Digital camera apparatus with dynamically customized focus reticle and automatic focus reticle positioning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9800773-B2
Application number	US-201514749841-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2015
Priority date	Jun 25, 2015
Publication date	Oct 24, 2017
Grant date	Oct 24, 2017

Abstract

An apparatus includes digital camera equipment and a display that provides a viewfinder. A processor that is operatively coupled to the camera equipment, and to the display, controls the camera equipment and the display to provide a custom reticle that defines a region-of-interest having a shape corresponding to an object-of-interest as the object-of-interest appears in the viewfinder. One or more object templates may be stored in memory. The object templates contain location information and size information for one or more objects-of-interest in a geographic region where the apparatus is located. The processor may construct the custom reticle using one or more of the object templates. The processor can determine that an object-of-interest is displayed in the viewfinder and construct a custom reticle for that particular object-of-interest.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
camera equipment comprising one or more lenses and one or more camera sensors operative to detect at least three colors;
a display, operatively coupled to the camera equipment, and operative to provide a viewfinder that can display a scene sensed by the camera sensors of the camera equipment;
non-volatile, non-transitory memory, having location information and size information for an object-of-interest stored therein; and
a processor, operatively coupled to the camera equipment, the memory and to display, and configured to:
construct a custom reticle using the location information and size information for the object-of-interest; and
control the camera equipment and the display to provide the custom reticle that defines a region-of-interest having a shape corresponding to the object-of-interest as the object-of-interest appears in the viewfinder.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
limit usage of image statistics of a captured image, used by at least one of an auto exposure routine and an auto white balance routine, by using only the image statistics corresponding to grid areas falling within a perimeter defined by the custom reticle.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
an object template, stored in the non-volatile, non-transitory memory, the object template comprising the location information and the size information for the object-of-interest; and
wherein the processor is further configured to:
construct the custom reticle using the object template.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine that the object-of-interest is displayed in the viewfinder; and
construct the custom reticle in response to determining that the object-of-interest is displayed in the viewfinder.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:
location determination hardware, operatively coupled to the processor;
a gyroscope, operatively coupled to the processor; and
wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine the apparatus's distance from the object-of-interest using location information of the apparatus obtained from the location determination hardware and location information of the object-of-interest contained in the object template;
determine the direction of the object-of-interest with respect to a lens of the camera equipment using the gyroscope; and
determine that the object-of-interest is displayed in the viewfinder based on the determined distance and direction of the object-of-interest with respect to the lens position.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
construct the custom reticle by scaling the at least one object template size information using the determined distance and direction of the object-of-interest with respect to the lens.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to store the apparatus's distance from the object-of-interest and the direction of the object-of-interest with respect to the lens in a table in the non-volatile, non-transitory memory.

8. A method, comprising:
displaying a scene in a viewfinder on a display of an apparatus, the scene sensed using camera sensors and at least one lens of a camera equipment of the apparatus;
constructing a custom reticle for an object-of-interest using location and size information for the object-of-interest; and
providing the custom reticle in the viewfinder that defines a region-of-interest having a shape corresponding to the object-of-interest as the object-of-interest appears in the viewfinder.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
limiting usage of image statistics of a captured image, used by at least one of an auto exposure routine and an auto white balance routine, by using only the image statistics corresponding to grid areas falling within a perimeter defined by the custom reticle.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
constructing the custom reticle using an object template stored in memory, the object template comprising the location information and the size information for the object-of-interest.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining that the object-of-interest is displayed in the viewfinder; and
constructing the custom reticle in response to determining that the object-of-interest is displayed in the viewfinder.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining the apparatus's distance from the object-of-interest using location information of the apparatus obtained from location determination hardware and location information of the object-of-interest contained in the object template;
determining the direction of the object-of-interest with respect to a lens of the camera equipment using a gyroscope; and
determining that the object-of-interest is displayed in the viewfinder based on the determined distance and direction of the object-of-interest with respect to the lens position.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
scaling the object template size information using the determined distance and direction of the object-of-interest with respect to the lens.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
storing the apparatus's distance from the object-of-interest and the direction of the object-of-interest with respect to the lens in a table.

15. An apparatus, comprising:
camera equipment comprising one or more lenses and one or more camera sensors operative to detect at least three colors;
a display, operatively coupled to the camera equipment, and operative to provide a viewfinder that can display a scene sensed by the camera sensors of the camera equipment;
non-volatile, non-transitory memory, having location information and size information for an object-of-interest stored therein; and
a processor, operatively coupled to the camera equipment, the memory and to the display, and configured to:
construct a custom reticle using the location information and the size information for the object-of-interest; and
control the camera equipment and the display to position the custom reticle over the object-of-interest as the object-of-interest appears in the viewfinder.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:
an object template stored in the non-volatile, non-transitory memory, the object template comprising the location information and the size information for the object-of-interest; and
wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine the orientation of a camera equipment lens with respect to the object-of-interest to determine that the object-of-interest is displayed in the viewfinder.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
construct a custom reticle for the object-of-interest in response to determining that the object-of-interest is displayed in the viewfinder.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising:
location determination hardware, operatively coupled to the processor;
a gyroscope, operatively coupled to the processor; and
wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine the apparatus's distance from the object-of-interest using location information of the apparatus obtained from the location determination hardware and location information of the object-of-interest contained in the object template;
determine the direction of the object-of-interest with respect to the lens of the camera equipment using the gyroscope; and
determine that the object

Assignees

• Motorola Mobility Llc

Inventors

• Smith Brian K
• Marchevsky Valeriy

Classifications

• H04N23/67 Primary

  Focus control based on electronic image sensor signals · CPC title

• H04N23/635 Primary

  Region indicators; Field of view indicators · CPC title

• H04N23/611

  where the recognised objects include parts of the human body · CPC title

• H04N23/61

  based on recognised objects · CPC title

• H04N5/23212 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic