PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-8736697-B2
Application Number: US-201113071585-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Digital camera having burst image capture mode

Abstract:
A digital camera having a burst image capture mode, comprising: an image sensor; an optical system; a data processing system; an image memory; and a program memory storing instructions configured to implement a method for capturing a sequence of digital images in the burst image capture mode. The instructions include: capturing two or more evaluation digital images of a scene that includes a moving object; analyzing the evaluation digital images to determine a rate of motion for the moving object; determining a frame rate responsive to the rate of motion for the moving object; initiating an image capture sequence; capturing a sequence of digital images; and storing a set of captured digital images corresponding to the determined frame rate in the image memory.

Claims:
The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A digital camera, comprising:
 an image sensor; 
 an optical system for forming an image onto the image sensor; 
 a data processing system; 
 an image memory communicatively connected to the data processing system; and 
 a program memory communicatively connected to the data processing system and storing instructions configured to cause the data processing system to implement a method for capturing a sequence of digital images in a burst image capture mode, wherein the instructions include:
 capturing two or more evaluation digital images of a scene using the image sensor, each evaluation digital image being captured at a different time, wherein the scene includes a moving object; 
 analyzing the two or more evaluation digital images to determine a rate of motion for the moving object; 
 determining a frame rate responsive to the rate of motion for the moving object by:
 determining an initial object position for the moving object; 
 determining a projected time interval required for the moving object to reach an edge of the scene depicted in the evaluation digital images based on the rate of motion; and 
 determining the frame rate responsive to the projected time interval and a specified number of digital images; 
 
 capturing a sequence of digital images of the scene using the image sensor, each digital image being captured at a different time; and 
 storing a set of captured digital images corresponding to the determined frame rate in the image memory. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the rate of motion includes both a direction and a magnitude. 
     
     
       3. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the specified number of digital images is predefined. 
     
     
       4. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the specified number of digital images is user-selectable using a user interface provided on the digital camera. 
     
     
       5. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the specified number of digital images is determined responsive to the rate of motion. 
     
     
       6. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the specified number of digital images is determined responsive to a size of the moving object. 
     
     
       7. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the specified number of digital images is determined such that a depiction of the moving object in any one of the captured digital images in the set will be substantially non-overlapping with a depiction of the moving object in any other captured digital image in the set. 
     
     
       8. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the sequence of digital images are captured at the determined frame rate, and wherein all of the captured digital images in the sequence of digital images are stored in the image memory. 
     
     
       9. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the sequence of digital images are captured at a predetermined frame rate that is faster than the determined frame rate, and wherein only a subset of the captured digital images in the sequence of digital images corresponding to the determined frame rate are stored in the image memory. 
     
     
       10. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the moving object is a main subject in the scene as determined using a main subject detection algorithm. 
     
     
       11. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the moving object is a foreground object in the scene. 
     
     
       12. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the moving object is an object determined to be a fastest moving object in the scene. 
     
     
       13. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein each of the digital images in the stored set of captured digital images are stored in separate digital image files. 
     
     
       14. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the digital images in the stored set of captured digital images are combined to form a composite image, and wherein the composite image is stored in the image memory. 
     
     
       15. The digital camera of  claim 14  wherein the composite image is a montage image including each of the digital images in the stored set of captured digital images. 
     
     
       16. The digital camera of  claim 14  wherein the composite image is formed by extracting the moving object from the digital images in the stored set of captured digital images and combining them onto a common background image. 
     
     
       17. The digital camera of  claim 16  wherein the common background image corresponds to a background from one of the digital images in the stored set of digital images, or to a combination of backgrounds from a plurality of the digital images in the stored set of digital images. 
     
     
       18. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein rates of motion are determined for a plurality of moving objects, and wherein the frame rate is determined responsive to the rates of motion for the plurality of moving objects. 
     
     
       19. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein one or more of the evaluation digital images are included in the sequence of digital images. 
     
     
       20. The digital camera of  claim 1  further including the step of adjusting one or more image capture settings used to capture the sequence of digital images responsive to the rate of motion for the moving object. 
     
     
       21. The digital camera of  claim 20  wherein the one or more image capture settings include an exposure time setting, a lens aperture setting, an exposure index setting, an image resolution setting, or a sensor readout configuration setting. 
     
     
       22. The digital camera of  claim 1  wherein the captured sequence of digital images is a digital video sequence.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Reference is made to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/021,034, entitled “Estimating subject motion for capture setting determination,” by Jasinski et al.; to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/021,067, entitled “Estimating subject motion between image frames,” by Jasinski et al.; to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/071,595, entitled “Composite image formed from an image sequence,” by Fintel et al.; and to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/071,615, entitled “Digital camera for capturing an image sequence,” by Jasinski et al., each of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention pertains to the field of digital imaging, and more particularly to a method for adjusting the frame rate used for a burst image capture mode based upon a determined rate of motion for a moving object. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Digital camera devices have continued to increase in complexity and capabilities with the advent of new image capture modes that offer the user unique output image characteristics. One such image capture mode is a composite burst image capture mode where a plurality of images are acquired over a specified time interval and one or more subjects in the scene are extracted from multiple images and combined onto a common background. The resulting composite image provides a stop action effect for the subject in motion as illustrated in  FIG. 1A . As a creative mode, this capability enables the user to observe the motion of a skier, the running of a child or any other conditions where subject motion allows for a proper stop-action effect. 
     A key consideration of the composite burst image mode is the proper selection of the time separation between individual captures that are combined into the single composite image. Currently, for typical embodiments of this image capture mode, various image capture settings (e.g., the number of “burst” images and, either the total time duration for the image sequence or the time spacing between sequential image captures) must be specified via a user interface prior to the user capturing the moment of action. This requires the user to make a guess about the appropriate image capture settings prior to initiating the capture of the sequence of images. Given that knowledge about the motion of the moving objects will be rarely known in advance, this can lead to unsatisfactory results in many cases. This can be further complicated by the fact that the user may forget to adjust the image capture settings before the capture of new conditions. An example of an unsatisfactory result would correspond to the subject moving too slowly relative to the capture rate, resulting in too little separation between the object positions in the resulting composite image as illustrated in  FIG. 1B . An analogous problem would occur when the subject is moving too rapidly relative to the capture rate so that it moves too quickly through the camera&#39;s field of view. Both of these examples would result in a poor user experience of the resulting output composite image. 
     Some recently introduced digital cameras include a capability to automatically analyze captured images to determine the motion characteristics present within the image content of interest. The motion characteristics are used for purposes such as determining the optimal exposure time. 
     Various methods of estimating motion are available to those skilled in the art, the most common of which is to capture two images separated in time and measure the change in spatial location of objects between frames. One such method is described by De Haan in U.S. Pat. No. 5,929,919, entitled “Motion-compensated field rate conversion.” 
     U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/0237514 to Pillman et al., entitled “Varying camera self-determination based on subject motion,” teaches a method for capturing digital images where motion in the scene is measured prior to image capture. Various camera settings are adjusted responsive to the determined scene motion. 
     There remains a need for a method to adjust image capture settings and image buffer management for an electronic image capture device to provide improved image quality of a final composite image containing moving objects captured in a burst image capture mode. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention represents a digital camera having a burst image capture mode, comprising: 
     an image sensor for capturing a digital image; 
     an optical system for forming an image of a scene onto the image sensor; 
     a data processing system; 
     an image memory for storing captured digital images; and 
     a program memory communicatively connected to the data processing system and storing instructions configured to cause the data processing system to implement a method for capturing a sequence of digital images in the burst image capture mode, wherein the instructions include:
         capturing two or more evaluation digital images of the scene using the image sensor, wherein the scene includes a moving object;   analyzing the two or more evaluation digital images to determine a rate of motion for the moving object;   determining a frame rate responsive to the rate of motion for the moving object;   initiating an image capture sequence;   capturing a sequence of digital images; and   storing a set of captured digital images corresponding to the determined frame rate in the image memory.       

