High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography with in-sensor zoom

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems, methods, and devices for image processing to support high dynamic range (HDR) photography. In some aspects, a method for generating a full resolution HDR photograph using in-sensor zoom includes receiving first and second image data corresponding to first and second exposure captures of a scene. First and second full resolution image frames may be generated from the first and second image data, and the first and second full resolution image frames are then processed using HDR fusion to obtain an output image frame having a higher dynamic range than either the first or second image data. The first full resolution image frame may be determined from both the first and second image data by correcting the second image data for differences between the first and second exposures. Other aspects and features are also claimed and described.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] (CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS)

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17 / 645,695, entitled "HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR) PHOTOGRAPHY WITH IN-SENSOR ZOOM," filed on June 22, 2021, the entire contents of which are expressly incorporated by reference into this specification.

[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to image processing. Several features may enable and provide improved image processing, including images having increased image detail and / or dynamic range. [Background technology]

[0003]

[0003] An image capture device is a device that can capture one or more digital images, whether still images for photography or a sequence of images for video. Capture devices can be incorporated into a variety of devices. By way of example, image capture devices can include standalone digital cameras or digital video camcorders, mobile phones, cellular or satellite radio phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), panels or tablets, gaming devices, wireless communication device handsets with cameras, computing devices such as webcams, video surveillance cameras, or other devices with digital imaging or video capabilities.

[0004]

[0004] When using an image capture device to capture a representation of a scene with a wide color gamut, dynamic range can be important to image quality. Conventional image sensors have a limited dynamic range that can be smaller than the dynamic range of the human eye. Dynamic range can refer to the light range between the bright parts of the image and the dark parts of the image. Conventional image sensors can increase the exposure time to improve details in the dark parts of the image at the expense of saturating the bright parts of the image. Alternatively, conventional image sensors can decrease the exposure time to improve details in the bright parts of the image at the expense of losing details in the dark parts of the image. Thus, image capture devices traditionally balance the conflicting desires to preserve details in the bright or dark parts of the image by adjusting the exposure time. High dynamic range (HDR) photography improves photography using these conventional image sensors by combining multiple recorded representations of the scene from the image sensors. Summary of the Invention

[0005]

[0005] The following summarizes some aspects of the present disclosure to provide a basic understanding of the discussed technology. This summary is not an extensive overview of all of the contemplated features of the present disclosure, and is not intended to identify key or critical elements of all aspects of the present disclosure, nor to delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the present disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the present disclosure in summary form as a prelude to the more detailed description presented later.

[0006]

[0006] The image sensor may be configured to record image frames with different sensitivities so that the image frames may be combined to generate a photograph with improved quality. The improved quality may be observed through increased detail in dark areas without losing detail in highlight areas. Image sensors according to embodiments of the present disclosure having different recording sensitivities to a representation of a scene may be used to generate standard dynamic range (SDR) photographs or high dynamic range (HDR) photographs. A method for processing first and second data captured at least in part within an overlapping period from one or more sensors may include receiving image data including the first and second data from the image sensor or from a memory coupled to the image sensor.

[0007]

[0007] The present disclosure provides systems, methods, and devices for image processing to support high dynamic range (HDR) photography. In some aspects, a method for generating a full resolution HDR photograph using in-sensor zoom includes receiving first and second image data corresponding to first and second representations of a scene at first and second exposures, respectively. First and second full resolution image frames can be generated from the first and second image data, and the first and second full resolution image frames are then processed using HDR fusion to obtain an output image frame having a higher dynamic range than either the first or second image data. The first full resolution image frame can be determined from both the first and second image data by correcting the second image data for differences between the first and second exposures. Other aspects and features are also claimed and described.

[0008]

[0008] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for image processing includes receiving an input image frame representing a scene at a first resolution, the input image frame including first image data and second image data, the first image data corresponding to a first exposure that is different from a second exposure of the second image data; determining a first image frame from the first image data and the second image data by adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, the first image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution; determining a second image frame from the second image data, the second image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution; and determining an output image frame based on the first image frame and the second image frame.

[0009] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to perform operations including receiving an input image frame representing a scene at a first resolution, the input image frame including first image data and second image data, the first image data corresponding to a first exposure different from a second exposure of the second image data, determining a first image frame from the first image data and the second image data by adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, the first image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution, determining a second image frame from the second image data, the second image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution, and determining an output image frame based on the first image frame and the second image frame.

[0010]

[0010] In an additional aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus includes means for receiving an input image frame representing a scene at a first resolution, the input image frame including first image data and second image data, the first image data corresponding to a first exposure that is different from a second exposure of the second image data; means for determining a first image frame from the first image data and the second image data by adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, the first image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution; means for determining a second image frame from the second image data, the second image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution; and means for determining an output image frame based on the first image frame and the second image frame.

[0011] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations including: receiving an input image frame representing a scene at a first resolution, the input image frame including first image data and second image data, the first image data corresponding to a first exposure that is different from a second exposure of the second image data, determining a first image frame from the first image data and the second image data by adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, the first image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution, determining a second image frame from the second image data, the second image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution, and determining an output image frame based on the first image frame and the second image frame.

[0012]

[0012] An image capture device is a device capable of capturing one or more digital images, whether still photographs or a sequence of images for a video, and can be incorporated into a wide variety of devices. By way of example, an image capture device may include a standalone digital camera or digital video camcorder; a camera-equipped wireless communication device handset, such as a mobile phone, cellular phone or satellite radio phone, personal digital assistants (PDAs), panel or tablet, gaming device, or the like; a computing device, such as a webcam, video surveillance camera, or the like; or other device with digital imaging or video capabilities.

[0013]

[0013] In general, this disclosure describes image processing techniques for digital cameras having image sensors and image signal processors (ISPs). The ISP may be configured to control the capture of image frames from one or more image sensors and to process one or more image frames from the one or more image sensors to generate a view of a scene in a corrected image frame. The corrected image frame may be part of a sequence of image frames forming a video. The video sequence may include other image frames received from the image sensor or other image sensors and / or other corrected image frames based on input from the image sensor or other image sensors. In some embodiments, the processing of one or more image frames may be performed within the image sensor, for example, in a binning module. The image processing techniques described in the embodiments disclosed herein may be performed by circuitry, such as a binning module, within the image sensor, within an image signal processor (ISP), within an application processor (AP), or a combination or two or all of these components.

[0014]

[0014] In one embodiment, the image signal processor may receive instructions to capture a sequence of image frames in response to loading of software such as a camera application to generate a preview display from an image capture device. The image signal processor may be configured to generate a single flow of output frames based on image frames received from one or more image sensors. The single flow of output frames may include raw image data from the image sensor, binned image data from the image sensor, or corrected image frames processed by one or more algorithms in the image signal processor, e.g., in a binning module. For example, image frames acquired from an image sensor that may have had some processing performed on the data before output to the image signal processor may be processed in the image signal processor by processing the image frames through an image post-processing engine (IPE) and / or other image processing circuitry to perform one or more of tone mapping, portrait lighting, contrast enhancement, gamma correction, etc.

[0015]

[0015] After an output frame representative of a scene is determined by the image signal processor using image corrections such as binning described in various embodiments herein, the output frame can be displayed on a device display as a single still image and / or as part of a video sequence, can be saved to a storage device as a picture or video sequence, can be transmitted over a network, and / or can be printed on an output medium. For example, the image signal processor can be configured to obtain input frames of image data (e.g., pixel values) from various image sensors and then generate corresponding output frames of image data (e.g., preview display frames, still image capture, frames for video, frames for object tracking, etc.). In other examples, the image signal processor can output frames of image data to various output devices and / or camera modules for further processing, such as for 3A parameter synchronization (e.g., automatic focus (AF), automatic white balance (AWB), and automatic exposure control (AEC)), generating a video file via the output frames, constructing frames for display, constructing frames for storage, transmitting frames over a network connection, etc. That is, the image signal processor can acquire incoming frames from one or more image sensors, each coupled to one or more camera lenses, and then generate a flow of output frames to be output to various destinations.

[0016]

[0016] In some aspects, the corrected image frame can be generated by combining aspects of the image correction of the present disclosure with other computational photography techniques, such as high dynamic range (HDR) photography or multi-frame noise reduction (MFNR). In HDR photography, a first image frame and a second image frame are captured using different exposure times, different apertures, different lenses, and / or other characteristics that may result in an improved dynamic range of the fused image when the two image frames are combined. In some aspects, the method can be performed for MFNR photography, in which a first image frame and a second image frame are captured using the same or different exposure times and fused to generate a corrected first image frame having reduced noise compared to the captured first image frame.

