Photography apparatus and method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9918072-B2
Application number	US-201514735824-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2015
Priority date	Jul 31, 2014
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

An image photographing apparatus is provided. The image photographing apparatus includes a first photographing unit configured to photograph an image by using a phase difference image sensor, a second photographing unit configured to be spaced on a side of the first photographing unit, a controller configured to generate a first depth map by using a first image photographed by the first photographing unit and generate a second depth map by using a second image photographed by the second photographing unit, and an image processor configured to generate a three-dimensional (3D) image by using the first depth map and the second depth map.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image photographing apparatus comprising:
a first photographing unit configured to photograph an image by using a phase difference image sensor;
a second photographing unit configured to be spaced on a side of the first photographing unit;
a controller configured to:
generate a first depth map using a first image photographed by the first photographing unit; and
generate a second depth map using the first image and a second image photographed by the second photographing unit; and

an image processor configured to generate a three-dimensional (3D) image using the first depth map and the second depth map with the first image and the second image.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least a part of pixels among entire pixels constituting the phase difference image sensor are a plurality of phase difference pixels which are placed in a horizontal direction.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the first photographing unit and the second photographing unit are placed in a horizontal direction, and
wherein a separation distance between the first photographing unit and the second photographing unit is greater than a phase difference of the plurality of phase difference pixels.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least a part of pixels of the entire pixels constituting the phase difference image sensor are a plurality of phase difference pixels which are placed in a vertical direction.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the first photographing unit and the second photographing unit are placed in a vertical direction, and
wherein a separation distance between the first photographing unit and the second photographing unit is greater than a phase difference of the plurality of phase difference pixels.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least a part of pixels of the entire pixels constituting the phase difference image sensor are a plurality of phase difference pixels which are placed in a diagonal direction.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the first photographing unit and the second photographing unit are placed in a diagonal direction, and
wherein a separation distance between the first photographing unit and the second photographing unit is greater than a phase difference of the plurality of phase difference pixels.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first photographing unit comprises a micro lens array, and
wherein the controller generates the first depth map by using a first directional image and a second directional image which pass through the micro lens array and are focused on an image sensor.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller generates a third depth map by combining the first depth map and the second depth map.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the controller generates the third depth map by defining a boundary of an object in the first depth map and correcting a depth value of the object to read a depth value of the second depth map.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first photographing unit uses a wide-angle lens, and the second photographing unit uses a telephoto lens, and
wherein the controller generates the second depth map with respect to the second image where a subject is closed up by the telephoto lens of the second photographing unit and generates a third depth map by replacing a depth value of a first depth map area corresponding to the second depth map with a depth value of the second depth map.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second photographing unit comprises a phase difference image sensor,
wherein the controller generates a third depth map by using the first image and the second image, and
wherein the image processor generates the 3D image by using the first depth map, the second depth map, and the third depth map.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in response to photographing an object which is relatively close to the image photographing apparatus, the image processor generates the 3D image by using only the generated first depth map.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in response to photographing an object which is relatively distant from the image photographing apparatus, the image processor generates the 3D image by using the generated first depth map and second depth map.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a position controller configured to control a position of the second photographing unit,
wherein a distance between the first photographing unit and the second photographing unit varies depending upon the position of the second photographing unit.

16. A method of photographing an image, the method comprising:
photographing a subject by using a first photographing unit having a phase difference image sensor;
photographing the subject by using a second photographing unit;
generating a first depth map using a first image photographed by the first photographing unit and generating a second depth map using both the first image photographed by the first photographing unit and a second image photographed by the second photographing unit; and
generating a three-dimensional (3D) image by using the first depth map and the second depth map with the first image and the second image.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein at least a part of pixels among entire pixels constituting the phase difference image sensor are a plurality of phase difference pixels which are placed in a horizontal direction, a vertical direction, or a diagonal direction.

18. The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the first photographing unit comprises a micro lens array, and
wherein the generating the first depth map comprises generating the first depth map by using a first directional image and a second directional image which pass through the micro lens array and are focused on an image sensor.

19. The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the generating a 3D image comprises generating a third depth map by combining the first depth map and the second depth map.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19 , wherein the generating the third depth map comprises generating the third depth map by defining a boundary of an object in the first depth map and correcting a depth value of the object to read a depth value of the second depth map.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Jae-Gon
• Park Kyong-Tae
• Chung Chong-Sam

Classifications

• H04N13/0257

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N13/0232

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N13/0217

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N13/0007

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N13/0022

  Electricity · mapped topic