Patent ID: 8330832

Claim:
A host device comprising: an arrangement of one or more optical elements; an image sensor that includes processing capabilities, said image sensor comprising a pixel array optically coupled to said arrangement of one or more optical elements, said image sensor arranged to read a captured image from said pixel array, said image sensor supporting a discrete set of zoom factors; a processor coupled to said image sensor; a display module coupled to said processor; a memory coupled to said processor, said memory arranged to store indications of offered digital zoom levels, each of said offered digital zoom levels having cropped image dimensions corresponding thereto, said memory further arranged to store for each of said offered digital zoom levels an indication of a corresponding one of said zoom factors, said memory comprising: a first buffer to store a recordable image which is derived from said captured image; and a second buffer to store a preview image which is derived from said captured image and is to be displayed by said display module; and a user input component coupled to said processor to detect input indicative of one of said offered digital zoom levels, wherein said memory is further arranged to store for each of said offered digital zoom levels a sharpness value associated therewith, such that not all sharpness values are equal and the sharpness value associated with any of said offered digital zoom levels is less than or equal to the sharpness value associated with any higher one of said offered digital zoom levels, wherein said memory stores code which, when executed by said processor, in response to detection of said input, identifies which of said offered digital zoom levels is indicated by said input and controls said image sensor to generate said preview image at the zoom factor corresponding to said identified offered digital zoom level and at the sharpness value associated with said identified offered digital zoom level.