[0017] In some aspects, the device may include an image signal processor or a processor (e.g., an application processor) that includes specific functionality for camera control and / or processing, such as enabling or disabling a binning module or otherwise controlling aspects of image correction. The methods and techniques described herein may be performed entirely by the image signal processor or processor, or various operations may be split between the image signal processor and the processor, or in some aspects across additional processors.

[0018]

[0018] The apparatus may include one, two, or more image sensors, such as including a first image sensor. If there are multiple image sensors, the first image sensor may have a larger field of view (FOV) than the second image sensor, or the first image sensor may have a different sensitivity or different dynamic range than the second image sensor. In one embodiment, the first image sensor may be a wide-angle image sensor and the second image sensor may be a telephoto image sensor. In another embodiment, the first sensor is configured to acquire images through a first lens having a first optical axis, and the second sensor is configured to acquire images through a second lens having a second optical axis different from the first optical axis. Additionally or alternatively, the first lens may have a first magnification and the second lens may have a second magnification different from the first magnification. This configuration may occur using a lens cluster on the mobile device, such as when multiple image sensors and associated lenses are located at offset positions on the front or back of the mobile device. Additional image sensors may also be included, having a larger, smaller, or the same field of view. The image correction techniques described herein may be applied to image frames captured from any of the image sensors in a multi-sensor device.

[0019]

[0019] In an additional aspect of the present disclosure, a device configured for image processing and / or image capture is disclosed. The device includes a means for capturing an image frame. The device further includes one or more means for capturing data representing a scene, such as an image sensor (including a charge-coupled device (CCD), a Bayer filter sensor, an infrared (IR) detector, an ultraviolet (UV) detector, a complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensor), a time-of-flight detector, etc. The device may further include one or more means for integrating and / or focusing a light beam into one or more image sensors (including a simple lens, a compound lens, a spherical lens, and an aspherical lens). These components can be controlled to capture a first image frame and / or a second image frame, which are input to the image processing techniques described herein.

[0020]

[0020] Other aspects, features, and implementations will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the following description of certain exemplary aspects in conjunction with the accompanying figures. Although features may be discussed in relation to the following specific aspects and figures, various aspects may include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, although one or more aspects may be discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more of such features may also be used in accordance with various aspects. Similarly, although exemplary aspects may be discussed below as device, system, or method aspects, the exemplary aspects may be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods.

[0021]

[0021] The method can be embedded in a computer-readable medium as a computer program code including instructions for causing a processor to execute steps of the method. In some embodiments, the processor can be part of a mobile device including a first network adapter configured to transmit data, such as an image or video, as recorded data or streaming data over a first network connection of a plurality of network connections, a processor coupled to the first network adapter, and a memory. The processor can cause transmission of the corrected image frame described herein over a wireless communication network, such as a 5G NR communication network.

[0022]

[0022] The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure in order that the following "Detailed Description of the Invention" may be better understood. Additional features and advantages are described below. The concepts and examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent structures do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. The concepts disclosed herein, both their organization and the method of operation, characteristic of the concepts disclosed herein, together with associated advantages, will be better understood in the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for illustration and explanation, and not as a definition of the limits of the claims.

[0023]

[0023] Although aspects and implementations are described in this application by illustrating some examples, those skilled in the art will understand that additional implementations and use cases may occur in many different configurations and scenarios. The innovations described herein may be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, aspects and / or applications may occur with integrated chip implementations and other non-modular component-based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail / purchasing devices, medical devices, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled devices, etc.). Some examples may or may not be specifically targeted to a use case or application, but a wide variety of applicability of the described innovations may occur. Implementations may range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level implementations, and even aggregated, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorporating one or more aspects of the described innovations. In some practical settings, devices incorporating the described aspects and features may also necessarily include additional components and features for the implementation and practice of the claimed and described aspects. For example, the transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily includes several components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antennas, radio frequency (RF) chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processor(s), interleavers, summers / analog summers, etc.). It is contemplated that the innovations described herein may be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed configurations, end-user devices, etc. of various sizes, shapes, and configurations. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0024]

[0024] A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present disclosure can be realized by referring to the following drawings. In the accompanying drawings, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Furthermore, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label with a dash and a second label that distinguishes the similar components. When only a first reference label is used in this specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label, regardless of the second reference label. [Figure 1]

[0025] 1 shows a block diagram of an example device for performing image capture from one or more image sensors. [Diagram 2]

[0026] 1 illustrates an image capture device having an image sensor configured with a color filter array (CFA) color pattern according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3]

[0027] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the processing of input image frames for high dynamic range (HDR) photography with in-sensor zoom according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4]

[0028] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the processing of input image frames for high dynamic range (HDR) photography using three exposure lengths according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5]

[0029] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for HDR photography supporting full resolution HDR with in-sensor zoom according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 6]

[0030] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the processing of an input image frame having a 4x4 CFA color pattern for high dynamic range (HDR) photography according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 7]

[0031] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the processing of an input image frame using a 4x4 CFA color pattern and 1 / 16 scaling for high dynamic range (HDR) photography according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 8]

[0032] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating different processing algorithms for which a processor can be reconfigured, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0025]

[0033] Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0026]

[0034] The detailed description of the present invention, set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, is intended as an illustration of various configurations and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Rather, the detailed description of the present invention includes specific details intended to provide a thorough understanding of the subject matter of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these specific details are not required in every instance and that in some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form for clarity of presentation.

[0027]

[0035] Recording a high dynamic range (HDR) photograph with an image capture device uses two or more exposures at different exposures to capture details in various shadow and highlight regions. In some configurations, HDR photographs can be captured simultaneously from a single image sensor by controlling different groups of pixels in the image sensor to capture different exposures of a scene, for example, by controlling groups of pixels to capture different exposure lengths. One benefit of the simultaneous capture of different exposures is the reduction of motion blur that may occur when recording exposures sequentially in time. However, the simultaneous capture of different exposures results in each exposure having a resolution that is only a fraction of the full resolution of the image sensor.

[0028]

[0036] The shortcomings described herein are merely representative and are included to highlight problems that the inventors have identified with existing devices and have sought to improve upon. Aspects of the devices described below may address some or all of the shortcomings, as well as others known in the art. Aspects of the improved devices described herein may offer benefits in addition to those described above and may be used in applications in addition to those described above.

[0029]

[0037] The present disclosure provides systems, devices, methods, and computer-readable media that support image capture and / or image processing. For example, image processing may be performed to obtain a high dynamic range image with in-sensor zoom applied. HDR photography may be obtained using a pixel-interleaved image sensor that obtains two simultaneous exposures of a scene at different exposure times. Simultaneous exposure may refer to two exposures obtained within at least partially overlapping periods, such as when the two exposures start at the same time but end at different times. In some embodiments, a pixel-interleaved image sensor may have different characteristics between groups of sensor elements to achieve different equivalent exposure times in addition to or as an alternative to different actual exposure times. Processing may include separating data corresponding to the two different exposures, upscaling the first and second data corresponding to the two different exposures, and obtaining two corresponding full resolution images that may be processed through HDR fusion to obtain an HDR photograph. Upscaling one of the image frames may include forming an image frame based on the first data from one exposure and the second data from another exposure that has been exposure-corrected to obtain a full resolution image.

[0030]

[0038] Particular implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to achieve one or more of the following potential advantages or benefits: In some aspects, the present disclosure provides techniques for achieving high dynamic range (HDR) photography with in-sensor zoom operations. For example, image processing using data from a pixel-interleaved sensor may have more detail than lower resolution photography or traditional upscaled photography. Image processing may be applied to data received from image sensors of various color patterns, such as QCFA, CFA, or RGB. Parts of the image data received from the image sensor may be processed at a lower resolution, which reduces power consumption and reduces bandwidth consumption for parts of the image processing. In some embodiments, exposure correction may be performed to obtain a pseudo full-frame long exposure, which may further increase details in non-highlight areas.

[0031]

[0039] An exemplary device for capturing image frames using one or more image sensors, such as a smartphone, may include a configuration of two, three, four, or more cameras on the back (e.g., opposite the user display) or front (e.g., on the same side as the user display) of the device. A device with multiple image sensors includes one or more image signal processors (ISPs), computer vision processors (CVPs) (e.g., AI engines), or other suitable circuitry for processing images captured by the image sensors. One or more of the image sensors may include a reconfigurable binning module. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the image signal processors (ISPs) may include a reconfigurable binning module. The one or more image signal processors may provide the processed image frames to a memory and / or processor (such as an application processor, an image front end (IFE), an image processing engine (IPE), or other suitable processing circuitry) for further processing, such as for encoding, storage, transmission, or other manipulation.

