Method for quickly generating preview thumbnail and mobile electronic device

Abstract

The invention provides a method for quickly generating a preview thumbnail and a mobile electronic device. The mobile electronic device comprises an image acquisition assembly, a processing device and a storage device. The method for quickly generating the preview thumbnail comprises the following steps of: shooting a plurality of frames of images by an image capturing component according to a shooting instruction; the processing device optimizes the multi-frame image and transmits the multi-frame image to a camera application program; the camera application program selects one frame from the multiple frames of images as a preview thumbnail; and the camera application program synthesizes the multiple frames of images to output a final image, and the final image is stored in the storage device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to a method for rapidly generating preview thumbnails during shooting and a mobile electronic device for rapidly generating preview thumbnails. Background Technology

[0002] Portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, typically display a preview thumbnail of the photo taken in the camera application when the photo is taken, allowing users to view the result instantly. However, modern mobile phone cameras employ numerous image processing algorithms to improve image quality. These algorithms often involve combining multiple images, making the photo-taking process increasingly complex. Consequently, the time between pressing the shutter button and the completion of image processing gradually lengthens, resulting in a delay in the preview thumbnail. This prevents users from immediately observing the photo's outcome, thus negatively impacting the overall photo-taking experience. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The technical problem to be solved by this application is to provide a method for quickly generating preview thumbnails, including: taking multiple frames of images according to a photo-taking command; optimizing the multiple frames of images and sending them to a camera application; the camera application selecting one frame from the multiple frames of images as a preview thumbnail; and compositing the multiple frames of images to output a final image.

[0004] This application also provides a mobile electronic device, including an image capturing component, a processing unit, and a storage unit. In the mobile electronic device, the image capturing component captures multiple frames of images according to a shooting command. The processing unit is electrically connected to the image capturing component and has a built-in camera application. After optimizing the multiple frames of images, the camera application selects one frame from the multiple frames as a preview thumbnail, and the processing unit combines the multiple frames of images to output a final image. The storage unit is electrically connected to the processing unit to store the final image.

[0005] In summary, this application proposes a method and mobile electronic device for rapidly generating preview thumbnails. When the input image for the image algorithm has a similar image to the final image, it uses an intermediate image as a preview thumbnail in advance to reduce the waiting time for image algorithm synthesis, thereby achieving the effect of displaying the preview thumbnail earlier. Therefore, this application modifies the shooting process to quickly display the preview thumbnail, thereby improving the shooting experience.

[0006] The other effects and embodiments of this application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Attached Figure Description

[0007] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments recorded in this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0008] Figure 1 This is a block diagram of a mobile electronic device according to an embodiment of this application;

[0009] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a user interface on a touch screen of a mobile electronic device according to an embodiment of this application;

[0010] Figure 3 A schematic flowchart illustrating the process of rapidly generating preview thumbnails for a mobile electronic device according to an embodiment of this application;

[0011] Figure 4 A flowchart illustrating the process of rapidly generating preview thumbnails for a mobile electronic device according to another embodiment of this application;

[0012] Figure 5 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating the process of quickly generating preview thumbnails for a mobile electronic device according to another embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0013] The following provides a detailed description of preferred embodiments; however, these embodiments are merely illustrative and do not limit the scope of protection sought by this application. Furthermore, some components are omitted from the drawings in the embodiments to clearly illustrate the technical features of this application. The same reference numerals will be used to denote the same or similar components in all drawings.

[0014] The purpose of thumbnails is to provide real-time observation of the captured image. Since thumbnails occupy a relatively small portion of the overall screen on mobile electronic devices, observation typically focuses on easily observable features such as scene orientation, angle, or overall brightness and color. Based on this, this application utilizes this characteristic to modify the shooting process, enabling the rapid generation of preview thumbnails.

[0015] Please also refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2As shown, a mobile electronic device 10 includes an image capturing component 12, a processing unit 14, a storage unit 18, and a touch screen 20. In the mobile electronic device 10, the image capturing component 12 captures multiple frames of the current scene according to a shooting command. The processing unit 14 is electrically connected to the image capturing component 12 and the touch screen 20, and has a built-in camera application 16. The camera application 16 contains multiple image algorithms. The processing unit 14 receives the multiple frames of images captured by the image capturing component 12, optimizes the multiple frames, and then sends them to the camera application 16. The camera application 16 selects one frame from the multiple frames as a preview thumbnail 22 and displays it at a preview position on the user interface 24 of the touch screen 20. The processing unit 14 or the camera application 16 then combines the multiple frames to output a final image. The storage unit 18 is electrically connected to the processing unit 14 and is used to store the final image output by the processing unit 14. In one embodiment, the mobile electronic device 10 may be a tablet computer, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or any kind of portable electronic product with a processor, but this application is not limited thereto.

