Image stabilization control for variable optical ZOOM imaging systems

Abstract

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and devices for image signal processing that support image stabilization for variable optical zoom (VOZ) systems. In a first aspect, a method of image processing includes receiving a first plurality of images from a VOZ system that are captured and a first lens position and stabilized to a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process. Movement information for the VOZ system may exceed a predetermined threshold. In response, a second lens position may be determined and a second image frame may be captured at the second lens position and received from the VOZ system. The second image frame may then be stabilized from to the target zoom level using the first image stabilization process or a different second image stabilization process. Other aspects and features are also claimed and described.

Description

IMAGE STABILIZATION CONTROL FOR VARIABLE OPTICAL ZOOM IMAGING SYSTEMSCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of India Patent Application No. 202341060618, entitled, “IMAGE STABILIZATION CONTROL FOR VARIABLE OPTICAL ZOOM IMAGING SYSTEMS,” filed on September 8, 2023, which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to image processing, and more particularly, to stabilizing image frames captured by variable optical zoom (VOZ) systems. Some features may enable and provide improved image processing, including improved stabilization of image frames captured by VOZ systems using optical image stabilization, electronic image stabilization, or combinations thereof.INTRODUCTION

[0003] Image capture devices are devices that can capture one or more digital images, whether still images for photos or sequences of images for videos. Capture devices can be incorporated into a wide variety of devices. By way of example, image capture devices may comprise stand-alone digital cameras or digital video camcorders, camera-equipped wireless communication device handsets, such as mobile telephones, cellular or satellite radio telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), panels or tablets, gaming devices, computing devices such as webcams, video surveillance cameras, or other devices with digital imaging or video capabilities.BRIEF SUMMARY OF SOME EXAMPLES

[0004] The following summarizes some aspects of the present disclosure to provide a basic understanding of the discussed technology. This summary ips not an extensive overview of all contemplated features of the disclosure and is intended neither to identify key or critical elements of all aspects of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in summary form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[0005] In some aspects, techniques are provided to improve image stabilization of image frames captured by VOZ systems. In certain aspects, movement information for image capture devices may be used to select between various image stabilization processes, to adjust image stabilization processes, or combinations thereof. In one specific aspect, a VOZ system may be capturing image frames at a first lens position and these image frames may be stabilized to a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process. Movement information for the VOZ system may indicate that the VOZ system is moving too much for the image frames to be properly stabilized. For example, the movement information may exceed a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process. A second lens position may be selected based on this movement information such that the image frames can be properly stabilized again. Subsequent image frames may then be stabilized from a second zoom level associated with the second lens position to the target zoom level. In certain instances, the image frames may be stabilized using the first image stabilization process. In further instances, a second, different image stabilization process may be used to stabilize these image frames.

[0006] In one aspect, a method includes receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and where the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process; determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process; determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position; and determining, based on the second image frame, output image frames at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

[0007] In an additional aspect, a system includes a processor and a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations that include receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and where the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process; determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilizationprocess; determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position; and determining, based on the second image frame, output image frames at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

[0008] In another aspect, an image capture device includes an image sensor; a memory storing processor-readable code; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and to the image sensor. The at least one processor may be configured to execute the processor- readable code to cause the at least one processor to perform operations that include receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and where the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process; determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process; determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position; and determining, based on the second image frame, output image frames at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

[0009] In a further aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations that include receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and where the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process; determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process; determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second zoom level; and determining, based on the second image frame, output image frames at the target zoomlevel by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

[0010] Methods of image processing described herein may be performed by an image capture device and / or performed on image data captured by one or more image capture devices. Image capture devices, devices that can capture one or more digital images, whether still image photos or sequences of images for videos, can be incorporated into a wide variety of devices. By way of example, image capture devices may comprise stand-alone digital cameras or digital video camcorders, camera-equipped wireless communication device handsets, such as mobile telephones, cellular or satellite radio telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), panels or tablets, gaming devices, computing devices such as webcams, video surveillance cameras, or other devices with digital imaging or video capabilities.

[0011] The image processing techniques described herein may involve digital cameras having image sensors and processing circuitry (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSP), graphics processing unit (GPU), or central processing units (CPU)). An image signal processor (ISP) may include one or more of these processing circuits and configured to perform operations to obtain the image data for processing according to the image processing techniques described herein and / or involved in the image processing techniques described herein. The ISP may be configured to control the capture of image frames from one or more image sensors and determine one or more image frames from the one or more image sensors to generate a view of a scene in an output image frame. The output image frame may be part of a sequence of image frames forming a video sequence. The video sequence may include other image frames received from the image sensor or other images sensors.

[0012] In an example application, the image signal processor (ISP) may receive an instruction to capture a sequence of image frames in response to the loading of software, such as a camera application, to produce a preview display from the image capture device. The image signal processor may be configured to produce a single flow of output image frames, based on images frames received from one or more image sensors. The single flow of output image frames may include raw image data from an image sensor, binned image data from an image sensor, or corrected image data processed by one or more algorithms within the image signal processor. For example, an image frame obtained from an image sensor, which may have pe”form’d some processing on the data before outputto the image signal processor, may”be p’ocessed in the image signal processor by processing the image frame through an image post-processing engine (IPE) and / or other image processing circuitry for performing one or more of tone mapping, portrait lighting, contrast enhancement, gamma correction, etc. The output image frame from the ISP may be stored in memory and retrieved by an application processor executing the camera application, which may perform further processing on the output image frame to adjust an appearance of the output image frame and reproduce the output image frame on a display for view by the user.

[0013] After an output image frame representing the scene is determined by the image signal processor and / or determined by the application processor, such as through image processing techniques described in various embodiments herein, the output image frame may be displayed on a device display as a single still image and / or as part of a video sequence, saved to a storage device as a picture or a video sequence, transmitted over a network, and / or printed to an output medium. For example, the image signal processor (ISP) may be configured to obtain input frames of image data (e.g., pixel values) from the one or more image sensors, and in turn, produce corresponding output image frames (e.g., preview display frames, still-image captures, frames for video, frames for object tracking, etc.). In other examples, the image signal processor may output image frames 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)), producing a video file via the output frames, configuring frames for display, configuring frames for storage, transmitting the frames through a network connection, etc. Generally, the image signal processor (ISP) may obtain incoming frames from one or more image sensors and produce and output a flow of output frames to various output destinations.

[0014] In some aspects, the output image frame may be produced by combining aspects of the image correction of this disclosure with other computational photography techniques such as high dynamic range (HDR) photography or multi-frame noise reduction (MFNR). With 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 improved dynamic range of a fused image when the two image frames are combined. In some aspects, the method may be performed for MFNR photography in which the first image frame and a second image frame are captured using the same ordifferent exposure times and fused to generate a corrected first image frame with reduced noise compared to the captured first image frame.

[0015] In some aspects, a device may include an image signal processor or a processor (e.g., an application processor) including specific functionality for camera controls and / or processing, such as enabling or disabling the binning module or otherwise controlling aspects of the image correction. The methods and techniques described herein may be entirely performed by the image signal processor or a processor, or various operations may be split between the image signal processor and a processor, and in some aspects split across additional processors.

[0016] The device may include one, two, or more image sensors, such as a first image sensor. When multiple image sensors are present, the image sensors may be differently configured. For example, the first image sensor may have a larger field of view (FOV) than the second image sensor, or the first image sensor may have different sensitivity or different dynamic range than the second image sensor. In one example, the first image sensor may be a wide-angle image sensor, and the second image sensor may be a tele image sensor. In another example, the first sensor is configured to obtain an image through a first lens with a first optical axis and the second sensor is configured to obtain an image through a second lens with 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. Any of these or other configurations may be part of a lens cluster on a mobile device, such as where multiple image sensors and associated lenses are located in offset locations on a frontside or a backside of the mobile device. Additional image sensors may be included with larger, smaller, or same field of views. The image processing techniques described herein may be applied to image frames captured from any of the image sensors in a multisensor device.

[0017] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a device configured for image processing and / or image capture is disclosed. The apparatus includes means for capturing image frames. The apparatus further includes one or more means for capturing data representative of a scene, such as image sensors (including charge-coupled devices (CCDs), Bayer-filter sensors, infrared (IR) detectors, ultraviolet (UV) detectors, complimentary metal-oxide- semiconductor (CMOS) sensors) and time of flight detectors. The apparatus may further include one or more means for accumulating and / or focusing light rays into the one or more image sensors (including simple lenses, compound lenses, spherical lenses, andnon-spherical lenses). These components may be controlled to capture the first and / or second image frames input to the image processing techniques described herein.

[0018] Other aspects, features, and implementations will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, upon reviewing the following description of specific, exemplary aspects in conjunction with the accompanying figures. While features may be discussed relative to certain aspects and figures below, various aspects may include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, while 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 the various aspects. In similar fashion, while exemplary aspects may be discussed below as device, system, or method aspects, the exemplary aspects may be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods.

[0019] The method may be embedded in a computer-readable medium as computer program code comprising instructions that cause a processor to perform the steps of the method. In some embodiments, the processor may be part of a mobile device including a first network adaptor configured to transmit data, such as images or videos in a recording or as streaming data, over a first network connection of a plurality of network connections; and a processor coupled to the first network adaptor and the memory. The processor may cause the transmission of output image frames described herein over a wireless communications network such as a 5G NR communication network.

[0020] The foregoing has outlined, rather broadly, the features and technical advantages of examples according to the disclosure in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conception and specific 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 constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. Characteristics of the concepts disclosed herein, both their organization and method of operation, together with associated advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for the purposes of illustration and description, and not as a definition of the limits of the claims.

[0021] While aspects and implementations are described in this application by illustration to some examples, those skilled in the art will understand that additional implementations and use cases may come about in many different arrangements and scenarios. Innovations described herein may be implemented across many differing platform types, devices,systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, aspects and / or uses may come about via integrated chip implementations and other non-module-component based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail / purchasing devices, medical devices, artificial intelligence (Al)-enabled devices, etc.). While some examples may or may not be specifically directed to use cases or applications, a wide assortment of applicability of described innovations may occur. Implementations may range in spectrum from chiplevel or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level implementations and further to aggregate, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorporating one or more aspects of the described innovations. In some practical settings, devices incorporating described aspects and features may also necessarily include additional components and features for implementation and practice of claimed and described aspects. For example, transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily includes a number of components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antenna, radio frequency (RF)-chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffer, processor(s), interleaver, adders / summers, etc.). It is intended that innovations described herein may be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, end-user devices, etc. of varying sizes, shapes, and constitution.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present disclosure may be realized by reference to the following drawings. In the appended figures, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.

[0023] Figure 1 shows a block diagram of an example device for performing image capture from one or more image sensors.

[0024] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example data flow path for image data processing in an image capture device according to one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

[0025] Figure 3 shows a flow chart of an example method for processing image data with improved image stabilization for VOZ systems according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

[0026] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example processor configuration for image data processing in an image capture device according to one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

[0027] Figure 5 is a system for processing image frames improved image stabilization for VOZ systems according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 6 depicts image stabilization flows according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

[0029] Figure 7 depicts a VOZ system according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

[0030] Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] The detailed description set forth below, in connection with the appended drawings, is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. Rather, the detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the inventive subject matter. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these specific details are not required in every case and that, in some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form for clarity of presentation.

[0032] The present disclosure provides systems, apparatus, methods, and computer-readable media that support image processing, including techniques for improved image stabilization for VOZ systems. Image frames may be stabilized using various image stabilization techniques, including optical and electronic stabilization techniques. Optical image stabilization techniques may result in higher quality images, but may be capable of lower degrees of image correction. Electronic image stabilization techniques may be capable of greater degrees of correction, but the total amount of correction that can be applied to received image frames may depend on the current zoom level of a system. Variable optical zoom imaging systems are capable of changing their zoom settings to desired zoom levels. This capability can result in complications for stabilization techniques, such as by changing the amount of correction required depending on current zoom levels, changing the amount of correction that can be applied based on current zoom levels, or combinations thereof.

[0033] One solution to this problem is to utilize movement information to detect and respond to changes in movement levels and thus stabilization requirements for imaging systems that include VOZ systems. In particular, if movement levels indicate that a VOZ system is moving too much to be corrected by a current image stabilization process, the image stabilization techniques may be adjusted. These adjustments may include changing a lens position (such as zooming out to enable a greater degree of electronic image stabilization). These adjustments may additionally or alternatively include changing an image stabilization process that is being used (such as transitioning from an optical image stabilization process to an electronic image stabilization process).

[0034] Shortcomings mentioned here are only representative and are included to highlight problems that the inventors have identified with respect to existing devices and sought to improve upon. Aspects of 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 present other benefits than, and be used in other applications than, those described above.

[0035] Particular implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages or benefits. These techniques may be adjusted in real time based on current movement information measured by an image capture device that includes the VOZ system. Accordingly, these techniques enable improved image stabilization of images captured by VOZ systems with techniques that are capable of responding to the changes in lens positions of these systems. Furthermore, these techniques may enable more reliable use of higher-quality optical image stabilization techniques, only relying on electronic image stabilization where possible and to the extent possible (such as with the smallest amount of cropping and up sampling possible). These techniques accordingly improve the overall stability and image quality of images, and particularly sequences of images, captured by VOZ systems.

[0036] In the description of embodiments herein, 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 connected directly to or connected through one or more intervening components or circuits. Also, in the following description and for purposes of explanation, specific nomenclature is set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that these specific details may not berequired to practice the teachings disclosed herein. In other instances, well known circuits and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring teachings of the present disclosure.

[0037] Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are presented in terms of procedures, logic blocks, processing, and other symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. In the present disclosure, a procedure, logic block, process, or the like, is conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps or instructions leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, although 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.

[0038] An example device for capturing image frames using one or more image sensors, such as a smartphone, may include a configuration of one, two, three, four, or more camera modules on a backside (e.g., a side opposite a primary user display) and / or a front side (e.g., a same side as a primary user display) of the device. The devices may include one or more image signal processors (ISPs), Computer Vision Processors (CVPs) (e.g., Al engines), or other suitable circuitry for processing images captured by the image sensors. The one or more image signal processors (ISP) may store output image frames (such as through a bus) in a memory and / or provide the output image frames to processing circuitry (such as an applications processor). The processing circuitry may perform further processing, such as for encoding, storage, transmission, or other manipulation of the output image frames.

[0039] As used herein, a camera module may include the image sensor and certain other components coupled to the image sensor used to obtain a representation of a scene in image data comprising an image frame. For example, a camera module may include other components of a camera, including a shutter, buffer, or other readout circuitry for accessing individual pixels of an image sensor. In some embodiments, the camera module may include one or more components including the image sensor included in a single package with an interface configured to couple the camera module to an image signal processor or other processor through a bus.

[0040] Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a device 100 for performing image capture from one or more image sensors. The device 100 may include, or otherwise be coupled to, an image signal processor (e.g., ISP 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 sensor140. In some implementations, the device 100 also includes or is coupled to a processor 104 and a memory 106 storing instructions 108 (e.g., a memory storing processor- readable code or a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions). The device 100 may also include or be coupled to a display 114 and components 116. Components 116 may be used for interacting with a user, such as a touch screen interface and / or physical buttons.

[0041] Components 116 may also include network interfaces for communicating with other devices, including a wide area network (WAN) adaptor (e.g., WAN adaptor 152), a local area network (LAN) adaptor (e.g., LAN adaptor 153), and / or a personal area network (PAN) adaptor (e.g., PAN adaptor 154). A WAN adaptor 152 may be a 4G LTE or a 5G NR wireless network adaptor. A LAN adaptor 153 may be an IEEE 802.11 WiFi wireless network adapter. A PAN adaptor 154 may be a Bluetooth wireless network adaptor. Each of the WAN adaptor 152, LAN adaptor 153, and / or PAN adaptor 154may be coupled to an antenna, including multiple antennas configured for primary and diversity reception and / or configured for receiving specific frequency bands. In some embodiments, antennas may be shared for communicating on different networks by the WAN adaptor 152, LAN adaptor 153, and / or PAN adaptor 154. In some embodiments, the WAN adaptor 152, LAN adaptor 153, and / or PAN adaptor 154 may share circuitry and / or be packaged together, such as when the LAN adaptor 153 and the PAN adaptor 154 are packaged as a single integrated circuit (IC).

