Monochrome Camera Zoom via Image Merging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image zooming technologies, such as digital and optical zoom, suffer from detail loss in digital zoom and increased cost and complexity in optical zoom, necessitating a more effective method for producing high-quality zoomed images.
Innovation Solution
A processor-implemented method that merges color images from a color camera with achromatic images from a monochrome camera, where the monochrome camera has a narrower field of view, to produce an enhanced image with improved detail and color information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If digital zoom is used to decrease field of view and crop image, then zoomed image is produced, but detail loss occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines a color image from a color camera with a monochrome image from a monochrome camera that has a narrower field of view. The monochrome image provides higher detail information, and by merging it with the color image, the system achieves a zoomed image with preserved detail and color information, avoiding the detail loss inherent in pure digital zoom.
2Manufacturing precision
If optical zoom is used to optically increase image size, then zoomed image is produced, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a monochrome camera as a complementary sensor to capture high-detail information that is then merged with the color image. This approach creates a computational zoom solution that replicates the detail quality of optical zoom without requiring additional optical components, thereby reducing device complexity and cost.
3Manufacturing precision
If monochrome camera with narrower field of view is used, then image detail is improved, but field of view is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the color image (with wider field of view) and the monochrome image (with narrower field of view and higher detail). By combining these two images, the system preserves the wide field of view from the color image while incorporating the enhanced detail information from the monochrome image, particularly in zoomed regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality enhancement by using the high-detail monochrome image information specifically in regions where zoom is applied, while maintaining the full color information and wider field of view in other regions. This allows different parts of the final image to have different quality characteristics optimized for their specific purpose.
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods and electronic devices for producing a zoomed image using a narrow field of view monochrome camera are described. In one aspect, the method includes: receiving a color image that is captured by a color camera; receiving an achromatic image that is captured by a monochrome camera with the monochrome camera having a narrower field of view than the color camera; and merging the color image and the achromatic image to produce an enhanced image.