Unified bracketing approach for imaging

Abstract

The invention is entitled unified bracketing approach for imaging. Devices, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed describing an adaptive approach for image bracket selection and fusion, e.g., to generate low noise and high dynamic range (HDR) images in a wide variety of capturing conditions. An incoming image stream may be obtained from an image capture device, wherein the incoming image stream comprises a variety of differently-exposed captures, e.g., EV0 images, EV- images, EV+ images, long exposure (or synthetic long exposure) images, EV0 / EV- image pairs, etc., which are received according to a particular pattern. When a capture request is received, a set of rules and / or a decision tree may be used to evaluate one or more capture conditions associated with the images from the incoming image stream and determine which two or more images to select for a fusion operation. A noise reduction process may optionally be performed on the selected images before (or after) the registration and fusion operations.

Description

technical field [0001] The present disclosure relates generally to the field of digital image processing. More specifically, but not by way of limitation, this disclosure relates to techniques for image bracketing selection and adaptive methods of image fusion to generate low noise and high dynamic range (HDR) images under a wide variety of capture conditions. image. Background technique [0002] Fusing multiple images of the same captured scene is an effective way to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the resulting fused image. This is especially important for small form factor type devices and / or thin form factor type devices such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, wearable devices, etc., where the pixel size of the image sensor is usually very small. A smaller pixel size means that each pixel captures relatively less light (i.e. when compared to a full-size stand-alone camera with a larger pixel size), resulting in more visible noise in the captured image—espe...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

For example, portions of an image that have a certain color in the reference image but a different color in other candidate images, when combined with the candidate image, will result in a washed-out appearance or areas of false color that may be noticed by a viewer of the final fused image

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