     This invention has the advantage that the frame rate used to capture the sequence of digital images is optimized relative to the rate of motion of the moving object. Other image capture settings such as the number of images in the sequence of digital images, as well as the exposure time and exposure index, can also be automatically optimized responsive to the rate of motion 
     It has the further advantage that the sequence of digital images can be used to create composite burst images where the spatial displacement of the moving object is optimized without the need for the user to guess at the image capture settings that would be needed to produce a desirable result. 
     It has the additional advantage that the rate of motion can be determined by automatically analyzing the evaluation images to identify moving objects that are likely to be of interest to the photographer. In this way, the frame rate can be determined in a manner that accounts for the object motions that are most likely to affect perceived image quality of the composite image. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1A  is an illustration of a composite image captured using a composite burst image capture mode; 
         FIG. 1B  is an illustration of a composite image captured using a composite burst image capture mode using a sub-optimal time interval; 
         FIG. 2  is a high level schematic diagram of a camera system in a preferred configuration of the present invention for controlling the burst rate capture of an image sequence. 
         FIG. 3  is a high-level diagram showing the components of a digital camera system; 
         FIG. 4  is a flow chart of a method for capturing a sequence of digital images in a burst image capture mode; 
         FIG. 5  is a flow chart showing additional details for the determine frame rate step of  FIG. 4  according to one embodiment; 
         FIGS. 6A-6C  show examples of composite images formed using a composite burst mode in accordance with various embodiments; 
         FIG. 7A  illustrates a moving object transitioning through an image field of view with a constant velocity; 
         FIG. 7B  illustrates a moving object transitioning through an image field of view with a non-constant velocity; and 
         FIG. 8  flow chart showing additional details for the capture digital image sequence step of  FIG. 4  according to one embodiment 
     
    
    