[0016] In one embodiment, the processing device 14 is a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose or special-purpose microprocessor, microcontroller, micro control unit (MCU), digital signal processor (DSP), programmable controller, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or other similar components or combinations thereof, and this application is not limited thereto.

[0017] In one embodiment, the storage device 18 may be any type of fixed or removable random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, hard disk drive (HDD), solid state drive (SSD) or other similar components or combinations thereof, for storing any image or video data required by the processing device 14, but this application is not limited thereto.

[0018] In the mobile electronic device 10, the processing device 14 utilizes the camera application 16 to quickly generate preview thumbnails; please also refer to... Figure 1 , Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, during preparation, the user first opens the camera application 16, and the user interface 24 corresponding to the camera application 16 is displayed on the touch screen 20. As shown in step S10, the user presses a shutter button 26 in the user interface 24 provided by the camera application 16 to generate a shutter command to start the shutter process. The camera application 16 selects an algorithm according to the current user interface 24 so that it can subsequently capture single-frame or multi-frame images required by the algorithm. As shown in step S12, the image capturing component 12 captures multi-frame images according to the shutter command to obtain multi-frame images, and these images are unprocessed RAW format images. After shooting, as shown in step S14, the processing device 14 performs optimization processing on these multi-frame images. The optimization processing is an image signal processing pipeline (ISP). This image signal processing pipeline includes preprocessing, white balance, de-mosaicing, post-processing, color correction, etc., on the aforementioned multi-frame images in order to convert the RAW format images into YUV format images, and then output multi-frame optimized images, and then send these optimized images to the camera application 16.

[0019] As shown in step S16, the camera application 16 receives all optimized images as input images for the image algorithm, and selects the frame with the highest clarity from these optimized images as a preview thumbnail 22. In one embodiment, the camera application 16 uses a high-pass filter (HPF) to calculate which optimized image has higher clarity, and selects it as the optimized image for preview thumbnail 22. This preview thumbnail 22 is then displayed at a preview position on the user interface 24 of the touch screen 20 to allow the user to view it earlier. As shown in step S18, the camera application 16 uses a multiple frame noise reduction (MFNR) algorithm to synthesize these optimized images (multi-frame synthesis) to output a final image. The purpose of using the multiple frame noise reduction algorithm as the image algorithm is to perform calculations using multiple optimized images to achieve more accurate noise removal and detail preservation. This final image is the final shooting result stored in the storage device 18. Therefore, in this embodiment, after obtaining the optimized image, one frame is selected in advance as the preview thumbnail 22, which saves the time of waiting for the image algorithm to synthesize.

[0020] In one embodiment, when the multi-frame images captured by the image capturing component 12 are multi-frame images under three different brightness levels, after optimization and multi-frame synthesis and before outputting the final image, the camera application 16 can further use a High Dynamic Range (HDR) algorithm to perform multi-brightness synthesis on the aforementioned images, so as to restore the current scene using three images with different brightness levels, and then output the final image.

[0021] To further accelerate the preview thumbnail display time, this application proposes another embodiment, which divides multiple frames of images into a first image and a second image. Please also refer to... Figure 1 , Figure 2 and Figure 4 As shown in step S20, the user presses the shutter button 26 in the user interface 24 provided by the camera application 16 to generate a shutter command and start the shutter process. As shown in step S22, the image capturing component 12 captures a single frame of the first image according to the shutter command. The first image is an unprocessed RAW format image, and this additional first image is only used as a thumbnail for subsequent display. As shown in step S24, the processing device 14 optimizes this first image. This optimization is an image signal processing flow to convert the RAW format image into a YUV format image, and then outputs a single frame of the first optimized image. The first optimized image is then transmitted to the camera application 16 as a preview thumbnail 22, and then this preview thumbnail 22 is displayed at the preview position on the user interface 24 of the touch screen 20 to show the preview thumbnail 22 to the user for review in advance.

