Patent ID: 8754953
Filing Date: 2014-06-17
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A digital camera system providing an extended focus range, comprising: an image sensor for capturing a digital image; an optical system for forming an image of a scene onto the image sensor, the optical system having an F/# that can be varied between a minimum F/# and a maximum F/#, wherein the F/# represents the ratio of the optical system's focal length to aperture size; a) set the F/# of the optical system to a first F/#, the first F/# being smaller than the maximum F/#; b) capture an evaluation image of the scene using the image sensor; c) analyze the captured evaluation image to determine whether a subject in the captured evaluation image is acceptably focused; d) set a capture F/# to be equal to the first F/# if the subject in the captured evaluation image is acceptably focused, otherwise: e) set the optical system to use the capture F/#; f) capture an archival image of the scene using the image sensor and the capture F/#; and g) store the captured archival image in the storage memory.