Devices and methods for capturing and interacting with enhanced digital images

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9860451-B2
Application number	US-201514863432-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2015
Priority date	Jun 7, 2015
Publication date	Jan 2, 2018
Grant date	Jan 2, 2018

Abstract

An electronic device includes a camera. While in a first media acquisition mode for the camera the device displays a live preview on the display. While displaying the live preview, the device detects activation of a shutter button. In response to detecting activation of the shutter button, the device groups a plurality of images acquired by the camera in temporal proximity to the activation of the shutter button into a sequence of images. The sequence of images includes: a plurality of images acquired by the camera prior to detecting activation of the shutter button; a representative image that represents the first sequence of images and was acquired by the camera after one or more of the other images in the first sequence of images; and a plurality of images acquired by the camera after acquiring the representative image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
at an electronic device with a display, a camera, one or more processors, and memory:
while in a first media acquisition mode for the camera:
displaying a live preview on the display;
while displaying the live preview, detecting activation of a shutter button at a first time; and
in response to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time:
grouping a plurality of images acquired by the camera in temporal proximity to the activation of the shutter button at the first time into a first sequence of images, wherein the first sequence of images includes:
 a plurality of images acquired by the camera at a first resolution prior to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time;
 a representative image that represents the first sequence of images and was acquired by the camera at a second resolution after one or more of the other images in the first sequence of images; and
 a plurality of images acquired by the camera at the first resolution after acquiring the representative image;
 wherein the second resolution is higher than the first resolution of the images in the first sequence other than the representative image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, the plurality of images acquired prior to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time is a predefined number of images.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein, the plurality of images acquired prior to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time is images that are within a predefined time prior to the first time.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein, the plurality of images acquired prior to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time is images that are within a predefined time prior to a time at which the representative image is acquired.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein, the plurality of images acquired prior to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time are from a range of time between the first time and a second time that is prior to the first time, and acquiring the plurality of images prior to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time is independent of detecting an interaction with the shutter button that is temporally proximate to the second time.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of images, in the first sequence of images, that are acquired prior to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time meet one or more predefined grouping criteria.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the predefined grouping criteria include selecting a predefined number of images prior to detecting activation of the shutter button.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the predefined grouping criteria include selecting a predefined number of images prior to the representative image.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the predefined grouping criteria include selecting images in a predefined range of time immediately prior to detecting activation of the shutter button.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the predefined grouping criteria include selecting images in a predefined range of time immediately prior to the time at which the representative image is acquired.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device begins acquiring and storing images upon entering the first media acquisition mode and then deletes images that are not grouped into a respective plurality of images that are in temporal proximity to activation of the shutter button at a respective time while in the first media acquisition mode.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device begins acquiring and storing images upon displaying the live preview and then deletes images that are not grouped into a respective plurality of images that are in temporal proximity to activation of the shutter button at a respective time while in the first media acquisition mode.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device acquires and stores images while displaying the live preview, independent of detecting activations of the shutter button, and deletes acquired and stored images that are not grouped into a respective plurality of images that are in temporal proximity to activation of the shutter button at a respective time while in the first media acquisition mode.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sequence of images are stored as a first distinct set of images in the memory.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the live preview displays images at a first resolution and the first sequence of images includes images, at the first resolution, that were displayed in the live preview.

16. The method of claim 1 , including:
in response to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time:
associating, with the first sequence of images, audio that corresponds to the first sequence of images.

17. The method of claim 1 , including:
in response to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time:
associating, with the first sequence of images, metadata that corresponds to the first sequence of images.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first media acquisition mode is configured to be enabled or disabled by a user of the device.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein:
the live preview is displayed as part of a media capture user interface that includes an affordance for enabling the first media acquisition mode;
while the first media acquisition mode is enabled, the affordance is animated; and
while the first media acquisition mode is disabled, the affordance is not animated.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein parameters for a respective sequence of images grouped in response to detecting a respective activation of the shutter button are configurable by a user of the device.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the live preview is displayed as part of a media capture user interface that includes an affordance for enabling the first media acquisition mode; and
the shutter button is a software button displayed in the media capture user interface; and
the method includes:
in response to detecting the activation of the shutter button, displaying an animation associated with the shutter button that lasts for an amount of time that corresponds to an amount of time after the activation of the shutter button that the camera is acquiring images for the first sequence of images.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of images acquired by the camera prior to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time are stored in a first form in the memory prior to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time and are stored in a second form in the memory in response to detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time.

23. The method of claim 1 , including:
after detecting activation of the shutter button at the first time, detecting a next activation of the shutter button at a second time; and
in response to detecting the next activation of the shutter button at the second time:
grouping a plurality of images acquired by the camera in temporal proximity to the activation of the shutter button at the second time into a second sequence of images, wherein the second sequence of images includes:
a plurality of images acquired by the camera prior to detecting activation of the shutter button at the second time; and
a representative image that represents the second sequence of images and was acquired by the camera

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Penha Henrique D
• Bauer Sebastian J
• Chaudhri Imran A
• Clarke Graham R
• Dye Alan C
• Federighi Craig M
• Guzman Aurelio
• Ive Jonathan
• King Nicholas V
• Manzari Behkish J
• Mezak Charles A
• Titi Justin S
• Wilson Christopher I
• Harris Elliott B
• Kim Emilie

Classifications

• G06F3/0487 Primary

  using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser · CPC title

• H04N23/62

  Control of parameters via user interfaces · CPC title

• H04N23/634

  Warning indications · CPC title

• H04N23/64

  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

• H04N23/632

  for displaying or modifying preview images prior to image capturing, e.g. variety of image resolutions or capturing parameters · CPC title