Low-light and/or long exposure image capture mode
US11102421B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 18, 2020 |
| Grant date | Aug 24, 2021 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 18, 2040 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N23/951
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An incoming image stream may be obtained from an image capture device operating in low-light conditions and/or a simulated long exposure image capture mode. As images are obtained, a weighting operation may be performed on the pixels of the captured images to generate and/or update an accumulative weight map, wherein the weighting is based, e.g., on the proximity of the captured pixels' values to the respective image capture device's maximum observable pixel value. As batches of images are obtained, they may be fused, e.g., according to the accumulative weight map, in a memory-efficient manner that places an upper limit on the overall memory footprint of the fusion operations, to simulate an actual long exposure image capture. In some embodiments, the weight map may be stored at a lower resolution than the obtained images and then upscaled, e.g., via the use of guided filters, before being applied in the fusion operations.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.