[0032]

[0040] As used herein, an image sensor may refer to the image sensor itself as well as any particular other components coupled to the image sensor that are used to generate an image frame for processing by an image signal processor or other logic circuitry, or for storage in memory, whether a short-term buffer or longer-term non-volatile memory. For example, an image sensor may include other components of a camera, including shutters, buffers, or other readout circuitry for accessing individual pixels of the image sensor. An image sensor may also refer to an analog front end or other circuitry for converting analog signals into a digital representation of the image frame that is provided to digital circuitry coupled to the image sensor.

[0033]

[0041] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth, such as examples of specific components, circuits, and processes, to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. The term "coupled" as used herein means directly connected or connected through one or more intervening components or circuits. In addition, in the following description, for the purpose of explanation, specific terminology is set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these specific details may not be required to practice the teachings disclosed herein. In other instances, well-known circuits and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring the teachings of the present disclosure.

[0034]

[0042] Some portions of the following Detailed Description are presented in terms of procedures, logic blocks, processes, and other symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. In this disclosure, a procedure, logic block, process, etc., is conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps or instructions leading to a desired result. These steps require physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated in a computer system.

[0035]

[0043] In the figures, a single block may be described as performing one or more functions. The functions performed by the block may be performed in a single component or across multiple components, and / or may be performed using hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various example components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps are described below generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in various ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure. Also, the example device may include components other than those shown, including well-known components such as a processor, memory, etc.

[0036]

[0044] Aspects of the present disclosure are applicable to any electronic device that includes or is coupled to two or more image sensors capable of capturing image frames (or "frames"). Moreover, aspects of the present disclosure can be implemented in devices having or coupled to image sensors of the same or different capabilities and characteristics (resolution, shutter speed, sensor type, etc.). Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure can be realized in devices for processing image frames, such as processing devices capable of retrieving stored images for processing, including processing devices present in cloud computing systems, regardless of whether the device includes or is coupled to an image sensor.

[0037]

[0045] Unless otherwise indicated, and as will be apparent from the discussion that follows, discussions utilizing terms such as "accessing," "receiving," "sending," "using," "selecting," "determining," "normalizing," "multiplying," "averaging," "monitoring," "comparing," "applying," "updating," "measuring," "deriving," "solving," "generating," and the like throughout this application will be understood to refer to the actions and processes of a computer system or similar electronic computing device that manipulates data represented as physical (electronic) quantities in the computer system's registers and memory, and converts such data to other data that is similarly represented as physical quantities in the computer system's registers, memory, or other such information storage, transmission, or display devices.

[0038]

[0046] The terms "device" and "apparatus" are not limited to one physical object (such as one smartphone, one camera controller, one processing system, etc.) or a particular number of physical objects. As used herein, a device can be any electronic device having one or more components capable of implementing at least some portions of the present disclosure. Although the following description and examples use the term "device" to describe various aspects of the present disclosure, the term "device" is not limited to a particular configuration, type, or number of objects. As used herein, an apparatus can include a device for performing the described operations, or a portion of such a device.

[0039]

[0047] 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary device 100 for performing image capture from one or more image sensors. The device 100 may include or be otherwise coupled to an image signal processor 112 for processing image frames from one or more image sensors, such as a first image sensor 101, a second image sensor 102, and a depth sensor 140. In some implementations, the device 100 also includes or is coupled to a processor 104 and a memory 106 that stores instructions 108. The device 100 may also include or be coupled to a display 114 and input / output (I / O) components 116. The I / O components 116, such as a touch screen interface and / or physical buttons, may be used to interact with a user. The I / O components 116 may also include network interfaces for communicating with other devices, including a wide area network (WAN) adapter 152, a local area network (LAN) adapter 153, and / or a personal area network (PAN) adapter 154. An exemplary WAN adapter is a 4G LTE or 5G NR wireless network adapter. An exemplary LAN adapter 153 is an IEEE 802.11 WiFi wireless network adapter. An exemplary PAN adapter 154 is a Bluetooth wireless network adapter. Each of the adapters 152, 153, and / or 154 may be coupled to an antenna, including multiple antennas configured for primary and diversity reception and / or configured to receive a particular frequency band. The device 100 may further include or be coupled to a power source 118 for the device 100, such as a battery or components for coupling the device 100 to an energy source. Device 100 may also include or be coupled to additional features or components not shown in FIG.In one embodiment, a wireless interface, which may include a number of transceivers and a baseband processor, may be coupled to or included within WAN adapter 152 for wireless communication devices. In a further embodiment, an analog front end (AFE) may be coupled between image sensor 101, 102 and image signal processor 112 for converting analog image frame data to digital image frame data.

[0040]

[0048] The device may include or be coupled to a sensor hub 150 for interfacing with sensors for receiving data regarding the movement of the device 100, data regarding the environment surrounding the device 100, and / or other non-camera sensor data. One exemplary non-camera sensor is a gyroscope, which is a device configured to measure rotation, orientation, and / or angular velocity to generate motion data. Another exemplary non-camera sensor is an accelerometer, which is a device configured to measure acceleration, which can also be used to determine the speed and distance of movement by appropriately integrating the measured acceleration, and one or more of the acceleration, speed, and / or distance can be included in the generated motion data. In some aspects, a gyroscope in an electronic image stabilization system (EIS) can be coupled to the sensor hub or directly to the image signal processor 112. In another example, the non-camera sensor can be a global positioning system (GPS) receiver.

[0041]

[0049] The image signal processor 112 can receive image data, such as that used to form an image frame. In one embodiment, a local bus connection couples the image signal processor 112 to the first camera image sensor 101 and the second camera image sensor 102. In another embodiment, a wired interface couples the image signal processor 112 to an external image sensor. In a further embodiment, a wireless interface couples the image signal processor 112 to the image sensors 101, 102.

[0042]

[0050] The first camera may include a first image sensor 101 and a corresponding first lens 131. The second camera may include a second image sensor 102 and a corresponding second lens 132. Each of the lenses 131 and 132 may be controlled by an associated auto-focus (AF) algorithm 133 running in the ISP 112, which adjusts the lenses 131 and 132 to focus on a particular focal plane at a particular scene depth from the image sensors 101 and 102. The AF algorithm 133 may be assisted by a depth sensor 140.

[0043]

[0051] The first image sensor 101 and the second image sensor 102 are configured to capture one or more image frames. The lenses 131 and 132 focus light onto the image sensor 101 and the image sensor 102, respectively, through one or more apertures for receiving light, one or more shutters for blocking light when outside an exposure window, one or more color filter arrays (CFAs) for filtering light other than a certain frequency range, one or more analog front ends for converting analog measurements into digital information, and / or other suitable components for imaging. The first lens 131 and the second lens 132 may have different fields of view for capturing different representations of a scene. For example, the first lens 131 may be an ultra-wide (UW) lens, and the second lens 132 may be a wide-angle (W) lens. The multiple image sensors may include a combination of ultra-wide (high field of view (FOV)), wide, telephoto, and super-telephoto (low FOV) sensors. That is, each image sensor may be configured through hardware configuration and / or software settings to provide different but overlapping fields of view. In one configuration, the image sensors are configured with different lenses having different magnifications resulting in different fields of view. The sensors may be configured such that a UW sensor has a larger FOV than a W sensor, which has a larger FOV than a T sensor, which has a larger FOV than a UT sensor. For example, a sensor configured for a wide FOV may capture a field of view ranging from 64 to 84 degrees, a sensor configured for a super-wide FOV may capture a field of view ranging from 100 to 140 degrees, a sensor configured for a telephoto FOV may capture a field of view ranging from 10 to 30 degrees, and a sensor configured for a super-telephoto FOV may capture a field of view ranging from 1 to 8 degrees.

[0044]

[0052] Image signal processor 112 processes image frames captured by image sensor 101 and image sensor 102. Although FIG. 1 illustrates device 100 as including two image sensors 101 and 102 coupled to image signal processor 112, any number of image sensors (e.g., one, two, three, four, five, six, etc.) may be coupled to image signal processor 112. In some aspects, a depth sensor, such as depth sensor 140, may be coupled to image signal processor 112, and output from the depth sensor may be processed in a similar manner as the output of image sensor 101 and image sensor 102. Furthermore, any number of additional image sensors or image signal processors may be present for device 100.