     It is to be understood that the attached drawings are for purposes of illustrating the concepts of the invention and may not be to scale. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention represents a digital camera having a burst image capture mode setting where the velocity of an object in the frame of view is used to determine the capture frame rate and the memory buffer requirements, which are then used to generate a composite image highlighting the object in motion. This invention provides a configuration for automatically determining various image capture settings, thereby reducing the need for the operator to manually determine the image capture settings, and reducing the number of unacceptable results. 
     In the following description, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in terms that would ordinarily be implemented as a software program. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the equivalent of such software can also be constructed in hardware. Because image manipulation algorithms and systems are well known, the present description will be directed in particular to algorithms and systems forming part of, or cooperating more directly with, the system and method in accordance with the present invention. Other aspects of such algorithms and systems, and hardware or software for producing and otherwise processing the image signals involved therewith, not specifically shown or described herein, can be selected from such systems, algorithms, components and elements known in the art. Given the system as described according to the invention in the following materials, software not specifically shown, suggested or described herein that is useful for implementation of the invention is conventional and within the ordinary skill in such arts. 
     Still further, as used herein, a computer program for performing the method of the present invention can be stored in a computer readable storage medium, which can include, for example; magnetic storage media such as a magnetic disk (such as a hard drive or a floppy disk) or magnetic tape; optical storage media such as an optical disc, optical tape, or machine readable bar code; solid state electronic storage devices such as random access memory (RAM), or read only memory (ROM); or any other physical device or medium employed to store a computer program having instructions for controlling one or more computers to practice the method according to the present invention. 
     The invention is inclusive of combinations of the embodiments described herein. References to “a particular embodiment” and the like refer to features that are present in at least one embodiment of the invention. Separate references to “an embodiment” or “particular embodiments” or the like do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or embodiments; however, such embodiments are not mutually exclusive, unless so indicated or as are readily apparent to one of skill in the art. The use of singular or plural in referring to the “method” or “methods” and the like is not limiting. It should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly noted or required by context, the word “or” is used in this disclosure in a non-exclusive sense. 
     Because digital cameras employing imaging devices and related circuitry for signal capture and processing, and display are well known, the present description will be directed in particular to elements forming part of, or cooperating more directly with, the method and apparatus in accordance with the present invention. Elements not specifically shown or described herein are selected from those known in the art. Certain aspects of the embodiments to be described are provided in software. Given the system as shown and described according to the invention in the following materials, software not specifically shown, described or suggested herein that is useful for implementation of the invention is conventional and within the ordinary skill in such arts. 
     The following description of a digital camera will be familiar to one skilled in the art. It will be obvious that there are many variations of this embodiment that are possible and are selected to reduce the cost, add features or improve the performance of the camera. 
       FIG. 2  depicts a block diagram of a digital photography system, including a digital camera  10  in accordance with the present invention. Preferably, the digital camera  10  is a portable battery operated device, small enough to be easily handheld by a user when capturing and reviewing images. The digital camera  10  produces digital images that are stored as digital image files using image memory  30 . The phrase “digital image” or “digital image file”, as used herein, refers to any digital image file, such as a digital still image or a digital video file. 
     In some embodiments, the digital camera  10  captures both motion video images and still images. The digital camera  10  can also include other functions, including, but not limited to, the functions of a digital music player (e.g. an MP3 player), a mobile telephone, a GPS receiver, or a programmable digital assistant (PDA). 
     The digital camera  10  includes a lens  4  having an adjustable aperture and adjustable shutter  6 . In a preferred embodiment, the lens  4  is a zoom lens and is controlled by zoom and focus motor drives  8 . The lens  4  focuses light from a scene (not shown) onto an image sensor  14 , for example, a single-chip color CCD or CMOS image sensor. The lens  4  is one type optical system for forming an image of the scene on the image sensor  14 . In other embodiments, the optical system may use a fixed focal length lens with either variable or fixed focus. 
     The output of the image sensor  14  is converted to digital form by Analog Signal Processor (ASP) and Analog-to-Digital (A/D) converter  16 , and temporarily stored in buffer memory  18 . The image data stored in buffer memory  18  is subsequently manipulated by a processor  20 , using embedded software programs (e.g. firmware) stored in firmware memory  28 . In some embodiments, the software program is permanently stored in firmware memory  28  using a read only memory (ROM). In other embodiments, the firmware memory  28  can be modified by using, for example, Flash EPROM memory. In such embodiments, an external device can update the software programs stored in firmware memory  28  using the wired interface  38  or the wireless modem  50 . In such embodiments, the firmware memory  28  can also be used to store image sensor calibration data, user setting selections and other data which must be preserved when the camera is turned off. In some embodiments, the processor  20  includes a program memory (not shown), and the software programs stored in the firmware memory  28  are copied into the program memory before being executed by the processor  20 . 
     It will be understood that the functions of processor  20  can be provided using a single programmable processor or by using multiple programmable processors, including one or more digital signal processor (DSP) devices. Alternatively, the processor  20  can be provided by custom circuitry (e.g., by one or more custom integrated circuits (ICs) designed specifically for use in digital cameras), or by a combination of programmable processor(s) and custom circuits. It will be understood that connectors between the processor  20  from some or all of the various components shown in  FIG. 2  can be made using a common data bus. For example, in some embodiments the connection between the processor  20 , the buffer memory  18 , the image memory  30 , and the firmware memory  28  can be made using a common data bus. 
     The processed images are then stored using the image memory  30 . It is understood that the image memory  30  can be any form of memory known to those skilled in the art including, but not limited to, a removable Flash memory card, internal Flash memory chips, magnetic memory, or optical memory. In some embodiments, the image memory  30  can include both internal Flash memory chips and a standard interface to a removable Flash memory card, such as a Secure Digital (SD) card. Alternatively, a different memory card format can be used, such as a micro SD card, Compact Flash (CF) card, MultiMedia Card (MMC), xD card or Memory Stick. 
     The image sensor  14  is commonly controlled by a timing generator  12 , which produces various clocking signals to select rows and pixels and synchronizes the operation of the ASP and A/D converter  16 . The image sensor  14  can have, for example, 12.4 megapixels (4088×3040 pixels) in order to provide a still image file of approximately 4000×3000 pixels. To provide a color image, the image sensor  14  is generally overlaid with a color filter array, which provides an image sensor having an array of pixels that include different colored pixels. The different color pixels can be arranged in many different patterns. As one example, the different color pixels can be arranged using the well-known Bayer color filter array, as described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,065, “Color imaging array” to Bayer, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. As a second example, the different color pixels can be arranged as described in commonly assigned U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/0024931 to Compton and Hamilton, entitled “Image sensor with improved light sensitivity,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. These examples are not limiting, and many other color patterns may be used. 
     A motion analysis block  54  is used to analyze captured preview images to characterize motion in the scene. Preferably, the motion analysis block  54  uses consecutively captured analysis images to determine image motion vectors representing the velocity associated with specific image subject content. The motion analysis block  54  can use any method known in the art to determine the image motion vectors. In one embodiment, the method for estimating subject motion described in co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/021,067 to Jasinski et al., entitled, “Estimating subject motion between image frames,” which is incorporated herein by reference, can be used to determine image motion vectors for one or more objects in the image. Other methods for determining image motion vectors would include the method described by De Haan in U.S. Pat. No. 5,929,919, entitled “Motion-compensated field rate conversion,” and the method described by Barjatya in the article “Block matching algorithms for motion estimation” (DIP 6620 final project paper, Utah State University, Spring 2004). 
     As will be discussed in more detail later, when the digital camera  10  is being operated in a burst image capture mode, the present invention incorporates the information from the motion analysis block  54  and the timing generator  12  to determine various image capture parameters and to control allocation of the buffer memory  18 . 
     It will be understood that the image sensor  14 , timing generator  12 , and ASP and A/D converter  16  can be separately fabricated integrated circuits, or they can be fabricated as a single integrated circuit as is commonly done with CMOS image sensors. In some embodiments, this single integrated circuit can perform some of the other functions shown in  FIG. 2 , including some of the functions provided by processor  20 . 
     The image sensor  14  is effective when actuated in a first mode by timing generator  12  for providing a motion sequence of lower resolution sensor image data, which is used when capturing video images and also when previewing a still image to be captured, in order to compose the image. This preview mode sensor image data can be provided as HD resolution image data, for example, with 1920×1040 pixels, or as VGA resolution image data, for example, with 640×480 pixels, or using other resolutions which have significantly fewer columns and rows of data, compared to the resolution of the image sensor. 
     The preview mode sensor image data can be provided by combining values of adjacent pixels having the same color, or by eliminating some of the pixels values, or by combining some color pixels values while eliminating other color pixel values. The preview mode image data can be processed as described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,218 to Parulski, et al., entitled “Electronic camera for initiating capture of still images while previewing motion images,” which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     The image sensor  14  is also effective when actuated in a second mode by timing generator  12  for providing high resolution still image data. This final mode sensor image data is provided as high resolution output image data, which for scenes having a high illumination level includes all of the pixels of the image sensor, and can be, for example, a 12 megapixel final image data having 4000×3000 pixels. At lower illumination levels, the final sensor image data can be provided by “binning” some number of like-colored pixels on the image sensor  14 , in order to increase the signal level and thus the “ISO speed” of the sensor. 
