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EP1206119A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Method and apparatus for exposure control for an extended dynamic range image sensing device

Assignee: Eastman Kodak Co
•
Filing: 2001-10-26
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2021-10-26
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Abstract

Abstract A method of exposure control in a camera employing a sparsely sampled extended dynamic range image sensing device includes the steps of: providing a sparsely sampled extended dynamic range image sensing device having fast photosites with a predetermined response to light exposure interspersed with slow photosites with a slower response to the same light exposure; using the image sensor to produce a sparsely sampled high resolution digital image having fast pixel values produced by the fast photosites and slow pixel values produced by the slow photosites; calculating an exposure control value using only the slow pixel values from the a sparsely sampled extended dynamic range image; and using the exposure control value to modify the exposure to the image sensing device.

Inventors

  • 👤 Edward B. c/o Eastman Kodak Company Gindele
  • 👤 Andrew C. c/o Eastman Kodak Company Gallagher

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-07 17:42
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N23/00; H04N23/70; H04N23/72; H04N23/80; H04N23/84; H04N23/843; H04N25/00; H04N25/10; H04N25/11; H04N25/13; H04N25/134

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim 125 words
A method of exposure control in a camera employing a sparsely sampled extended dynamic range image sensing device comprising the steps of: a) providing a sparsely sampled extended dynamic range image sensing device having fast photosites with a predetermined response to light exposure interspersed with slow photosites with a slower response to the same light exposure; b) using the image sensor to produce a sparsely sampled high resolution digital image having fast pixel values produced by the fast photosites and slow pixel values produced by the slow photosites; c) calculating an exposure control value using only the slow pixel values from the a sparsely sampled extended dynamic range image; and d) using the exposure control value to modify the exposure to the image sensing device.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 38 words
The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of calculating includes the steps of: c1) generating a cumulative histogram of the slow pixel values; and c2) determining the exposure control value from a predetermined cumulative histogram value.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 39 words
The method claimed in claim 2 further including the step of: generating a low resolution digital image from the slow pixel values; and wherein the cumulative histogram is generated from the pixel values of the low resolution digital image.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 22 words
The method claimed in claim 3, wherein the low resolution digital image is generated from a subset of the slow pixel values.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 22 words
The method claimed in claim 3, wherein the low resolution digital image is generated by low pass filtering the slow pixel values.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 43 words
The method claimed in claim 1 wherein the image sensing device is a color image sensor having red green and blue fast and slow photosites, and only the slow pixel values from the green photosites are used to calculate the exposure control value.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 53 words
The method claimed in claim 1 wherein the image sensing device is a color image sensor having three colors of fast and slow photosites, and including the step of calculating luminance pixel values from the color slow pixel values and wherein the luminance pixel values are used to calculate the exposure control value.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 25 words
The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the camera includes an aperture device and the exposure control value is used to control the aperture device.
Claim 9
Independent Claim 23 words
The method claimed in claim I, wherein the camera includes a shutter and the exposure control value is used to control the shutter.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 23 words
The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the exposure control value is used to control the integration time of the image sensing device.

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