Phase detect auto-focus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9769371-B1
Application number	US-201414481536-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 9, 2014
Priority date	Sep 9, 2014
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

An phase detect (PD) module including a phase detect (PD) lens, PD image sensor, and a PD controller is disclosed. The PD module may be configured to provide a control signal to an electromechanical device, such as a voice coil motor (VCM), of an image capture module to move a lens assembly to focus an image of an object to be imaged onto a primary image sensor. The PD module may direct the capture of a PD image by the PD image sensor and perform a phase detect (PD) technique on the captured AF image to identify a focus point of the lens assembly. This determined focus point may be used to displace the lens assembly relative to the primary image sensor to achieve focus of the object onto the primary image sensor.

First claim

What is claims is:

1. A mobile device, comprising:
a first lens to receive first light reflected by an object;
a Red-Green-Blue (RGB) image sensor to receive at least a portion of the first light via the first lens;
a voice coil motor (VCM) mechanically coupled to the first lens to move the first lens relative to the RGB image sensor;
a second lens to receive second light reflected by the object, wherein the first light does not include the second light;
a panchromatic image sensor to receive at least a portion of the second light via a second lens; and
a controller comprising:
at least one memory that stores computer-executable instructions; and
at least one processor that accesses the at least one memory and executes the computer-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
receiving a PD image data representing a PD image of the object from the panchromatic image sensor, wherein the PD image data is indicative of the at least a portion of the second light received by the panchromatic image sensor;
determining a phase difference in the PD image by detecting a level of defocus of the object in the PD image;
determining, using a look-up table, a focus offset distance corresponding to the phase difference;
generating a first VCM control signal using the focus offset distance;
providing the first VCM control signal to the VCM;
receiving, from a hall sensor coupled to the first lens, a first displacement value indicative of movement of the first lens;
determining that the first displacement value is not within a depth of focus (DOF) of the focus offset distance;
providing, based at least in part on the first VCM control signal, a second VCM control signal to the VCM to displace the first lens from the RGB image sensor in a direction normal to the first lens by the focus offset distance; and
capturing, by the RGB image sensor, an image of the object after the first lens is displaced.

2. The mobile device of claim 1 , further comprising an infrared (IR) illuminator and wherein the PD image data is a second PD image data and wherein receiving the PD image data from the panchromatic image sensor comprises:
receiving a first PD image data;
identifying that the first PD image data has an intensity dynamic range below a threshold value;
causing illumination of the object by the IR illuminator; and
receiving the second PD image data.

3. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein providing the VCM control signal to the VCM comprises:
generating the second VCM control signal by modifying the first VCM control signal based at least in part on a difference between the focus offset distance and the first displacement value;
providing the second VCM control signal to the VCM;
receiving, from the hall sensor, a second displacement value indicative of the distance between the first lens and the RGB image sensor; and
identifying that the second displacement value is within the DOF of the focus offset distance.

4. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein a size of a pixel of the panchromatic image sensor is greater than a size of a pixel of the RGB image sensor.

5. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a phase detection (PD) controller, image data from a first image sensor, the image data corresponding to an image acquired of an object using a first lens assembly;
determining, by the PD controller and based at least in part on the image data, a focus offset distance corresponding to a second lens assembly associated with a second image sensor, wherein the image data is based at least in part on first light received by the first lens assembly, and wherein the first light is not received by the second lens assembly;
determining, by the PD controller, a first control signal based at least in part on the focus offset distance;
determining, by the PD controller and using a sensor coupled to the second lens assembly, a first displacement of the second lens assembly from the second image sensor;
identifying, by the PD controller, that the first displacement is not within a spatial threshold of the focus offset distance;
providing, by the PD controller, based on the first control signal, a second control signal to an electromechanical device coupled to the second lens assembly to displace the second lens assembly relative to the second image sensor.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining, by the PD controller, that an image capture has been requested; and
causing, by the PD controller, acquisition of a first image of the object.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first image sensor includes a first plurality of first photosensitive pixels and the second image sensor includes a second plurality of second photosensitive pixels, and wherein each of the first photosensitive pixels have an area greater than each of the second photosensitive pixels.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the image data is a second image data and wherein receiving the image data from the first image sensor comprises:
receiving, by the PD controller, a first image data;
identifying, by the PD controller, that the first image data has an intensity dynamic range below a threshold value;
directing, by the PD controller, an illumination of the object by an illuminator;
directing, by the PD controller, an acquisition of the second image data while the object is illuminated by the illuminator; and
receiving, by the PD controller, the second image data.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the illuminator emits light having wavelengths between 750 nanometers (nm) and 1125 nm, and wherein the first image sensor is configured to detect at least a portion of the emitted light reflected from the object.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein providing the first control signal to the electromechanical device comprises:
generating, by the PD controller, the second control signal based at least in part on the first control signal and the first displacement;
providing, by the PD controller, the second control signal to the electromechanical device;
receiving, by the PD controller, a second indication of a second displacement of the second lens assembly from the sensor coupled to the second lens assembly; and
identifying, by the PD controller, that the second displacement is within the spatial threshold of the focus offset distance.

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein determining the focus offset distance further comprises:
determining, by the PD controller and based at least in part on the image data, a first focus point of the first lens assembly;
identifying, by the PD controller, a first focal length of the first lens assembly and a second focal length of a second lens assembly; and
determining, by the PD controller, a second focus point of the second lens assembly based at least in part on the first focus point, the first focal length, and the second focal length.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining the focus offset distance further comprises:
determining, by the PD controller, a current distance of the second lens assembly from the second image sensor; and
calculating, by the PD controller, the focus offset distance as a difference between the current distance and the second focus point.

13. The method of claim 5 , wherein determining the first control signal is based at least in part on the focus offset distance comprises identifying a direct current (DC) voltage corresponding to the focus offset distance.

14. A user device, comprising:
a first image sensor to receive first reflected light from an object using a first lens assembly;
a second image sensor and a second lens assembly to receive

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Azuma Eddie Alex
• Baldwin Leo Benedict

Classifications

• G02B7/34 Primary

  using different areas in a pupil plane · CPC title

• H04N23/74

  by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means · CPC title

• H04N23/681

  Motion detection · CPC title

• H04N25/704 Primary

  Pixels specially adapted for focusing, e.g. phase difference pixel sets · CPC title

• H04N23/55

  Optical parts specially adapted for electronic image sensors; Mounting thereof · CPC title