     The zoom and focus motor drivers  8  are controlled by control signals supplied by the processor  20 , to provide the appropriate focal length setting and to focus the scene onto the image sensor  14 . The exposure level of the image sensor  14  is controlled by controlling the F/# and exposure time of the adjustable aperture and adjustable shutter  6 , the exposure period of the image sensor  14  via the timing generator  12 , and the gain (i.e., ISO speed) setting of the ASP and A/D converter  16 . The processor  20  also controls a flash  2  which can illuminate the scene. As described in commonly-assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/021,034 to Jasinski et al., entitled “Estimating subject motion for capture setting determination,” the F/# and the exposure time, as well as the flash setting are preferably determined responsive to a detected motion velocity. 
     The lens  4  of the digital camera  10  can be focused in the first mode by using “through-the-lens” autofocus, as described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,597, entitled “Electronic Camera with Rapid Automatic Focus of an Image upon a Progressive Scan Image Sensor” to Parulski et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. This is accomplished by using the zoom and focus motor drivers  8  to adjust the focus position of the lens  4  to a number of positions ranging between a near focus position to an infinity focus position, while the processor  20  determines the closest focus position which provides a peak sharpness value for a central portion of the image captured by the image sensor  14 . The focus distance which corresponds to the closest focus position can then be utilized for several purposes, such as automatically setting an appropriate scene mode, and can be stored as metadata in the image file, along with other lens and camera settings. 
     The processor  20  produces menus and low resolution color images that are temporarily stored in display memory  36  and are displayed on the image display  32 . The image display  32  is typically an active matrix color liquid crystal display (LCD), although other types of displays, such as organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, can be used. A video interface  44  provides a video output signal from the digital camera  10  to a video display  46 , such as a flat panel HDTV display. In preview mode, or video mode, the digital image data from buffer memory  18  is manipulated by processor  20  to form a series of motion preview images that are displayed, typically as color images, on the image display  32 . In review mode, the images displayed on the image display  32  are produced using the image data from the digital image files stored in image memory  30 . 
     The graphical user interface displayed on the image display  32  is controlled in response to user input provided by user controls  34 . The user controls  34  are used to select various camera modes, such as video capture mode, still capture mode, burst image capture mode, and review mode, and to initiate capture of still images, recording of motion images. The user controls  34  are also used to set user processing preferences, and to choose between various photography modes based on scene type and taking conditions. In some embodiments, various camera settings may be set automatically in response to analysis of preview image data, audio signals, or external signals such as GPS, weather broadcasts, or other available signals. 
     In some embodiments, when the digital camera  10  is in a still photography mode the above-described preview mode is initiated when the user partially depresses a shutter button, which is one of the user controls  34 , and the still image capture mode is initiated when the user fully depresses the shutter button. The user controls  34  are also used to turn on the digital camera  10 , control the lens  4 , and initiate the picture taking process. User controls  34  typically include some combination of buttons, rocker switches, joysticks, or rotary dials. In some embodiments, some of the user controls  34  are provided by using a touch screen overlay on the image display  32 . In other embodiments, the user controls  34  can include a means to receive input from the user or an external device via a tethered, wireless, voice activated, visual or other interface. In other embodiments, additional status displays or images displays can be used. 
     The camera modes that can be selected using the user controls  34  include a “timer” mode. When the “timer” mode is selected, a short delay (e.g., 10 seconds) occurs after the user fully presses the shutter button, before the processor  20  initiates the capture of a still image. 
     An audio codec  22  connected to the processor  20  receives an audio signal from a microphone  24  and provides an audio signal to a speaker  26 . These components can be used to record and playback an audio track, along with a video sequence or still image. If the digital camera  10  is a multi-function device such as a combination camera and mobile phone, the microphone  24  and the speaker  26  can be used for telephone conversation. 
     In some embodiments, the speaker  26  can be used as part of the user interface, for example to provide various audible signals which indicate that a user control has been depressed, or that a particular mode has been selected. In some embodiments, the microphone  24 , the audio codec  22 , and the processor  20  can be used to provide voice recognition, so that the user can provide a user input to the processor  20  by using voice commands, rather than user controls  34 . The speaker  26  can also be used to inform the user of an incoming phone call. This can be done using a standard ring tone stored in firmware memory  28 , or by using a custom ring-tone downloaded from a wireless network  58  and stored in the image memory  30 . In addition, a vibration device (not shown) can be used to provide a silent (e.g., non audible) notification of an incoming phone call. 
     The processor  20  also provides additional processing of the image data from the image sensor  14 , in order to produce rendered sRGB image data which is compressed and stored within a “finished” image file, such as a well-known Exif-JPEG image file, in the image memory  30 . 
     The digital camera  10  can be connected via the wired interface  38  to an interface/recharger  48 , which is connected to a computer  40 , which can be a desktop computer or portable computer located in a home or office. The wired interface  38  can conform to, for example, the well-known USB 2.0 interface specification. The interface/recharger  48  can provide power via the wired interface  38  to a set of rechargeable batteries (not shown) in the digital camera  10 . 
     The digital camera  10  can include a wireless modem  50 , which interfaces over a radio frequency band  52  with the wireless network  58 . The wireless modem  50  can use various wireless interface protocols, such as the well-known Bluetooth wireless interface or the well-known 802.11 wireless interface. The computer  40  can upload images via the Internet  70  to a photo service provider  72 , such as the Kodak EasyShare Gallery. Other devices (not shown) can access the images stored by the photo service provider  72 . 
     In alternative embodiments, the wireless modem  50  communicates over a radio frequency (e.g. wireless) link with a mobile phone network (not shown), such as a 3GSM network, which connects with the Internet  70  in order to upload digital image files from the digital camera  10 . These digital image files can be provided to the computer  40  or the photo service provider  72 . 
       FIG. 3  is a flow diagram depicting image processing operations that can be performed by the processor  20  in the digital camera  10  ( FIG. 2 ) in order to process color sensor data  100  from the image sensor  14  output by the ASP and A/D converter  16 . In some embodiments, the processing parameters used by the processor  20  to manipulate the color sensor data  100  for a particular digital image are determined by various photography mode settings  175 , which are typically associated with photography modes that can be selected via the user controls  34 , which enable the user to adjust various camera settings  185  in response to menus displayed on the image display  32 . As will be described later, in the Composite mode settings  190  and the camera settings  185  (including the image capture settings for the buffer memory  18  and the timing generator  12  from  FIG. 2 ) are adjusted responsive to a determined motion velocity according to a preferred embodiment. 
     The color sensor data  100  which has been digitally converted by the ASP and A/D converter  16  is manipulated by a white balance step  95 . In some embodiments, this processing can be performed using the methods described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,542,077 to Miki, entitled “White balance adjustment device and color identification device”, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. The white balance can be adjusted in response to a white balance setting  90 , which can be manually set by a user, or which can be automatically set by the digital camera  10 . 
     The color image data is then manipulated by a noise reduction step  105  in order to reduce noise from the image sensor  14 . In some embodiments, this processing can be performed using the methods described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,934,056 to Gindele et al., entitled “Noise cleaning and interpolating sparsely populated color digital image using a variable noise cleaning kernel,” the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. The level of noise reduction can be adjusted in response to the exposure index setting  110 , so that more filtering is performed at higher exposure index setting. 
     The color image data is then manipulated by a demosaicing step  115 , in order to provide red, green and blue (RGB) image data values at each pixel location. Algorithms for performing the demosaicing step  115  are commonly known as color filter array (CFA) interpolation algorithms or “deBayering” algorithms. In one embodiment of the present invention, the demosaicing step  115  can use the luminance CFA interpolation method described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,621, entitled “Adaptive color plane interpolation in single sensor color electronic camera,” to Adams et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The demosaicing step  115  can also use the chrominance CFA interpolation method described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,678, entitled “Signal processing method and apparatus for producing interpolated chrominance values in a sampled color image signal”, to Cok, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. 
     In some embodiments, the user can select between different pixel resolution modes, so that the digital camera  10  can produce a smaller size image file. Multiple pixel resolutions can be provided as described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,335, entitled “Single sensor color camera with user selectable image record size,” to Parulski et al., the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. In some embodiments, a resolution mode setting  120  can be selected by the user to be full size (e.g. 4,000×3,000 pixels), medium size (e.g. 2,000×1,500 pixels) or small size (750×500 pixels). 
     The color image data is color corrected in color correction step  125 . In some embodiments, the color correction is provided using a 3×3 linear space color correction matrix, as described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,511, entitled “Method and apparatus for improving the color rendition of hardcopy images from electronic cameras” to Parulski, et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In some embodiments, different user-selectable color modes can be provided by storing different color matrix coefficients in firmware memory  28  of the digital camera  10 . For example, four different color modes can be provided, so that the color mode setting  130  is used to select one of the following color correction matrices: 
     Setting 1 (normal color reproduction) 
                     [           R   out               G   out               B   out           ]     =       [         1.50         -   0.30           -   0.20               -   0.40         1.80         -   0.40               -   0.20           -   0.20         1.40         ]     ⁡     [           R     i   ⁢           ⁢   n                 G     i   ⁢           ⁢   n                 B     i   ⁢           ⁢   n             ]               (   1   )               
Setting 2 (saturated color reproduction)
 
