Patent Publication Number: US-2015062354-A1

Title: Method and system for capturing images with a front-facing camera

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The disclosures herein relate in general to image processing, and in particular to a method and system for capturing images with a front-facing camera. 
     Front-facing cameras are becoming more prevalent in mobile smartphones and tablet computing devices. Also, for laptop and desktop computing devices, webcam accessories have front-facing cameras. A front-facing camera is useful for video conferencing, and for capturing a user&#39;s self-portrait, but it may cause an unnatural and/or unpleasant experience. 
     SUMMARY 
     A camera points in a first direction and is positioned within borders of a screen of a display device. The screen faces in a second direction that is substantially parallel to the first direction. While the camera views a scene, the screen displays an image of the viewed scene. While the screen displays the image, the image is written for storage on a computer-readable medium. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a mobile smartphone that includes an information handling system of the illustrative embodiments. 
         FIG. 2  is an illustration of an example image captured by a first camera of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is an illustration of an example image captured by a second camera of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a plan view of a tablet computing device that includes the information handling system of the illustrative embodiments. 
         FIG. 5  is an elevation view of a laptop or desktop computing device that includes the information handling system of the illustrative embodiments. 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram of the information handling system of the illustrative embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a mobile smartphone that includes an information handling system  100  of the illustrative embodiments. In this example, as shown in  FIG. 1 , the system  100  includes an optional front-facing camera  102  (on a front of the system  100 ) that points in a direction of an arrow  104  for viewing scenes (e.g., including a physical object and its surrounding foreground and background), capturing and digitizing images of those views, and writing those digitized (or “digital”) images for storage on a computer-readable medium of the system  100  in response to one or more commands from a human user. Also, the system  100  includes a display device  106  (on the front of the system  100 ) and various switches  108  for manually controlling operations of the system  100 . 
     Moreover, the system  100  includes a front-facing camera  110  (on the front of the system  100 ) that points in a direction of an arrow  112  for viewing scenes, capturing and digitizing images of those views, and writing those digitized images for storage on the computer-readable medium of the system  100  in response to one or more commands from the user. The arrow  112  is substantially parallel to the arrow  104 . Accordingly, a screen of the display device  106  faces in a direction that is substantially parallel to the arrows  104  and  112 . 
       FIG. 2  is an illustration of an example image captured and digitized (and written for storage) by the camera  102  while it views a scene, and while such image is simultaneously displayed by the screen of the display device  106 .  FIG. 3  is an illustration of an example image captured and digitized (and written for storage) by the camera  110  while it views a scene, and while such image is simultaneously displayed by the screen of the display device  106 . Each of those example images shows the user (in the scene) who operates the system  100  to perform those operations, so that the system  100  performs those operations in response to one or more commands from the user. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 : (a) the camera  102  is positioned above the screen, and left of the screen&#39;s center; and (b) by comparison, the camera  110  is positioned within the screen&#39;s borders, approximately halfway between the screen&#39;s left and right borders, and approximately ⅓ of a way between the screen&#39;s top and bottom borders. Accordingly, if the user is looking at an image on the screen while such image is being captured, then: (a) as shown in the example image of  FIG. 2 , while such image is being captured by the camera  102 , the user appears to be looking slightly downward and toward the user&#39;s right; and (b) as shown in the example image of  FIG. 3 , while such image is being captured by the camera  110 , the user appears to be looking directly at the camera  110 . 
     In one example, the image of  FIG. 3  is captured by the camera  110  within a sequence of images during a video conferencing session between the user and a different human participant. If the user is looking at images on the screen during the video conferencing session, then: (a) as shown in the example image of  FIG. 3 , the camera  110  captures the user appearing to look directly at such participant for a more natural and pleasant experience with an impression of eye contact; and (b) in contrast, as shown in the example image of  FIG. 2 , the camera  102  would capture the user appearing to look away from such participant for a more unnatural and unpleasant experience without an impression of eye contact. 
       FIG. 4  is a plan view of a tablet computing device that includes the system  100 . In the examples of  FIGS. 1 and 4 , the camera  110  is integral with the screen of the display device  106 . For clarity,  FIGS. 1 and 4  are not necessarily drawn to scale. 
     In one embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 4 , within the screen of the display device  106 , the camera  110  occupies area that is approximately equal to a single pixel of the screen, so the camera  110  is almost invisible to the user. In an example of such embodiment, the camera  110  is optionally hidden by a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (“PDLC”) surface of the screen, so the PDLC surface is operable to selectively change its opacity in response to an electrical current. In response to the user activating the camera  110  (e.g., by causing the system  100  to execute a particular software application, such as by operating one of the switches  108  to cause such execution, or by touching such application&#39;s icon on a touchscreen of the display device  106  to cause such execution), the system  100  automatically supplies the electrical current for causing the PDLC surface to become transparent, thereby enabling the camera  110  to capture images. Conversely, in response to the user deactivating the camera  110 , the system  100  automatically removes the electrical current for causing the PDLC surface to become opaque, thereby disabling the camera  110  from capturing images. 