[0042] The device 100 may further include or be coupled to a power supply 118 for the device 100, such as a battery or an adaptor to couple the device 100 to an energy source. The device 100 may also include or be coupled to additional features or components that are not shown in Figure 1. In one example, a wireless interface, which may include a number of transceivers and a baseband processor in a radio frequency front end (RFFE), may be coupled to or included in WAN adaptor 152 for a wireless communication device. In a further example, an analog front end (AFE) to convert analog image data to digital image data may be coupled between the first image sensor 101 or second image sensor 102 and processing circuitry in the device 100. In some embodiments, AFEs may be embedded in the ISP 112.

[0043] The device may include or be coupled to a sensor hub 150 for interfacing with sensors to receive data regarding movement of the device 100, data regarding an environment around the device 100, and / or other non-camera sensor data. One example non-camera sensor is a gyroscope, which is a device configured for measuring rotation, orientation,and / or angular velocity to generate motion data. Another example non-camera sensor is an accelerometer, which is a device configured for measuring acceleration, which may also be used to determine velocity and distance traveled by appropriately integrating the measured acceleration. In some aspects, a gyroscope in an electronic image stabilization system (EIS) may be coupled to the sensor hub. In another example, a non-camera sensor may be a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, which is a device for processing satellite signals, such as through triangulation and other techniques, to determine a location of the device 100. The location may be tracked over time to determine additional motion information, such as velocity and acceleration. The data from one or more sensors may be accumulated as motion data by the sensor hub 150. One or more of the acceleration, velocity, and / or distance may be included in motion data provided by the sensor hub 150 to other components of the device 100, including the ISP 112 and / or the processor 104.

[0044] The ISP 112 may receive captured image data. In one embodiment, a local bus connection couples the ISP 112 to the first image sensor 101 and second image sensor 102 of a first camera 103 and second camera 105, respectively. In another embodiment, a wire interface couples the ISP 112 to an external image sensor. In a further embodiment, a wireless interface couples the ISP 112 to the first image sensor 101 or second image sensor 102.

[0045] The first image sensor 101 and the second image sensor 102 are configured to capture image data representing a scene in the field of view of the first camera 103 and second camera 105, respectively. In some embodiments, the first camera 103 and / or second camera 105 output analog data, which is converted by an analog front end (AFE) and / or an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) in the device 100 or embedded in the ISP 112. In some embodiments, the first camera 103 and / or second camera 105 output digital data. The digital image data may be formatted as one or more image frames, whether received from the first camera 103 and / or second camera 105or converted from analog data received from the first camera 103 and / or second camera 105.

[0046] The first camera 103 may include the first image sensor 101 and a first lens 131. The second camera may include the second image sensor 102 and a second lens 132. Each of the first lens 131 and the second lens 132 may be controlled by an associated an autofocus (AF) algorithm (e.g., AF 133) executing in the ISP 112, which adjusts the first lens 131 and the second lens 132 to focus on a particular focal plane located at a certain scene depth. The AF 133 may be assisted by depth data received from depth sensor 140. Thefirst lens 131 and the second lens 132 focus light at the first image sensor 101 and second image sensor 102, respectively, through one or more apertures for receiving light, one or more shutters for blocking light when outside an exposure window, and / or one or more color filter arrays (CFAs) for filtering light outside of specific frequency ranges. The first lens 131 and second lens 132 may have different field of views to capture 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 (W) lens. The multiple image sensors may include a combination of ultra- wide (high field-of-view (FOV)), wide, tele, and ultra-tele (low FOV) sensors.

[0047] Each of the first camera 103 and second camera 105 may be configured through hardware configuration and / or software settings to obtain different, but overlapping, field of views. In some configurations, the cameras are configured with different lenses with different magnification ratios that result in different fields of view for capturing different representations of the scene. The cameras may be configured such that a UW camera has a larger FOV than a W camera, whic” has’ a larger FOV than a T camera, which has a larger FOV than a UT camera. For example, a camera configured for wide FOV may capture fields of view in the range of 64-84 degrees, a camera configured for ultra-side FOV may capture fields of view in the range of 100-140 degrees, a camera configured for tele FOV may capture fields of view in the range of 10-30 degrees, and a camera configured for ultra-tele FOV may capture fields of view in the range of 1-8 degrees.

[0048] In some embodiments, one or more of the first camera 103 and / or second camera 105 may be a variable aperture (VA) camera in which the aperture can be adjusted to set a particular aperture size. Example aperture sizes include f / 2.0, f / 2.8, f / 3.2, f / 8.0, etc. Larger aperture values correspond to smaller aperture sizes, and smaller aperture values correspond to larger aperture sizes. A variable aperture (VA) camera may have different characteristics that produced different representations of a scene based on a current aperture size. For example, a VA camera may capture image data with a depth of focus (DOF) corresponding to a current aperture size set for the VA camera.

[0049] In some embodiments, one or more of the first camera 103 and / or the second camera 105 may include a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system. VOZ systems may be capable of adjusting the focal length for one or more lenses associated with one or more image sensors in order to adjust a level of zoom for images captured by the image sensors. For example, FIG. 7 depicts a VOZ system 700 according to one aspect of the present disclosure. The VOZ system 700 includes an image sensor 704 that may receive light inorder to capture images, as discussed above. In particular, the image sensor 704 may receive light that passes through a folded optical system formed from a prism 702 and a lens module 706. The lens module 706 includes a plurality of lenses 708, 710, 712 (only a subset of which are numbered for clarity). The lenses 708, 710, 712 may include one or more convex lenses, concave lenses, or combinations thereof. The prism 702 may bend the light 90° so that the light passes through the lens module 706 and is received by the image sensor 704. In certain implementations, the prism 702 may be movable or otherwise adjustable in order to compensate for movement of the device. For example, the prism 702 may be capable of providing optical image stabilization by moving or being moved to compensate for movement of the device 100. To provide variable optical zoom settings, the lens module 706 may be movable between the image sensor 704 and the prism 702. For example, the lens module 706 may move axially along an axis connecting the prism 702 to the image sensor 704 (such as an axis extending along the center of the lenses 708, 710, 712 in FIG. 7). Movement of the lens module 706 may enable different levels of zoom or images captured by the image sensor 704. For example, the VOZ system 700 may be capable of lens positions associated with zoom levels ranging between l-4x, 2-5x, l-10x, and the like. In various implementations, one or more of the lenses 708, 710, 712 may be movable relative to one another (such as to adjust depth of field, focus, or other characteristics of captured images). In certain implementations, the VOZ system 700 may also be known as a continuous optical zoom (COZ) system.

[0050] The ISP 112 processes image frames captured by the first camera 103 and second camera 105. While Figure 1 illustrates the device 100 as including first camera 103 and second camera 105, any number (e.g., one, two, three, four, five, six, etc.) of cameras may be coupled to the ISP 112. In some aspects, depth sensors such as depth sensor 140 may be coupled to the ISP 112. Output from the depth sensor 140 may be processed in a similar manner to that of first camera 103 and second camera 105. Examples of depth sensor 140 include active sensors, including one or more of indirect Time of Flight (iToF), direct Time of Flight (dToF), light detection and ranging (Lidar), mmWave, radio detection and ranging (Radar), and / or hybrid depth sensors, such as structured light sensors. In embodiments without a depth sensor 140, similar information regarding depth of objects or a depth map may be determined from the disparity between first camera 103 and second camera 105, such as by using a depth-from-disparity algorithm, a depth-from-stereo algorithm, phase detection auto-focus (PDAF) sensors, or the like. In addition, anynumber of additional image sensors or image signal processors may exist for the device 100.

[0051] In some embodiments, the ISP 112 may execute instructions from a memory, such as instructions 108 from the memory 106, instructions stored in a separate memory coupled to or included in the ISP 112, or instructions provided by the processor 104. In addition, or in the alternative, the ISP 112 may include specific hardware (such as one or more integrated circuits (ICs)) configured to perform one or more operations described in the present disclosure. For example, the ISP 112 may include image front ends (e.g., IFE 135), image post-processing engines (e.g., IPE 136), auto exposure compensation (AEC) engines (e.g., AEC 134), and / or one or more engines for video analytics (e.g., EVA 137). An image pipeline may be formed by a sequence of one or more of the IFE 135, IPE 136, and / or EVA 137. In some embodiments, the image pipeline may be reconfigurable in the ISP 112 by changing connections between the IFE 135, IPE 136, and / or EVA 137. The AF 133, AEC 134, IFE 135, IPE 136, and EVA 137 may each include application-specific circuitry, be embodied as software or firmware executed by the ISP 112, and / or a combination of hardware and software or firmware executing on the ISP 112.

[0052] The memory 106 may include a non-transient or non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer-executable instructions as instructions 108 to perform all or a portion of one or more operations described in this disclosure. The instructions 108 may include a camera application (or other suitable application such as a messaging application) to be executed by the device 100 for photography or videography. The instructions 108 may also include other applications or programs executed by the device 100, such as an operating system and applications other than for image or video generation. Execution of the camera application, such as by the processor 104, may cause the device 100 to record images using the first camera 103 and / or second camera 105and the ISP 112.

[0053] In addition to instructions 108, the memory 106 may also store image frames. The image frames may be output image frames stored by the ISP 112. The output image frames may be accessed by the processor 104 for further operations. In some embodiments, the device 100 does not include the memory 106. For example, the device 100 may be a circuit including the ISP 112, and the memory may be outside the device 100. The device 100 may be coupled to an external memory and configured to access the memory for writing output image frames for display or long-term storage. In some embodiments, the device100 is a system-on-chip (SoC) that incorporates the ISP 112, the processor 104, the sensor hub 150, the memory 106, and / or components 116 into a single package.

[0054] In some embodiments, at least one of the ISP 112 or the processor 104 executes instructions to perform various operations described herein, including image stabilization for VOZ systems. For example, execution of the instructions can instruct the ISP 112 to begin or end capturing an image frame or a sequence of image frames, in which the capture includes correction as described in embodiments herein. In some embodiments, the processor 104 may include one or more general-purpose processor cores 104A-N capable of executing instructions to control operation of the ISP 112. For example, the cores 104A-N may execute a camera application (or other suitable application for generating images or video) stored in the memory 106 that activate or deactivate the ISP 112 for capturing image frames and / or control the ISP 112 in the application of image stabilization for VOZ systems to the image frames. The operations of the cores 104A-N and ISP 112 may be based on user input. For example, a camera application executing on processor 104 may receive a user command to begin a video preview display upon which a video comprising a sequence of image frames is captured and processed from first camera 103 and / or the second camera 105 through the ISP 112 for display and / or storage. Image processing to determine “output” or “corrected” image frames, such as according to techniques described herein, may be applied to one or more image frames in the sequence.

[0055] In some embodiments, the processor 104 may include ICs or other hardware (e.g., an artificial intelligence (Al) engine such as Al engine 124 or other co-processor) to offload certain tasks from the cores 104A-N. The Al engine 124 may be used to offload tasks related to, for example, face detection and / or object recognition performed using machine learning (ML) or artificial intelligence (Al). The Al engine 124 may be referred to as an Artificial Intelligence Processing Unit (Al PU). The Al engine 124 may include hardware configured to perform and accelerate convolution operations involved in executing machine learning algorithms, such as by executing predictive models such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) (including multilayer feedforward neural networks (MLFFNN), the recurrent neural networks (RNN), and / or the radial basis functions (RBF)). The ANN executed by the Al engine 124 may access predefined training weights for performing operations on user data. The ANN may alternatively be trained during operation of the image capture device 100, such as through reinforcement training, supervised training, and / or unsupervised training. In some other embodiments, the device 100 does notinclude the processor 104, such as when all of the described functionality is configured in the ISP 112.

[0056] In some embodiments, the display 114 may include one or more suitable displays or screens allowing for user interaction and / or to present items to the user, such as a preview of the output of the first camera 103 and / or second camera 105. In some embodiments, the display 114 is a touch-sensitive display. The input / output (I / O) components, such as components 116, may be or include any suitable mechanism, interface, or device to receive input (such as commands) from the user and to provide output to the user through the display 114. For example, the components 116 may include (but are not limited to) a graphical user interface (GUI), a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, speakers, a squeezable bezel, one or more buttons (such as a power button), a slider, a toggle, or a switch.

[0057] While shown to be coupled to each other via the processor 104, components (such as the processor 104, the memory 106, the ISP 112, the display 114, and the components 116) may be coupled to each another in other various arrangements, such as via one or more local buses, which are not shown for simplicity. One example of a bus for interconnecting the components is a peripheral component interface (PCI) express (PCIe) bus.

[0058] While the ISP 112 is illustrated as separate from the processor 104, the ISP 112 may be a core of a processor 104 that is an application processor unit (APU), included in a system on chip (SoC), or otherwise included with the processor 104. While the device 100 is referred to in the examples herein for performing aspects of the present disclosure, some device components may not be shown in Figure 1 to prevent obscuring aspects of the present disclosure. Additionally, other components, numbers of components, or combinations of components may be included in a suitable device for performing aspects of the present disclosure. As such, the present disclosure is not limited to a specific device or configuration of components, including the device 100.

[0059] The exemplary image capture device of Figure 1 may be operated to obtain improved images through better selection and control of image stabilization when capturing image frames with VOZ systems. One example method of operating one or more cameras, such as first camera 103 and / or second camera 105, is shown in Figure 2 and described below.

[0060] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example data flow path for image data processing in an image capture device according to one or more embodiments of the disclosures. Processor 104 of system 200 may communicate with ISP 112 through a bidirectional bus and / or separate control and data lines. The processor 104 may control thefirst camera 103 through camera control 210. The camera control 210 may be a camera driver executed by the processor 104 for configuring the first camera 103, such as to active or deactivate image capture, configure exposure settings, and / or configure aperture size. Camera control 210 may be managed by a camera application 204 executing on the processor 104. The camera application 204 provides settings accessible to a user such that a user can specify individual camera settings or select a profile with corresponding camera settings. Camera control 210 communicates with the first camera 103 to configure the first camera 103 in accordance with commands received from the camera application 204. The camera application 204 may be, for example, a photography application, a document scanning application, a messaging application, or other application that processes image data acquired from the first camera 103.

[0061] The camera configuration may include parameters that specify, for example, a frame rate, an image resolution, a readout duration, an exposure level, an aspect ratio, an aperture size, etc. The first camera 103 may apply the camera configuration and obtain image data representing a scene using the camera configuration. In some embodiments, the camera configuration may be adjusted to obtain different representations of the scene. For example, the processor 104 may execute a camera application 204 to instruct the first camera 103, through camera control 210, to set a first camera configuration for the first camera 103, to obtain first image data from the first camera 103 operating in the first camera configuration, to instruct the first camera 103 to set a second camera configuration for the first camera 103, and to obtain second image data from the first camera 103 operating in the second camera configuration.

[0062] In some embodiments in which the first camera 103 is a variable aperture (VA) camera system, the processor 104 may execute a camera application 204 to instruct the first camera 103 to configure to a first aperture size, obtain first image data from the first camera 103, instruct the first camera 103 to configure to a second aperture size, and obtain second image data from the first camera 103. The reconfiguration of the aperture and obtaining of the first and second image data may occur with little or no change in the scene captured at the first aperture size and the second aperture size. Example aperture sizes are f / 2.0, f / 2.8, f / 3.2, f / 8.0, etc. Larger aperture values correspond to smaller aperture sizes, and smaller aperture values correspond to larger aperture sizes. That is, f / 2.0 corresponds to a larger aperture size than f / 8.0.

[0063] The image data received from the first camera 103 may be processed in one or more blocks of the ISP 112 to determine output image frames 230 that may be stored in memory106 and / or otherwise provided to the processor 104. The processor 104 may further process the image data to apply effects to the output image frames 230. Effects may include Bokeh, lighting, color casting, and / or high dynamic range (HDR) merging. In some embodiments, the effects may be applied in the ISP 112.

[0064] The output image frames 230 by the ISP 112 may include representations of the scene improved by aspects of this disclosure, such that image frames are better stabilized when captured with VOZ systems. The processor 104 may display these output image frames 230 to a user, and the improvements provided by the described processing implemented in the ISP 112 and / or processor 104 improve the image quality and the user experience by improving image frame stability. For example, one or more image stabilization processes 212 in the ISP 112 may correct the image data received from the first camera 103 when determining the output image frames 230.

[0065] The system 200 of Figure 2 may be configured to perform the operations described with reference to Figure 3 to determine output image frames 230. Figure 3 shows a flow chart of an example method for processing image data to perform VOZ image stabilization according to some embodiments of the disclosure. The capturing in Figure 3 may obtain an improved digital representation of a scene, which results in a photograph or video with higher image quality (IQ). Each of the operations described with reference to Figure 3 may be performed by one or a combination of the processor 104 (including cores 104A- N or Al engine 124) and / or the ISP 112.

[0066] The method 300 includes receiving a first image frame from a VOZ system (block 302). For example, the device 100 may receive a first image frame from a VOZ system. The first image frame may be received, for example, from a bus coupled to the first camera 103 or from an analog front end (AFE) coupled to the first camera 103. The first image frame may alternatively be received from a wireless camera, in which the image data is received through one or more of the WAN adaptor 152, the LAN adaptor 153, and / or the PAN adaptor 154. The first image data may alternatively be received from a memory location or a network storage location, such as when the image data was previously captured and is now retrieved from memory 106 and / or a remote location through one or more of the WAN adaptor 152, the LAN adaptor 153, and / or the PAN adaptor 154. In some embodiments, the capture of image data may be initiated by a camera application executing on the processor 104, which causes camera control 210 to activate capture of image data by the first camera 103. The image data retrieved at block 302 may be then processed by the ISP 112 and / or processor 104 or other means for processing image dataaccording to the operations described in one or more of the following blocks. In certain implementations, the first image frame is captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system. In certain implementations, the image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process. In certain implementations, the first image stabilization process may be an EIS process, an OIS process, or a combination thereof. In certain implementations, resulting image frames from the first image stabilization process may be at a target zoom level.

[0067] The method 300 includes determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process (block 304). For example, the device 100 may determine that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process. In certain implementations, the motion information may be processed to determine current movement levels of the VOZ system. In certain implementations, the motion information comprises an average of motion measurements, a peak motion measurement, a number of failed image stabilization frames, or a combination thereof. In certain implementations, the predetermined threshold may be determined based on the first lens position (such as the first zoom level) and the first image stabilization process.

[0068] The method 300 includes determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position for the VOZ system (block 306). For example, the device 100 may determine, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position for the VOZ system. The second lens position may be associated with a second zoom level of the VOZ system. In certain implementations, the second lens position may be determined such that the second image frame is captured with margin pixels relative to the target zoom level to correct for movement indicated by the movement information.

[0069] The method 300 includes receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position (block 308). For example, the device 100 may receive a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position. In certain implementations, the device 100 may control the camera system 500 to adjust or otherwise transition the VOZ system from the first lens position to the second lens position.

[0070] The method 300 includes determining, based on the second image frame, output image frames at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilizationprocess and a second image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame (block 310). For example, the device 100 may determine, based on the second image frame, output image frames at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame. The second image stabilization process may be different from the first image stabilization process. In certain implementations, the first image stabilization process, when applied to subsequent image frames captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position, determines stabilized image frames at the target zoom level. In certain implementations, block 310 further includes determining, based on the movement information and the target zoom level, the second image stabilization process for the VOZ system. In certain implementations, the first image stabilization process comprises an optical image stabilization (OIS) process and the second image stabilization process comprises an electronic image stabilization (EIS) process.

[0071] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example processor configuration for image data processing in an image capture device according to one or more embodiments of the disclosure. The processor 104, or other processing circuitry, may be configured to operate on image data to perform one or more operations of the method of Figure 3. The image data may be processed to determine one or more output image frames 410.

[0072] The processor 104 receives first image data, second image data and movement information. In some embodiments, the first image data may be received directly from the image sensor or a memory coupled to the image sensor. In some embodiments, the first image data may be retrieved from long-term storage, such as flash storage device or network location, storing a picture that was previously captured or generated. The processor 104 includes image frame receiving logic 404 A, zoom determination logic 404B, zoom determination logic 404C, and image stabilization logic 404D.

[0073] The image frame receiving logic 404 A may be configured to receive a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system. In certain implementations, the first image frame is captured at a first lens position of the VOZ system. In certain implementations, the image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process. In certain implementations, the first image stabilization process may be an EIS process, an OIS process, or a combination thereof. In certain implementations, resulting image frames from the first image stabilization process may be at a target zoom level.

[0074] The movement determination logic may be configured to determine that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with thefirst image stabilization process. In certain implementations, the motion information may be processed to determine current movement levels of the VOZ system. In certain implementations, the motion information comprises an average of motion measurements, a peak motion measurement, a number of failed image stabilization frames, or a combination thereof. In certain implementations, the predetermined threshold may be determined based on the first lens position and the first image stabilization process.

[0075] The zoom determination logic 404C may be configured to determine, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position for the VOZ system. In certain implementations, the second lens position may be determined such that the second image frame is captured with margin pixels relative to the target zoom level to correct for movement indicated by the movement information.

[0076] The image frame receiving logic 404A may also be configured to receive a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position. In certain implementations, the device 100 may control the camera system 500 to adjust or otherwise transition the VOZ system from the first lens position to the second lens position.

[0077] The image stabilization logic 404D may be configured to determine, based on the second image frame, output image frames at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame. The second image stabilization process may be different from the first image stabilization process. In certain implementations, the first image stabilization process, when applied to subsequent image frames captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position, determines stabilized image frames at the target zoom level. In certain implementations, further comprising determining, based on the movement information and the target zoom level, the second image stabilization process for the VOZ system. In certain implementations, the first image stabilization process comprises an optical image stabilization (OIS) process and the second image stabilization process comprises an electronic image stabilization (EIS) process.

[0078] One example operation is described with reference to FIG. 5, which depicts a system 500 for controlling image stabilization of VOZ systems according to one aspect of the present disclosure. The system 500 includes a first image frame 504, a second image frame 506, a VOZ system 502, and the device 100. The VOZ system may be an exemplary implementation of the VOZ system 700. The device 100 includes a first lens position 508, a second lens position 510, a first image stabilization process 512, a target zoom level514, a second image stabilization process 516. The below functionality may be implemented by the device using the processor 104, the ISP 112, or a combination thereof.

[0079] The device 100 may be configured to receive a first image frame 504 from the VOZ system 502. The first image frame 504 may be part of a plurality of image frames received by the VOZ system 502, such as a sequence of image frames captured at the first lens position 508. The image frame 504 may be captured at a first lens position 508 of the VOZ system 502. In certain implementations, the first lens position 508 may be associated with a first zoom level, such as a current zoom level, of the VOZ system 502. For example, the VOZ system 502 may be currently in use to capture image frames (such as part of a sequence of video frames). Accordingly, the device 100 may receive the first image frame 504 and may react to control the VOZ system 502 in real time.

[0080] In certain implementations, the first image frame 504 may be stabilized by a first image stabilization process 512. The type of image stabilization performed on the first image frame 504 may differ depending on the capabilities of the device 100, the VOZ system 502, or combinations thereof. Image stabilization processes 512, 516 used by the device may include one or more optical image stabilization (OIS) processes, one or more electronic stabilization processes (EIS), or one or more combinations thereof. OIS is a mechanical process that physically stabilizes the camera lens using motion sensors. Movement of the device 100 is detected, and one or more lenses are moved to compensate for the motion. For example, the prism 702 of the VOX system may be moved to compensate for detected motion, as described above. EIS may correct movement of the device by cropping successive image frames to capture the same or similar parts of a captured scene. The cropped areas may then be processed and upscaled to determine final output image frames. In various implementations, and at various times during operation of the device 100, the image stabilization processes 512, 516 may include an EIS process, an OIS process, or a combination thereof. For example, the device 100 may use both EIS and OIS, such as by moving a lens to compensate for some of the motion of the device 100 while also using EIS to correct for any additional motion that could not be corrected through OIS.

[0081] FIG. 6 depicts image stabilization flows 600, 610 according to exemplary aspects of the present disclosure. The image stabilization flows 600 may represent an OIS process and the image stabilization flows 610 may represent an EIS process. In the flow 600, and image 602 is captured at a target zoom level, depicting a subject (such as a person) and atree. If the device (such as an image captured device) or to move during capture of the image frames, a lens may be moved to compensate for the movement of the device. Accordingly, images may be continually captured at the target zoom level. In the flow 610, and image 611 is captured at a lower zoom level (such as zoomed out relative to the target zoom level, the image 602). A subset of the image 611 may be cropped out, forming the image 612. The image 612 may b” for’ed by cropping the image 611 at the target zoom level. The image 612 may then be upscaled and subsequently process to form the image 614. If the device moves during capture of subsequent image frames, different portions of images captured at the lower zoom level may be cropped in order to maintain a focus on the same subject as the image 614.

[0082] In certain implementations, the first image frame 504 from the VOZ system 502 and the first image stabilization process 512 may be at a target zoom level 514. In certain implementations, the target zoom level 514 may be the same as the first zoom level associated with the first lens position 508 (such as if OIS is used for the first image stabilization process 512). In additional or alternative implementations, the target zoom level 514 may differ from the first zoom level (such as if EIS is used for the first image stabilization process 512).

[0083] The device 100 may be configured to determine that movement information for the VOZ system 502 exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process 512. The movement information may include one or more types of motion data, such as motion data measured or otherwise collected by the sensor hub. In certain implementations, the movement information may be processed to determine current movement levels of the VOZ system 502. In certain implementations, the movement information includes motion measurements over a preceding period of time (such as the preceding 10 seconds, 5 seconds, 1 second, 0.1 seconds, and the like). In additional or alternative implementations, the motion information may include summary statistics for motion measurements over the preceding period of time, such as an average of motion measurements, a peak motion measurement, or combinations thereof. In still further implementations, the motion information may include information about the first image stabilization process 512, such as whether the first image stabilization process 512 is failing. For example, the motion information may include a number of failed image stabilization frames, a percentage of failed image stabilization, or a combination thereof.

[0084] In certain implementations, the predetermined threshold may indicate when images are being captured in movement conditions that are unlikely to result in properly stabilizedimage frames (e.g., may result in shaky video frames). In certain implementations, the predetermined threshold may be determined based on the first lens position 508 and the first image stabilization process 512. In certain implementations, the predetermined threshold may be determined based on a maximum degree of correction that the first image stabilization process 512 is capable of at the target zoom level 514. The predetermined threshold may be indicated based on a maximum degree of rotation (such as of the VOZ system 502) that can be corrected with the first image stabilization process 512 (such as one degree of movement, 5° of movement, 10° of movement, 20° of movement). In additional or alternative implementations, the predetermined threshold may be indicated as a maximum number of pixels of movement that can be corrected (such as a maximum number of margin pixels available at the target zoom level 514 when images are captured by the VOZ system at the first lens position 508). In certain implementations, margin pixels may include pixels that exist between the outer edge of stabilized image frames at the target zoom level and the outer edge of a scene captured by the VOZ system’s 502 image sensor (such as at the first or second lens position 508, 510). For example, in FIG. 6, margin pixels may include pixels from the image 611 that are not included within the cropped image 612. Returning to FIG. 5, in still further implementations, the predetermined threshold may be indicated in terms of one or more motion sensor measurements (such as maximum allowed accelerometer measurements, maximum allowed gyroscope measurements, and the like). In certain implementations, different combinations of stabilization processes 512, current lens positions 508, and target zoom levels 514 may have different predetermined thresholds. For example, the image stabilization process 512 may be capable of greater correction and stabilization when the first zoom level and the target zoom level 514 differ by larger amounts (such as because a greater proportion of margin pixels are available for EIS correction). In certain implementations, the predetermined threshold may be determined by identifying the corresponding threshold for the first zoom level, the target zoom level 514, and the current type of first image stabilization process 512. As one specific example, the device 100 may maintain a table, database, or other record of thresholds for different combinations of image stabilization processes, VOZ system zoom levels, VOZ lens positions, and target zoom levels, and may determine the predetermined threshold by accessing the corresponding threshold within the table, database, or other record.

[0085] The device 100 may be configured to determine, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position 510 for the VOZ system502. The second lens position 510 may be associated with a second zoom level. In certain implementations, the second lens position 510 may be determined such that the second image frame 506 are captured with margin pixels relative to the target zoom level 514 to correct for movement indicated by the movement information. In certain implementations, the device 100 may determine how much correction (such as how much margin) is needed to stabilize image frames to the target zoom level 514 with the amount of movement indicated by the movement information. In implementations where the device 100 maintains a lookup table of thresholds, the second lens position 510 may be determined by identifying a second zoom level for the first image stabilization process 512 with a threshold greater than the motion indicated by the movement information (such as greater than by at least a predetermined margin, such as 5%, 10%, 25%, and the like). In additional or alternative implementations, the second lens position 510 may be computed based on the current movement levels indicated by the movement information. As a specific example, if the movement information indicates that the VOZ system 502 is moving by 20° in a vertical direction while capturing image frames, the second lens position 510 may be determined such that, even with 20° of movement, the subject remains in frame at the target zoom level for proper stabilization (such as so that the target zoom level 514 occupies 40° less than the FOV of the VOZ system). In certain implementations, the second zoom level may be determined as less than the first zoom level (such as more zoomed out relative to the first zoom level ). In such instances, the lower second lens position 510 may enable a greater degree of correction by image stabilization processes 512, 516.

[0086] The device 100 may be configured to receive a second image frame 506 captured by the VOZ system 502 at the second lens position 510. The second image frame 506 may be part of a plurality of image frames received by the VOZ system 502, such as a sequence of image frames captured at the second lens position 510. In certain implementations, the device 100 may control the camera system 500 to capture subsequent image frames at the target zoom level 514 using the VOZ system 502 at the second lens position 510. For example, the device 100 may determine a hardware configuration for the VOZ system 502 that indicates the second lens position 510 and may provide the hardware configuration to the VOZ system 502. In response, the VOZ system 502 may transition from the first lens position 508 to the second lens position 510 and continue to capture image frames as the second image frame 506. The device 100 may then receive the second image frame 506 from the VOZ system 502.

[0087] The device 100 may be configured to determine, based on the second image frame 506, one or more output image frames output image frames 230 at the target zoom level 514. For example, the device 100 may apply at least one of the first image stabilization process 512 and a second image stabilization process 516 to stabilize the second image frame 506. The second image stabilization process 516 may be different from the first image stabilization process 512. In certain implementations, the device 100 may be able to use the same, first image stabilization process 512 to determine the output image frames 230. For example, the first image stabilization process 512 may be an EIS process, and the device 100 may continue to use EIS to determine the output image frames 230, such as with a greater level of correction enabled by the second lens position 510.

[0088] In certain implementations, a second image stabilization process 516, separate from the first image stabilization process 512 may be used. For example, if the motion information indicates movement levels greater than what the first image stabilization process can correct, a second image stabilization process 516 may be selected. For example, the device 100 may determine, based on the movement information and the target zoom level 514, the second image stabilization process 516 for the VOZ system 502 to use with the second image frame 506. In certain implementations, the second image stabilization process 516 may be determined based on a predetermined threshold associated with the first stabilization process 512 (such as a maximum threshold value for the first stabilization process 512 within stored thresholds). The predetermined threshold may indicate maximum movement levels that may be corrected by the first image stabilization process 512. The maximum movement levels may be indicated as a maximum angle of movement for the VOZ system 502, a maximum measurement from the sensor hub 150, a maximum number of failed image stabilization frames, or combinations thereof. In certain implementations, different predetermined thresholds may be indicated for different target zoom levels 514. For example, higher levels of zoom may be more susceptible to movement, and thus may have a lower level of possible stabilization. In such instances, higher zoom levels may have lower corresponding thresholds. In certain implementations, separate predetermined thresholds may be stored for separate target zoom levels. In additional or alternative implementations, the predetermined threshold may be defined in terms of the target zoom level 514.

[0089] In certain implementations, the first image stabilization process 512 comprises an optical image stabilization (OIS) process and the second image stabilization process 516 comprises an electronic image stabilization (EIS) process. For example, the device 100may initially be using an OIS 512 to stabilize the first image frame 504 and, in response to movement levels exceeding the maximum threshold for the process 512, may switch to using an EIS process 516. In certain instances, the EIS process 516 may also include OIS stabilization techniques. For example, the image stabilization process 516 may be a hybrid image stabilization process that uses both optical and electronic image stabilization.

[0090] In one or more aspects, techniques for supporting image processing may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below or in connection with one or more other processes or devices described elsewhere herein. A first aspect provides a method that includes receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and where the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process; determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process; determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position; and determining, based on the second image frame, output image frames at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

[0091] In a second aspect, in combination with the first aspect, the predetermined threshold is determined based on the first zoom level and the first image stabilization process.

[0092] In a third aspect, in combination with the second aspect, the predetermined threshold indicates a maximum movement that can be corrected with the first image stabilization process at the first lens position.

[0093] In a fourth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first aspect through the third aspect, the second lens position is determined such that the second image frame is captured with margin pixels relative to the target zoom level to correct for movement indicated by the movement information.

[0094] In a fifth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first aspect through the fourth aspect, the method further includes determining, based on the movement information and the target zoom level, the second image stabilization process for the VOZ system.

[0095] In a sixth aspect, in combination with the fifth aspect, the first image stabilization process may include an optical image stabilization (OIS) process and the second image stabilization process may include an electronic image stabilization (EIS) process.

[0096] In a first aspect, in combination with one or more of the first aspect through the sixth aspect, the first image stabilization process may include an electronic image stabilization process, and the output image frames may be determined by applying the first image stabilization process to the second image frame.

[0097] In an eighth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first aspect through the seventh aspect, the movement information may include an average of motion measurements, a peak motion measurement, a number of failed image stabilization frames, or a combination thereof.

[0098] A ninth aspect provides a system that includes a processor and a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations that include receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and where the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process; determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process; determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position; and determining, based on the second image frame, output image frames at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

[0099] Additionally, the apparatus may perform 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 includes a remote server, such as a cloud-based computing solution, which receives image data for processing to determine output image frames. 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 and the program code may be executable by acomputer for causing the computer to perform operations described herein with reference 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 reference to the apparatus.

[0100] In a tenth aspect, in combination with the ninth aspect, the predetermined threshold is determined based on the first zoom level and the first image stabilization process.

[0101] In an eleventh aspect, in combination with the tenth aspect, the predetermined threshold indicates a maximum movement that can be corrected with the first image stabilization process at the first lens position.

[0102] In a twelfth aspect, in combination with one or more of the ninth aspect through the eleventh aspect, the second lens position is determined such that the second image frame is captured with margin pixels relative to the target zoom level to correct for movement indicated by the movement information.

[0103] In a thirteenth aspect, in combination with one or more of the ninth aspect through the twelfth aspect, the operations may further include determining, based on the movement information and the target zoom level, the second image stabilization process for the VOZ system.

[0104] In a fourteenth aspect, in combination with the thirteenth aspect, the first image stabilization process may include an optical image stabilization (OIS) process and the second image stabilization process may include an electronic image stabilization (EIS) process.

[0105] In a fifteenth aspect, in combination with one or more of the ninth aspect through the fourteenth aspect, the first image stabilization process may include an electronic image stabilization process, and the output image frames may be determined by applying the first image stabilization process to the second image frame.

[0106] In a sixteenth aspect, in combination with one or more of the ninth aspect through the fifteenth aspect, the movement information may include an average of motion measurements, a peak motion measurement, a number of failed image stabilization frames, or a combination thereof.

[0107] A seventeenth aspect provides an image capture device that includes an image sensor; a memory storing processor-readable code; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and to the image sensor. The at least one processor may be configured to execute the processor-readable code to cause the at least one processor to perform operations thatinclude receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and where the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process; determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process; determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position; and determining, based on the second image frame, output image frames at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

[0108] In an eighteenth aspect, in combination with the seventeenth aspect, the predetermined threshold is determined based on the first zoom level and the first image stabilization process.

[0109] In a nineteenth aspect, in combination with the eighteenth aspect, the predetermined threshold indicates a maximum movement that can be corrected with the first image stabilization process at the first lens position.

[0110] In a twentieth aspect, in combination with one or more of the seventeenth aspect through the nineteenth aspect, the second lens position is determined such that the second image frame is captured with margin pixels relative to the target zoom level to correct for movement indicated by the movement information.[OHl] In a twenty-first aspect, in combination with one or more of the seventeenth aspect through the twentieth aspect, the operations may further include determining, based on the movement information and the target zoom level, the second image stabilization process for the VOZ system.

[0112] In a twenty-second aspect, in combination with the twenty-first aspect, the first image stabilization process may include an optical image stabilization (OIS) process and the second image stabilization process may include an electronic image stabilization (EIS) process.

[0113] In a twenty-third aspect, in combination with one or more of the seventeenth aspect through the twenty-second aspect, the first image stabilization process may include an electronic image stabilization process, and the output image frames may be determined by applying the first image stabilization process to the second image frame.

[0114] A twenty-fourth aspect includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations that include receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and where the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process; determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process; determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second zoom level; and determining, based on the second image frame, output image frames at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

[0115] In a twenty -fifth aspect, in combination with the twenty-fourth aspect, the predetermined threshold is determined based on the first zoom level and the first image stabilization process.

[0116] In a twenty-sixth aspect, in combination with the twenty-fifth aspect, the predetermined threshold indicates a maximum movement that can be corrected with the first image stabilization process at the first lens position.

[0117] In a twenty-seventh aspect, in combination with one or more of the twenty -fourth aspect through the twenty-sixth aspect, the second lens position is determined such that the second image frame is captured with margin pixels relative to the target zoom level to correct for movement indicated by the movement information.

[0118] In a twenty-eighth aspect, in combination with one or more of the twenty-fourth aspect through the twenty-seventh aspect, the operations may further include determining, based on the movement information and the target zoom level, the second image stabilization process for the VOZ system.

[0119] In a twenty-ninth aspect, in combination with the twenty-eighth aspect, the first image stabilization process may include an optical image stabilization (OIS) process and the second image stabilization process may include an electronic image stabilization (EIS) process.

[0120] In a thirtieth aspect, in combination with one or more of the twenty -fourth aspect through the twenty-ninth aspect, the first image stabilization process may include an electronicimage stabilization process, and the output image frames may be determined by applying the first image stabilization process to the second image frame.

[0121] In the figures, a single block may be described as performing a function or functions. The function or functions performed by that 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 illustrative 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 upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying 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 devices may include components other than those shown, including well-known components such as a processor, memory, and the like.

[0122] Aspects of the present disclosure are applicable to any electronic device including, coupled to, or otherwise processing data from one, two, or more image sensors capable of capturing image frames (or “frames”). The terms “output image frame,” “modified image frame,” and “corrected image frame” may refer to an image frame that has been processed by any of the disclosed techniques to adjust raw image data received from an image sensor. Further, aspects of the disclosed techniques may be implemented for processing image data received from image sensors of the same or different capabilities and characteristics (such as resolution, shutter speed, or sensor type). Further, aspects of the disclosed techniques may be implemented in devices for processing image data, whether or not the device includes or is coupled to image sensors. For example, the disclosed techniques may include operations performed by processing devices in a cloud computing system that retrieve image data for processing that was previously recorded by a separate device having image sensors.

[0123] Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present application, discussions using terms such as “accessing,” “receiving,” “sending,” “using,” “selecting,” “determining,” “normalizing,” “multiplying,” “averaging,” “monitoring,” “comparing,” “applying,” “updating,” “measuring,” “deriving,” “settling,” “generating,” or the like, refer to the actions and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulatesand transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system’s registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system’s registers, memories, or other such information storage, transmission, or display devices. The use of different terms referring to actions or processes of a computer system does not necessarily indicate different operations. For example, “determining” data may refer to “generating” data. As another example, “determining” data may refer to “retrieving” data.

[0124] The terms “device” and “apparatus” are not limited to one or a specific number of physical objects (such as one smartphone, one camera controller, one processing system, and so on). As used herein, a device may be any electronic device with one or more parts that may implement at least some portions of the disclosure. While the description and examples herein use the term “device” to describe various aspects of the disclosure, the term “device” is not limited to a specific configuration, type, or number of objects. As used herein, an apparatus may include a device or a portion of the device for performing the described operations.