                     [           R   out               G   out               B   out           ]     =       [         2.00         -   0.60           -   0.40               -   0.80         2.60         -   0.80               -   0.40           -   0.40         1.80         ]     ⁡     [           R     i   ⁢           ⁢   n                 G     i   ⁢           ⁢   n                 B     i   ⁢           ⁢   n             ]               (   2   )               
Setting 3 (de-saturated color reproduction)
 
                     [           R   out               G   out               B   out           ]     =       [         1.25         -   0.15           -   0.10               -   0.20         1.40         -   0.20               -   0.10           -   0.10         1.20         ]     ⁡     [           R     i   ⁢           ⁢   n                 G     i   ⁢           ⁢   n                 B     i   ⁢           ⁢   n             ]               (   3   )               
Setting 4 (monochrome)
 
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
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                             R 
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                             G 
                             out 
                           
                         
                       
                       
                         
                           
                             B 
                             out 
                           
                         
                       
                     
                     ] 
                   
                   = 
                   
                     
                       [ 
                       
                         
                           
                             0.30 
                           
                           
                             0.60 
                           
                           
                             0.10 
                           
                         
                         
                           
                             0.30 
                           
                           
                             0.60 
                           
                           
                             0.10 
                           
                         
                         
                           
                             0.30 
                           
                           
                             0.60 
                           
                           
                             0.10 
                           
                         
                       
                       ] 
                     
                     ⁡ 
                     
                       [ 
                       
                         
                           
                             
                               R 
                               
                                 i 
                                 ⁢ 
                                 
                                     
                                 
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                                 n 
                               
                             
                           
                         
                         
                           
                             
                               G 
                               
                                 i 
                                 ⁢ 
                                 
                                     
                                 
                                 ⁢ 
                                 n 
                               
                             
                           
                         
                         
                           
                             
                               B 
                               
                                 i 
                                 ⁢ 
                                 
                                     
                                 
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                                 n 
                               
                             
                           
                         
                       
                       ] 
                     
                   
                 
               
               
