Patent ID: 8947555
Filing Date: 2015-02-03
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A method of generating a high dynamic range digital image, comprising: determining a first exposure setting; capturing a first image of a scene from a at least one sensor, based on the first exposure setting; determining a bright threshold; determining one or more bright regions of the first image based on the bright threshold; filtering first pixels in the one or more bright regions based on each pixel's distance to a set of reference points; selecting a first reference point based at least on a shutter speed and an aperture used to capture the first image if a number of filtered first pixels is below a filtered pixels threshold, but if the number of filtered first pixels is greater than the filtered pixels threshold, determining a composite point based on the filtered first pixels, and selecting the first reference point based on the reference point's distance to the composite point; white balancing the first image based on the selected first reference point; determining a second exposure setting; capturing a second image of the scene from the at least one sensor using the second exposure setting; determining a dark threshold; determining one or more dark regions of the second image based on the dark threshold; filtering second pixels in the one or more dark regions based on each pixel's distance to a set of reference points; selecting a second reference point based at least on a shutter speed and an aperture used to capture the second image if a number of filtered second pixels is below the filtered pixels threshold, but if the number of filtered second pixels is greater than the filtered pixels threshold, determining a composite point based on the filtered second pixels, and selecting the second reference point based on the reference point's distance to the composite point; white balancing the second image based on the selected second reference point; and generating a high dynamic range digital image by combining the white balanced first image and the white balanced second image.