[0022] When the image capturing component 12 receives a shooting command, in addition to capturing the aforementioned first image, as shown in step S26, it will also continue to capture multiple frames of a second image, which is also an unprocessed RAW format image. After capturing multiple frames of the second image in step S26, the processing device 14 will display the preview thumbnail 22 on the user interface 24. This sequence is mainly to avoid the problem of blurry or shaky second images, which could lead to an unsatisfactory composite result. This is because the user sees the preview thumbnail 22 and assumes the shooting is complete, then moves the mobile electronic device 10, but the second image required by the image algorithm has not yet been captured, resulting in a blurry or shaky image. As shown in step S28, the processing device 14 optimizes these multiple frames of the second image using an image signal processing flow to convert the RAW format image to a YUV format image, thereby outputting multiple optimized second images. As shown in step S30, the processing device 14 or the camera application 16 uses a multi-frame noise reduction algorithm (image algorithm) to synthesize these optimized second images to output a final image. When processed by the processing device 14, after generating the second optimized image, the processing device 14 directly performs a multi-frame noise reduction algorithm to synthesize these second optimized images, and then outputs the final image. When processed by the camera application 16, after generating the second optimized image, the processing device 14 transmits these second optimized images to the camera application 16. The camera application 16 receives the second optimized images as input images required by the image algorithm within the camera application 16, and uses a multi-frame noise reduction algorithm (image algorithm) to synthesize these second optimized images to output the final image. Therefore, in this embodiment, an additional single-frame first image is captured in the original shooting process, and this first image is set not to undergo additional image algorithm processing. After the camera application 16 obtains this first image, it only needs to wait for the subsequent multi-frame second images to be captured before displaying the preview thumbnail 22. This saves the time for underlying image processing and subsequent image algorithm synthesis, further achieving the effect of increasing the display speed of the preview thumbnail 22.

[0023] In one embodiment, this application can employ different image capture procedures based on different image algorithms. Please also refer to... Figure 1 , Figure 2 and Figure 5As shown in step S40, the user presses the shutter button 26 in the user interface provided by the camera application 16 to generate a shutter command and start the shutter process. As shown in step S42, the image capturing component 12 captures a single frame of the first image according to the shutter command, and the first image is an unprocessed RAW format image. As shown in step S44, the processing device 14 optimizes the first image through an image signal processing flow to convert the RAW format image into a YUV format image, and then outputs a single frame of the first optimized image. The first optimized image is then transmitted to the camera application 16 as a preview thumbnail 22, and then the preview thumbnail 22 is displayed at the preview position on the user interface 24 of the touch screen 20 to show the preview thumbnail 22 to the user for review in advance.

[0024] After the image capturing component 12 captures the aforementioned first image, as shown in step S46, the image capturing component 12 continues to capture multiple frames of second images at three different brightness levels required by the image algorithm. These second images are also unprocessed RAW format images. Only after capturing multiple frames of the second images as shown in step S46 will the processing device 14 display the preview thumbnail 22 on the user interface 24 to ensure the clarity of the second images. After acquiring the second images, as shown in step S48, the processing device 14 optimizes these second images through an image signal processing flow to convert all RAW format images into YUV format images, thereby outputting multiple frames of optimized second images. As shown in step S50, the processing device 14 or the camera application 16 uses a multi-frame noise reduction algorithm to synthesize the optimized second images at the three brightness levels (multi-frame synthesis) to form single-frame third images at each brightness level. When processed by processing device 14, processing device 14 uses a multi-frame noise reduction algorithm to synthesize the multi-frame second optimized images of three brightness levels respectively to form a single-frame third image of each brightness level, and transmits the third image to camera application 16. When processed by camera application 16, processing device 14 transmits the multi-frame second optimized images of three brightness levels to camera application 16 for synthesis to form a single-frame third image of each brightness level. As shown in step S52, camera application 16 obtains the third image as the input image required by the image algorithm, and camera application 16 uses a High Dynamic Range (HDR) algorithm to synthesize the third image (multi-brightness synthesis) to restore the current scene using three third images of different brightness levels, and then outputs a final image. In this embodiment, a single-frame first image is captured first. This first image is only optimized (image signal processing flow) without other image processing flows, so that a method for quickly creating thumbnails can be used to speed up the generation of preview thumbnails 22.

[0025] In summary, this application proposes a method and mobile electronic device for rapidly generating preview thumbnails. When the input image for the image algorithm has a similar image to the final image, it uses an intermediate image as a preview thumbnail in advance to reduce the waiting time for image algorithm synthesis, thereby achieving the effect of displaying the preview thumbnail earlier. Therefore, this application modifies the shooting process to quickly display the preview thumbnail, thereby improving the shooting experience.

[0026] The embodiments and / or implementation methods described above are merely preferred embodiments and / or implementation methods for implementing the technology of this application, and are not intended to limit the implementation methods of the technology of this application in any way. Any person skilled in the art may make some modifications or alterations to other equivalent embodiments without departing from the scope of the technical means disclosed in this application, but these should still be regarded as the technology or embodiments that are substantially the same as those of this application.

Claims

1. A method for quickly generating preview thumbnails, characterized in that, The method for quickly generating preview thumbnails includes: Capture multiple frames of video according to the photo-taking command; After optimizing the above multi-frame images, they are sent to the camera application; The aforementioned camera application selects one frame from the aforementioned multi-frame images as a preview thumbnail; and The above multiple frames of images are combined to output the final image.

