Image Capturing Device Block Resolution Control for Digital Zoom Memory
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image capturing devices face challenges in reducing frame memory capacity while maintaining high-definition images during digital zooming, especially when high-resolution images are displayed on small, low-resolution monitors, as the memory capacity increases proportionally with pixel resolution, leading to increased costs or space constraints.
Innovation Solution
An image capturing device that divides images into block images, prioritizes writing block images with high edge components at high resolution and those with low edge components at lower resolution into frame memory, allowing for efficient digital zooming with reduced memory capacity by adjusting resolution based on edge component amounts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the entire high-resolution image is stored in frame memory for digital zooming, then high-definition images can be maintained during enlargement, but the frame memory capacity increases proportionally with the number of pixels
Solution Approach 1:
The image is divided into multiple block images, and only the block image containing the selected region for digital zooming is stored in the frame memory at high resolution. Other block images are stored at lower resolution or not stored at all, thereby segmenting the memory storage requirement and reducing overall frame memory capacity while maintaining high definition in the zoomed region.
2Quantity of substance
If the frame memory capacity is reduced by limiting stored images to only enlarged magnification, then memory costs and area are reduced, but digital zooming with low magnification (1.1× or 1.2×) cannot be performed
Solution Approach 1:
The frame memory stores high-resolution data only for the local region (block image) that will be enlarged, while other regions are stored at lower resolution. This local quality approach allows the system to support various zooming magnifications including low magnification (1.1× or 1.2×) by maintaining high resolution in the specific block image containing the selected region, without requiring the entire image to be stored at high resolution.
3Measurement precision
If digital zooming is performed on low-resolution monitors, then the high resolution of captured images is wasted, but storing and processing high-resolution images still requires large frame memory capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the necessary high-resolution block image containing the selected region for digital zooming and stores it in the frame memory, while discarding or downsampling other block images. This extraction approach allows high-resolution processing to be performed on the selected region even for display on low-resolution monitors, while significantly reducing the frame memory capacity required compared to storing the entire high-resolution image.
Data Source
AI summary
An image capturing device in the present embodiment has a configuration that is provided with an image splitting unit 21 and an edge extracting unit 22 that acquire the edge component for each block image that has been divided from an image captured by an image sensor 10, a resolution controlling unit 23 that writes each block image into a frame memory 30 with a resolution in accordance with the amount of its edge component, an image enlarging unit 24 that reads out at least one block image that corresponds to a selected region from the frame memory 30 and enlarges the block image with a magnification in accordance with the size of the selected region, and an enlarged output unit 45 that outputs the enlarged block image that corresponds to the selected region that is supplied from the image enlarging unit 24.