Camera capture recommendation for applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9723200-B2
Application number	US-201414515461-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2014
Priority date	Oct 15, 2014
Publication date	Aug 1, 2017
Grant date	Aug 1, 2017

Abstract

One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for camera capture recommendation. For example, an application may operate to capture an image using a capture device (e.g., a user may use a camera of a smart phone to capture a vacation photo for sharing through a social network app). Camera parameters of the capture device and/or a preview data stream (e.g., pixel data depicting a beach “seen” by the camera in real-time) may be used to generate a camera capture recommendation (e.g., a recommendation to use a haze removal module, a high dynamic range module, a focus bracketing module, etc.). The camera capture recommendation is provided to the application. In this way, the application may selectively use, override, supplement (e.g., use an application supplied module), or modify the camera capture recommendation for application to the capture device to obtain an output image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for camera capture recommendation, comprising:
an application configured to utilize an image captured by a capture device, the application further configured to create an instance of a capture recommendation module; and
the capture recommendation module configured to:
obtain at least one of camera parameters of the capture device that is to capture the image for use by the application or a preview data stream from the capture device, the preview data stream depicting a scene for capture by the capture device;
evaluate at least one of the camera parameters or the preview data stream to generate a plurality of potential camera capture recommendations;
selecting one of the plurality of potential camera capture recommendations as a camera capture recommendation based on a determined confidence associated with each of the plurality of potential camera capture recommendations; and
provide the selected camera capture recommendation to the application.

2. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
a fusion component configured to:
obtain a set of bracketed images captured by the capture device based upon the camera capture recommendation;
perform image fusion on the set of bracketed images to create an output image; and
provide the output image to the application.

3. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
a fusion component configured to:
receive an instruction from the application to utilize a custom fusion module for fusing bracketed images;
obtain a set of bracketed images captured by the capture device based upon the camera capture recommendation;
apply the custom fusion module to the set of bracketed images to create an output image; and
provide the output image to the application.

4. The system of claim 1 , the camera capture recommendation comprising at least one of a set of capture settings or a number of images to capture for image fusion.

5. The system of claim 4 , the capture device configured to:
receive a recommendation implementation instruction from the application, the recommendation implementation instruction specifying that the set of capture settings are to be applied to the capture device for obtaining a set of bracketed images.

6. The system of claim 4 , the capture device configured to:
receive a recommendation implementation instruction from the application, the recommendation implementation instruction specifying that a first capture setting of the set of capture settings is to be applied to the capture device for obtaining a set of bracketed images and that a second capture setting of the set of capture settings is not to be applied to the capture device for obtaining the set of bracketed images.

7. The system of claim 4 , the capture device configured to:
receive a recommendation implementation instruction from the application, the recommendation implementation instruction specifying that one or more capture settings of the set of capture settings are to be applied to the capture device for obtaining a set of bracketed images and that at least one of a custom capture setting or a custom module are to be applied.

8. The system of claim 4 , the capture device configured to:
receive a recommendation implementation instruction from the application, the recommendation implementation instruction specifying that the set of capture settings are not to be applied to the capture device for obtaining a set of bracketed images and that at least one of a custom capture setting or a custom module are to be applied.

9. The system of claim 1 , the capture recommendation module configured to:
evaluate the preview data stream using a set of modules to generate the camera capture recommendation.

10. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
a preview enhancement module configured to:
receive a recommendation implementation instruction from the application;
iteratively apply the recommendation implementation instruction for image processing of bracketed images captured by the capture device; and
perform real-time fusion of the bracketed images.

11. The system of claim 9 , the capture recommendation module configured to:
receive a specification of a new module; and
include the new module within the set of modules used to evaluate the camera parameters and the preview data stream.

12. The system of claim 1 , the capture recommendation module hosted by an operating system that exposes the capture recommendation module to the application using an application programming interface (API).

13. The system of claim 9 , the capture recommendation module configured to:
evaluate a first potential camera capture recommendation provided by a first module, of the set of modules, to determine a first confidence; and
responsive to the first confidence exceeding a confidence threshold, select the first potential camera capture recommendation as the camera capture recommendation.

14. The system of claim 13 , the capture recommendation module configured to:
evaluate a second potential camera capture recommendation provided by a second module, of the set of modules, to determine a second confidence; and
responsive to the second confidence exceeding the confidence threshold and the second confidence being greater than the first confidence, select the second potential camera capture recommendation, but not the first potential camera capture recommendation, as the camera capture recommendation.

15. The system of claim 1 , the capture recommendation module configured to:
obtain an updated preview data stream from the capture device;
evaluate the updated preview data stream to generate an updated camera capture recommendation; and
provide the updated camera capture recommendation to the application.

16. The system of claim 1 , the capture recommendation module configured to:
provide the camera capture recommendation in real-time during operation of a viewfinder interface displaying the scene.

17. The system of claim 2 , the fusion component hosted by an operating system that exposes the fusion component to the application using an application programming interface (API).

18. A method for camera capture recommendation, comprising:
creating an instance of a camera recommendation module by an application;
by the camera recommendation module, obtaining at least one of camera parameters of a capture device that is to capture an image for use by the application or a preview data stream from the capture device, the preview data stream depicting a scene for capture by the capture device;
by the camera recommendation module, evaluating at least one of the camera parameters or the preview data stream to generate a plurality of potential camera capture recommendation;
by the camera recommendation module, selecting one of the plurality of potential camera capture recommendations as a camera capture recommendation based on a determined confidence associated with each of the plurality of potential camera capture recommendations; and
by the camera recommendation module, providing the selected camera capture recommendation to the application.

19. A system for image fusion, comprising:
an application configured to utilize an image captured by a capture device, the application further configured to create an instance of a capture recommendation module;
a capture recommendation module configured to evaluate at least one of camera parameters or a preview data stream to generate a plurality of potential camera capture recommendations, select one of the plurality of potential camera capture recommenda

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Kanumuri Sandeep
• Thumpudi Naveen

Classifications

• H04N23/741

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

• H04N23/617 Primary

  Upgrading or updating of programs or applications for camera control · CPC title

• H04N23/80

  Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof · CPC title

• H04N23/64 Primary

  Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image · CPC title

• H04N23/743

  Bracketing, i.e. taking a series of images with varying exposure conditions · CPC title