CFA compatible resolution reduction in a single sensor electronic camera

Claim 2

An electronic camera adapted for capturing and processing images of different resolution, said camera comprising: an image sensor having a two-dimensional array of photosites covered by a pattern of luminance and chrominance color filters; means for generating an image signal corresponding to a two-dimensional image captured by said image sensor; means for selecting one of a plurality of resolution levels for the image signal, said resolution levels providing a full resolution image arranged according to said pattern of color filters and at least one reduced resolution image; and a processor responsive to a selected reduced resolution level for operating on the image signal by averaging areas of said captured image to produce a reduced resolution image arranged according to a pattern that replicates the pattern of color filters seen in the full resolution image.

Claim 3

A camera as claimed in claim 1 wherein said image sensor is covered by a pattern of luminance and chrominance color filters having a predetermined geometrical arrangement, and wherein said processor produces a reduced resolution image arranged according to a pattern that proportionately replicates the predetermined geometrical arrangement of color filters seen in the full resolution image.

Claim 4

A camera as claimed in claim 2 wherein the pattern of the reduced resolution image corresponds to pixel locations in the full resolution image that are separated in each dimension by at least one color filter location.

Claim 5

An electronic camera adapted for capturing and processing images of different resolution, said camera comprising: an image sensor having a two-dimensional array of pixels covered by a pattern of luminance and chrominance color filters having a predetermined geometrical spatial arrangement; means for generating an image signal comprised of pixels corresponding to a two-dimensional image captured by said image sensor; means for selecting one of a plurality of resolution levels for the image signal, said resolution levels providing a full resolution image and at least one reduced resolution image; and a processor responsive to a selected reduced resolution level for operating on the pixels comprising the image signal by producing a reduced resolution image arranged according to a pattern that replicates the predetermined spatial arrangement of the color filters seen in the full resolution image.

Claim 6

An electronic camera adapted for capturing and processing images of different resolution, said camera comprising: an image sensor having a two-dimensional array of pixels covered by a pattern of luminance and chrominance color filters having a predetermined geometrical spatial arrangement; means for generating an image signal comprised of pixels corresponding to a two-dimensional image captured by said image sensor; means for selecting one of a plurality of resolution levels for the image signal, said resolution levels providing a full resolution image and at least one reduced resolution image; and a processor responsive to a selected reduced resolution level for operating on the pixels comprising the image signal by producing a reduced resolution image arranged according to a pattern that replicates the predetermined spatial arrangement of the color filters seen in the full resolution image.

Claim 7

A camera as claimed in claim 4 wherein the reduced resolution image comprises a reduced resolution array of processed pixels output by said processor.

Claim 8

A camera as claimed in claim 5 wherein said processor operates upon pixels comprising the image signal by averaging pixels surrounding said processed pixel location to produce a reduced resolution image that replicates the predetermined spatial arrangement of the color filters seen in the full resolution image.

Claim 9

An electronic camera adapted for capturing and processing images of different resolution, said camera comprising: an image sensor having a two-dimensional array comprised of pixels covered by a color filter array composed of at least three differently-colored filters arranged in a predetermined geometry; means for generating an image signal corresponding to a two-dimensional array of color image pixels captured by said image sensor; means for selecting one of a plurality of resolution levels for the image signal, said resolution levels providing a full resolution image having pixels arranged according to said color filter array and at least one reduced resolution image; and a processor responsive to a selected reduced resolution level for operating on the image signal by averaging image pixels covered by the same-colored filter to produce a reduced resolution image arranged according to a pattern that replicates the predetermined geometry of the color filter array seen in the full resolution image.

Claim 10

An electronic camera adapted for capturing and processing images of different resolution, said camera comprising: an image sensor having a two-dimensional array comprised of pixels covered by a color filter array composed of at least three differently-colored filters arranged in a predetermined geometry; means for generating an image signal corresponding to a two-dimensional array of color image pixels captured by said image sensor; means for selecting one of a plurality of resolution levels for the image signal, said resolution levels providing a full resolution image having pixels arranged according to said color filter array and at least one reduced resolution image; and a processor responsive to a selected reduced resolution level for operating on the image signal by averaging image pixels covered by the same-colored filter to produce a reduced resolution image arranged according to a pattern that replicates the predetermined geometry of the color filter array seen in the full resolution image.