[0045]

[0053] In some embodiments, the image signal processor 112 may execute instructions from a memory, such as instructions 108 from memory 106, instructions stored in a separate memory coupled to or included within the image signal processor 112, or instructions provided by the processor 104. Additionally or alternatively, the image signal processor 112 may include specific hardware (such as one or more integrated circuits (ICs)) configured to perform one or more operations described in this disclosure. For example, the image signal processor 112 may include one or more image front ends (IFEs) 135, one or more image post-processing engines 136 (IPEs), and / or one or more auto exposure compensation (AEC) 134 engines. The AF133, AEC134, AFE135, and APE136 may each include application specific circuitry and may be embodied as software code executed by the ISP112 and / or as a combination of hardware within the ISP112 and software code executing on the ISP112.

[0046]

[0054] In some implementations, memory 106 may include a non-transient or non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions 108 for performing all or a portion of one or more operations described in this disclosure. In some implementations, instructions 108 include a camera application (or other suitable application) to be executed by device 100 to generate images or videos. Instructions 108 may also include other applications or programs executed by device 100, such as an operating system and specific applications other than for image or video generation. Execution of the camera application, such as by processor 104, may cause device 100 to generate images using image sensors 101 and 102 and image signal processor 112. Memory 106 may also be accessed by image signal processor 112 to store processed frames or by processor 104 to obtain processed frames. In some embodiments, device 100 does not include memory 106. For example, device 100 can be a circuit that includes image signal processor 112, and the memory can be external to device 100. Device 100 can be coupled to external memory and configured to access the memory to write output frames for display or long-term storage. In some embodiments, device 100 is a system on chip (SoC) that incorporates image signal processor 112, processor 104, sensor hub 150, memory 106, and input / output components 116 in a single package.

[0047]

[0055] In some embodiments, at least one of the image signal processor 112 or the processor 104 executes instructions to perform various operations described herein, including binning operations. For example, execution of instructions can instruct the image signal processor 112 to start or stop capturing an image frame or a sequence of image frames, where capturing includes binning as described in embodiments herein. In some embodiments, the processor 104 may include one or more general-purpose processor cores 104A capable of executing scripts or instructions of one or more software programs, such as instructions 108 stored in the memory 106. For example, the processor 104 may include one or more application processors configured to execute a camera application (or other suitable application for generating images or videos) stored in the memory 106.

[0048]

[0056] When executing the camera application, the processor 104 can be configured to instruct the image signal processor 112 to perform one or more operations related to the image sensor 101 or the image sensor 102. For example, the camera application can receive a command to initiate a video preview display in which a video including a sequence of image frames from one or more image sensors 101 or the image sensor 102 is captured and processed. Image correction, such as by cascaded IPE, can be applied to one or more image frames in the sequence. Execution of the instructions 108 outside of the camera application by the processor 104 can also cause the device 100 to perform any number of functions or operations. In some embodiments, the processor 104 can include ICs or other hardware (e.g., an artificial intelligence (AI) engine 124) in addition to the ability to execute software to cause the device 100 to perform any number of functions or operations, such as those described herein. In some other embodiments, the device 100 does not include the processor 104, such as when all of the described functions are configured in the image signal processor 112.

[0049]

[0057] In some embodiments, display 114 may include one or more suitable displays or screens that allow for user interaction and / or allow for presenting items to a user, such as previews of image frames being captured by image sensor 101 and image sensor 102. In some embodiments, display 114 is a touch-sensitive display. I / O components 116 may be or include any suitable mechanism, interface, or device for receiving input from a user (such as a command to specify an output dynamic range) and for providing output to a user via display 114. For example, I / O components 116 may include (without limitation) a graphical user interface (GUI), a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a speaker, a compressible bezel, one or more buttons (such as a power button), sliders, switches, etc.

[0050]

[0058] Although shown coupled together via the processor 104, the components (e.g., the processor 104, memory 106, image signal processor 112, display 114, and I / O components 116) can be coupled together in various other configurations, such as via one or more local buses, not shown for simplicity. Although the image signal processor 112 is shown as separate from the processor 104, the image signal processor 112 can also be a core of the processor 104, an application processor unit (APU), included in a system on chip (SoC) or otherwise included with the processor 104. Although the device 100 is referred to in the examples herein for carrying out aspects of the present disclosure, some device components may not be shown in FIG. 1 to avoid obscuring aspects of the present disclosure. Moreover, other components, multiple components, or combinations of components can be included in a device suitable for carrying out aspects of the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not limited to any particular device or configuration of components, including the device 100.

[0051]

[0059] FIG. 2 illustrates an image capture device having an image sensor configured with a color filter array (CFA) color pattern according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The image capture device 100 may have one or more cameras, including a first camera having a first image sensor 101. Light reflected by a scene is represented by photons collected by a first lens 131 and directed to the first image sensor 101. The first image sensor 101 includes sensor elements that convert the light represented by the photons into an electrical signal. Exemplary sensor elements include charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and active pixel devices (e.g., complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices). The first image sensor 101 may include an array of many of these sensor elements. Distinct colors in a scene may be detected by including color filters covering each of the sensor elements such that each sensor element measures the intensity of a particular color at a particular location in the scene. The sensor elements and color filters may be organized into a particular cell size that is repeated across a larger sized array. Each of the sensor elements may be part of an array of sensor elements 200. The sensor array 200 may have a group of sensor elements that collectively form a color filter array (CFA) pattern, such as a quarter color filter array (QCFA), a 2x2 CFA, a 3x3 CFA, a 4x4 CFA, a 5x5 CFA, or more generally, an NxN CFA, or another color pattern, such as an RGBW pattern.

[0052]

[0060] The sensor elements in the array 200 may be configured differently to obtain different representations of a scene at different exposures, such as by configuring a first portion of the sensor elements to capture a photograph over a first exposure time and a second portion of the sensor elements to capture a photograph over a second exposure time that is different from the first exposure time. For example, the array 200 may include sensor elements 202-GS configured to capture values ​​corresponding to the color green at a shorter exposure time and sensor elements 202-GL configured to capture values ​​corresponding to the color green at a longer exposure time. The configuration of the sensor elements 202-GS and 202-GL may be repeated for additional colors or additional sensor elements in a color pattern that is repeated throughout the array 200. For example, the array 200 may include sensor elements 202-RS configured to capture values ​​corresponding to the color red at a shorter exposure time and sensor elements 202-RL configured to capture values ​​corresponding to the color red at a longer exposure time. As another example, array 200 may include sensor element 202-BS configured to capture values ​​corresponding to blue at a shorter exposure time, and sensor element 202-BL configured to capture values ​​corresponding to blue at a longer exposure time.

[0053]

[0061] Image data may be captured from array 200 as a single image frame, for example, represented as an array of values ​​read out from array 200 for simultaneous capture of a representation of a scene at two or more exposure lengths. The single image frame may include first image data corresponding to read outs from 202-GL, 202-RL, and 202-BL, and second image data corresponding to read outs from 202-GS, 202-RS, and 202-BS. The input image frame may be processed to obtain a high dynamic range (HDR) photograph using in-sensor zoom, as shown in FIG.

[0054]

[0062] 3 is a block diagram illustrating the processing of input image frames for high dynamic range (HDR) photography with in-sensor zoom according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. An input image frame 302 may be processed in processing paths 310 and 320 to obtain an output image frame having a higher dynamic range than either the first image data or the second image data alone. The output HDR image frame may have a resolution that matches the resolution of the input image frame, even though the representations of the scene corresponding to the first data and the second data are each only a portion of the full resolution of the input image frame. An HDR photograph may be generated from the HDR fusion block 330 based on the first image frame output from the first processing path 310 and based on the second image frame output from the second processing path 320.

[0055]

[0063] The first processing path 310 may generate a first image frame based on a combination of the first data and the second data. The exposure correction block 312 may generate an image frame 313 based on exposure correcting the short exposure values ​​202-GS, 202-RS, and 202-BS of the second data to obtain values ​​GL', RL', and BS' that match the long exposure values ​​202-GL, 202-RL, and 202-BL of the first image data. Correcting the short exposure values ​​may include adjusting the second image data based on the ratio of the first exposure time to the second exposure time, or some other calculation. The output of the exposure correction block 312 is an exposure corrected image frame 313 that is a full resolution representation of the scene at the long exposure time. The color pattern of the exposure corrected image frame 313 may correspond to the color pattern of the input image frame 302, such that the image frame 313 is a QCFA representation when the input image frame 302 is a QCFA representation. The exposure corrected image frame 313 may be processed in a re-mosaic block 314 to generate a full resolution Bayer representation of the scene, which is then processed in a demosaic block 316 to generate a full resolution RGB representation of the scene as the first image frame for processing in the HDR fusion block 330.