2. The method for quickly generating preview thumbnails according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step of capturing the aforementioned multi-frame images further includes: capturing a single-frame first image; and capturing multiple-frame second images; then, optimizing the aforementioned first image and the aforementioned multiple-frame second images, and sending them to the aforementioned camera application, whereby the aforementioned camera application selects the aforementioned first image as the aforementioned preview thumbnail.

3. The method for quickly generating preview thumbnails according to claim 2, characterized in that, In the step of capturing the above-mentioned multiple frames of the second image, the above-mentioned multiple frames of the second image are captured under three different brightness levels.

4. The method for quickly generating preview thumbnails according to claim 3, characterized in that, The process includes optimizing the aforementioned multi-frame second images, and then using a multi-frame noise reduction algorithm to synthesize the aforementioned multi-frame second images of the three brightness levels to form a single-frame third image of each brightness level, and then transmitting the third image to the aforementioned camera application.

5. The method for quickly generating preview thumbnails according to claim 4, characterized in that, The step of synthesizing the above-mentioned multi-frame images further includes: using a high dynamic range algorithm to synthesize these third images to output the above-mentioned final image.

6. The method for quickly generating preview thumbnails according to claim 2, characterized in that, In the step of optimizing the first image and the multiple frames of the second image, the first image and the multiple frames of the second image are optimized using an image signal processing flow.

7. The method for quickly generating preview thumbnails according to claim 1, characterized in that, In the step of optimizing the above-mentioned multi-frame images, the image signal processing flow is used to optimize the above-mentioned multi-frame images.

8. The method for quickly generating preview thumbnails according to claim 1, characterized in that, The aforementioned camera application selects the frame with the highest clarity from the multiple frames as the preview thumbnail.

9. The method for quickly generating preview thumbnails according to claim 1, characterized in that, In the step of synthesizing the above-mentioned multi-frame images, a multi-frame noise reduction algorithm is used to synthesize the above-mentioned multi-frame images to output the above-mentioned final image.

10. The method for rapidly generating preview thumbnails according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step of synthesizing the above-mentioned multi-frame images further includes: using a multi-frame noise reduction algorithm and a high dynamic range algorithm to synthesize the above-mentioned multi-frame images.

11. A mobile electronic device, characterized in that, The mobile electronic device includes: The image capturing component captures multiple frames of images according to the shooting command; The processing device is electrically connected to the image capturing component and has a built-in camera application. After optimizing the multi-frame images, the camera application selects one frame from the multi-frame images as a preview thumbnail. The processing device then composites the multi-frame images to output a final image. A storage device electrically connected to the processing device to store the final image.

12. The mobile electronic device according to claim 11, characterized in that, The aforementioned multi-frame images further include a single-frame first image and multiple-frame second images. The image capturing component captures the single-frame first image and captures the multiple-frame second images, so that the processing device optimizes the single-frame first image and the multiple-frame second images, and transmits the single-frame first image to the camera application. The camera application selects the first image as the preview thumbnail.

13. The mobile electronic device according to claim 12, characterized in that, The aforementioned image capturing component captures multiple frames of the second image under three different brightness levels.

14. The mobile electronic device according to claim 13, characterized in that, The aforementioned processing device uses a multi-frame noise reduction algorithm to synthesize the aforementioned multi-frame second images of the three brightness levels respectively to form a single-frame third image of each brightness level, and transmits the third image to the aforementioned camera application; or the aforementioned processing device transmits the aforementioned multi-frame second images of the three brightness levels to the aforementioned camera application, and uses the aforementioned camera application to synthesize them to form the aforementioned single-frame third image of each brightness level.

15. The mobile electronic device according to claim 14, characterized in that, The aforementioned camera application uses a high dynamic range algorithm to synthesize the third image to output the final image.

16. The mobile electronic device according to claim 12, characterized in that, The aforementioned processing device optimizes the first image and the multiple frames of the second image using an image signal processing procedure.

17. The mobile electronic device according to claim 11, characterized in that, The aforementioned processing device optimizes the aforementioned multi-frame images using an image signal processing procedure.

18. The mobile electronic device according to claim 11, characterized in that, The aforementioned camera application selects the frame with the highest clarity from the multiple frames as the preview thumbnail.

19. The mobile electronic device according to claim 11, characterized in that, The aforementioned processing device uses a multi-frame noise reduction algorithm to synthesize the aforementioned multi-frame images in order to output the aforementioned final image.

20. The mobile electronic device according to claim 11, characterized in that, The aforementioned processing device can further synthesize the aforementioned multi-frame images through the aforementioned camera application to output the aforementioned final image.

21. The mobile electronic device according to claim 20, characterized in that, The aforementioned camera application uses a multi-frame noise reduction algorithm to synthesize the aforementioned multi-frame images in order to output the aforementioned final image.

Images