DUAL CAMERA SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR RAPID 3A CONVERGENCE AND HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE EXPOSURE METERING

摘要

Systems and methods for rapid automatic focus, automatic white balance, and automatic exposure control are disclosed. To reduce the time it takes to automatically focus, balance spectra, and set exposure period, a dual camera uses an auxiliary camera and auxiliary image processing module in addition to the main camera and main image processing module. The auxiliary camera may capture lower resolution and lower frame rate imagery that is processed by an auxiliary image processing module to determine focus, white balance, and exposure periods for the main camera and main image processing module. By initiating convergence for automatic focus (AF), automatic white balance (AWB) and automatic exposure control (AEC) before receiving a command to capture imagery, and processing lower resolution and lower frame rate imagery, AF, AWB, and AEC convergence delays are reduced for both standard and high dynamic range image capture.

主权项

1. An apparatus comprising:
a main camera configured to receive main image capture information and capture an image using the image capture information; a main image processing module in communication with the main camera, the main image processing module configured to receive an image from the main camera, receive main image processing information, and process the image received from the main camera using the main image processing information; an auxiliary camera configured to capture an image; an auxiliary image processing module in communication with the auxiliary camera, the auxiliary image processing module configured to receive at least one image from the auxiliary camera and determine auxiliary control information based on the at least one image received from the auxiliary camera; and a camera controller in communication with the auxiliary image processing module, the camera controller configured to
receive the auxiliary control information from the auxiliary image processing module,determine main image capture information and main image processing information from the auxiliary control information,communicate the main image capture information to the main camera, andcommunicate main image processing information to the main image processing module.