US 12,333,685 B2
Automatic generation of all-in-focus images with a mobile camera
Szepo Robert Hung, Austin, TX (US); and Ying Chen Lou, Santa Clara, CA (US)
Assigned to Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Nov. 10, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/506,812.
Application 18/506,812 is a continuation of application No. 17/628,871, granted, now 11,847,770, previously published as PCT/US2020/037434, filed on Jun. 12, 2020.
Application 17/628,871 is a continuation of application No. 16/589,025, filed on Sep. 30, 2019, granted, now 10,984,513.
Prior Publication US 2024/0078639 A1, Mar. 7, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06T 5/50 (2006.01); G03B 13/36 (2021.01); G06T 5/73 (2024.01); H04N 23/67 (2023.01); H04N 23/80 (2023.01); H04N 23/959 (2023.01)
CPC G06T 5/50 (2013.01) [G03B 13/36 (2013.01); G06T 5/73 (2024.01); H04N 23/676 (2023.01); H04N 23/80 (2023.01); H04N 23/959 (2023.01); G06T 2207/10148 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20221 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
generating a depth map of a field-of-view of a camera, the depth map defining focal distances between a camera and objects-of-interest in the field-of-view of the camera;
sweeping an autofocus lens of the camera to one or more of the focal distances defined by the depth map;
capturing a sample image at each of the focal distances swept by the autofocus lens, each captured sample image comprising an in-focus portion at the focal distance swept by the autofocus lens; and
producing an all-in-focus image by combining together the in-focus portions of each captured sample image with at least one portion of at least one buffer image of the field-of-view of the camera, wherein the at least one buffer image is at least one previous image of the field-of-view of the camera captured prior to sweeping the autofocus lens, and wherein sweeping the autofocus lens of the camera to the one or more focal distances comprises refraining from sweeping the autofocus lens to at least one focal distance associated with the at least one buffer image.