[0056]

[0064] The second processing path 320 may generate a second image frame based on the second data. A demultiplexing and binning block 322 may process the input image frame 302 to separate the second image data corresponding to the short exposure representation, bin the second image data, and generate an image frame 323 that is a lower resolution than the input image frame 302. For example, when the input image frame 302 is a QCFA representation, the image frame 323 may be a 1 / 4 resolution QCFA representation. The image frame 323 is processed in a demosaic block 324 to generate a 1 / 4 resolution RGB representation of the scene, which is then processed in an upscale block 326 to generate a full resolution RGB representation of the scene that matches the resolution of the input image frame 302 and the first image frame generated by the first processing path 310 at the output of the demosaic block 316. The full resolution RGB representation is input to the HDR fusion block 330 as the second image frame.

[0057]

[0065] The HDR fusion block 330 may receive two full resolution image frames and generate an output image frame that has a higher dynamic range than either of the two received full resolution image frames. The HDR fusion block 330 may receive full resolution image frames from processing paths 310 and 320 and generate a full resolution output image frame that matches the resolution of the input image frame 302. The zoom applied in the image sensor when capturing the input image frame 302 is propagated through the processing in processing paths 310 and 320 such that the HDR output image frame from the HDR fusion block 330 reflects the same in-sensor zoom of the input image frame 302.

[0058]

[0066] The dynamic range and / or quality of the output image frames from the HDR fusion block 330 may be improved with additional representations of the scene captured at different exposures. An example of a process involving three exposure lengths is shown in Figure 4.

[0059]

[0067] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the processing of input image frames for high dynamic range (HDR) photography with three exposure lengths according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The input image frame 402 may include first image data corresponding to a first long exposure length, second image data corresponding to a second short exposure length, and third image data corresponding to a third medium exposure length. The first image data 406 may include green values ​​406-G, red values ​​406-R, and blue values ​​406-B. The second image data 402 may include green values ​​402-G, red values ​​402-R, and blue values ​​402-B. The third image data 404 may include green values ​​404-G, red values ​​404-R, and blue values ​​404-B. The processing paths 410, 420, and 430 may generate three full resolution image frames for input to the HDR fusion block 440, which determines an output image frame based on the three full resolution image frames.

[0060]

[0068] The first processing path 410 may process at least two of the first, second, and third image data in an exposure correction block 412. The exposure correction block may generate a full resolution exposure corrected image frame 413 having the first image data (e.g., GL, RL, and BL values) and the exposure corrected image data (e.g., GL', RL', and BL' values). The exposure corrected image data may be determined based on the first image data and the second image data, or based on the first image data and the third image data, or based on the first image data, the second image data, and the third image data. The exposure corrected image frame 413 may have a color pattern corresponding to that of the input image frame 402. The exposure corrected image frame 413 may be processed in a re-mosaic block 414 to generate a full resolution Bayer representation of the scene, which is processed in a demosaic block 416 to generate a full resolution RGB representation of the scene as a first image frame for input to the HDR fusion block 440.

[0061]

[0069] The second processing path 420 may select second image data from the input image frame 402 in a demultiplexing and / or binning block 422 and may optionally also process the second image data to bin the second image data to reduce the resolution of the second image data. The image frame output from block 422 may be an image frame 423 of a lower resolution than the input image frame 402, such as a ¼ resolution Bayer representation of the scene. The ¼ resolution Bayer representation may be processed in a demosaic block 424 to obtain a ¼ resolution RGB representation of the scene, which is processed in an upscale block 426 to generate a second full resolution image frame for input to the HDR fusion block 440.

[0062]

[0070] The third processing path 430 may select third image data from the input image frame 402 in a demultiplexing and / or binning block 432 and may optionally also process the third image data to bin the third image data to reduce the resolution of the third image data. The image frame output from block 432 may be an image frame of a lower resolution than the input image frame 402, such as a ¼ resolution Bayer representation of the scene. The ¼ resolution Bayer representation may be processed in a demosaic block 434 to obtain a ¼ resolution RGB representation, which is processed in an upscale block 436 to generate a third full resolution image frame for input to the HDR fusion block 440.

[0063]

[0071] FIG. 5 illustrates a method for processing image data received from an image sensor, which may be executed, for example, in a processor, image signal processor, or other processing device. FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for HDR photography supporting full resolution HDR with in-sensor zoom according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 500 includes receiving an input image frame at block 502. The input image frame may include first image data and second image data, the image data representing a scene at a first resolution, which may be a full resolution of the image sensor generating the input image frame. The first image data may be data captured by the image sensor corresponding to a first exposure, and the second image data may be data captured by the image sensor corresponding to a second exposure. The different exposures may be the result of different exposure times or other configurations that generate different representations of the scene. For example, the different exposures may be the result of different pixel sizes that result in more light being captured within the same period of time.

[0064]

[0072] At block 504, a first full resolution image frame is determined from the first image data and the second image data. Even though both the first image data and the second image data represent only a portion of the full resolution of the image sensor, the first and / or second image data may be corrected to create an image frame corresponding to the full resolution of the image sensor. The correction may be based on the first image data and / or the second image data. For example, the second image data, corresponding to a shorter exposure time, may be corrected based on a ratio between a first exposure time corresponding to the first image data and a second exposure time corresponding to the second image data. In some embodiments, the first image frame may be a pseudo long exposure frame.

[0065]

[0073] At block 506, a second full resolution image frame is determined from either the first image data or the second image data. The full resolution image frame may be determined by processing the first or second image data at the full resolution of the image sensor or at a lower resolution that is lower than the input image frame received from the image sensor. The processing may include, for example, demultiplexing to separate and select only one of the first image data and the second image data, binning to reduce the resolution or either the first or second image data, and / or re- or demosaicing to change the color pattern of the image data to a different color pattern. The processed first or second image data may be upscaled to a full resolution size to facilitate combination with the first full resolution image frame determined at block 504.

[0066]

[0074] At block 508, an output image frame is determined from the first full resolution image frame determined at block 504 and the second full resolution image frame determined at block 506. The output image frame may be determined, for example, by an HDR fusion process that selects and / or combines pixels from the first full resolution image frame with pixels from the second full resolution image frame. The output of the HDR fusion process is an output image frame with a higher dynamic range than either the first image data or the second image data. For example, HDR fusion may preserve details in highlight regions of the low-exposure representation and replace shadow regions of the low-exposure representation with details from portions of the high-exposure representation. The HDR fusion process may also include additional processing, such as tone mapping.

[0067]

[0075] The method of image processing described in Figure 5 and in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to image frames acquired from image sensors having various color pattern configurations for the sensor elements. For example, the image processing embodiment of Figure 5 described with reference to Figures 3 and 4 may be applied to an input image frame having a quarter color filter array (QCFA) color pattern. The method embodiment may also be applied to a 4x4 CFA color pattern, as shown in Figure 6.

[0068]

[0076] 6 is a block diagram illustrating processing of an input image frame having a 4x4 CFA color pattern for high dynamic range (HDR) photography according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The input image frame 602 may be processed to generate a full resolution exposure corrected CFA image frame 612 based on the first image data and the second image data in the input image frame 602, such as by combining the first image data with the exposure corrected second image data, using the exposure correction block 312. The full resolution CFA image frame 612 may be further processed to generate a full resolution Bayer pattern image frame in the re-mosaic block 314 and to generate a first full resolution RGB image frame in the demosaic block 316. The input image frame 602 may also be processed to demultiplex and / or bin the second image data and generate a lower resolution (e.g., 1 / 4 resolution) QCFA image frame 612 using the block 322. The image frame 612 may be further processed in the demosaic block 324 to generate a quarter resolution RGB image frame and in the upscale block 326 to generate a second full resolution RGB image frame. The first image frame output from the demosaic block 316 and the second image frame output from the upscale block 326 may be processed in the HDR fusion block 330 to generate an output image frame for HDR photography.

