises detecting motion of an object captured in the second sub-frame relative to the object captured in the first sub-frame, and modifying the second sub-frame to compensate for the detected motion.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein capturing the second sub-frame comprises pulsing a light source of the electronic device.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising repeating the steps of claim 1 for each successive primary frame.

9. An electronic device, comprising:
a camera;
a light source; and
a control circuit operative to generate a video, the control circuit configured to
capture a first sub-frame using ambient light,
capture a second sub-frame using ambient light and the light source of the electronic device, and
generate a primary frame based on a combination of the first sub-frame and the second sub-frame, wherein to generate the primary frame the control circuit is configured to
compare, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, pixels of the first sub-frame with corresponding pixels of the second sub-frame;
for each comparison, flag one of a pixel of the first sub-frame or a pixel of the second sub-frame that satisfies a predefined characteristic; and
use the pixels flagged in the first sub-frame and the pixels flagged in the second sub-frame to generate the primary frame.

10. The electronic device according to claim 9 , wherein the electronic device comprises one of a camera, a mobile phone, a personal data assistance, a tablet computer, or a laptop computer.

11. The electronic device according to claim 9 , wherein the predefined characteristic comprises a highest luminance level.

12. The electronic device according to claim 9 , wherein the predefined characteristic comprises one of the highest luminance level or the highest chrominance level.

13. The electronic device according to claim 9 , wherein the control circuit is configured to synchronize the second sub-frame with the first sub-frame prior to performing the comparison.

14. The electronic device according to claim 13 , wherein the control circuit is configured to synchronize the second sub-frame to the first sub frame by detecting motion of an object captured in the second sub-frame relative to the object captured in the first sub-frame, and modify the second sub-frame to compensate for the detected motion.

15. The electronic device according to claim 9 , wherein the control circuit is configured to pulse the light source at a prescribed frequency.

16. The electronic device according to claim 9 , wherein the control circuit is configured to generate a video file from a plurality of primary frames.

Assignees

• Sony Mobile Communications Inc
• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Nilsson Jan

Classifications

• H04N23/74 Primary

  by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means · CPC title

• H04N23/56

  provided with illuminating means · CPC title

• G06T2207/20221

  Image fusion; Image merging · CPC title

• G06T5/50 Primary

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

• H04N5/265

  Mixing · CPC title