       FIG. 5  is an elevation view of a laptop or desktop computing device that includes the system  100 . In the example of  FIG. 5 , the camera  110  is separate from the screen of the display device  106 . Instead, the camera  110  is adjustably (e.g., slidably) mounted to a railing  502 . For clarity,  FIG. 5  is not necessarily drawn to scale. 
     A first end of the railing  502  is connected to a base  504  that sits on top of the system  100 , so the railing  502  and the camera  110  hang over the front of the screen. Between the first end of the railing  502  (where the railing  502  connects to the base  504 ) and a second end  506  of the railing  502 , a position of the camera  110  is adjustable (e.g., slidable) by the user, along the railing  502  in either direction of a dashed line  508 . Moreover, by the user repositioning the base  504  to sit anywhere on top of the system  100 , the position of the camera  110  is adjustable between the screen&#39;s left and right borders. 
     Accordingly, in the example of  FIG. 5 , the camera  110 , the railing  502  and the base  504  together form a webcam accessory, which is connectable to (and detachable from) other components of the system  100 . This webcam accessory enables the user to adjustably position the camera  110  (over the front of the screen) within the screen&#39;s borders. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the camera  110  is adjustably positioned (over the front of the screen) within the screen&#39;s borders, including: (a) between the screen&#39;s left and right borders; and (b) between the screen&#39;s top and bottom borders. 
       FIG. 6  is a block diagram of the system  100 . The system  100  includes various electronic circuitry components for performing the system  100  operations, implemented in a suitable combination of software, firmware and hardware. Such components include: (a) a processor  602  (e.g., one or more microprocessors and/or digital signal processors), which is a general purpose computational resource for executing instructions of computer-readable software programs to process data (e.g., a database of information) and perform additional operations (e.g., communicating information) in response thereto; (b) a network interface unit  604  for communicating information to and from a network in response to signals from the processor  602 ; (c) a computer-readable medium  606 , such as a nonvolatile storage device and/or a random access memory (“RAM”) device, for storing those programs and other information; (d) a battery  608 , which is a source of power for the system  100 ; (e) the display device  106 , which includes a screen for displaying information to a human user  610  and for receiving information from the user  610  in response to signals from the processor  602 ; (f) speakers  612  for outputting sound waves (at least some of which are audible to the user  610 ) in response to signals from the processor  602 ; (g) the switches  108 ; (h) the cameras  102  and  110 ; and (i) other electronic circuitry for performing additional operations. 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , the processor  602  is connected to the computer-readable medium  606 , the battery  608 , the display device  106 , the speakers  612 , the switches  108 , and the cameras  102  and  110 . For clarity, although  FIG. 6  shows the battery  608  connected to only the processor  602 , the battery  608  is further coupled to various other components of the system  100 . Also, the processor  602  is coupled through the network interface unit  604  to the network (not shown in  FIG. 6 ), such as a Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) network (e.g., the Internet or an intranet). For example, the network interface unit  604  communicates information by outputting information to, and receiving information from, the processor  602  and the network, such as by transferring information (e.g. instructions, data, signals) between the processor  602  and the network (e.g., wirelessly or through a USB interface). 
     The system  100  operates in association with the user  610 . In response to signals from the processor  602 , the screen of the display device  106  displays visual images, which represent information, so the user  610  is thereby enabled to view the visual images on the screen of the display device  106 . In the embodiments of  FIGS. 1 and 4 , the display device  106  is housed integrally with the various other components (e.g., electronic circuitry components) of the system  100 . In the embodiment of  FIG. 5 , the display device  106  is housed separately from the cameras  102  and  110 , yet housed integrally with the various other components of the system  100 . 
     In one embodiment, the display device  106  is a touchscreen (e.g., the display device  106 ), such as: (a) a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) device; and (b) touch-sensitive circuitry of such LCD device, so that the touch-sensitive circuitry is integral with such LCD device. Accordingly, the user  610  operates the touchscreen (e.g., virtual keys thereof, such as a virtual keyboard and/or virtual keypad) for specifying information (e.g., alphanumeric text information) to the processor  602 , which receives such information from the touchscreen. For example, the touchscreen: (a) detects presence and location of a physical touch (e.g., by a finger of the user  610 , and/or by a passive stylus object) within a display area of the touchscreen; and (b) in response thereto, outputs signals (indicative of such detected presence and location) to the processor  602 . In that manner, the user  610  can touch (e.g., single tap and/or double tap) the touchscreen to: (a) select a portion (e.g., region) of a visual image that is then-currently displayed by the touchscreen; and/or (b) cause the touchscreen to output various information to the processor  602 . 
     Although illustrative embodiments have been shown and described by way of example, a wide range of alternative embodiments is possible within the scope of the foregoing disclosure.