Exposure control apparatus and control method thereof, image capturing apparatus, and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9712753-B2
Application number	US-201514881752-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 13, 2015
Priority date	Oct 20, 2014
Publication date	Jul 18, 2017
Grant date	Jul 18, 2017

Abstract

An exposure control apparatus comprises an acquisition unit including a plurality of pixels that are arranged two-dimensionally, and configured to acquire image data, a compression unit configured to compress the image data and generate compressed data, a calculation unit configured to calculate a first photometric value based on the compressed data, a conversion unit configured to convert the first photometric value into a second photometric value corresponding to the image data before the compression; and an exposure control unit configured to perform exposure control based on the second photometric value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An exposure control apparatus comprising:
an acquisition unit including a plurality of pixels that are arranged two-dimensionally, and configured to acquire image data; and
at least one processor or circuit that performs the operations of the following units:
a compression unit configured to compress the image data and generate compressed data;
a calculation unit configured to calculate a first photometric value based on the compressed data;
a conversion unit configured to convert the first photometric value into a second photometric value corresponding to the image data before the compression; and
an exposure control unit configured to perform exposure control based on the second photometric value.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image data is image data that has undergone processing for expanding a dynamic range as compared to a dynamic range of said acquisition unit.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said compression unit compresses the image data using bit shift processing and clip processing.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein said conversion unit converts the first photometric value into the second photometric value by adding an amount processed by the bit shift processing to the first photometric value.

5. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein said compression unit decides a shift amount of the bit shift processing based on a histogram of a most significant bit of the image data.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein said compression unit sets the shift amount of the bit shift processing such that the most significant bit whose cumulative histogram from an upper bit of the image data exceeds a predetermined threshold becomes a predetermined output.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein said compression unit changes the predetermined threshold in accordance with a shooting mode.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said calculation unit divides the plurality of pixels of said acquisition unit into a plurality of regions, and weights the compressed data for each of the plurality of regions, thereby calculating the first photometric value.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said acquisition unit acquires the image data after optical correction of a photographing lens.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the compression unit converts pixel outputs of the plurality of pixels to bit data and compresses the image data to generate the compressed data such that most significant bits of the bit data exceeding a threshold value become a predetermined output after the compression operation has been performed.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the conversion unit converts the first photometric value into a second photometric value by converting the compressed bit data to the pixel outputs.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 ,
wherein the first photometric value is a logarithm value, and
wherein the second photometric value is a linear vale.

13. An image capturing apparatus comprising:
an acquisition unit including a plurality of pixels that are arranged two-dimensionally, and configured to acquire image data; and
at least one processor or circuit that performs the operations of the following units:
a compression unit configured to compress the image data and generate compressed data;
a calculation unit configured to calculate a first photometric value based on the compressed data;
a conversion unit configured to convert the first photometric value into a second photometric value corresponding to the image data before the compression;
an exposure control unit configured to perform exposure control based on the second photometric value; and
an image capturing unit configured to capture an object image under exposure control by said exposure control unit.

14. A control method of an exposure control apparatus including an acquisition unit including a plurality of pixels that are arranged two-dimensionally, and configured to acquire image data, comprising:
compressing the image data and generating compressed data;
calculating a first photometric value based on the compressed data;
converting the first photometric value into a second photometric value corresponding to the image data before the compression; and
performing exposure control based on the second photometric value.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute each step of a control method of an exposure control apparatus including an acquisition unit including a plurality of pixels that are arranged two-dimensionally, and configured to acquire image data, the control method comprising:
compressing the image data and generating compressed data;
calculating a first photometric value based on the compressed data;
converting the first photometric value into a second photometric value corresponding to the image data before the compression; and
performing exposure control based on the second photometric value.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Mine Yosuke

Classifications

• H04N23/71 Primary

  Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation · CPC title

• H04N23/74

  by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means · CPC title

• G03B7/093

  for control of exposure time · CPC title

• H04N23/741

  by increasing the dynamic range of the image compared to the dynamic range of the electronic image sensors · CPC title

• H04N5/2351 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic