Systems, methods, and apparatuses for a stable superzoom

Abstract

An example method includes capturing a scene by a camera system. The method includes displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a live preview of a first portion of the scene. The method further includes receiving, by the display screen, a user indication to activate a locked preview at the display screen, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system. The method also includes in response to the user indication, displaying the locked preview. The method additionally includes detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview. The method further includes generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction. The method also includes displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

Description

SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND APPARATUSES FORA STABLE SUPERZOOMCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED DISCLOSURES

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 620,754, filed January 12, 2024, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.BACKGROUND

[0002] Many modern computing devices, including mobile phones, personal computers, and tablets, include image capture devices. Some image capture devices are configured with multicamera systems. The camera systems are configured to use their respective specifications to collaboratively meet different image capturing requirements. A smart phone can integrate multiple types of cameras with a variety of focal lengths to take care of objects in different distances and scenes in different fields of view (FoVs). While in use, a camera can be slightly moved in an unintentional manner, such as being shaken, shifted away from a scene, or otherwise moved in ways that can change the camera's field of view. Such movements can have a negative impact on the resulting images. Camera movements may include translation (i.e. a change in position) and / or rotation (i.e. a change in orientation) of the camera. A live view of the scene of the captured images is often shown on a display screen as the source of the images is captured by one or more lenses of the camera.SUMMARY

[0003] The present disclosure generally relates to stabilization of an image in a viewfinder of an image capture device. In one aspect, an image capture device may be configured to frame and track a target object in a narrow field of view resulting from a high magnification ratio. In existing systems, when a user applies operations such as panning, and / or rotation, the user moves the device to change the live preview. Also, for example, when a user zooms in to an off-center object (e.g., by applying a “pinch and zoom” to the live preview), the image capture device enlarges a central portion of the preview, regardless of the position of the off-center object. Accordingly, the user has to physically move the image capture device to align the off- center object with the central portion of the preview in order to view it under higher magnifications. However, even a small movement of the image capture device, especially athigh magnification ratios, may cause the off-center object to veer off the preview. As described herein, panning, rotation, and / or zoom operations may be applied by the user by interacting with the live preview, without having to physically move the image capture device. In situations where the user has to physically move the image capture device, the user may be guided to move in a desired direction. In some aspects, the locked preview reduces and / or eliminates image degradations associated with device movements (e.g., due to a shaking hand).

[0004] In a first aspect, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes capturing a scene by a camera system. The method also includes displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a live preview of a first portion of the scene. The method further includes receiving, by the display screen, a user indication to activate a locked preview at the display screen, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system. The method also includes in response to the user indication, displaying the locked preview. The method additionally includes detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview. The method further includes generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction. The method also includes displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0005] In a second aspect, a computing device is provided. The computing device includes a camera system comprising a display screen, one or more processors, and data storage, wherein the data storage has stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to carry out operations. The operations include capturing a scene by the camera system. The operations also include displaying, by the display screen, a live preview of a first portion of the scene. The operations further include receiving, by the display screen, a user indication to activate a locked preview at the display screen, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system. The operations also include in response to the user indication, displaying the locked preview. The operations additionally include detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview. The operations further include generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction. The operations also include displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0006] In a third aspect, a computer program is provided. The computer program comprises instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations. Theoperations include capturing a scene by a camera system. The operations also include displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a live preview of a first portion of the scene. The operations further include receiving, by the display screen, a user indication to activate a locked preview at the display screen, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system. The operations also include in response to the user indication, displaying the locked preview. The operations additionally include detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview. The operations further include generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction. The operations also include displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0007] In a fourth aspect, an article of manufacture is provided. The article of manufacture may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform operations. The operations include capturing a scene by a camera system. The operations also include displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a live preview of a first portion of the scene. The operations further include receiving, by the display screen, a user indication to activate a locked preview at the display screen, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system. The operations also include in response to the user indication, displaying the locked preview. The operations additionally include detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview. The operations further include generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction. The operations also include displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0008] In a fifth aspect, a system is provided. The system includes means for capturing a scene by a camera system; means for displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a live preview of a first portion of the scene; means for receiving, by the display screen, a user indication to activate a locked preview at the display screen, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system; means for in response to the user indication, displaying the locked preview; means for detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview; generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the userinteraction; and means for displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0009] In a sixth aspect, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes capturing a scene by a camera system. The method also includes displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a locked preview of a first portion of the scene, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system. The method further includes associating a first bounding box with the locked preview displayed by the display screen. The method also includes associating a second bounding box with the scene being captured by the camera system. The method additionally includes detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview, wherein the user interaction comprises a modification of the first bounding box. The method further includes generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction, wherein the generating of the modified locked preview comprises maintaining the first bounding box within the second bounding box. The method also includes displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0010] In a seventh aspect, a computing device is provided. The computing device includes a camera system comprising a display screen, one or more processors, and data storage, wherein the data storage has stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to carry out operations. The operations include capturing a scene by the camera system. The operations also include displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a locked preview of a first portion of the scene, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system. The operations further include associating a first bounding box with the locked preview displayed by the display screen. The operations also include associating a second bounding box with the scene being captured by the camera system. The operations additionally include detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview, wherein the user interaction comprises a modification of the first bounding box. The operations further include generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction, wherein the generating of the modified locked preview comprises maintaining the first bounding box within the second bounding box. The operations also include displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0011] In an eighth aspect, a computer program is provided. The computer program comprises instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations. The operations include capturing a scene by the camera system. The operations also include displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a locked preview of a first portion of the scene, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system. The operations further include associating a first bounding box with the locked preview displayed by the display screen. The operations also include associating a second bounding box with the scene being captured by the camera system. The operations additionally include detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview, wherein the user interaction comprises a modification of the first bounding box. The operations further include generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction, wherein the generating of the modified locked preview comprises maintaining the first bounding box within the second bounding box. The operations also include displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0012] In a ninth aspect, an article of manufacture is provided. The article of manufacture may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform operations. The operations include capturing a scene by a camera system. The operations also include displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a locked preview of a first portion of the scene, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system. The operations further include associating a first bounding box with the locked preview displayed by the display screen. The operations also include associating a second bounding box with the scene being captured by the camera system. The operations additionally include detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview, wherein the user interaction comprises a modification of the first bounding box. The operations further include generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction, wherein the generating of the modified locked preview comprises maintaining the first bounding box within the second bounding box. The operations also include displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0013] In tenth aspect, a system is provided. The system includes means for capturing a scene by a camera system; means for displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a lockedpreview of a first portion of the scene, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system; means for associating a first bounding box with the locked preview displayed by the display screen; means for associating a second bounding box with the scene being captured by the camera system; means for detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview, wherein the user interaction comprises a modification of the first bounding box; means for generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction, wherein the generating of the modified locked preview comprises maintaining the first bounding box within the second bounding box; and means for displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0014] Other aspects, embodiments, and implementations will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reading the following detailed description, with reference where appropriate to the accompanying drawings.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0015] FIG. 1 is an illustration of front, right-side, and rear views of a digital camera device, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0016] FIG. 2 is an illustration of a preview of a scene with and without a zoom operation, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0017] FIG. 3 is an illustration of a stabilized zoomed preview of a scene with and without cropping, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0018] FIG. 4 is an illustration of a user indication to activate a locked preview of a scene, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0019] FIG. 5 is an illustration of an example locked field of view and a padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0020] FIG. 6 is another illustration of another example locked field of view and a padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0021] FIG. 7 is an illustration of a user selection of a target object, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0022] FIG. 8A is an illustration of a locked field of view and a padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0023] FIG. 8B is an illustration of a locked field of view and a padded field of view with respect to bounding boxes, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0024] FIG. 8C is an illustration of a pan operation, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0025] FIG. 8D is an illustration of a rotate operation, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0026] FIG. 8E is an illustration of a zoom operation, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0027] FIG. 8F is an illustration of resizing a padded field of view to maintain a locked field of view within the padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0028] FIG. 8G is another illustration of resizing a padded field of view to maintain a locked field of view within the padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0029] FIG. 8H is another illustration of resizing a padded field of view to maintain a locked field of view within the padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0030] FIG. 9 is an illustration of an elastic boundary, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0031] FIG. 10 is an illustration of a visual cue to reposition a live preview, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0032] FIG. 11 is an illustration of an image overlay that displays a representation of two fields of view relative to each other, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0033] FIG. 12 illustrates a distributed computing architecture, in accordance with example embodiments

[0034] FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a computing device, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0035] FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a method, in accordance with example embodiments.

[0036] FIG. 15 is another flowchart of a method, in accordance with example embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] Example methods, devices, and systems are described herein. It should be understood that the words “example” and “exemplary” are used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment or feature described herein as being an “example” or “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or features. Other embodiments can be utilized, and other changes can be made, without departing from the scope of the subject matter presented herein.

[0038] Thus, the example embodiments described herein are not meant to be limiting. Aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the figures, can bearranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are contemplated herein.

[0039] Further, unless context suggests otherwise, the features illustrated in each of the figures may be used in combination with one another. Thus, the figures should be generally viewed as component aspects of one or more overall embodiments, with the understanding that not all illustrated features are necessary for each embodiment.Overview

[0040] An image capture device may include a lens with adjustable magnification ratios to display and / or capture objects at different distances, and scenes in different fields of view (FoVs). Also, for example, an image capture device may include multiple lenses, and / or cameras. For example, a smart phone or other mobile device that supports image and / or video capture may be equipped with multiple cameras using respective specifications to collaboratively meet different image capturing requirements. A smart phone can integrate multiple types of cameras with a variety of focal lengths to display and / or capture objects at different distances, and scenes in different FoVs.

[0041] For example, a mobile phone may be configured with a main lens with a medium focal length to meet normal photo / video capture requirements, a telescopic lens with a longer focal length to capture remote objects, and a wide or an ultra- wide lens with a shorter focal length to capture larger FoVs. During the photo / video capture session, a switch from the main lens to the telescopic lens may occur when a user continues to zoom-in for the in-focus of a remote object, and a switch from the main lens to the ultra- wide lens may occur when the user continues to zoom-out to capture a larger field-of-view. Multi-camera and / or multi-lens systems may provide a much larger range of focus distances than a single camera / lens.

[0042] In the event a user of an image capturing device previews an image at a high magnification ratio, the resulting image may not be steady, and there may be challenges to framing an object of interest in the image. Also, for example, after framing the object of interest, the small FoV resulting from the high magnification ratio may result in additional challenges to maintaining a moving frame in a smooth, continuous, and / or stable manner. For example, small movements of the device (e.g., from a shaking of a hand of a user operating the device) may result in a large movement in the live preview, causing the preview to appear unstable, of lower image quality, etc. As such, an image-processing-related technical problem arises that involves stabilizing the live preview, and maintaining smooth movements for objects of interest within a moving frame.

[0043] Telephoto cameras are becoming increasingly popular in flagship devices. Higher and higher optical zoom lenses combined with higher resolution image sensors have been used to boost the maximum magnification ratio in each successive release of a device. The image quality at high magnification ratios has continuously improved. However, the extremely narrow FoV at a high magnification ratio makes it challenging to frame an object of interest within the FoV.

[0044] Framing scenes involve device motion and such framing can be particularly challenging at very high magnification ratios, since a small amount of motion can result in a large change in the frame. For example, capturing an appropriately framed shot at high zoom levels (20x or more) can be challenging. The narrow field of view can often cause subjects to drift out of a viewfinder / frame. Once the subject is in the viewfinder, it can be challenging to maintain it there due to movement, such as handshake. Even slight movements can significantly impact the composition of the photograph. For example, when using a zoom operation at a high magnification ratio, even a very small movement of the camera can cause a large arc of movement. Such a large movement can result in a preview image that appears to show significant, rapid, jarring, movement that can interfere with a user’s ability to capture an image and / or video.

[0045] Although existing optical image stabilization (OIS) and / or electronic image stabilization (EIS) algorithms attempt to improve this situation to a limited extent, there remains residual motion which becomes magnified at higher magnification ratios. Generally, baseline EIS may compensate for hand-shake without a tracking capability. However, it may be challenging to maintain moving objects within the viewfinder under high magnification ratios. Also, for example, the trajectory of moving objects may not be smooth. Gyro and / or OIS based EIS may be used in some situations as a stabilization technique. This stabilization technique is sensor based, such as gyro sensing and / or OIS sensing. Although this may compensate for camera pose change without dependency on image content, it may result in limiting the FoV of the output stabilized frame since the margin is used to generate the stable virtual pose. At high magnification ratios, hardware limitations such as gyro noise, OIS sensing noise, OIS calibration error, signal latency, and so forth may also introduce visible residual motions. Additional, and / or alternative attempts to prevent movement problems may also include using bulky and expensive external hardware to fix the camera position, such as gimbal devices and tripods. In addition, images can be edited after recording the scene to adjust for complications caused by camera movements. Requiring such post processing can result in poorresolution recordings, use additional technology resources, consume extra time, and ultimately diminish the quality of user experience.

[0046] One reason for the above challenges with higher magnification ratios is that a camera application is not configured to provide a stable FoV in the viewfinder. For example, although it is easy to pan and zoom in to a desired location in a map application, a similar feature is not available in a camera preview. Generally speaking, a map does not move as the mobile device moves, but an image in the camera preview moves with the device.

[0047] The techniques described herein address these challenges by enabling a user to zoom in towards a desired scene and maintain image stability. The user may also use a zoom (e.g., a “pinch and zoom” operation), panning and / or rotate operations to maintain the scene in the viewfinder. Also, for example, the user may frame a scene on a locked preview using the zoom, pan, and rotate operations similar to a map application. In particular, the user may apply such operations to objects located anywhere in the viewfinder, including objects that are not located in the center. Such operations may be easier to apply due to a stabilized image preview. An optional user interface (UI) feature may guide the user towards the center of the camera sensor to obtain an optimal image quality.

[0048] As described herein, such functionality may be achieved by using a locked FoV with a large padding area around a preview. The term “locked FoV” generally refers to a stabilized live preview. Locking may involve a directionally locked field of view. For example, a direction and / or an angle of a field of view may be maintained as a constant. This may be achieved by applying using gyro stabilization techniques. Also, for example, the field of view may be locked on a fixed 3-dimensional (3D) point in the scene. Locking may also be performed based on a target object, such as a face, a person, and / or other moving objects of interest. The user interactions and stabilization aspects described herein may be performed regardless of a type of locking involved.

[0049] For example, the camera system may display the live preview on the display screen, while a larger scene may be captured by the camera system. For example, the user may lock the live preview. In some embodiments, an auto zoom feature may be configured to dynamically adjust an amount of padding by adjusting mutual configurations of the live preview and the larger scene captured by the camera system. Images of the locked live preview may continue to be captured in a manner that gives the appearance of overcoming the camera's movement. Information provided by sensors, such as a gyroscope, may be used to determine the movement of the camera device and to update coordinates of the live preview within thechanging field of views. On the fly, the user may be provided with an adaptive user interface that shows the captured portion of the live preview in a fixed orientation on a display screen. In this manner, the live preview may appear on the display screen and the resulting captured images as relatively unchanged by the camera's movement.

[0050] The techniques described herein improve the field of photography and videography by enabling a camera device to produce images that better capture a targeted area of a scene. Technology improvements include adjustments for camera movements that occur while images are captured, especially at high magnification ratios. Computing resources and time may be saved by averting at least some post-processing requirements. Post-processing of images may not be necessary to produce stable images of particular subjects. Also, for example, bulky, inconvenient, and / or expensive stabilization hardware accessories, such as gimbal devices, tripods, and so forth, may not be needed to stabilize an image. Furthermore, quality of images is largely a function of the user's ability to operate a camera. Providing the user with immediate feedback on the view being captured enables a user to make adjustments on the fly and while there is a better opportunity to correct the capture region for the image.

[0051] As such, the herein-described techniques can improve image capturing devices by stabilizing images, and providing a zoomed-in view, thereby enhancing their actual and / or perceived quality. Enhancing the actual and / or perceived quality of photos or videos can provide user experience benefits. These techniques are flexible, and so can apply to a wide variety of videos, in both indoor and outdoor settings.Example Camera System

[0052] As image capture devices, such as cameras, become more popular, they may be employed as standalone hardware devices or integrated into various other types of devices. For instance, still and video cameras are now regularly included in wireless computing devices (e.g., mobile devices, such as mobile phones), tablet computers, laptop computers, video game interfaces, home automation devices, and even automobiles and other types of vehicles.

[0053] The camera may be a digital camera, such as a camera built into a portable device (e.g., a smartphone, awearable device, a tablet computer, etc.). In some implementations, the camera may be a dedicated digital camera. Some types of digital cameras also include single lens reflex cameras (SLR), point and shoot cameras, bridge cameras, mirrorless and interchangeable lens cameras (MILC), omnidirectional cameras, video cameras, camcorders, and other cameras capable of capturing electronic images.

[0054] The physical components of a camera may include one or more apertures through which light enters, one or more recording surfaces for capturing the images represented by the light, and lenses positioned in front of each aperture to focus at least part of the image on the recording surface(s). The apertures may be fixed size or adjustable. In an analog camera, the recording surface may be photographic film. In a digital camera, the recording surface may include an electronic image sensor (e.g., a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensor) to transfer and / or store captured images in a data storage unit (e.g., memory).

[0055] One or more shutters may be coupled to or nearby the lenses or the recording surfaces. Each shutter may either be in a closed position, in which it blocks light from reaching the recording surface, or an open position, in which light is allowed to reach the recording surface. The position of each shutter may be controlled by a shutter button. For instance, a shutter may be in the closed position by default. When the shutter button is triggered (e.g., pressed), the shutter may change from the closed position to the open position for a period of time, known as the shutter cycle. During the shutter cycle, an image may be captured on the recording surface. At the end of the shutter cycle, the shutter may change back to the closed position.

[0056] Alternatively, the shuttering process may be electronic. For example, before an electronic shutter of a CCD image sensor is “opened,” the sensor may be reset to remove any residual signal in its photodiodes. While the electronic shutter remains open, the photodiodes may accumulate charge. When or after the shutter closes, these charges may be transferred to longer-term data storage. Combinations of mechanical and electronic shuttering may also be possible.

[0057] Regardless of type, a shutter may be activated and / or controlled by something other than a shutter button. For instance, the shutter may be activated by a softkey, a timer, or some other trigger. Herein, the term “image capture” may refer to any mechanical and / or electronic shuttering process that results in one or more images being recorded, regardless of how the shuttering process is triggered or controlled.

[0058] The exposure of a captured image may be determined by a combination of the size of the aperture, the brightness of the light entering the aperture, and the length of the shutter cycle (also referred to as the shutter length, the exposure length, or the exposure time). Additionally, a digital and / or analog gain (e.g., based on an ISO setting) may be applied to the image, thereby influencing the exposure. In some embodiments, the term “exposure length,” “exposure time,” or “exposure time interval” may refer to the shutter length multiplied by the gain for a particularaperture size. Thus, these terms may be used somewhat interchangeably, and should be interpreted as possibly being a shutter length, an exposure time, and / or any other metric that controls the amount of signal response that results from light reaching the recording surface.

[0059] In some implementations or modes of operation, a camera may capture one or more still images each time image capture is triggered. In other implementations or modes of operation, a camera may capture a video image by continuously capturing images at a particular rate (e.g., 24 frames per second) as long as image capture remains triggered (e.g., while the shutter button is held down). Some cameras, when operating in a mode to capture a still image, may open the shutter when the camera device or application is activated, and the shutter may remain in this position until the camera device or application is deactivated. While the shutter is open, the camera device or application may capture and display a representation of a scene on a viewfinder (sometimes referred to as displaying a “preview frame”). When image capture is triggered, one or more distinct payload images of the current scene may be captured.

[0060] Cameras, including digital and analog cameras, may include software to control one or more camera functions and / or settings, such as aperture size, exposure time, gain, and so on. Additionally, some cameras may include software that digitally processes images during or after image capture. While the description above refers to cameras in general, it may be particularly relevant to digital cameras. Digital cameras may be standalone devices (e.g., a DSLR camera) or may be integrated with other devices.

[0061] FIG. 1 is an illustration of front, right-side, and rear views of a digital camera device 100, in accordance with example embodiments. Digital camera device 100 may be, for example, a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone), a tablet computer, or a wearable computing device. However, other embodiments are possible. Digital camera device 100 may include various elements, such as a body 102, a front-facing camera 104, a multi-element display 106, a shutter button 108, and other buttons 110. Digital camera device 100 could further include one or more rear-facing cameras 112, 114. Front-facing camera 104 may be positioned on a side of body 102 typically facing a user while in operation, or on the same side as multi-element display 106. Rear-facing cameras 112, 114 may be positioned on a side of body 102 opposite front-facing camera 104. Referring to the cameras as front-facing and rear-facing is arbitrary, and digital camera device 100 may include multiple cameras positioned on various sides of body 102.

[0062] Multi-element display 106 could represent a cathode ray tube (CRT) display, a lightemitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display, or any othertype of display known in the art. In some embodiments, multi-element display 106 may display a digital representation of the current image being captured by front-facing camera 104 and / or rear-facing cameras 112, 114, or an image that could be captured or was recently captured by either or both of these cameras. Thus, multi-element display 106 may serve as a viewfinder for either camera. Multi-element display 106 may also support touchscreen and / or presencesensitive functions that may be able to adjust the settings and / or configuration of any aspect of digital camera device 100.

[0063] In some embodiments, multi-element display 106 may display a preview of an image representing a field of view of a camera device (e.g., digital camera device 100). For example, the field of view may include an object of interest. While operating at a high magnification ratio for the camera device, the field of view may be narrow, and small hand movements may cause the object of interest to fall out of the field of view.

[0064] In some embodiments, multi-element display 106 may display a “zoom lock,” an UI element that enables a user to tap on an image preview to trigger a zoom stabilization feature (e.g., for high magnification ratios). Once a portion of the scene in the preview is locked, the preview portion may be devoted to showing the portion of the scene in a fixed position during capture. Where the portion of the scene is revised, for example due to substantial camera device movement, the preview portion of the multi-element display 106 may show the revised portion of the scene. Also, for example, multi-element display 106 may display a “zoom anchor,” another UI element that enables a user to tap the display screen and indicate one or more objects of interest in the image preview to track the object via the zoom stabilization feature.

[0065] Multi-element display 106 may include additional features related to a camera application. For example, multiple modes may be available for a user, including, a motion mode, portrait mode, video mode, video bokeh mode, and so forth. The camera application may be in camera mode and provide additional features, such as a reverse icon to activate reverse camera view, a trigger button to capture a previewed image, and a photo stream icon to access a database of captured images. Also for example, a magnification ratio slider may be displayed and a user can move a virtual object along the magnification ratio slider to select a magnification ratio. In some embodiments, a user may use the multi-element display 106, also referred to herein as the display screen, to adjust the magnification ratio (e.g., by moving two fingers on display screen in an outward motion away from each other), and magnification ratio slider may automatically display the magnification ratio.

[0066] Front-facing camera 104 may include an image sensor and associated optical elements such as lenses. Front-facing camera 104 may offer zoom capabilities or could have a fixed focal length. In other embodiments, interchangeable lenses could be used with front-facing camera 104. Front-facing camera 104 may have a variable mechanical aperture and a mechanical and / or electronic shutter. Front-facing camera 104 also could be configured to capture still images, video images, or both. Further, front-facing camera 104 could represent a monoscopic, stereoscopic, or multiscopic camera. Rear-facing cameras 112, 114 may be similarly or differently arranged. Additionally, front-facing camera 104, rear-facing cameras 112, 114, or both, may be an array of one or more cameras.

[0067] Either or both of front-facing camera 104 and rear-facing cameras 112, 114 may include or be associated with an illumination component that provides a light field to illuminate a target object. For instance, an illumination component could provide flash or constant illumination of the target object (e.g., using one or more LEDs). An illumination component could also be configured to provide a light field that includes one or more of structured light, polarized light, and light with specific spectral content. Other types of light fields known and used to recover 3D models from an object are possible within the context of the embodiments herein.

[0068] Either or both of front-facing camera 104 and rear-facing cameras 112, 114 may include or be associated with an ambient light sensor that may continuously or from time to time determine the ambient brightness of a scene that the camera can capture. In some devices, the ambient light sensor can be used to adjust the display brightness of a screen associated with the camera (e.g., a viewfinder). When the determined ambient brightness is high, the brightness level of the screen may be increased to make the screen easier to view. When the determined ambient brightness is low, the brightness level of the screen may be decreased, also to make the screen easier to view as well as to potentially save power. Additionally, the ambient light sensor’s input may be used to determine an exposure time of an associated camera, or to help in this determination.

[0069] Digital camera device 100 could be configured to use multi-element display 106 and either front-facing camera 104 or rear-facing cameras 112, 114 to capture images of a target object (i.e., a subject within a scene). The captured images could be a plurality of still images or a video image (e.g., a series of still images captured in rapid succession with or without accompanying audio captured by a microphone). The image capture could be triggered by activating shutter button 108, pressing a softkey on multi-element display 106, or by some other mechanism. Depending upon the implementation, the images could be capturedautomatically at a specific time interval, for example, upon pressing shutter button 108, upon appropriate lighting conditions of the target object, upon moving digital camera device 100 a predetermined distance, or according to a predetermined capture schedule.

[0070] Some embodiments involve transitioning between multiple cameras with varying zoom factors. For example, the image may be captured at different levels of zoom. At high magnification ratios, the field of view may be considerably narrower, and small movements of the camera may cause abrupt changes to the image being captured by the field of view. In some embodiments, a threshold magnification ratio may be used to determine whether zoom stabilization features described herein, and may need for a logical camera feature to be turned on or off. The term “logical camera” as used herein, may generally refer to a grouping of two or more physical cameras. The logical camera may output a stream from one or more cameras in the grouping. In some embodiments, the output stream may be a fused stream being simultaneously received from one or more cameras in the grouping. For example, a logical camera may be configured with a cumulative magnification ratio that is a combination of respective magnification ratios of multiple physical cameras of the camera system. An advantage of the logical camera is that it uses a digital zoom feature, and this facilitates a faster zoom operation than the physical cameras of the camera system.

[0071] As noted above, the functions of digital camera device 100 (or another type of digital camera) may be integrated into a computing device, such as a wireless computing device, cell phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, and so on. For example, a camera controller may be integrated with the digital camera device 100 to control one or more functions of the digital camera device 100.

[0072] FIG. 2 is an illustration of a preview of a scene with and without a zoom operation, in accordance with example embodiments. Image 200A depicts a scene that includes the moon, highlighted inside box 205. The scene in image 200A is illustrated without a zoom operation. Image 200B depicts a zoomed in view of the scene from image 200A. As illustrated, the zoom operation may be applied off-center. For example, a “pinch and zoom” operation applied to the right of moon in box 205 may result in an enlarged view of that off-center position, as illustrated in image 200B. Capturing an appropriately framed shot at high zoom levels (e.g., 20x or more) can be challenging. The narrow field of view can lead to the moon drifting out of viewfinder / frame. As illustrated in image 200B, the moon 210 has drifted to a boundary of the viewfinder upon zooming. Typically, on applying a zoom operation, once the object (e.g., moon in box 205 of image 200A) is in the viewfinder, it may be challenging to keep the moonthere due to camera motion, such as handshake. Even slight movements can significantly impact the composition. For example, in zooming in to capture an image of moon in box 205 in image 200A, the moon may drift out of the viewfinder, as illustrated in image 200B. Also, for example, the scene may not be properly focused and may exhibit one or more image degradations such as blurring.

[0073] FIG. 3 is an illustration of a stabilized zoomed preview of a scene with and without cropping, in accordance with example embodiments. Applying the techniques described herein, a stabilized zoomed preview may be provided, as illustrated in image 300 A. As illustrated, moon 305 may be centered in the zoomed preview, and image 300 A may have high image quality. In some embodiments, the stabilized zoomed preview of image 300A may be cropped to provide a clearer rendition of moon 305. This is illustrated in image 300B. In some embodiments, a user may be guided to move the camera system to achieve higher image quality. Also, for example, a user may have an ability to frame a scene on a live locked preview using zoom, pan, and / or rotate gestures.

[0074] The camera may be moved in various orientations and positions while capturing images or videos. For example, the camera may be moved along a horizontal or vertical axis to pan a scene, moved closer or farther away from a scene (e.g., along a z-axis), rotated clockwise or counterclockwise, or combinations of movements while pointing the lens of the camera at least substantially in the direction of a target subject. The camera device movement may be fast, slow, abrupt, jerky, steady, intermittent, etc. The camera may be moved to change the direction it faces along a horizontal or vertical axis from its initial position. The scene may be panned by various methods, such as the camera being moved along a horizontal axis, vertical axis, or angled axis such as the camera being held by a moving unit (e.g., person, vehicle, device etc.). The camera may pan the scene by being pivoted from a stationary spot to face locations along the horizontal or vertical axis. The camera may also pan the scene by remaining in a fixed position and one or more of its lens may be manipulated (e.g., tilted), to face locations along the horizontal or vertical axis. Other panning methods and combinations of panning methods may be used. Accordingly, the term “stabilized” as used herein, may generally refer to an image that is rendered free of such device movements.

[0075] FIG. 4 is an illustration of a user indication to activate a locked preview of a scene, in accordance with example embodiments. In some embodiments, the locked preview may be activated by a user. For example, image 400 illustrates a preview of a scene with a lock element such as lock icon 405. A user may tap the lock icon 405 to activate a locked preview of a scene.Lock icon 405 may also be tapped to deactivate the locked preview. The deactivation may occur at any time during image capture. The lock may be deactivated by the user, such as by retouching the lock icon 405. Deactivation of the lock may be automatically triggered by certain events, such as the ending of an event in the scene being captured. For example, if a target subject is no longer in the capture region for a period of time, the lock may be deactivated.

[0076] A user may adjust a lock during recording of images. For example, at a reasonably wide angle, the user may aim the camera at a target object (e.g., the moon in box 205 of FIG. 2), and may activate a locked preview (e.g., lock the preview). The user may then pinch and zoom and / or pan to zoom in on the desired framing of the scene. In the event alert notifications and / or warnings are triggered (e.g., likely to be more frequent as the zoom increases), an adjustment to the way the device is pointing may be applied, and the process of zooming may be continued. When the user achieves a desired framing, the user may capture the image. Notably, the field of view may remain locked during the zooming and / or pan operations, and the user may apply the pan, rotate, and / or zoom operations directly in a locked preview mode.

[0077] In some embodiments, the activation of lock icon 405 may initiate the targeting of a portion of the scene for capture. The lock icon 405 may be a touch screen button receptive to a user's touch for activation, as shown in FIG. 4. In some implementations, the lock icon 405 may be a microphone component capable of receiving audio (e.g., voice recognition, gaze detection, etc.). In some implementations, lock icon 405 may respond to various other inputs, such as, without limitation, mouse, gesture recognition, facial recognition, movement tracker, eye movement tracker, smart buttons, trackball, track pen, pen tablet, pen, stylus, and hand mouse. The input may include a user applying touch, voice, click, tap, type, gesture, movement (e.g. moving an eye, arm, body), and / or other actions. In some embodiments, a user may contact the display screen using a finger or stylus in order to select the lock icon 405 displayed on the user interface of the display screen. The user may enter text or activate control functions.

[0078] Some embodiments involve, in response to the user indication to activate the locked preview, activating a logical camera of the camera system. The logical camera includes a cumulative magnification ratio that is a combination of the respective magnification ratios of the multiple camera lenses. Accordingly, the logical camera can switch between cameras to maintain a visual on the locked live preview. The combination of lenses may include one or more of a wide area lens, super wide area lens, fisheye lens, telephoto lens, macro lens, etc. Each lens may be the same type or different types of lenses. Some lens types, such as a fisheyelens, introduce distortion, which may be corrected. The multiple cameras may include two or more cameras, and other numbers of lenses. Any number of the multiple lenses may be positioned in different locations in the camera system and may point to different directions in a scene. Each lens may have a particular field of view. The combination of lenses may create an expanded capture region, such as 170 degrees, 180 degrees, 270 degrees, 360 degrees, etc.

[0079] When the live preview displayed to the user veers off the viewfinder, the logical camera may switch to a wider angle to track the live preview and adjust the actual preview displayed to the user and thereby maintain the live preview within the viewfinder during the zoom operation. The term “lock” may apply to a locked direction (e.g., in zooming, panning, etc.), or a locked object (e.g., a selected object in a viewfinder). The term “portion of the scene” as used herein, can be any sub-region of the preview, and have any size and / or shape.

[0080] Although aspects of the techniques are described in terms of a logical camera, the techniques are generally applicable to camera systems that include a single camera, and / or are not configured with a logical camera. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the techniques described herein may involve switching between the multiple FoVs to track a target object and provide a stabilized version in the preview. A larger field of view may be used to provide a stabilized live preview.

[0081] FIG. 5 is an illustration of an example locked field of view and a padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments. Image 500A illustrates a locked preview of a scene. Image 500B shows the scene as viewed by the camera system. As illustrated, image 500A is a locked preview that can correspond to a live preview, whereas image 500B corresponds to the scene captured by the camera system. The scene captured by the camera system may correspond to a wider angle so as to include the live preview including a portion (e.g., playground) that the user may be interested in. The scene captured by the camera system enables the camera system to track the playground and keep it within view.

[0082] In an example embodiment, a user may be zooming in to a particular portion of a scene. In such a situation, the zoom operation may result in multiple FoVs. Image 500B may correspond to a shaky, unstable, rotating, and / or otherwise changing image of the scene as captured by the camera. However, as described with respect to FIG. 8 A, a locked FoV comprising a stabilized image may be provided, and image 500A illustrates such a stabilized view. In some embodiments, the locked FoV including the playground may be cropped and provided as image 500A. Although image 500B may include image degradations (e.g., blurring, shaking, etc.), and while the user may be interacting with a live previewcorresponding to image 500A (e.g., panning, zooming, rotating, and so forth), image 500A can be a stabilized version. Also, for example, even with a zoom operation (at high magnification ratios, and / or fast zoom operations), image 500A may be provided as a stabilized view, with a change in the direction of the zoom, pan, and / or rotate operation.

[0083] FIG. 6 is another illustration of another example locked field of view and a padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments. As illustrated, image 600A is a locked preview that can correspond to a live preview or locked preview, whereas image 600B corresponds to an actual scene captured by the camera. With reference to the images 500 A, 500B of FIG. 5, images 600A, 600B illustrated a cropped region, where a portion of the playground is shown.

[0084] In some embodiments, the user interaction involves a user selection of a target object in the first portion of the scene. Such embodiments involve tracking the target object. The generating of the modified stabilized live preview comprises, based on the tracking, maintaining the target object within the modified stabilized live preview.

[0085] FIG. 7 is an illustration of a user selection of a target object, in accordance with example embodiments. Icon 705 indicates that the live preview is locked. Image 700 depicts two horses, and a user may indicate selection of a target object e.g., a horse) by tapping the live preview or otherwise indicating a selection of a target object. This enables the camera system to track the horse in successive image frames during a zoom operation. In some embodiments, more than one object of interest may be selected. For example, both horses in image 700 may be selected. In one example, the horses may move in different directions, and the camera system may be configured to track both horses by increasing the field of view by switching to a lens with a wider angle. As the horses move and come closer together, the camera system may be configured to track both horses by decreasing the field of view by switching to a lens with a narrower angle.

[0086] FIG. 8A is an illustration 800A of a locked field of view and a padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments. In some embodiments, the activating of the locked preview involves associating a first bounding box with the locked preview displayed by the display screen. Such embodiments involve associating a second bounding box with the scene being captured by the camera system. The generating of the modified stabilized live preview involves maintaining the first bounding box within the second bounding box. As illustrated, the first bounding box 805 (also referred to herein as a locked FoV 805) is located within the second bounding box 810 (also referred to herein as a padded FoV 810). The first boundingbox 805 corresponds to the locked preview, and the second bounding box 810 corresponds to the scene that is directly captured by the camera system.

[0087] For a given locked FoV 805, the user may be provided with a "full quality" image as long as locked FoV 805 is within the padded FoV 810. The term “full quality” as used herein generally indicates that the system is not having to zoom out beyond a normal stabilization padding to maintain the locked FoV 805 within the frame. In the event the user points the camera such that locked FoV 805 is no longer within padded FoV 810, then the camera system zooms out, in one manner or another, to maintain locked FoV 805 in frame. The zoom out may result in a loss in image quality, and third bounding box 815 is the maximum extent to which the system can accommodate before it cannot maintain locked preview 805 at any level of quality.

[0088] Generally speaking, as a user focuses on a portion of the scene, the FoVs may be progressively narrowed. Accordingly, the first bounding box 805, the second bounding box 810, and / or the third bounding box 815 may be dynamically determined. Some embodiments involve maintaining a buffer between the first bounding box and the second bounding box. For example, a threshold minimum distance may be maintained between the boundaries of the first bounding box 805 and the second bounding box 810. The threshold minimum distance enables a padding whereby a buffer may be maintained around the first bounding box 805. For example, a 20% padding may be applied in some situations. Such a buffer facilitates an availability of an adequate number of pixels to capture the image as the user moves the device. Also, there is a latency in the camera system, and the buffer provides an ability to counter the latency by making pixels available for image capture.

[0089] In some embodiments, the camera system may detect that the locked FoV 805 is approaching an edge of the padded FoV 810, or is outside the padded FoV 810. Such embodiments further involve repositioning the locked FoV within the padded FoV 810. For example, a wider angle lens may be used to capture a wider portion of the scene. This may adjust the padded FoV 810 to now include the locked FoV 805 (displayed as a live preview). In some embodiments, switching between lenses, and / or cameras may cause image quality degradation. However, such a trade-off may be acceptable in favor of maintaining the locked FoV (e.g., first bounding box 805) within the padded FoV (e.g., second bounding box 810) as the user continues to increase the magnification factor, thereby narrowing the field of view. Upon achieving a target magnification ratio, the image quality may be improved (e.g., by resizing the padded FoV 810) to provide a high quality image for capture. In general, thepadded FoV 810 may be determined to maximize image quality while also maintaining the locked FoV within the padded FoV 810.

[0090] For example, the camera system may be configured with an auto-zoom feature. For example, as the first bounding box 805 approaches a boundary of the second bounding box 810, the second bounding box 810 may be increased in size (e.g., to maintain the threshold minimum distance between the boundaries of the first bounding box 805 and the second bounding box 810), up to a maximum size (e.g., to stay within the third bounding box 815). As the portion of the scene is re-positioned within the first bounding box 805, the second bounding box 810 may be decreased in size. As advantage of this technique is that a user may be able to pan, zoom, and / or rotate the live preview, and the camera system may accordingly adjust the first bounding box 805 and / or the second bounding box 810 to maintain the first bounding box 805 within the second bounding box 810.

[0091] As illustrated in FIG. 8 A, the second bounding box 810 and the third bounding box 815 (AutoZoom max Extents) can be configured to maintain sufficient buffer for a user to pan and / or rotate the first bounding box 805. Image stabilization also uses the gyroscope to track the device motion. Accordingly, the first bounding box 805 may be adjusted and repositioned based on gyro data to reduce and / or remove effects of device motion from the image. In like manner, the first bounding box 805 may be adjusted and repositioned when a user applies a panning and / or rotate operation.

[0092] Generally speaking, as long as the second bounding box 810 and the third bounding box 815 maintain sufficient buffer, the first bounding box 805 may be cropped. For example, the first bounding box 805 may be cropped, adjusted, re-centered, etc. without changes to the second bounding box 810 and the third bounding box 815. Also, for example, in the event the first bounding box 805 approaches or overlaps with a boundary of the second bounding box 810, and / or falls outside the second bounding box 810 (e.g., during a fast zoom, pan, or rotate operation), the second bounding box 810 may be expanded so as to include the first bounding box 805, and the first bounding box 805 may be cropped, adjusted, re-centered, etc.. Such operations may be performed by a single camera that has a capability to adjust to changing fields of view (e.g., the magnification ratio can be adjusted), by deploying multiple cameras, and / or by utilizing a logical camera.

[0093] FIG. 8B is an illustration 800B of a locked field of view and a padded field of view with respect to bounding boxes, in accordance with example embodiments. As illustrated, camera system 820 may include a camera 825 and a display screen displaying a locked preview830. For example, locked FoV 805 may correspond to the locked preview 830, and padded FoV 810 may correspond to the scene as captured by camera 825. Any interaction of the user with locked preview 830 corresponds to an adjustment of locked FoV 805. The user may perform, via locked preview 830, operations such as a pan operation, a rotate operation, or a zoom operation, and each operation results in a corresponding adjustment of locked FoV 805. In general, when a user performs such operations using existing camera systems, the user has to physically move the camera system to capture the different scenes corresponding to the pan operation, and / or the rotate operation. However, as described herein, the locked FoV 805 and the padded FoV 810 may be adjusted and realigned to enable the user to perform the pan operation, and / or the rotate operation directly from the locked preview 830 without having to move the camera system 820.

[0094] FIG. 8C is an illustration of a pan operation 800C, in accordance with example embodiments. For example, the user may interact with the locked preview 830 by swiping the locked preview 830 from the right to the left. For example, the user interaction may involve applying the pan operation, and wherein the second portion of the scene may be a translation of the first portion of the scene. Accordingly, locked FoV 805 may be translated to the right as modified locked FoV 805 A. Generally, the amount of swiping applied to the locked preview 830 may be proportional to the amount of translation applied to the locked FoV 805. As long as modified locked FoV remains within padded FoV 810 (e.g., within an allowed buffer), then padded FoV may not be adjusted.

[0095] FIG. 8D is an illustration of a rotate operation 800D, in accordance with example embodiments. For example, the user may interact with the locked preview 830 by rotating the locked preview 830 clockwise by an angle 0. Accordingly, locked FoV 805 may be rotated clockwise as modified locked FoV 805A. For example, the user interaction may involve applying the rotate operation, and wherein the second portion of the scene may be a rotated portion of the first portion of the scene. Generally, the angle and orientation of rotation applied to the locked FoV 805 may be proportional to the angle and orientation of rotation applied to the locked preview 830. As long as modified locked FoV remains within padded FoV 810 (e.g., within an allowed buffer), then padded FoV may not be adjusted.

[0096] FIG. 8E is an illustration of a zoom operation 800E, in accordance with example embodiments. As illustrated, the user may interact with the locked preview 830 by zooming in to sub-region 840 labeled “A”. In existing camera systems, such a zoom operation would be applied to a central portion 835 of the locked preview 830. For example, regardless of theportion of the locked preview 830 to which a “pinch and zoom” operation is applied, the resulting zoomed in view defaults to an enlarged view of the central portion 835. In order to capture a zoomed in view of sub-region 840, the user would need to redirect camera system 820 to align sub-region 840 with central portion 835. However, as illustrated, based on the techniques described herein, when the user interacts with the locked preview 830 by zooming in to sub-region 840, a corresponding bounding box 840 A within locked FoV 805 may become the modified locked FoV 805 A. Accordingly, the user may be able to zoom in to any portion of the locked preview 830. Each time the user reduces the field of view to zoom in further, the locked FoV may be made smaller to be modified locked FoV 805 A, and the user may be provided modified locked FoV 805A as the locked preview 830. For example, one or more progressively zoomed in views of the sub-region of the first portion of the scene may be displayed.

[0097] FIG. 8F is an illustration of a resizing 800F of a padded field of view to maintain the locked field of view within the padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments. Generally, the user interactions and / or device movement may reposition and / or resize locked FoV 805. In some embodiments, the locked FoV 805 may approach a boundary of the padded FoV 810 (e.g., to within a threshold buffer). In such situations, the padded FoV 810 may be expanded so that the buffer is restored. Accordingly, padded FoV 810 may be modified to an expanded padded FoV 810A.

[0098] FIG. 8G is another illustration of a resizing 800G of a padded field of view to maintain the locked field of view within the padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments. In some embodiments, the user interactions and / or device movement may reposition and / or resize locked FoV 805 to overlap with a boundary of the padded FoV 810. In such situations, the padded FoV 810 may be expanded so that the locked FoV 805 may be repositioned within the padded FoV 810. Accordingly, padded FoV 810 may be modified to an expanded padded FoV 810A.

[0099] FIG. 8H is another illustration of a resizing 800H of a padded field of view to maintain the locked field of view within the padded field of view, in accordance with example embodiments. In some embodiments, the user interactions and / or device movement may reposition and / or resize locked FoV 805 to shift outside a boundary of the padded FoV 810. For example, the user interaction may involve applying the pan operation, and wherein the second portion of the scene is not a part of the first portion of the scene. In such situations, the padded FoV 810 may be expanded so that the locked FoV 805 may be repositioned within thepadded FoV 810. Accordingly, padded FoV 810 may be modified to an expanded padded FoV 810A.

[0100] Generally, in each of the situations described in FIGs. 8F-G, expanding the padded FoV 810 to expanded padded FoV 810A may cause a higher number of pixels to be allocated to expanded padded FoV 810A, resulting in a corresponding decrease in the number of pixels available for locked FoV 805. Such a loss of available pixels may appear as a degradation in image quality (e.g., resolution), of the live preview (e.g., locked preview 830). In order to restore the image quality, expanded padded FoV 810A may be resized (e.g., the dimensions of the bounding box may be decreased). Accordingly, expanded padded FoV 810A may be modified to resized padded FoV 810B. In some embodiments, such a resizing may include maintaining an appropriate buffer between locked FoV 805 and resized padded FoV 810B. As a result of the resizing, the pixels available to the locked FoV 805 may be increased, and image quality may be improved.

[0101] The techniques described herein may be applicable to “concert” photography or eyes-free videography (EFV). For example, the user may activate the locked preview (e.g., by selecting the lock icon), and select an object of interest (e.g., by a long-press over an object of interest). Accordingly, the logical camera may be activated with the auto-zoom feature, and the object of interest may be automatically tracked to maintain it within the viewfinder. In some embodiments, when the scene is fixed (e.g., a performance on a theater stage, a concert stage, an opera stage, etc.), the camera system may automatically adjust the first bounding box 805 and the second bounding box 810 of FIG. 8 A to track the object of interest and maintain it within the viewfinder. In some embodiments, such an operation may be performed during a video capture of a performance.

[0102] Generally, concert mode allows a user to lock on to a particular region or object. The object or region of interest may be stabilized by compensating for hand and / or device motion. The user-selected object or region of interest may be continuously tracked and cropped within a larger field of view of the source frame. There may be physical limits on an amount of movement that can be compensated, and users may be notified if the object or region of interest is approaching the physical sensor field of view (e.g., a boundary of the viewfinder). Overall such compensation may allow users to concentrate on the actual scene in front of them instead of the display screen of the camera system.

[0103] Some embodiments involve determining an elastic bounding box between the first and second bounding boxes, wherein the elastic bounding box corresponds to an expandedFoV that captures a movement of an object in the scene. Such embodiments involve detecting that the first bounding box is approaching a boundary of the elastic bounding box. The instructions involve displaying the expanded FoV to facilitate a self-corrective movement of the camera system by the user to reposition the first bounding box. The self-corrective movement may be a result of the user viewing the movement of the object in the scene.

[0104] FIG. 9 is an illustration 900 of an elastic boundary, in accordance with example embodiments. The first bounding box 805, the second bounding box 810, and the third bounding box 815 are illustrated similarly to the illustration and discussion with reference to FIG. 8 A. However, illustration 900 displays an elastic bounding box 905. Some embodiments involve determining an elastic bounding box 905 between the first bounding box 805 and the second bounding box 810. Such embodiments involve detecting that the portion of the scene is approaching the edge of the elastic bounding box 905. For example, similar to the auto-zoom feature described with reference to FIG. 8A, as the first bounding box 805 approaches a boundary of the elastic bounding box 905, the auto-zoom feature of the camera system may have to introduce image degradations to maintain the portion of the scene within the first bounding box 805. In some embodiments, the first bounding box 805 may be adjusted or resized to enable scene motion (e.g., movement of cars, movement of a person, etc.) to be displayed within the viewfinder.

[0105] Accordingly, the scene motion may be a visual cue that allows the user to view that the portion of the scene is approaching the boundary of the viewfinder. Accordingly, the user may instinctively move the camera system to apply a self-corrective movement of the camera system to reposition the portion of the scene.

[0106] Some embodiments involve providing, by the display screen, instructions such as a visual cue to enable a user of the camera system to reposition the locked FoV. One such visual cue is described with reference to FIG. 9.

[0107] The techniques described herein may be applicable to several use cases, such as, for example, steady pan. For example, the auto-zoom feature may be applied to enable a user to maintain a stabilized view of the image within the viewfinder, as the user captures a panoramic image by panning a camera sideways. The user may also be guided to capture high quality panoramic images using the user guided techniques described herein. Also, for example, individuals that are unable to hold a camera steady may be able to capture high quality images based on the image stabilization techniques described herein.

[0108] FIG. 10 is an illustration of a visual cue to reposition a live preview, in accordance with example embodiments. In some embodiments, the visual cue may be an arrow indicating a direction of movement for the camera system to re-center the live preview. For example, image 1000 A illustrates a live preview may be overlaid by a first circle 1005 and an arrow indicates a direction in which the camera device may be moved to reposition the scene, and / or achieve higher image quality.

[0109] In some embodiments, the live preview may be overlaid by a first circle. Such embodiments involve providing a second circle overlaying the preview, wherein the second circle indicates a region of high image quality. The visual cue may be an indication to align the second circle and the first circle. For example, as illustrated in image 1000B, the live preview may be overlaid by a first circle 1005, and a second circle 1010 overlaying the preview may be provided. As illustrated in image 1000C, a user may be guided to align the first circle 1005 and the second circle 1010 (e.g., the user is guided to move the device to position the first circle 1005 within the second circle 1010). Generally, the camera system may determine regions of high image quality (e.g., represented by the second circle 1010), and guide the user to reposition the camera device to achieve the higher image quality. In some embodiments, the circle may be progressed from being opaque or semi-transparent over a region of lower image quality, to being transparent over a region of high image quality. Such transitions may be displayed as the user adjusts the camera to position the first circle 1005 within the second circle 1010. In some embodiments, high quality regions may automatically be determined to be at or near a center of the image sensor.

[0110] FIG. 11 is an illustration of an image overlay that displays a representation of two fields of view relative to each other, in accordance with example embodiments. Some embodiments involve providing, by the display screen, an image overlay that displays a representation of the first bounding box relative to the second bounding box. For example, as illustrated in image 1100A, the viewfinder 1105 displays a live preview (e.g., locked FoV) that corresponds to the portion within bounding box 1110 within image overlay 1115, which may correspond to the scene captured by the camera system (e.g., padded FoV). Lock icon 1120 indicates that the operations are performed using the stabilization and / or superzoom features described herein. In some embodiments, bounding box 1110 may correspond to the first bounding box 805 in FIG. 8 A or FIG. 9. Also, for example, the image overlay 1115 may include an image from the second bounding box 810 of FIG. 8 A or FIG. 9. In some embodiments, the image overlay 1115 may include an image from the elastic bounding box of FIG. 9.

[0111] Generally, image overlay 1115 enables the user to view the zoomed in portion relative to a surrounding, and can enable the user to reposition the device to maintain the image displayed in viewfinder 1105, and / or adjust the camera device to re-focus on another portion of the reference image within the image overlay 1115. Also, for example, the user may have an ability to zoom, pan, and / or rotate the image within the viewfinder 1105 by interacting with the display. As another example, the user may also interact with the image within the image overlay 1115. The interactions may include standard “offline” modalities, like pinch, drag, and rotate. Generally, such modalities are available in the context of a mapping application where a movement of the device may not alter the map configuration when in offline mode. However, such offline modalities are not feasible in the context of high magnification ratios, where a small device movement can cause a loss of a target scene from the viewfinder. However, a combination of the locked scene and the auto-zoom feature enables a locked preview whereby such offline modalities may be applied. For example, the user may tap an object of interest within image overlay 1115, and the camera system may detect the new and / or additional object of interest, and dynamically adjust the auto-zoom features (e.g., adjust one or more of the first bounding box 805, second bounding box 810, and / or elastic bounding box 905).

[0112] Image 1100B illustrates another example of an image overlay. For example, as illustrated in image 1100B, the viewfinder 1125 displays a live preview that corresponds to the portion within bounding box 1130 within image overlay 1135. Lock icon 1140 indicates that the operations are performed using the superzoom features described herein.

[0113] Some embodiments involve maintaining, during transition between the one or more intermediate FoVs, a smooth movement for one or more objects in the live preview. Such a smooth movement may be achieved using a motion vector or an optical flow. For example, a motion vector between a previous frame and a current frame may be determined to obtain an approximate model for frame by frame movement for various objects.

[0114] In some embodiments, the switching between the multiple lenses and / or cameras can involve applying a warping transformation to align the one or more intermediate FoVs. For example, the camera system may be configured with a main camera with a medium focal length to meet normal photo / video capture requirements, a telescope camera with a longer focal length to capture remote objects, and an ultra- wide lens with a shorter focal length to capture larger FoVs. During the photo / video capture session, a switch from the main to the telescope camera may occur when a user continues to zoom-in for the in-focus of a remote object, and a switch from the main to the ultra- wide lens may occur when the user continues tozoom-out to capture a larger field-of-view. As described herein, such operations may be performed by the logical camera. Multi-camera systems provide a much larger range of focus distances than a single camera. However, an abrupt camera switch while zooming may cause a view discrepancy.

[0115] To circumvent the binocular disparity, a warping transformation may be estimated from the available geometric metadata and image features to warp the image of one camera to be almost aligned with the image of the other camera, so that changes during a camera switch are less perceptible. Warping transformations can involve scaling, rotation, reflection, an identity map, a shear, or various combinations thereof. Also, for example, translations, similarities, affine maps, and / or projective maps may be used as warping transformations. Generally speaking, two planar images can be related by a warping transformation, such as a homography. For example, a computer vision approach to computing a homography may be used that can warp the image frame from one camera to another. For example, a homography computation can be determined to reduce the view discrepancy during a camera switch while zooming. The homography computation can use geometric information (with or without image features) including metadata such as camera calibration data, focusing distance, and so forth.

[0116] In some embodiments, a 3A (AutoFocus, AutoExposure, AutoWhiteBalance) region may be selected by a user, where auto-exposure, auto white balance, and autofocus are applied. For the autofocus feature, when an image is captured, the camera may focus on an object (e.g., a face), and not focus on other parts of the image. The auto white balance feature may adjust the lighting (e.g., to improve the illumination on the object in focus, such as the face), instead of a background. Generally, the most illuminated part of the image may be selected to be a white point. Cameras are also configured with auto-exposure settings. A user may tap the live preview to indicate a portion of the image sensor as a 3A region. Upon selection of the 3 A region, the 3 A region may be locked in position and orientation with respect to the padded FoV. Accordingly, when the padded FoV is repositioned, the 3A region is also repositioned. Accordingly, the auto-exposure, auto white balance, and autofocus are applied at a different part of the scene (e.g., a different face than originally intended). For example, for an auto-focus feature, this would cause the live preview to become blurry, thereby degrading image quality.

[0117] This may be resolved by determining an amount of movement of the device (e.g., using motion data from a gyro sensor), which would indicate an amount of movement ofthe padded FoV. Accordingly, since the 3A region is fixed with reference to the padded FoV, a correction (e.g., a translation and rotation by the same amount as applied to the padded FoV) may be applied to reposition the 3 A region back to the target object. Accordingly, based on the movement of the device, the 3A region may be automatically repositioned to another part of the image sensor to maintain the focus on the desired portion of the live preview such as a target object (e.g., a face).Example Data Network

[0118] FIG. 12 depicts a distributed computing architecture 1200, in accordance with example embodiments. Distributed computing architecture 1200 includes server devices 1208, 1210 that are configured to communicate, via network 1206, with programmable devices 1204a, 1204b, 1204c, 1204d, 1204e. Network 1206 may correspond to a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a WLAN, a WWAN, a corporate intranet, the public Internet, or any other type of network configured to provide a communications path between networked computing devices. Network 1206 may also correspond to a combination of one or more LANs, WANs, corporate intranets, and / or the public Internet.

[0119] Although FIG. 12 only shows five programmable devices, distributed application architectures may serve tens, hundreds, or thousands of programmable devices. Moreover, programmable devices 1204a, 1204b, 1204c, 1204d, 1204e (or any additional programmable devices) may be any sort of computing device, such as a mobile computing device, desktop computer, wearable computing device, head-mountable device (HMD), network terminal, a mobile computing device, and so on. In some examples, such as illustrated by programmable devices 1204a, 1204b, 1204c, 1204e, programmable devices can be directly connected to network 1206. In other examples, such as illustrated by programmable device 1204d, programmable devices can be indirectly connected to network 1206 via an associated computing device, such as programmable device 1204c. In this example, programmable device 1204c can act as an associated computing device to pass electronic communications between programmable device 1204d and network 1206. In other examples, such as illustrated by programmable device 1204e, a computing device can be part of and / or inside a vehicle, such as a car, a truck, a bus, a boat or ship, an airplane, etc. In other examples not shown in FIG. 12, a programmable device can be both directly and indirectly connected to network 1206.

[0120] Server devices 1208, 1210 can be configured to perform one or more services, as requested by programmable devices 1204a-1204e. For example, server device 1208 and / or 1210 can provide content to programmable devices 1204a-1204e. The content can include, butis not limited to, web pages, hypertext, scripts, binary data such as compiled software, images, audio, and / or video. The content can include compressed and / or uncompressed content. The content can be encrypted and / or unencrypted. Other types of content are possible as well.

[0121] As another example, server device 1208 and / or 1210 can provide programmable devices 1204a-1204e with access to software for database, search, computation, graphical, audio, video, World Wide Web / Internet utilization, and / or other functions. Many other examples of server devices are possible as well.Computing Device Architecture

[0122] FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an example computing device 1300, in accordance with example embodiments. In particular, computing device 1300 shown in FIG. 13 can be configured to perform at least one function of and / or related to method 1400.

[0123] By way of example and without limitation, computing device 1300 may be a cellular mobile telephone (e.g., a smartphone), a still camera, a video camera, a fax machine, a computer (such as a desktop, notebook, tablet, or handheld computer), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a home automation component, a digital video recorder (DVR), a digital television, a remote control, a wearable computing device, or some other type of device equipped with at least some image capture and / or image processing capabilities. It should be understood that computing device 1300 may represent a physical camera device such as a digital camera, a particular physical hardware platform on which a camera application operates in software, or other combinations of hardware and software that are configured to carry out camera functions.

[0124] As shown in FIG. 13, computing device 1300 may include a user interface module 1301, a network communications module 1302, one or more processors 1303, data storage 1304, one or more cameras 1318, one or more sensors 1320, and power system 1322, all of which may be linked together via a system bus, network, or other connection mechanism 1305.

[0125] User interface module 1301 can be operable to send data to and / or receive data from external user input / output devices. For example, user interface module 1301 can be configured to send and / or receive data to and / or from user input devices such as a touch screen, a computer mouse, a keyboard, a keypad, a touch pad, a trackball, a joystick, a voice recognition module, and / or other similar devices. User interface module 1301 can also be configured to provide output to user display devices, such as one or more cathode ray tubes (CRT), liquid crystal displays, light emitting diodes (LEDs), displays using digital lightprocessing (DLP) technology, printers, light bulbs, and / or other similar devices, either now known or later developed. User interface module 1301 can also be configured to generate audible outputs, with devices such as a speaker, speaker jack, audio output port, audio output device, earphones, and / or other similar devices. User interface module 1301 can further be configured with one or more haptic devices that can generate haptic outputs, such as vibrations and / or other outputs detectable by touch and / or physical contact with computing device 1300. In some examples, user interface module 1301 can be used to provide a graphical user interface (GUI) for utilizing computing device 1300.

[0126] In some embodiments, user interface module 1301 may include a display that serves as a viewfinder (e.g., to display the live preview, the locked preview, etc.) for still camera and / or video camera functions supported by computing device 1300. Additionally, user interface module 1301 may include one or more buttons, switches, knobs, and / or dials that facilitate the configuration and focusing of a camera function and the capturing of images (e.g., capturing a picture). It may be possible that some or all of these buttons, switches, knobs, and / or dials are implemented by way of a presence-sensitive panel.

[0127] Network communications module 1302 can include one or more devices that provide one or more wireless interfaces 1307 and / or one or more wireline interfaces 1308 that are configurable to communicate via a network. Wireless interface(s) 1307 can include one or more wireless transmitters, receivers, and / or transceivers, such as a Bluetooth™ transceiver, a Zigbee® transceiver, a Wi-Fi™ transceiver, a WiMAX™ transceiver, an LTE™ transceiver, and / or other type of wireless transceiver configurable to communicate via a wireless network. Wireline interface(s) 1308 can include one or more wireline transmitters, receivers, and / or transceivers, such as an Ethernet transceiver, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) transceiver, or similar transceiver configurable to communicate via a twisted pair wire, a coaxial cable, a fiberoptic link, or a similar physical connection to a wireline network.

[0128] In some examples, network communications module 1302 can be configured to provide reliable, secured, and / or authenticated communications. For each communication described herein, information for facilitating reliable communications (e.g., guaranteed message delivery) can be provided, perhaps as part of a message header and / or footer (e.g., packet / message sequencing information, encapsulation headers and / or footers, size / time information, and transmission verification information such as cyclic redundancy check (CRC) and / or parity check values). Communications can be made secure (e.g., be encoded or encrypted) and / or decry pted / decoded using one or more cryptographic protocols and / oralgorithms, such as, but not limited to, Data Encryption Standard (DES), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), a Rivest-Shamir-Adelman (RSA) algorithm, a Diffie-Hellman algorithm, a secure sockets protocol such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS), and / or Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA). Other cryptographic protocols and / or algorithms can be used as well or in addition to those listed herein to secure (and then decry pt / decode) communications.

[0129] One or more processors 1303 can include one or more general purpose processors, and / or one or more special purpose processors (e.g., digital signal processors, tensor processing units (TPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), application specific integrated circuits, etc.). One or more processors 1303 can be configured to execute computer- readable instructions 1306 that are contained in data storage 1304 and / or other instructions as described herein.

[0130] Data storage 1304 can include one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media that can be read and / or accessed by at least one of one or more processors 1303. The one or more computer-readable storage media can include volatile and / or non-volatile storage components, such as optical, magnetic, organic or other memory or disc storage, which can be integrated in whole or in part with at least one of one or more processors 1303. In some examples, data storage 1304 can be implemented using a single physical device (e.g., one optical, magnetic, organic or other memory or disc storage unit), while in other examples, data storage 1304 can be implemented using two or more physical devices.

[0131] Data storage 1304 can include computer-readable instructions 1306 and perhaps additional data. In some examples, data storage 1304 can include storage required to perform at least part of the herein-described methods, scenarios, and techniques and / or at least part of the functionality of the herein-described devices and networks. For example, computer- readable instructions 1306 may implement aspects related to a locked preview, target object tracking, 3 A region tracking, and so forth. In particular of these examples, computer-readable instructions 1306 can include instructions that, when executed by processor(s) 1303, enable computing device 1300 to provide for some or all of the functionality of SuperZoom module 1312.

[0132] For example, computing device 1300 may include a camera system comprising a display screen, one or more processors 1303, and data storage 1304, wherein the data storage 1304 has stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors 1303, cause the computing device 1300 to carry out operations. The operationsinclude capturing a scene by the camera system. The operations also include displaying, by the display screen, a live preview of a first portion of the scene. The operations further include receiving, by the display screen, a user indication to activate a locked preview at the display screen, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system. The operations also include in response to the user indication, displaying the locked preview. The operations additionally include detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview. The operations further include generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction. The operations also include displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0133] As another example, computing device 1300 may include a camera system comprising a display screen, one or more processors 1303, and data storage 1304, wherein the data storage 1304 has stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors 1303, cause the computing device 1300 to carry out operations. The operations include capturing a scene by the camera system. The operations also include displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a locked preview of a first portion of the scene, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system. The operations further include associating a first bounding box with the locked preview displayed by the display screen. The operations also include associating a second bounding box with the scene being captured by the camera system. The operations additionally include detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview, wherein the user interaction comprises a modification of the first bounding box. The operations further include generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction, wherein the generating of the modified locked preview comprises maintaining the first bounding box within the second bounding box. The operations also include displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0134] In some examples, computing device 1300 can include one or more cameras 1318. Camera(s) 1318 can include one or more image capture devices, such as still and / or video cameras, equipped to capture light and record the captured light in one or more images; that is, camera(s) 1318 can generate image(s) of captured light. The one or more images can be one or more still images and / or one or more images utilized in video imagery. Camera(s) 1318 can capture light and / or electromagnetic radiation emitted as visible light, infrared radiation,ultraviolet light, and / or as one or more other frequencies of light. Camera(s) 1318 can include a wide camera, a tele camera, an ultrawide camera, and so forth. Also, for example, camera(s) 1318 can be front-facing or rear-facing cameras with reference to computing device 1300. Camera(s) 1318 can include camera components such as, but are not limited to, an aperture, shutter, recording surface (e.g., photographic film and / or an image sensor), lens, and / or shutter button. The camera components may be controlled at least in part by software executed by one or more processors 1303.

[0135] In some examples, computing device 1300 can include one or more sensors 1320. Sensors 1320 can be configured to measure conditions within computing device 1300 and / or conditions in an environment of computing device 1300 and provide data about these conditions. For example, sensors 1320 can include one or more of: (i) sensors for obtaining data about computing device 1300, such as, but not limited to, a thermometer for measuring a temperature of computing device 1300, a battery sensor for measuring power of one or more batteries of power system 1322, and / or other sensors measuring conditions of computing device 1300; (ii) an identification sensor to identify other objects and / or devices, such as, but not limited to, a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader, proximity sensor, one-dimensional barcode reader, two-dimensional barcode (e.g., Quick Response (QR) code) reader, and a laser tracker, where the identification sensors can be configured to read identifiers, such as RFID tags, barcodes, QR codes, and / or other devices and / or object configured to be read and provide at least identifying information; (iii) sensors to measure locations and / or movements of computing device 1300, such as, but not limited to, a tilt sensor, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a Doppler sensor, a GPS device, a sonar sensor, a radar device, a laser-displacement sensor, and a compass; (iv) an environmental sensor to obtain data indicative of an environment of computing device 1300, such as, but not limited to, an infrared sensor, an optical sensor, a light sensor, a biosensor, a capacitive sensor, a touch sensor, a temperature sensor, a wireless sensor, a radio sensor, a movement sensor, a microphone, a sound sensor, an ultrasound sensor and / or a smoke sensor; and / or (v) a force sensor to measure one or more forces (e.g., inertial forces and / or G-forces) acting about computing device 1300, such as, but not limited to one or more sensors that measure: forces in one or more dimensions, torque, ground force, friction, and / or a zero moment point (ZMP) sensor that identifies ZMPs and / or locations of the ZMPs. Many other examples of sensors 1320 are possible as well.

[0136] Power system 1322 can include one or more batteries 1324 and / or one or more external power interfaces 1326 for providing electrical power to computing device 1300. Eachbattery of the one or more batteries 1324 can, when electrically coupled to the computing device 1300, act as a source of stored electrical power for computing device 1300. One or more batteries 1324 of power system 1322 can be configured to be portable. Some or all of one or more batteries 1324 can be readily removable from computing device 1300. In other examples, some or all of one or more batteries 1324 can be internal to computing device 1300, and so may not be readily removable from computing device 1300. Some or all of one or more batteries 1324 can be rechargeable. For example, a rechargeable battery can be recharged via a wired connection between the battery and another power supply, such as by one or more power supplies that are external to computing device 1300 and connected to computing device 1300 via the one or more external power interfaces. In other examples, some or all of one or more batteries 1324 can be non-rechargeable batteries.

[0137] One or more external power interfaces 1326 of power system 1322 can include one or more wired-power interfaces, such as a USB cable and / or a power cord, that enable wired electrical power connections to one or more power supplies that are external to computing device 1300. One or more external power interfaces 1326 can include one or more wireless power interfaces, such as a Qi wireless charger, that enable wireless electrical power connections, such as via a Qi wireless charger, to one or more external power supplies. Once an electrical power connection is established to an external power source using one or more external power interfaces 1326, computing device 1300 can draw electrical power from the external power source the established electrical power connection. In some examples, power system 1322 can include related sensors, such as battery sensors associated with the one or more batteries or other types of electrical power sensors.Example Methods of Operation

[0138] FIG. 14 illustrates a method 1400, in accordance with example embodiments. Method 1400 may include various blocks or steps. The blocks or steps may be carried out individually or in combination. The blocks or steps may be carried out in any order and / or in series or in parallel. Further, blocks or steps may be omitted or added to method 1400.

[0139] The blocks of method 1400 may be carried out by various elements of computing device 1300 as illustrated and described in reference to Figure 13.

[0140] Block 1410 involves capturing a scene by a camera system.

[0141] Block 1420 involves displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a live preview of a first portion of the scene.

[0142] Block 1430 involves receiving, by the display screen, a user indication to activate a locked preview at the display screen, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system.

[0143] Block 1440 involves in response to the user indication, displaying the locked preview.

[0144] Block 1450 involves detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview.

[0145] Block 1460 involves generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction.

[0146] Block 1470 involves displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0147] In some embodiments, the user interaction involves applying one or more of a pan operation, a zoom operation, or a rotate operation, to the locked preview.

[0148] In some embodiments, the user interaction involves applying the pan operation, and wherein the second portion of the scene may not be a part of the first portion of the scene.

[0149] In some embodiments, the user interaction involves applying the rotate operation, and wherein the second portion of the scene may be a rotated portion of the first portion of the scene.

[0150] In some embodiments, the user interaction involves applying the zoom operation. Such embodiments involve determining that the user interaction comprises an interaction with a sub-region of the first portion of the scene. Such embodiments also involve displaying, by the display screen, one or more progressively zoomed in views of the sub-region of the first portion of the scene.

[0151] In some embodiments, the activating of the locked preview involves associating a first bounding box with the locked preview displayed by the display screen. Such embodiments involve associating a second bounding box with the scene being captured by the camera system. The generating of the modified stabilized live preview involves maintaining the first bounding box within the second bounding box.

[0152] Some embodiments involve maintaining a buffer between the first bounding box and the second bounding box.

[0153] Some embodiments involve detecting that the first bounding box is approaching a boundary of the second bounding box, is overlapping with a boundary of the second boundingbox, or is outside the second bounding box. Such embodiments involve increasing a size of the second bounding box to maintain the first bounding box within the resized second bounding box.

[0154] Some embodiments involve, upon a determination that the first bounding box is maintained within the second bounding box, decreasing the size of the second bounding box to increase an image quality of the locked preview of the scene.

[0155] In some embodiments, the maintaining of the first bounding box within the second bounding box involves adjusting a magnification ratio of the camera system to change a field of view (FoV) of the camera system. In some embodiments, the first bounding box corresponds to a normal FoV, and the second bounding box corresponds to an ultrawide FoV. The term “normal FoV” generally refers to a lens perspective that substantially resembles human vision. For example, for a 35mm image sensor, a lens with a 40mm-50mm range may be considered to produce a normal FoV. And ultrawide FoV may refer to a lens with an angle of view that exceeds 90°. This may be achieved by a lens that has a focal length shorter than that of a normal lens (e.g., less than 24mm for a full-frame camera).

[0156] In some embodiments, the camera system includes at least two camera lenses, and the adjusting of the magnification ratio involves switching between the at least two camera lenses to increase the FoV.

[0157] In some embodiments, the camera system includes at least two cameras, and the adjusting of the magnification ratio involves switching between the at least two cameras to increase the FoV.

[0158] In some embodiments, the camera system includes a logical camera configured with a cumulative magnification ratio that may be a combination of respective magnification ratios of multiple cameras of the camera system, and wherein the adjusting of the magnification ratio may be performed by the logical camera.

[0159] Some embodiments involve detecting that the first bounding box is approaching a boundary of the second bounding box, is overlapping with a boundary of the second bounding box, or is outside the second bounding box. Such embodiments involve providing instructions to enable a user of the camera system to move the camera system to maintain the first bounding box within a modified second bounding box.

[0160] In some embodiments, the instructions include a visual cue comprising an arrow indicating a direction of movement for the camera system to maintain the first bounding box within the modified second bounding box.

[0161] In some embodiments, the first portion of the scene may be overlaid by a first circle. Such embodiments involve providing a second circle overlaying the first portion of the scene, wherein the second circle indicates a region of high image quality. The instructions enable the user to align the second circle with the first circle.

[0162] Some embodiments involve determining an elastic bounding box between the first and second bounding boxes, wherein the elastic bounding box corresponds to an expanded FoV that captures a movement of an object in the scene. Such embodiments involve detecting that the first bounding box is approaching a boundary of the elastic bounding box. The instructions involve displaying the expanded FoV to facilitate a self-corrective movement of the camera system by the user to reposition the first bounding box. The self-corrective movement may be a result of the user viewing the movement of the object in the scene.

[0163] Some embodiments involve providing, by the display screen, an image overlay that displays a representation of the first bounding box relative to the second bounding box.

[0164] In some embodiments, the user interaction involves a user selection of a target object in the first portion of the scene. Such embodiments involve tracking the target object. The generating of the modified stabilized live preview comprises, based on the tracking, maintaining the target object within the modified stabilized live preview.

[0165] Some embodiments involve receiving, by the display screen, a second user indication to deactivate the locked preview. Such embodiments involve deactivating the locked preview in response to the second user indication.

[0166] In some embodiments, the user interaction includes one or more of a touch interaction, an interaction by a voice command, a gaze interaction, or an interaction with a gesture.

[0167] In some embodiments, the generating of the modified locked preview to show the second portion involves receiving, from a sensor of the camera system, motion data indicative of the motion of the camera system. Such embodiments involve applying, based on the motion data, a correction to reduce the perceived one or more image degradations associated with the motion of the camera system.

[0168] In some embodiments, the camera system may be a component of a mobile device.

[0169] FIG. 15 illustrates a method 1500, in accordance with example embodiments. Method 1500 may include various blocks or steps. The blocks or steps may be carried outindividually or in combination. The blocks or steps may be carried out in any order and / or in series or in parallel. Further, blocks or steps may be omitted or added to method 1500.

[0170] The blocks of method 1500 may be carried out by various elements of computing device 1300 as illustrated and described in reference to Figure 13.

[0171] Block 1510 involves capturing a scene by a camera system.

[0172] Block 1520 involves displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a locked preview of a first portion of the scene, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system.

[0173] Block 1530 involves associating a first bounding box with the locked preview displayed by the display screen.

[0174] Block 1540 involves associating a second bounding box with the scene being captured by the camera system.

[0175] Block 1550 involves detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview, wherein the user interaction comprises a modification of the first bounding box.

[0176] Block 1560 involves generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction, wherein the generating of the modified locked preview comprises maintaining the first bounding box within the second bounding box.

[0177] Block 1570 involves displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

[0178] In some embodiments, the user interaction involves applying one or more of a pan operation, a zoom operation, or a rotate operation, to the live preview.

[0179] In some embodiments, the user interaction involves applying the pan operation, and wherein the second portion of the scene may not be a part of the first portion of the scene.

[0180] In some embodiments, the user interaction involves applying the rotate operation, and wherein the second portion of the scene may be a rotated portion of the first portion of the scene.

[0181] In some embodiments, the user interaction involves applying the zoom operation. Such embodiments involve determining that the user interaction comprises an interaction with a sub-region of the first portion of the scene. Such embodiments also involve displaying, by the display screen, one or more progressively zoomed in views of the sub-region of the first portion of the scene.

[0182] In some embodiments, the maintaining of the first bounding box within the second bounding box involves adjusting a magnification ratio of the camera system to change a field of view (FoV) of the camera system.

[0183] In some embodiments, the first bounding box corresponds to a normal FoV, and the second bounding box corresponds to an ultrawide FoV.

[0184] In some embodiments, the camera system includes at least two camera lenses, and the adjusting of the magnification ratio involves switching between the at least two camera lenses to increase the FoV.

[0185] In some embodiments, the camera system includes at least two cameras, and the adjusting of the magnification ratio involves switching between the at least two cameras to increase the FoV.

[0186] In some embodiments, the camera system includes a logical camera configured with a cumulative magnification ratio that is a combination of respective magnification ratios of multiple cameras of the camera system. The adjusting of the magnification ratio may be performed by the logical camera.

[0187] Some embodiments involve detecting that the first bounding box is approaching a boundary of the second bounding box, is overlapping with a boundary of the second bounding box, or is outside the second bounding box. Such embodiments involve providing instructions to enable a user of the camera system to move the camera system to maintain the first bounding box within a modified second bounding box.

[0188] In some embodiments, the user interaction includes a user selection of a target object in the first portion of the scene. Such embodiments involve tracking the target object. The generating of the modified locked preview comprises, based on the tracking, maintaining the target object within the modified locked preview.

[0189] Some embodiments involve receiving, by the display screen, a user indication to activate the locked preview at the display screen. Such embodiments involve in response to the user indication, displaying the locked preview.

[0190] Some embodiments involve receiving, by the display screen, a second user indication to deactivate the locked preview. Such embodiments involve deactivating the locked preview in response to the second user indication.

[0191] In some embodiments, the generating of the modified locked preview to show the second portion involves receiving, from a sensor of the camera system, motion data indicative of the motion of the camera system. Such embodiments involve applying, based onthe motion data, a correction to reduce the perceived one or more image degradations associated with the motion of the camera system.

[0192] In some embodiments, the user interaction includes one or more of a touch interaction, an interaction by a voice command, a gaze interaction, or an interaction with a gesture.

[0193] In some embodiments, the camera system may be a component of a mobile device.

[0194] The particular arrangements shown in the Figures should not be viewed as limiting. It should be understood that other embodiments may include more or less of each element shown in a given Figure. Further, some of the illustrated elements may be combined or omitted. Yet further, an illustrative embodiment may include elements that are not illustrated in the Figures.

[0195] A step or block that represents a processing of information can correspond to circuitry that can be configured to perform the specific logical functions of a herein-described method or technique. Alternatively or additionally, a step or block that represents a processing of information can correspond to a module, a segment, or a portion of program code (including related data). The program code can include one or more instructions executable by a processor for implementing specific logical functions or actions in the method or technique. The program code and / or related data can be stored on any type of computer readable medium such as a storage device including a disk, hard drive, or other storage medium.

[0196] The computer readable medium can also include non-transitory computer readable media such as computer-readable media that store data for short periods of time like register memory, processor cache, and random access memory (RAM). The computer readable media can also include non-transitory computer readable media that store program code and / or data for longer periods of time. Thus, the computer readable media may include secondary or persistent long term storage, like read only memory (ROM), optical or magnetic disks, compact-disc read only memory (CD-ROM), for example. The computer readable media can also be any other volatile or non-volatile storage systems. A computer readable medium can be considered a computer readable storage medium, for example, or a tangible storage device.

[0197] While various examples and embodiments have been disclosed, other examples and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various disclosed examples and embodiments are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope being indicated by the following claims.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: capturing a scene by a camera system; displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a live preview of a first portion of the scene; receiving, by the display screen, a user indication to activate a locked preview at the display screen, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system; in response to the user indication, displaying the locked preview; detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview; generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction; and displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interaction comprises applying one or more of a pan operation, a zoom operation, or a rotate operation, to the locked preview.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the user interaction comprises applying the pan operation, and wherein the second portion of the scene is not a part of the first portion of the scene.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the user interaction comprises applying the rotate operation, and wherein the second portion of the scene is a rotated portion of the first portion of the scene.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the user interaction comprises applying the zoom operation, and further comprising: determining that the user interaction comprises an interaction with a sub-region of the first portion of the scene; and displaying, by the display screen, one or more progressively zoomed in views of thesub-region of the first portion of the scene.

6. The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein an activating of the locked preview comprises: associating a first bounding box with the locked preview displayed by the display screen; and associating a second bounding box with the scene being captured by the camera system, and wherein the generating of the modified locked preview comprises maintaining the first bounding box within the second bounding box.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: maintaining a buffer between the first bounding box and the second bounding box.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising: detecting that the first bounding box is approaching a boundary of the second bounding box, is overlapping with a boundary of the second bounding box, or is outside the second bounding box; and increasing a size of the second bounding box to maintain the first bounding box within a resized second bounding box.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: upon a determination that the first bounding box is maintained within the second bounding box, decreasing the size of the second bounding box to increase an image quality of the locked preview of the scene.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the maintaining of the first bounding box within the second bounding box further comprises: adjusting a magnification ratio of the camera system to change a field of view (FoV) of the camera system.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first bounding box corresponds to a normal FoV, and the second bounding box corresponds to an ultrawide FoV.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the camera system comprises at least two camera lenses, and wherein the adjusting of the magnification ratio further comprises: switching between the at least two camera lenses to increase the FoV.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the camera system comprises at least two cameras, and wherein the adjusting of the magnification ratio further comprises: switching between the at least two cameras to increase the FoV.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the camera system comprises a logical camera configured with a cumulative magnification ratio that is a combination of respective magnification ratios of multiple cameras of the camera system, and wherein the adjusting of the magnification ratio is performed by the logical camera.

15. The method of claim 6, further comprising: detecting that the first bounding box is approaching a boundary of the second bounding box, is overlapping with a boundary of the second bounding box, or is outside the second bounding box; and providing instructions to enable a user of the camera system to move the camera system to maintain the first bounding box within a modified second bounding box.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the instructions comprise a visual cue comprising an arrow indicating a direction of movement for the camera system to maintain the first bounding box within the modified second bounding box.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the first portion of the scene is overlaid by a first circle, and further comprising: providing a second circle overlaying the first portion of the scene, wherein the second circle indicates a region of high image quality, and wherein the instructions enable the user to align the second circle with the first circle.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising: determining an elastic bounding box between the first and second bounding boxes,wherein the elastic bounding box corresponds to an expanded FoV that captures a movement of an object in the scene; and detecting that the first bounding box is approaching a boundary of the elastic bounding box, and wherein the instructions comprise displaying the expanded FoV to facilitate a selfcorrective movement of the camera system by the user to reposition the first bounding box, and wherein the self-corrective movement is a result of the user viewing the movement of the object in the scene.

19. The method of claim 6, further comprising: providing, by the display screen, an image overlay that displays a representation of the first bounding box relative to the second bounding box.

20. The method of any of claims 1-19, wherein the user interaction comprises a user selection of a target object in the first portion of the scene, and further comprising: tracking the target object, and wherein the generating of the modified locked preview comprises, based on the tracking, maintaining the target object within a modified stabilized live preview.

21. The method of any of claims 1-20, further comprising: receiving, by the display screen, a second user indication to deactivate the locked preview; and deactivating the locked preview in response to the second user indication.

22. The method of any of claims 1-21, wherein the user interaction comprises one or more of a touch interaction, an interaction by a voice command, a gaze interaction, or an interaction with a gesture.

23. The method of any of claims 1-22, wherein the generating of the modified locked preview further comprises: receiving, from a sensor of the camera system, motion data indicative of the motion of the camera system; and applying, based on the motion data, a correction to reduce one or more perceived imagedegradations associated with the motion of the camera system.

24. The method of any of claims 1-23, wherein the camera system is a component of a mobile device.

25. A computer-implemented method, comprising: capturing a scene by a camera system; displaying, by a display screen of the camera system, a locked preview of a first portion of the scene, wherein the locked preview comprises a perceived reduction of one or more image degradations associated with a motion of the camera system; associating a first bounding box with the locked preview displayed by the display screen; associating a second bounding box with the scene being captured by the camera system; detecting, by the display screen, a user interaction with the locked preview, wherein the user interaction comprises a modification of the first bounding box; generating a modified locked preview to show a second portion of the scene based on the user interaction, wherein the generating of the modified locked preview comprises maintaining the first bounding box within the second bounding box; and displaying, by the display screen, the modified locked preview showing the second portion of the scene.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the user interaction comprises applying one or more of a pan operation, a zoom operation, or a rotate operation, to the live preview.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the user interaction comprises applying the pan operation, and wherein the second portion of the scene is not a part of the first portion of the scene.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the user interaction comprises applying the rotate operation, and wherein the second portion of the scene is a rotated portion of the first portion of the scene.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the user interaction comprises applying the zoomoperation, and further comprising: determining that the user interaction comprises an interaction with a sub-region of the first portion of the scene; and displaying, by the display screen, one or more progressively zoomed in views of the sub-region of the first portion of the scene.

30. The method of any of claims 25-29, wherein the maintaining of the first bounding box within the second bounding box further comprises: adjusting a magnification ratio of the camera system to change a field of view (FoV) of the camera system.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the first bounding box corresponds to a normal FoV, and the second bounding box corresponds to an ultrawide FoV.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the camera system comprises at least two camera lenses, and wherein the adjusting of the magnification ratio further comprises: switching between the at least two camera lenses to increase the FoV.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the camera system comprises at least two cameras, and wherein the adjusting of the magnification ratio further comprises: switching between the at least two cameras to increase the FoV.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the camera system comprises a logical camera configured with a cumulative magnification ratio that is a combination of respective magnification ratios of multiple cameras of the camera system, and wherein the adjusting of the magnification ratio is performed by the logical camera.

35. The method of any of claims 25-34, further comprising: detecting that the first bounding box is approaching a boundary of the second bounding box, is overlapping with a boundary of the second bounding box, or is outside the second bounding box; and providing instructions to enable a user of the camera system to move the camera system to maintain the first bounding box within a modified second bounding box.

36. The method of any of claims 25-35, wherein the user interaction comprises a user selection of a target object in the first portion of the scene, and further comprising: tracking the target object, and wherein the generating of the modified locked preview comprises, based on the tracking, maintaining the target object within the modified locked preview.

37. The method of any of claims 25-36, further comprising: receiving, by the display screen, a user indication to activate the locked preview at the display screen; and in response to the user indication, displaying the locked preview.

38. The method of any of claims 25-37, further comprising: receiving, by the display screen, a second user indication to deactivate the locked preview; and deactivating the locked preview in response to the second user indication.

39. The method of any of claims 25-38, wherein the generating of the modified locked preview further comprises: receiving, from a sensor of the camera system, motion data indicative of the motion of the camera system; and applying, based on the motion data, a correction to reduce one or more perceived image degradations associated with the motion of the camera system.

40. The method of any of claims 25-39, wherein the user interaction comprises one or more of a touch interaction, an interaction by a voice command, a gaze interaction, or an interaction with a gesture.

41. The method of any of claims 25-40, wherein the camera system is a component of a mobile device.

42. A computing device, comprising: one or more processors; anddata storage, wherein the data storage has stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to carry out functions comprising the computer-implemented method of any one of claims 1-41.

43. The computing device of claim 42, wherein the computing device is a mobile device.

44. A computer program comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform steps in accordance with the method of any one of claims 1-41.

45. An article of manufacture comprising one or more non-transitory computer readable media having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the computing device to carry out functions that comprise the computer-implemented method of any one of claims 1-41.

46. A system, comprising: means for carrying out the computer-implemented method of any one of claims 1-41.

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