Privacy camera

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9729824-B2
Application number	US-201514810210-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2015
Priority date	Dec 20, 2012
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

A privacy camera, such as a light field camera that includes an array of cameras or an RGBZ camera(s)) is used to capture images and display images according to a selected privacy mode. The privacy mode may include a blur background mode and a background replacement mode and can be automatically selected based on the meeting type, participants, location, and device type. A region of interest and/or an object(s) of interest (e.g. one or more persons in a foreground) is determined and the privacy camera is configured to clearly show the region/object of interest and obscure or replace the background according to the selected privacy mode. The displayed image includes the region/object(s) of interest clearly shown (e.g. in focus) and any objects in a background of the combined image shown having a limited depth of field (e.g. blurry/not in focus) and/or the background replaced with another image and/or fill.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for creating a privacy mode from a privacy camera, comprising:
determining objects of interest in a scene comprising a foreground and a background;
determining a privacy mode from privacy modes comprising a background blur and a background replacement;
when the determined privacy mode is the background blur, creating an image by setting a depth of field for the privacy camera based on a number of the objects of interest in a field of view such that the objects of interest in the scene in the foreground appears in focus and any objects within the background of the scene appear to not be in focus;
when the determined privacy mode is the background replacement, creating the image by setting a dynamically adjustable foreground depth range for the privacy camera used in determining the foreground to include the objects of interest in the scene and replacing the background with at least one of an image and a fill; and
displaying the image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the privacy camera comprises an array of light of field cameras operative to capture a four-dimensional (4D) light field of the scene.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the privacy camera comprises a single camera with an f-number less than or equal to one.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the privacy mode further comprises using at least one of: a call location, face detection and head pose, and device type.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the privacy mode comprises determining when a meeting is at least one of: an intra-company meeting, an inter-group meeting, and an inter-company meeting.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the privacy mode is automatically determined using one or more of: user privacy preferences, a call location, a device type, face detection, head pose, and call participants.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising compensating for a failure in at least one of the cameras in the array of cameras using at least one of the other cameras within the array.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting an aperture of the privacy camera to set the depth of field.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein replacing the background with at least one of the image and the fill comprises determining the image to use based on one or more of: user privacy preferences, a call location, a device type, face detection and head pose, a meeting type including an intra-company meeting, an inter-group meeting, and an inter-company meeting.

10. A computer-readable storage device comprising computer-executable instructions for using an array of cameras, comprising:
determining a region of interest in a foreground of a scene obtained by the camera;
creating the image by automatically setting a foreground depth for the camera used in determining the foreground to include the region of interest in the scene based at least in part on a number of people in the scene and their respective depths and replacing the background with at least one of an image and a fill
enhancing the people in the scene or the region of interest in the scene; and
displaying the image.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the array of cameras having an array size of at least 2×2.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising enhancing the people in the scene through adjustment of at least one of exposure or gain.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 , further comprising using at least one of: a call location and a device type in automatically determining whether to perform the creating step.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising determining a depth estimate.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising enhancing the region of interest through adjustment of at least one of exposure or gain.

16. A system, comprising:
a processor and memory;
an operating environment executing using the processor;
a privacy camera comprising: one of: an array of cameras disposed on a base; and
a camera manager that is configured to perform actions comprising:

automatically determining a region of interest in a foreground of a scene obtained by the privacy camera;
determining a privacy mode from privacy modes comprising a background blur and a background replacement;
when the determined privacy mode is the background blur, creating an image by combining images from the array of cameras based at least in part on a number of people in the scene and their respective depths such that the people in the scene in the foreground appear in focus and any objects within the background of the scene appear to not be in focus;
when the determined privacy mode is the background replacement, creating the image by setting a foreground depth for the privacy camera used in determining the foreground to include the region of interest in the scene and replacing the background with at least one of an image and a fill; and
displaying the image.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein determining the privacy mode comprises using one or more of: user privacy preferences, a call location, a device type, face detection and head pose, and a meeting type including an intra-company meeting, an inter-group meeting, and an inter-company meeting to automatically select the privacy mode.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the camera manager is further configured to change a spatial relationship of the array of cameras.

19. The system of claim 16 , further comprising compensating for a failure in at least one of the cameras in the array of cameras using at least one of the other cameras within the array.

20. The system of claim 16 , wherein replacing the background with at least one of the image and the fill comprises determining the image to use based on one or more of: user privacy preferences, a call location, face detection and head pose, a device type, a meeting type including an intra-company meeting, an inter-group meeting, and an inter-company meeting.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Cutler Ross
• Mehran Ramin

Classifications

• H04N23/61

  based on recognised objects · CPC title

• H04N23/62

  Control of parameters via user interfaces · CPC title

• H04N23/675

  comprising setting of focusing regions · CPC title

• H04N23/63

  by using electronic viewfinders · CPC title

• H04N7/15 Primary

  Conference systems · CPC title