[0125] Certain components in a device or apparatus described as “means for accessing,” “means for receiving,” “means for sending,” “means for using,” “means for selecting,” “means for determining,” “means for normalizing,” “means for multiplying,” or other similarly- named terms referring to one or more operations on data, such as image data, may refer to processing circuitry (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSP), graphics processing unit (GPU), central processing unit (CPU), computer vision processor (CVP), or neural signal processor (NSP)) configured to perform the recited function through hardware, software, or a combination of hardware configured by software.

[0126] Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0127] Components, the functional blocks, and the modules described herein with respect to the Figures referenced above include processors, electronics devices, hardware devices, electronics components, logical circuits, memories, software codes, firmware codes, among other examples, or any combination thereof. Software shall be construed broadlyto mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, application, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, and / or functions, among other examples, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language or otherwise. In addition, features discussed herein may be implemented via specialized processor circuitry, via executable instructions, or combinations thereof.

[0128] Those of skill in the art that one or more blocks (or operations) described with reference to Figures 3 and 4 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 Figure 3 may be combined with one or more blocks (or operations) of Figures 1, 2, and 5. As another example, one or more blocks associated with Figure 4 may be combined with one or more blocks (or operations) associated with Figures 1, 2, and 5.

[0129] Those of skill in the art would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative 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 upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure. Skilled artisans will also readily recognize that the order or combination of components, methods, or interactions that are described herein are merely examples and that the components, methods, or interactions of the various aspects of the present disclosure may be combined or performed in ways other than those illustrated and described herein.

[0130] The various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, circuits and algorithm processes described in connection with the implementations disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. The interchangeability of hardware and software has been described generally, in terms of functionality, and illustrated in the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and processes described above. Whether such functionality is implemented inhardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0131] The hardware and data processing apparatus used to implement the various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose single-or multi-chip processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, 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 implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of 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 that is specific to a given function.

[0132] In one or more aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, digital electronic circuitry, computer software, firmware, including the structures disclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents thereof, or in any combination thereof. Implementations of the subject matter described in this specification also may be implemented as one or more computer programs, which is one or more modules of computer program instructions, encoded on a computer storage media for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus.

[0133] If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. The processes of a method or algorithm disclosed herein may be implemented in a processor-executable software module which may reside on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that may be enabled to transfer a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that may 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 readonly 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 desiredprogram code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection may be properly termed a computer-readable medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. Additionally, the operations of a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and instructions on a machine readable medium and computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

[0134] Various modifications to the implementations described in this disclosure may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to some 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 are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with this disclosure, the principles and the novel features disclosed herein.

[0135] Additionally, a person having ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate, opposing terms such as “upper” and “lower,” or “front” and back,” or “top” and “bottom,” or “forward” and “backward” are sometimes used for ease of describing the figures, and indicate relative positions corresponding to the orientation of the figure on a properly oriented page, and may not reflect the proper orientation of any device as implemented.

[0136] Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate implementations also may be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single implementation also may be implemented in multiple implementations separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination may in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

[0137] Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown, or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed to achieve desirable results. Further, the drawings may schematically depict one or more example processes in the form of a flow diagram. However, other operations that are not depicted may be incorporated in the example processes that are schematically illustrated. Forexample, one or more additional operations may be performed before, after, simultaneously, or between any of the illustrated operations. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, 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 described program components and systems may generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products. Additionally, some other implementations are 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.

[0138] 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 by itself, 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 A alone; B alone; C alone; A and B in combination; A and C in combination; B and C in combination; or A, B, and C in combination. Also, as used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items prefaced by “at least one of’ indicates a disjunctive list such that, 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 (that is A and B and C) or any of these in any combination thereof.

[0139] The term “substantially” is defined as largely, but not necessarily wholly, what is specified (and includes what is specified; for example, substantially 90 degrees includes 90 degrees and substantially parallel includes parallel), as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. In any disclosed implementations, the term “substantially” may be substituted with “within [a percentage] of’ what is specified, where the percentage includes .1, 1, 5, or 10 percent.

[0140] The previous 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 generic principles defined herein may 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

CLAIMSWHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method comprising: receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and wherein the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process; determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process; determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position; and determining, based on the second image frame, an output image frame at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined threshold is determined based on the first zoom level and the first image stabilization process.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the predetermined threshold indicates a maximum movement that can be corrected with the first image stabilization process at the first lens position.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second lens position is determined such that the second image frame is captured with margin pixels relative to the target zoom level to correct for movement indicated by the movement information.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, based on the movement information and the target zoom level, the second image stabilization process for the VOZ system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first image stabilization process comprises an optical image stabilization (OIS) process and the second image stabilization process comprises an electronic image stabilization (EIS) process.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first image stabilization process comprises an electronic image stabilization process, and wherein the output image frame is determined by applying the first image stabilization process to the second image frame.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the movement information comprises an average of motion measurements, a peak motion measurement, a number of failed image stabilization frames, or a combination thereof.

9. A system comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and wherein the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process; determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process;determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position; and determining, based on the second image frame, an output image frame at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the predetermined threshold is determined based on the first zoom level and the first image stabilization process.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the predetermined threshold indicates a maximum movement that can be corrected with the first image stabilization process at the first lens position.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the second lens position is determined such that the second image frame is captured with margin pixels relative to the target zoom level to correct for movement indicated by the movement information.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise determining, based on the movement information and the target zoom level, the second image stabilization process for the VOZ system.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first image stabilization process comprises an optical image stabilization (OIS) process and the second image stabilization process comprises an electronic image stabilization (EIS) process.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the first image stabilization process comprises an electronic image stabilization process, and wherein the output image frame is determined by applying the first image stabilization process to the second image frame.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the movement information comprises an average of motion measurements, a peak motion measurement, a number of failed image stabilization frames, or a combination thereof.

17. An image capture device, comprising: an image sensor; a memory storing processor-readable code; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and to the image sensor, the at least one processor configured to execute the processor-readable code to cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and wherein the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process; determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process; determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second lens position; and determining, based on the second image frame, an output image frame at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

18. The image capture device of claim 17, wherein the predetermined threshold is determined based on the first zoom level and the first image stabilization process.

19. The image capture device of claim 18, wherein the predetermined threshold indicates a maximum movement that can be corrected with the first image stabilization process at the first lens position.

20. The image capture device of claim 17, wherein the second lens position is determined such that the second image frame is captured with margin pixels relative to the target zoom level to correct for movement indicated by the movement information.

21. The image capture device of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise determining, based on the movement information and the target zoom level, the second image stabilization process for the VOZ system.

22. The image capture device of claim 21, wherein the first image stabilization process comprises an optical image stabilization (OIS) process and the second image stabilization process comprises an electronic image stabilization (EIS) process.

23. The image capture device of claim 17, wherein the first image stabilization process comprises an electronic image stabilization process, and wherein the output image frame is determined by applying the first image stabilization process to the second image frame.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: receiving a first image frame from a variable optical zoom (VOZ) system, the first image frame captured at a first lens position associated with a first zoom level of the VOZ system, and wherein the first image frame is stabilized at a target zoom level using a first image stabilization process;determining that movement information for the VOZ system exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the first image stabilization process; determining, based on the movement information exceeding the predetermined threshold, a second lens position associated with a second zoom level for the VOZ system; receiving a second image frame captured by the VOZ system at the second zoom level; and determining, based on the second image frame, an output image frame at the target zoom level by applying at least one of the first image stabilization process and a second image stabilization process different from the first image stabilization process to stabilize the second image frame.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the predetermined threshold is determined based on the first zoom level and the first image stabilization process.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the predetermined threshold indicates a maximum movement that can be corrected with the first image stabilization process at the first lens position.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the second lens position is determined such that the second image frame is captured with margin pixels relative to the target zoom level to correct for movement indicated by the movement information.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the operations further comprise determining, based on the movement information and the target zoom level, the second image stabilization process for the VOZ system.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the first image stabilization process comprises an optical image stabilization (OIS) process and the second image stabilization process comprises an electronic image stabilization (EIS) process.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the first image stabilization process comprises an electronic image stabilization process, and wherein the output image frame is determined by applying the first image stabilization process to the second image frame.

Images