Patent ID: 8339475

Claim:
A computer based method of storing a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image to an image storage, comprising: receiving first image data from an image sensor, the first image data generated using a first exposure time; receiving second image data from the image sensor, the second image data generated using a second exposure time that is greater than the first exposure time; scaling luminance values of the first image data based on a ratio of the second exposure time to the first exposure time to create scaled first image data; selectively combining the scaled first image data and the second image data based on an overlap between a first effective dynamic range of the scaled first image data and a second effective dynamic range of the second image data to generate a high dynamic range (HDR) image; generating a tone mapping, including determining a pixel-by-pixel weighting of a global tone mapping value and a local tone mapping value based on a luminance variation within a neighborhood of each pixel of the HDR image; generating a compressed dynamic range HDR image based, at least in part, on the tone mapping; and storing the compressed dynamic range HDR image to the image storage.