Patent US3886758A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent EP1206119A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
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
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2021-10-26
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 17:57
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.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.