[0069]

[0077] As another example, the method embodiments described herein, e.g., in Figures 3, 4, and 5, may also be applied to a 4x4 CFA color pattern using different scaling in the processing path, as shown in Figure 7. In Figure 6, a lower resolution image frame 622 is obtained through binning that reduces the full resolution of the input image frame 602 to 1 / 4 of the full resolution. Other integer ratios for lower resolution processing may also be used. For example, Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating processing of an input image frame with a 4x4 CFA color pattern and 1 / 16 scaling for high dynamic range (HDR) photography according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0070]

[0078] The input image frame 702 may be processed using the exposure correction block 312 to generate a full resolution 4x4 CFA image frame 712 based on the first image data and the second image data in the input image frame 702, such as by combining the first image data with the exposure corrected second image data. The full resolution 4x4 CFA image frame 712 may be further processed in the remosaic block 314 to generate a full resolution Bayer pattern image frame, and in the demosaic block 316 to generate a first full resolution RGB image frame. The input image frame 702 may also be processed using the block 322 to demultiplex and bin the second image data and generate a lower resolution (e.g., 1 / 16 resolution) QCFA image frame 722. The image frame 722 may be further processed in the demosaic block 324 to generate a 1 / 16 resolution RGB image frame, and in the upscale block 326 to generate a second full resolution RGB image frame. The first image frame output from the demosaic block 316 and the second image frame output from the upscale block 326 may be processed in the HDR fusion block 330 to generate an output image frame for HDR photography.

[0071]

[0079] Although a 4x4 CFA is shown in the exemplary embodiments of Figures 6 and 7, other CFA color patterns may be processed in a similar manner according to aspects of the embodiments of Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, and / or 7. For example, an input image frame received with a 3x3 CFA color pattern may be processed in a similar manner to that shown in Figure 7. In one such embodiment, exposure correction block 312 will generate a full resolution 3x3 CFA image frame, which is processed in remosaic block 314 to generate a full resolution Bayer pattern image frame, and in demosaic block 316 to generate a full resolution RGB image frame. Similarly, block 322 will be configured to generate a 1 / 3 resolution QCFA or a 1 / 9 resolution QCFA from the input 3x3 CFA input image frame, which is processed in demosaic block 324 to generate a 1 / 3 or 1 / 9 resolution RGB pattern image frame that is input to upscale block 326 to generate a full resolution RGB image frame.

[0072]

[0080] Additionally, although some exemplary embodiments are described as processing a representation of a scene with an NxN CFA color pattern, the processing described herein may be applied to other color patterns. For example, an input image frame received with an RGBW color pattern may be processed in a manner similar to that shown in FIG. 7. In one such embodiment, the exposure correction block 312 will generate a full resolution QCFA image frame, which is processed in the remosaic block 314 to generate a full resolution Bayer pattern image frame, and in the demosaic block 316 to generate a full resolution RGB image frame. Similarly, the block 322 will be configured to generate a 1 / 4 resolution Bayer pattern image frame, which is processed in the demosaic block 324 to generate a 1 / 4 resolution RGB image frame that is input to the upscale block 326 to generate the full resolution RGB image frame.

[0073]

[0081] The HDR processing described in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be used in combination with other image processing techniques to generate output image frames with different configurations based on user settings or scene conditions. Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating different processing algorithms for which a processor may be reconfigured according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. A processing flow 800 operates on a series of input image frames 802. Processing may proceed differently for each image frame of the input image frames 802, or groups of input image frames may be processed in a similar manner.

[0074]

[0082] Processing of the input image frame 802 includes determining whether HDR photography is enabled in block 812, such as through settings in a camera application operated by a user. For example, a user may specify in a camera application whether to capture HDR photography or SDR photography. If HDR photography is not enabled, processing proceeds to block 814 to determine whether to output full resolution image frames or output lower resolution image frames by binning. Binning may be configured, for example, by a camera application setting, to output a resolution (e.g., less megapixels MPa) that is lower than the full resolution of the image sensor generating the input image frame 802. If binning is enabled in block 814, the input image frame 802 is processed to reduce resolution in binning block 816 and converted to a Bayer pattern in block 820. The output of block 820 is one or more binned resolution (SDR) image frames. If binning is not enabled in block 814, the input image frame 802 is processed in a re-mosaic block 822 into a QCFA color pattern and converted to a Bayer pattern in block 824. The output of block 824 is one or more full resolution (SDR) image frames.

[0075]

[0083] Returning to block 812, if HDR photography is enabled, processing proceeds to block 810 to determine whether in-sensor zoom is active. In-sensor zoom may be specified by a digital zoom setting in a camera application, which may be controlled by a user through a touch screen interface or a physical button, such as a volume rocker, on an image capture device. If in-sensor zoom is not enabled in block 810, the input image frame 802 is processed through a demultiplexer block 830 to generate first and second image data corresponding to two different exposures, which are then processed in an HDR fusion block 832 to generate a binned resolution (HDR) image frame. Returning to block 810, if in-sensor zoom is active and HDR photography is enabled, then processing of an embodiment of the present disclosure, such as that shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, and / or FIG. 7, may be applied to generate a full resolution (HDR) image frame. A first image processing path of an exposure correction block 840, a re-mosaic block 842, and a demosaic block 844 may determine a first full resolution image frame. A second image processing path of a demultiplexer and / or binning block 846, a demosaic block 848, and an upscale block 850 may determine a second full resolution image frame. The first and second full resolution image frames may be input to an HDR fusion block 852 to generate a full resolution (HDR) image frame.

[0076]

[0084] Although the examples herein describe the generation of a single output image frame, the HDR photography techniques described herein may be used to generate an HDR video sequence, such as a series of HDR image frames generated for a sequence of input image frames.

[0077]

[0085] It should be noted that one or more blocks (or operations) described with reference to FIG. 5 may be combined with one or more blocks (or operations) described with reference to another of the figures. For example, one or more blocks (or operations) of FIG. 5 may be combined with one or more blocks (or operations) of FIG. 3. As another example, one or more blocks associated with FIG. 5 may be combined with one or more blocks associated with FIG. 4. As another example, one or more blocks associated with FIG. 5 may be combined with one or more blocks (or operations) associated with FIG. 6-8. Additionally or alternatively, one or more operations described above with reference to FIGS. 1-2 may be combined with one or more operations described with reference to FIGS. 3-8.

[0078]

[0086] In one or more aspects, techniques for supporting image capture and / or image processing may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described with respect to one or more other processes or devices described below or elsewhere herein. In a first aspect, supporting image capture and / or image processing may include an apparatus configured to receive an input image frame representing a scene at a first resolution, the input image frame including first image data and second image data, the first image data corresponding to a first exposure that is different from a second exposure of the second image data, determine from the first image data and the second image data a first image frame, the first image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution, by adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, determine from the second image data a second image frame, the second image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution, and determine an output image frame based on the first image frame and the second image frame. In addition, the apparatus may perform one or more aspects or operate according to one or more aspects as described below. In some implementations, the apparatus includes a wireless device such as a UE. In some implementations, the apparatus may include at least one processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor may be configured to perform operations described herein with respect to the apparatus. In some other implementations, the apparatus may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon, the program code being executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform operations described herein with respect to the apparatus. In some implementations, the apparatus may include one or more means configured to perform operations described herein. In some implementations, a method of wireless communication may include one or more operations described herein with respect to the apparatus.

[0079]

[0087] In a second aspect, in combination with the first aspect, adjusting the second image data includes correcting the second image data to obtain corrected second image data so that pixel values ​​of the first image data and pixel values ​​of the corrected second image data correspond to equivalent exposure, and determining the first image frame further includes determining a first intermediate frame from the first image data and the corrected second image data, where the first image frame is based on the first intermediate frame.

[0080]

[0088] In a third aspect, in combination with one or more of the first or second aspect, determining the second image frame includes determining a second intermediate frame by binning the second image data to obtain a representation of the scene at a second resolution lower than the first resolution, and upscaling the second intermediate frame to the first resolution to determine the second image frame.

[0081]

[0089] In a fourth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to third aspects, the output image frame includes a representation of the scene with a higher dynamic range than either the first image data or the second image data.

[0082]

[0090] In a fifth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to fourth aspects, the apparatus is configured to perform a further operation including determining to capture a high dynamic range (HDR) representation of the scene using in-sensor zoom, and determining the output image frame is based on determining to capture the high dynamic range (HDR) representation of the scene using in-sensor zoom.

[0083]

[0091] In a sixth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to fifth aspects, the input image frame further includes third image data, the third image data corresponding to a third exposure different from the first exposure and the second exposure, and determining the first image frame is further based on the third image data by adjusting the third image data based on a difference between the third exposure and the first exposure, and the apparatus is further configured to perform operations including determining from the third image data a third image frame, the third image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution, and the output image frame is further based on the third image frame.