                 
                   ( 
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     In other embodiments, a three-dimensional lookup table can be used to perform the color correction step  125 . 
     The color image data is also manipulated by a tone scale correction step  135 . In some embodiments, the tone scale correction step  135  can be performed using a one-dimensional look-up table as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,511, cited earlier. In some embodiments, a plurality of tone scale correction look-up tables is stored in the firmware memory  28  in the digital camera  10 . These can include look-up tables which provide a “normal” tone scale correction curve, a “high contrast” tone scale correction curve, and a “low contrast” tone scale correction curve. A user selected contrast setting  140  is used by the processor  20  to determine which of the tone scale correction look-up tables to use when performing the tone scale correction step  135 . 
     When the digital camera  10  is operating in the burst image capture mode, a burst image compositing step  195  can optionally be used to form a composite image according to composite settings  190 . This step is shown with a dashed outline reflecting the fact that it is an optional step that is only applied when the user has set the user controls  34  of the digital camera  10  to form a composite image using the burst image capture mode. Using the selected digital images contained within the image buffer  18 , specific image scene components within each digital image are combined to form the composite image. Typically, an image background is formed using image content from one or more of the digital images. Then subject image regions corresponding to one or more objects that had transitioned across the image background are extracted from the selected digital images and merged onto the image background. Additional details regarding the capturing of a set of digital images that can be used for the burst image compositing step  195  will be described later. 
     The color image data is also manipulated by an image sharpening step  145 . In some embodiments, this can be provided using the methods described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,192,162 entitled “Edge enhancing colored digital images” to Hamilton, et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In some embodiments, the user can select between various sharpening settings, including a “normal sharpness” setting, a “high sharpness” setting, and a “low sharpness” setting. In this example, the processor  20  uses one of three different edge boost multiplier values, for example 2.0 for “high sharpness”, 1.0 for “normal sharpness”, and 0.5 for “low sharpness” levels, responsive to a sharpening setting  150  selected by the user of the digital camera  10 . 
     The color image data is also manipulated by an image compression step  155 . In some embodiments, the image compression step  155  can be provided using the methods described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,574, entitled “Adaptive block transform image coding method and apparatus” to Daly et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In some embodiments, the user can select between various compression settings. This can be implemented by storing a plurality of quantization tables, for example, three different tables, in the firmware memory  28  of the digital camera  10 . These tables provide different quality levels and average file sizes for the compressed digital image file  180  to be stored in the image memory  30  of the digital camera  10 . A user selected compression mode setting  160  is used by the processor  20  to select the particular quantization table to be used for the image compression step  155  for a particular image. 
     The compressed color image data is stored in a digital image file  180  using a file formatting step  165 . The image file can include various metadata  170 . Metadata  170  is any type of information that relates to the digital image, such as the model of the camera that captured the image, the size of the image, the date and time the image was captured, and various camera settings, such as the lens focal length, the exposure time and f-number of the lens, and whether or not the camera flash fired. In a preferred embodiment, all of this metadata  170  is stored using standardized tags within the well-known Exif-JPEG still image file format. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the metadata  170  includes information about various camera settings  185 , including the photography mode settings  175 . 
     When the digital camera  10  is operated in a burst image capture mode, the image sensor  14  is actuated by the timing generator  12  as specified by the motion analysis  54  to fill the buffer memory  18  with a set of captured digital images. In some embodiments, the set of captured digital images is then used to form a composite burst image using the burst image compositing step  195 . 
       FIG. 4  shows a flowchart for a method of capturing digital images in a burst image capture mode according to an embodiment of the present invention. A capture evaluation images step  400  is used to capture two or more evaluation digital images  405  of a scene that includes at least one moving object. In some embodiments, this step is performed at the time when the user activates a user interface control (e.g., a shutter button) to initiate the capture of a burst of digital images. In other embodiments, the digital camera  10  ( FIG. 1 ) is configured so that the capture evaluation images step  400  runs continuously in the background when the digital camera  10  is turned on and is set to operate in the burst image capture mode. In some embodiments, the capture evaluation images step  400  is initiated when the user presses the shutter button to an intermediate position in preparation for initiating the capture of a burst of digital images. 
     A determine rate of motion step  410  is used to determine a rate of motion  415  for at least one moving object by analyzing the evaluation digital images  405 . In a preferred embodiment, the rate of motion  415  is an image motion vector giving a direction and a magnitude of the object motion. The determine rate of motion step  410  is performed by the motion analysis block  54  shown in  FIG. 2 . As mentioned earlier, the motion analysis block  54  can use any method known in the art to determine the rate of motion, such as the method for estimating subject motion described in the aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/021,067, entitled “Estimating subject motion between image frames.” 
     In a preferred embodiment, the determine rate of motion step  410  determines the rate of motion  415  for a moving foreground object in the scene. In some instances, the determine rate of motion step  410  may detect a plurality of moving foreground objects in the scene. In such cases, a number of different strategies can be used to determine the rate of motion  415 . For example, the rate of motion  415  can be determined for the fastest moving object, or the moving object nearest to the center of the frame. 
     In some embodiments, the rates of motion for the plurality of moving foreground objects can be combined to determine a combined rate of motion. For example, a weighted average of the magnitudes of the rates of motion can be computed. The weights used for the weighted average can be determined in a variety of ways. For example, they can be a function of the size or the position of the moving objects. 
     In some embodiments, a main subject detection algorithm can be used to identify a main subject in the scene. If the main subject corresponds to one of the moving objects, the rate of motion  415  can then be determined based on the main subject. Any method for detecting the main subject known in the art can be used to identify the main subject. Main subject detection algorithms are well-known in the art. One example of a main subject detection algorithm that can be used in accordance with the present invention is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,317 to Luo et al., entitled “Method for automatic determination of main subjects in photographic images,” which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     A determine frame rate step  420  is used to determine a frame rate  425  to be used to capture the burst of digital images responsive to the rate of motion  415 . The frame rate  425  will also typically be a function of a number of images  485  to be included in the burst of digital images. In some configurations, the number of images  485  can be predefined at some fixed value. In other configurations, the number of images  485  can be selected by the user using appropriate user interface elements, such as a menu of options displayed on the image display  32  ( FIG. 2 ). In some embodiments, the number of images  485  can be automatically determined responsive to other factors such as the size of the moving object or the rate of motion  415 . For example, the number of images  485  can be determined so that the image of the moving object in each of the captured digital images will be substantially non-overlapping with the images of the moving object in the other captured digital images. In this case, for larger objects it would be necessary to use a smaller number of images  485  relative to the number of images that could be used for smaller objects. By substantially non-overlapping, we mean that the images of the moving objects in the captured digital images only overlap to small extent (e.g., &lt;10% of the object areas). 
     The determine frame rate step  420  can determine the frame rate  425  using a variety of different strategies. Generally, the frame rate  425  should be selected such that the moving foreground object is spaced out with aesthetically pleasing spatial separations. Additional details for the determine frame rate step  420  according to a preferred embodiment is shown in  FIG. 5 . A determine initial object position step  460  is used to determine an initial object position  465  for the moving object corresponding to the determined rate of motion  415 . 
     A determine projected time interval step  470  is used to determine a projected time interval  475  responsive to the rate of motion  415  and the initial object position  465 . The projected time interval  475  corresponds to the time required for the moving object to reach the edge of the image. In a preferred embodiment, the rate of motion  415  is a motion vector having both a direction and a magnitude. In this case, the projected time interval  475  can be determined by finding a distance D between the initial object position  465  and the edge of the image in the direction associated with the rate of motion  415 . In some embodiments, the distance D can be chosen such that most, or all, of the moving object still falls within the image area at the time when the last image is captured. In this case, the initial object position  465  can be taken to be the position of the “leading edge” of the moving object, so that the distance D corresponds to the distance that the leading edge needs to travel before it reaches the edge of the image. In a preferred embodiment, the distance D is given in units of pixels. However, in other embodiments, the distance D can be expressed in any convenient unit. 
     Given the distance D, the projected time interval  475  can be computed using the following equation:
 
 T=D/V   (5)
 
where V is the magnitude of the rate of motion  415  (i.e., the “speed”), and T is the projected time interval  475 . The value of V can be expressed in any convenient unit such as pixels/sec. (In some embodiments, the displacement (in units of pixels) for the moving object between two consecutive evaluation digital images  405  can be used as a surrogate for the velocity since it will be proportional to the velocity.) It will generally be convenient if the spatial component of V use the same units (e.g., pixels) as the distance D.
 
     A compute frame rate step  480  is used to compute the frame rate  425  responsive to the projected time interval  475  and the number of images  485 . 
     In a preferred embodiment, the frame rate  425  can be determined using the following equation:
 
 R=N/T   (6)
 
where N is the number of images  485  and R is the frame rate  425  expressed in terms of images per unit time (e.g., images/sec).
 