Claim 11

A camera as claimed in claim 7 wherein said processor produces a reduced resolution image having a pattern of color pixels spatially distributed in a regular way to replicate the predetermined geometry of the color filters seen in the full resolution image.

Claim 12

A camera as claimed in claim 7 wherein the color pixels comprising the reduced resolution pattern correspond to pixel locations in the full resolution image that are separated in each dimension by at least one pixel location.

Claim 13

A camera as claimed in claim 7 wherein the color filter array is a Bayer array composed of a luminance color filters arranged in a checkerboard separated by two different types of chrominance color filters.

Claim 14

A camera as claimed in claim 10 wherein the luminance color filter is a green filter and the chrominance color filters are red and blue filters.

Claim 15

An electronic camera adapted for processing images of different resolution, said camera comprising: an image sensor for generating an image signal representative of color image pixels arranged in vertical and horizontal directions as obtained from a two-dimensional array of photosites covered by a color filter array of luminance and chrominance color filters; a buffer memory having sufficient capacity for storing the color image pixels corresponding to at least one image; an output memory, connected subsequent to the buffer memory, for storing processed image signals obtained from the buffer memory; a resolution mode switch for selecting a pixel resolution of the image by specifying an order in which the color image pixels are selected for storage in both vertical and horizontal directions, said order including a full resolution mode in which all color image pixels are selected and at least one reduced resolution mode in which a fewer number of color image pixels are selected; a controller responsive to the pixel resolution selected by the resolution mode switch for accordingly changing the number of horizontal and vertical pixels that represent the image, said controller effecting an averaging of the color image pixels for the reduced resolution mode to produce a reduced resolution image arranged according to a pattern that replicates the color filter array of color filters seen in the full resolution image; and means for storing the selected color image pixels in said output memory, whereby said output memory is able to store more images in said reduced resolution mode than in said full resolution mode.

Claim 16

An electronic camera adapted for processing images of different resolution, said camera comprising: an image sensor for generating an image signal representative of color image pixels arranged in vertical and horizontal directions as obtained from a two-dimensional array of photosites covered by a color filter array of luminance and chrominance color filters; a buffer memory having sufficient capacity for storing the color image pixels corresponding to at least one image; an output memory, connected subsequent to the buffer memory, for storing processed image signals obtained from the buffer memory; a resolution mode switch for selecting a pixel resolution of the image by specifying an order in which the color image pixels are selected for storage in both vertical and horizontal directions, said order including a full resolution mode in which all color image pixels are selected and at least one reduced resolution mode in which a fewer number of color image pixels are selected; a controller responsive to the pixel resolution selected by the resolution mode switch for accordingly changing the number of horizontal and vertical pixels that represent the image, said controller effecting an averaging of the color image pixels for the reduced resolution mode to produce a reduced resolution image arranged according to a pattern that replicates the color filter array of color filters seen in the full resolution image; and means for storing the selected color image pixels in said output memory, whereby said output memory is able to store more images in said reduced resolution mode than in said full resolution mode.

Claim 17

A camera as claimed in claim 12 wherein said buffer memory is operable to store all of the color image pixels from said image sensor and wherein said controller effectuates the averaging for the selected pixel resolution by accordingly selecting appropriate pixels from said buffer memory for processing and storage in said output memory.

Claim 18

A camera as claimed in claim 13 wherein the color filter array is a Bayer array.

Claim 19

A camera as claimed in claim 14 wherein the reduced resolution image is composed of processed color pixels, said controller effecting the averaging of same-colored pixels in the immediate neighborhood of the processed color pixel.

Claim 20

A camera as claimed in claim 12 further comprising means for compressing the selected color image pixels, whereby said storing means stores compressed color image pixels in said output memory.