Patent ID: 8754953

Claim:
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 data processing system; a storage memory for storing captured images; and a program memory communicatively connected to the data processing system and the storage memory, the program memory storing instructions configured to cause the data processing system to 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: i. increase the F/# of the optical system, ii. capture an additional evaluation image of the scene using the image sensor and the increased F/#, iii. analyze the captured additional evaluation image to determine whether the subject in the captured additional evaluation image is acceptably focused, iv. repeat steps i) through iii) until the subject in the captured additional evaluation image is determined to be acceptably focused, or until the maximum F/# is reached, and v. determine a capture F/# responsive to step iv) 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.