     Returning to a discussion of  FIG. 4 , a capture digital image sequence step  430  is used to capture a digital image sequence  435  including a burst of digital images. In a preferred embodiment, the capture digital image sequence step  430  captures the digital image sequence  435  by adjusting the signal timing produced by the timing generator  12  ( FIG. 2 ) to capture the digital images at the frame rate  425 . In one configuration, this can be done using the variable frame rate configuration described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,434 to Van Blessinger et al., entitled “Record on command recording in a solid state fast frame recorder,” which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     In some embodiments, the digital image sequence  435  can include one or more of the evaluation digital images  405  that were captured by the capture evaluation images step  400 . For example, in one configuration the capture evaluation images step  400  is performed when the user activates the shutter button and two evaluation digital images  405  are captured at the highest possible frame rate. The rate of motion  415  is then determined based on an evaluation of these two evaluation digital images  405 , and an appropriate frame rate  425  is determined. One or more of the evaluation digital images  405  are then used to initialize the digital image sequence  435 . The capture digital image sequence step  430  then captures additional digital images for inclusion in the digital image sequence  435 . If the determined frame rate  425  is slower than the frame rate used to capture the evaluation digital images  405 , then any of the evaluation digital images  405  that do not match the determined frame rate  425  can be deleted. 
     A stored set of captured digital images step  440  is used to store a set of captured digital images  445  in a processor-accessible memory. The processor-accessible memory can be the image memory  30  ( FIG. 2 ), or some other memory such as the buffer memory  18 . For the case where the capture digital image sequence step  430  captured the digital image sequence  435  at the determined frame rate  425 , the set of captured digital images  445  can include all of the images in the digital image sequence  435 . 
     In an alternate embodiment, the capture digital image sequence step  430  captures the digital image sequence  435  at a predetermined fixed frame rate that is faster than the frame rate  425 . In this case, the store set of captured digital images step  440  can select a subset of the captured digital images in the digital image sequence  435  to be stored in the set of captured digital images  445  in accordance with the frame rate  425 . For example, the capture digital image sequence step  430  can capture a set of 20 digital images at a fixed frame rate of 8 images/sec and temporarily store the captured digital images in the buffer memory  18  ( FIG. 2 ). If the user has set the number of images  485  in the burst to be N=5, and the determined frame rate  425  is 4 images/sec, the store set of captured digital images step  440  can store images # 1 , # 3 , # 5 , # 7  and # 9 , which would correspond to the images captured at the determined frame rate  425 . 
     In some embodiments, the method of the present invention can be used to extract a burst of digital images from a digital video sequence. In this case, the digital video sequence can be used as the digital image sequence  435 . Two or more frames from the digital video sequence can be used for the evaluation digital images  405  in order to determine the rate of motion  415 . The store set of captured digital images  440  can then extract a subset of the frames in the digital video sequence corresponding to the determined frame rate  425  to include in the set of captured digital images  445 . This process can be done at the time that the digital video sequence is captured, or alternately can be done at any later time as desired by the user. In some cases, the process can be performed after the digital video sequence has been downloaded to a host computer, using software residing on the host computer rather than using software in the digital video camera itself. 
     The store set of captured digital images  440  can store the set of captured digital images  445  in a variety of different ways. In some embodiments, each digital image in the set of captured digital images  445  can be stored in the image memory  30  ( FIG. 2 ) in separate digital image files. The digital image files can be stored using any format known in the art. In a preferred embodiment, the set of captured digital images  445  can be stored as JPEG files according to the well-known EXIF digital image storage format. In other cases, the set of captured digital images  445  can be stored using other file formats (e.g., using the TIFF file format or a proprietary raw file format). 
     In other embodiments, the set of captured digital images  445  can be combined to form a composite image, and the composite image can then be stored in the image memory  30  ( FIG. 2 ). In some digital camera implementations, the user can be given the choice to choose between two different burst image capture modes: one mode where the set of captured digital images  445  are each stored in separate files, and a second “composite burst mode” where a composite image is formed from the set of captured digital images  445 . In other digital camera implementations, only one type of burst image capture mode may be supported. 
     A composite image can be formed from the set of captured digital images  445  using any method known in the art. In one embodiment, the composite image is a montage image formed by inserting each of the digital images in the set of captured digital images  445  into a template so that they can be viewed together.  FIG. 6A  shows an example of a montage composite image  490  using a “film strip” template. Similarly,  FIG. 6B  shows an example of a montage composite image  492  using a 2×2 rectangular template. 
     In other embodiments, the composite image is formed by extracting the moving object from each of the digital images in the set of captured digital images  445  and combining them onto a common background image. Methods for identifying the boundaries of the moving object and extracting the moving object from the digital image are well-known in the art. Such methods typically work by aligning the backgrounds in the digital images, then computing differences between the aligned sequential digital images to identify the regions where there was movement. In some embodiments, the background from one of the digital images in the set of captured digital images  445  can be used as the common background image. In other embodiments, the backgrounds from a plurality of the digital images can be combined (e.g., by averaging them to remove noise) to form the common background image.  FIG. 6C  shows an example of a composite image  494  of this type where a moving object  496  is extracted from a plurality of digital images and combined with a common background image  498 . 
     Returning now to a discussion of  FIG. 4 , the capture digital image sequence step  430  captures the digital image sequence  435  according to a set of image capture settings  455 . The image capture settings  455  would include various settings such as an exposure time setting, a lens aperture setting, an exposure index setting, an image resolution setting, or a sensor readout configuration setting. In some embodiments one or more of the image capture settings is automatically determined using a determine image capture settings step  450  responsive to the determined rate of motion  415  for the moving object. The determine image capture settings step  450  can use any method known in the art to adjust the image capture settings  455  responsive to the rate of motion  415 . One such method is taught in commonly-assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/021,034 to Jasinski et al., entitled “Estimating subject motion for capture setting determination,” which is incorporated herein by reference. According to this method, image capture settings, including an exposure time setting and an exposure index setting, are automatically determined for an electronic image capture device responsive to a motion velocity. In this way, an exposure time setting can be selected that is sufficient to stop the action of the moving object, while trading off against other considerations such as the increased level of spatial noise in the image that will result from the corresponding increase in the exposure index setting. 
     In some configurations, the image resolution setting to be used to capture the digital image sequence  435  will be a function of the frame rate  425 , which in turn will be a function of the rate of motion  415 . For high frame rates, it may be necessary to use a lower image resolution in order to have sufficient time to store the captured digital image into the buffer memory  18 . 
     Similarly, it may be desirable to use different sensor readout configuration settings as a function of the rate of motion  415 . If the moving object moves a significant distance during the time it takes to read out the lines of image data from the sensor, this can introduce a noticeable geometric distortion where the object position for the bottom of the image is spatially translated relative to the object position at the top of the image. To reduce this problem, a sensor readout configuration setting can be selected which enables the captured digital image to be read out from the image sensor  14  ( FIG. 2 ) in a shorter time interval. For example, multiple lines of sensor data can be binned together so that a smaller number of image lines need to be read out. Full resolution image data can then be reconstructed by interpolation. 
     The above description assumes that the moving object has a uniform velocity. This situation is illustrated in  FIG. 7A , which shows a moving object  500  transitioning through an image field of view with a constant rate of motion. The position of the moving object  500  is shown at three equally spaced times. In this example, the frame rate  425  ( FIG. 4 ) that is determined based on the initial rate of motion will produce a set of captured digital images  445  ( FIG. 4 ) having the desired distribution of object positions. 
     In some situations, the rate of motion for the moving object may vary during the time that the digital image sequence  435  ( FIG. 4 ) is being captured. This is illustrated in  FIG. 7B , which shows a moving object  505  transitioning through an image field of view with a non-constant velocity where the rate of motion is accelerating with time. In some embodiments, it may be desirable to adjust the determined frame rate  425  during the time that the digital image sequence  435  ( FIG. 4 ) is being captured in order to compensate for the changing rate of motion. In one embodiment, this is done by determining a new rate of motion  415  after capturing each digital image in the digital image sequence. A new frame rate  425  can then be determined based on the new rate of motion  415 . In this case, the number of images  485  can be decremented to correspond to the number of remaining digital images that still need to be captured. In this way, the spatial separation of the moving object can be maintained at an approximately equal value when the final composite image is generated. 
       FIG. 8  shows a flow chart for an embodiment of the capture digital image sequence step  430  where the frame rate  425  is updated to account for a moving object with a variable rate of motion. A capture digital image step  200  captures a digital image  235  of the scene. A store digital image step  205 , then stores the digital image  235  in the buffer memory  18  ( FIG. 2 ) as part of the digital image sequence  435 . A done test  210  is used to determine whether the full burst of digital images has been captured. If the number of digital images that have been captured is equal to the number of images  485  then the capture digital image sequence step  430  terminates at terminate image capture step  215 . Otherwise, execution proceeds to an evaluate rate of motion step  220 . In some cases, the done test  210  may also check to verify that the buffer memory  18  ( FIG. 2 ) is not full. If the buffer memory  18  is full then execution of the capture digital image sequence step  430  is terminated. 
     The evaluate rate of motion step  220  determines a new rate of motion for the moving object in the scene. In a preferred embodiment, this is done by determining the spatial position of the moving object in the two most recent digital images that were captured, and computing a rate of motion based on the difference between the spatial positions. A rate different test  225  is used to compare the new rate of motion to the previously determined rate of motion. If the difference between the two rates of motion is less than some predefined threshold, then execution loops back to the capture digital image step  200 , where another digital image  235  is captured. If the rate different test  225  determines that the rate of motion has changed significantly, an update frame rate step  230  is used to determine a new frame rate  425  appropriate for the new rate of motion. If the new rate of motion is significantly slower than the previous rate of motion, then the spatial separation between the two previous images may be too small. In this case, it may be desirable to delete the previously captured digital image from the digital image sequence  435 . Execution then loops back to the capture digital image step  200 , where another digital image  235  is captured. 
     A computer program product can include one or more non-transitory, tangible, computer readable storage medium, for example; magnetic storage media such as magnetic disk (such as a floppy disk) or magnetic tape; optical storage media such as optical disk, optical tape, or machine readable bar code; solid-state electronic storage devices such as random access memory (RAM), or read-only memory (ROM); or any other physical device or media employed to store a computer program having instructions for controlling one or more computers to practice the method according to the present invention. 
     The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention. 
     PARTS LIST 
     