[0084]

[0092] In a seventh aspect, in combination with one or more of the first aspect to the sixth aspect, the input image frame includes a quarter color filter array (QCFA) representation of the scene, and determining the first image frame includes determining an exposure-corrected QCFA representation of the scene based on adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, re-mosaicing the exposure-corrected QCFA representation of the scene into a Bayer representation of the scene, and demosaicing the Bayer representation of the scene into an RGB representation of the scene as the first image frame, and determining the second image frame includes determining a quarter resolution Bayer representation of the scene based on the second image data, demosaicing the quarter resolution Bayer representation of the scene into a quarter resolution RGB representation of the scene, and upscaling the quarter resolution RGB representation of the scene to a higher resolution RGB representation of the scene as the second image frame.

[0085]

[0093] In an eighth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to seventh aspects, the input image frame includes a 4x4 color filter array (CFA) representation of the scene, and determining the first image frame includes determining an exposure-corrected 4x4 CFA representation of the scene based on adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, re-mosaicing the exposure-corrected 4x4 CFA representation of the scene into a Bayer representation of the scene, and demosaicing the Bayer representation of the scene into an RGB representation of the scene as the first image frame, and determining the second image frame includes determining a ¼ resolution QCFA representation of the scene based on the second image data, demosaicing the ¼ resolution QCFA representation of the scene into a ¼ resolution RGB representation of the scene, and upscaling the ¼ resolution RGB representation of the scene to a higher resolution RGB representation of the scene as the second image frame.

[0086]

[0094] In a ninth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to eighth aspects, the input image frame includes a 4x4 color filter array (CFA) representation of the scene, and determining the first image frame includes determining an exposure-corrected 4x4 CFA representation of the scene based on adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, re-mosaicing the exposure-corrected 4x4 CFA representation of the scene into a Bayer representation of the scene, and demosaicing the Bayer representation of the scene into an RGB representation of the scene as the first image frame, and determining the second image frame includes determining a 1 / 16 resolution QCFA representation of the scene based on the second image data, demosaicing the 1 / 16 resolution QCFA representation of the scene into a 1 / 16 resolution RGB representation of the scene, and upscaling the 1 / 16 resolution RGB representation of the scene to a higher resolution RGB representation of the scene as the second image frame.

[0087]

[0095] In a tenth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to ninth aspects, the input image frame includes a 3x3 color filter array (CFA) representation of the scene, and determining the first image frame includes determining an exposure-corrected 3x3 CFA representation of the scene based on adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, re-mosaicing the exposure-corrected 3x3 CFA representation of the scene into a Bayer representation of the scene, and demosaicing the Bayer representation of the scene into an RGB representation of the scene as the first image frame, and determining the second image frame includes determining a 1 / 9 resolution Bayer representation of the scene based on the second image data, demosaicing the 1 / 9 resolution Bayer representation of the scene into a 1 / 9 resolution RGB representation of the scene, and upscaling the 1 / 9 resolution RGB representation of the scene to a higher resolution RGB representation of the scene as the second image frame.

[0088]

[0096] In an eleventh aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to tenth aspects, the input image frame includes an RGBW representation of the scene, and determining the first image frame includes determining an exposure-corrected 1 / 4 color filter array (CFA) representation of the scene based on adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, re-mosaicing the exposure-corrected QCFA representation of the scene into a Bayer representation of the scene, and demosaicing the Bayer representation of the scene into an RGB representation of the scene as the first image frame, and determining the second image frame includes determining a 1 / 4 resolution Bayer representation of the scene based on the second image data, demosaicing the 1 / 4 resolution Bayer representation of the scene into a 1 / 4 resolution RGB representation of the scene, and upscaling the 1 / 4 resolution RGB representation of the scene to a higher resolution RGB representation of the scene as the second image frame.

[0089]

[0097] In a twelfth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to eleventh aspects, the apparatus further includes an image sensor coupled to the processor.

[0090]

[0098] In a thirteenth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to twelfth aspects, the processor is configured to receive an input image frame from an image sensor, the image sensor including a pixel-interleaved image sensor.

[0091]

[0099] In one or more aspects, techniques for supporting image capture and / or image processing may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described with respect to one or more other processes or devices described below or elsewhere herein. In a fourteenth aspect, supporting image capture and / or image processing may include an apparatus including an image sensor, a memory that stores processor-readable code, and at least one processor coupled to the memory and to the image sensor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the processor-readable code.

[0092]

[0100] In a 15th aspect, in combination with one or more of the 1st to 14th aspects, at least one processor is configured to perform operations including: receiving an input image frame representing a scene at a first resolution, the input image frame including first image data and second image data, the first image data corresponding to a first exposure time longer than a second exposure time of the second image data; determining a first image frame from the first image data and the second image data; determining a second image frame from the second image data, the second image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution; and determining an output image frame based on the first image frame and the second image frame.

[0093]

[0101] In a sixteenth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to fifteenth aspects, determining the first image frame includes performing operations including: determining corrected second image data by adjusting the second image data based on the first exposure time and the second exposure time; forming a full resolution long exposure image frame with a first color pattern array based on the first image data and the corrected second image data; and converting the full resolution long exposure image frame from the first color pattern array to the second color pattern array to determine the first image frame.

[0094]

[0102] In a 17th aspect, in combination with one or more of the 1st to 16th aspects, determining the second image frame includes performing operations including forming a lower resolution short-exposure image frame with a third color pattern array based on the second image data, converting the lower resolution short-exposure image frame from the third color pattern to the second color pattern array, and upscaling the lower resolution short-exposure image frame to a full resolution short-exposure image frame, wherein the second image frame is a full resolution short-exposure image frame.

[0095]

[0103] In an 18th aspect, in combination with one or more of the 1st to 17th aspects, the apparatus is configured to perform a further operation including determining to capture a high dynamic range (HDR) representation of the scene using in-sensor zoom, and determining the output image frame is based on determining to capture the high dynamic range (HDR) representation of the scene using in-sensor zoom.

[0096]

[0104] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0097]

[0105] The components, functional blocks, and modules described herein with respect to Figures 1-8 include, among many examples, processors, electronic devices, hardware devices, electronic components, logic circuits, memories, software code, firmware code, or any combination thereof. Software should be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, and / or functions, among other examples, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. Additionally, features described herein may be implemented via dedicated processor circuitry, via executable instructions, or any combination thereof.

[0098]

[0106] Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the disclosure herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various exemplary components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in different ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will also readily appreciate that the order or combination of components, methods, or interactions described herein are merely examples, and that the components, methods, or interactions of various aspects of the disclosure can be combined or performed in ways other than those shown and described herein.

[0099]

[0107] The various example logic, logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic processes described in connection with the implementations disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. The interchangeability of hardware and software has been described generally in terms of functionality and illustrated in the various example components, blocks, modules, circuits, and processes described above. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0100]

[0108] The hardware and data processing devices used to implement the various example logic, logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be realized or performed using general purpose single-chip or multi-chip processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. In some implementations, a processor may be realized as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. In some implementations, particular processes and methods may be performed by circuitry specific to a given function.

[0101]

[0109] In one or more aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, digital electronic circuitry, computer software, firmware, or any combination thereof, including the structures disclosed herein and their structural equivalents. Implementations of the subject matter described herein may also be implemented as one or more computer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions encoded on a computer storage medium for execution by or for controlling the operation of a data processing apparatus.

[0102]

[0110] If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. The processes of the methods or algorithms disclosed herein may be executed in processor-executable software modules that may reside on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that may enable a computer program to be transferred from one place to another. A storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection may be properly referred to as a computer-readable medium. Disk and disc as used herein include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc, where disks typically reproduce data magnetically and discs reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media. Additionally, operations of a method or algorithm may reside on machine readable and computer readable media, which may be embodied in a computer program product as one or any combination or set of code and instructions.

[0103]

[0111] Various modifications of the implementations described in this disclosure may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to several other implementations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the implementations shown herein, but should be accorded the widest scope consistent with this disclosure, the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0104]

[0112] In addition, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the terms "upper" and "lower" may be used to facilitate description of the figures, and refer to relative positions that correspond to the orientation of the figure on a suitably oriented page, and may not reflect the proper orientation of any implemented device.

[0105]

[0113] Certain features described herein in the context of separate implementations may also be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single implementation may also be implemented in multiple implementations separately or in any suitable subcombination. Furthermore, although features may be described above as working in certain combinations, and may even be initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination may, in some cases, be deleted from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or a variation of the subcombination.

