Patent ID: 8917330

Claim:
A method for generating cinematic blur in a digital camera, the method comprising: receiving at a digital camera an input describing a cinematic effect associated with a film camera and comprising a frame rate, an exposure time for a digital image sensor of the digital camera, and an effective exposure time corresponding to an exposure time of the film camera; responsive to the input, determining: for each of a plurality of sub-exposures an exposure duration and a corresponding starting exposure time, such that: the sum of the exposure durations is substantially the same as the exposure time for the digital image sensor, and the starting exposure times take place within the effective exposure time, a pulse pattern for an expose input of the image sensor such that the expose input is enabled starting at each of the plurality of starting exposure times and disabled after the corresponding exposure duration, the expose input configured to cause the image sensor to capture image information representative of light incident upon the image sensor in response to the enabling of the expose input, and wherein, upon the disabling of the expose input, the expose input is enabled again only after the passage of a non-zero spacing duration of time during which the image sensor does not capture image information representative of light incident upon the image sensor; a pulse pattern for a reset input of the image sensor such that the reset input is enabled at the beginning of a frame, and after a reset duration, is disabled, and a pulse pattern for a read input of the image sensor such that the read input is enabled at the end of the frame, and after a read duration, is disabled, the read input configured to cause the image sensor to output captured image information at an image sensor output in response the enabling of the read input; applying the determined pulse pattern for the expose input at the expose input; applying the determined pulse pattern for the reset input at the reset input; applying the determined pulse pattern for the read input at the read input; and upon an enabling of the read input, storing output image information from the image sensor output in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.