         
           2  flash 
           4  lens 
           6  adjustable aperture and adjustable shutter 
           8  zoom and focus motor drives 
           10  digital camera 
           12  timing generator 
           14  image sensor 
           16  ASP and A/D Converter 
           18  buffer memory 
           20  processor 
           22  audio codec 
           24  microphone 
           26  speaker 
           28  firmware memory 
           30  image memory 
           32  image display 
           34  user controls 
           36  display memory 
           38  wired interface 
           40  computer 
           44  video interface 
           46  video display 
           48  interface/recharger 
           50  wireless modem 
           52  radio frequency band 
           54  motion analysis block 
           58  wireless network 
           70  Internet 
           72  photo service provider 
           90  white balance setting 
           95  white balance step 
           100  color sensor data 
           105  noise reduction step 
           110  exposure index setting 
           115  demosaicing step 
           120  resolution mode setting 
           125  color correction step 
           130  color mode setting 
           135  tone scale correction step 
           140  contrast setting 
           145  image sharpening step 
           150  sharpening setting 
           155  image compression step 
           160  compression mode setting 
           165  file formatting step 
           170  metadata 
           175  photography mode settings 
           180  digital image file 
           185  camera settings 
           190  composite settings 
           195  burst image compositing step 
           200  capture digital image step 
           205  store digital image step 
           210  done test 
           215  terminate image capture step 
           220  evaluate rate of motion step 
           225  rate different test 
           230  update frame rate step 
           235  digital image 
           400  capture evaluation images step 
           405  evaluation digital images 
           410  determine rate of motion step 
           415  rate of motion 
           420  determine frame rate step 
           425  frame rate 
           430  capture digital image sequence step 
           435  digital image sequence 
           440  store set of captured digital images step 
           445  set of captured digital images 
           450  determine image capture settings step 
           455  image capture settings 
           460  determine initial object position step 
           465  initial object position 
           470  determine projected time interval step 
           475  projected time interval 
           480  compute frame rate step 
           485  number of images 
           490  montage composite image 
           492  montage composite image 
           494  composite image 
           496  moving object 
           498  background image 
           500  moving object 
           505  moving object

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20110325
Publication Date: 20140527
Grant Date: 20140527
Priority Date: 20110325
Inventors: FINTEL WILLIAM VERNON
JASINSKI DAVID WAYNE
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04N23/64", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N5/772", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N23/951", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N23/64", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N23/951", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N9/8205", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N9/8205", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N9/8042", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N9/8042", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N5/772", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N5/907", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N5/907", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N9/8211", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N9/8211", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 46877051