[0106]

[0114] Similarly, although operations are shown in the figures in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring such operations to be performed in the particular order or sequential order shown, or that all of the operations shown be performed, to achieve desirable results. Additionally, the figures may generally depict another exemplary process in the form of a flow diagram. However, other operations not shown may be incorporated into the generally depicted exemplary process. For example, one or more additional operations may be performed before, after, simultaneously with, or between any of the depicted operations. In some circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Furthermore, the separation of various system components in the implementations described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all implementations, and it should be understood that the program components and systems described may generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged within multiple software products. Additionally, some other implementations fall within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions recited in the claims may be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results.

[0107]

[0115] As used herein, including in the claims, the term "or," when used in a list of two or more items, means that any one of the listed items may be employed alone, or any combination of two or more of the listed items may be employed. For example, if a composition is described as containing components A, B, or C, the composition may contain only A, only B, only C, a combination of A and B, a combination of A and C, a combination of B and C, or a combination of A, B, and C. Also, as used herein, including in the claims, "or" used in a list of items ending with "at least one of" indicates a disjunctive list, such as, for example, a list of "at least one of A, B, or C" means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or any of these in any combination thereof. As will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the term "substantially" is defined as most of (including) what is specified (e.g., substantially 90 degrees includes 90 degrees, substantially parallel includes parallel), but not necessarily all of it. In any disclosed implementations, the term "substantially" may be replaced with "within a [percentage] of" what is specified, where percentage includes 0.1, 1, 5, or 10 percent.

[0108]

[0116] The above description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. 1. A method comprising: receiving an input image frame representing a scene at a first resolution, the input image frame including first image data and second image data, the first image data corresponding to a first exposure that is different from a second exposure of the second image data, wherein the first image data is captured by a first portion of sensor elements of an image sensor and the second image data is captured by a second portion of the sensor elements of the image sensor; determining a first image frame from the first image data and the second image data by adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, the first image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution; determining a second image frame from the second image data, the second image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution; determining an output image frame based on the first image frame and the second image frame; A method comprising:

2. adjusting the second image data includes correcting the second image data to obtain the corrected second image data such that pixel values ​​of the first image data and pixel values ​​of the corrected second image data correspond to equivalent exposures; and determining the first image frame includes: and further comprising determining a first intermediate frame from the first image data and the corrected second image data, the first image frame being based on the first intermediate frame; and optionally, determining the second image frame further comprises: determining a second intermediate frame by binning the second image data to obtain a representation of the scene at a second resolution lower than the first resolution; upscaling the second intermediate frame to the first resolution to determine the second image frame; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the output image frame comprises a representation of the scene with a higher dynamic range than either the first image data or the second image data.

4. determining to capture a high dynamic range (HDR) representation of the scene using in-sensor zoom; The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the output image frame is based on determining to capture the high dynamic range (HDR) representation of the scene using in-sensor zoom.

5. the input image frame further includes third image data, the third image data corresponding to a third exposure different from the first exposure and the second exposure; determining the first image frame is further based on the third image data by adjusting the third image data based on a difference between the third exposure and the first exposure; the method further comprising determining a third image frame from the third image data, the third image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution; The method of claim 1 , wherein the output image frame is further based on the third image frame.

6. the input image frame comprises a quarter color filter array (QCFA) representation of the scene; determining the first image frame; determining an exposure-corrected QCFA representation of the scene based on the adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure; re-mosaicing the exposure-corrected QCFA representation of the scene into a Bayer representation of the scene; demosaicing the Bayer representation of the scene into an RGB representation of the scene as the first image frame; determining the second image frame; determining a quarter resolution Bayer representation of the scene based on the second image data; demosaicing the ¼ resolution Bayer representation of the scene into a ¼ resolution RGB representation of the scene; and upscaling the quarter resolution RGB representation of the scene to a higher resolution RGB representation of the scene as the second image frame.

7. the input image frame comprises a 4x4 color filter array (CFA) representation of the scene; determining the first image frame; determining an exposure-corrected 4x4 CFA representation of the scene based on the adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure; re-mosaicing the exposure-corrected 4x4 CFA representation of the scene into a Bayer representation of the scene; demosaicing the Bayer representation of the scene into an RGB representation of the scene as the first image frame; determining the second image frame; determining a quarter resolution QCFA representation of the scene based on the second image data; demosaicing the ¼ resolution QCFA representation of the scene into a ¼ resolution RGB representation of the scene; and upscaling the quarter resolution RGB representation of the scene to a higher resolution RGB representation of the scene as the second image frame.

8. the input image frame comprises a 4x4 color filter array (CFA) representation of the scene; determining the first image frame; determining an exposure-corrected 4x4 CFA representation of the scene based on the adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure; re-mosaicing the exposure-corrected 4x4 CFA representation of the scene into a Bayer representation of the scene; demosaicing the Bayer representation of the scene into an RGB representation of the scene as the first image frame; determining the second image frame; determining a 1 / 16 resolution QCFA representation of the scene based on the second image data; demosaicing the 1 / 16 resolution QCFA representation of the scene into a 1 / 16 resolution RGB representation of the scene; and upscaling the 1 / 16 resolution RGB representation of the scene to a higher resolution RGB representation of the scene as the second image frame.

9. the input image frame comprises a 3x3 color filter array (CFA) representation of the scene; determining the first image frame; determining an exposure-corrected 3x3 CFA representation of the scene based on the adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure; remosaicing the exposure-corrected 3x3 CFA representation of the scene into a Bayer representation of the scene; demosaicing the Bayer representation of the scene into an RGB representation of the scene as the first image frame; determining the second image frame; determining a 1 / 9 resolution Bayer representation of the scene based on the second image data; demosaicing the 1 / 9 resolution Bayer representation of the scene into a 1 / 9 resolution RGB representation of the scene; and upscaling the 1 / 9 resolution RGB representation of the scene to a higher resolution RGB representation of the scene as the second image frame.

10. the input image frame comprises an RGBW representation of the scene; determining the first image frame; determining an exposure-corrected quarter color filter array (CFA) representation of the scene based on the adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure; re-mosaicing the exposure-corrected QCFA representation of the scene into a Bayer representation of the scene; demosaicing the Bayer representation of the scene into an RGB representation of the scene as the first image frame; determining the second image frame; determining a quarter resolution Bayer representation of the scene based on the second image data; demosaicing the ¼ resolution Bayer representation of the scene into a ¼ resolution RGB representation of the scene; and upscaling the quarter resolution RGB representation of the scene to a higher resolution RGB representation of the scene as the second image frame.

11. 1. An apparatus comprising: a memory for storing processor-readable code; at least one processor coupled to the memory, wherein the at least one processor executes the processor-readable code, causing the at least one processor to: receiving an input image frame representing a scene at a first resolution, the input image frame including first image data and second image data, the first image data corresponding to a first exposure that is different from a second exposure of the second image data, wherein the first image data is captured by a first portion of sensor elements of an image sensor and the second image data is captured by a second portion of the sensor elements of the image sensor; determining a first image frame from the first image data and the second image data by adjusting the second image data based on a difference between the first exposure and the second exposure, the first image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution; determining a second image frame from the second image data, the second image frame having the same resolution as the first resolution; determining an output image frame based on the first image frame and the second image frame; 10. An apparatus configured to cause a user to perform operations including:

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further configured to perform a method according to any one of claims 2 to 10.

13. The device of claim 11, further comprising an image sensor, the image sensor coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one processor configured to receive the input image frames from the image sensor, and the image sensor comprising a pixel-interleaved image sensor.

14. The method further comprises the step of: providing an image sensor coupled to the at least one processor; the first image data corresponds to a first exposure time that is longer than a second exposure time of the second image data; and for determining the first image frame, the at least one processor: determining corrected second image data by adjusting the second image data based on the first exposure time and the second exposure time; forming a full resolution long exposure image frame with a first color pattern array based on the first image data and the corrected second image data; converting the full resolution long exposure image frame from the first color pattern array to a second color pattern array to determine the first image frame; configured to perform operations including To determine the second image frame, the at least one processor: generating a lower resolution, short exposure image frame with a third color pattern array based on the second image data; converting the lower resolution short exposure image frames from the third color pattern array to the second color pattern array; upscaling the lower resolution short exposure image frame to a full resolution short exposure image frame, wherein the second image frame is the full resolution short exposure image frame; The apparatus of claim 11 configured to perform operations including:

15. 11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

Images