公开(公告)号：US11856293B2

公开(公告)日：2023-12-26

申请号：US18061395

申请日：2022-12-02

申请人： Apple Inc.

发明人： Mark N. Gamadia ,  Abhishek Dhanda ,  Gregory Guyomarc'h ,  Andrew D. Fernandez ,  Moshe Laifenfeld

IPC分类号： H04N23/67

CPC分类号： H04N23/671

摘要： Various embodiments disclosed herein include techniques for determining autofocus for a camera on a mobile device. In some instances, depth imaging is used to assist in determining a focus position for the camera through an autofocus process. For example, a determination of depth may be used to determine a focus position for the camera. In another example, the determination of depth may be used to assist another autofocus process.

公开(公告)号：US11627244B1

公开(公告)日：2023-04-11

申请号：US17011804

申请日：2020-09-03

申请人： Apple Inc.

发明人： Abhishek Dhanda ,  Gregory Guyomarc'h ,  Michael W. Chin ,  Mark N. Gamadia ,  Ling Xiao Wang

IPC分类号： H04N5/232 ,  H04N5/04 ,  G03B13/36 ,  G02B7/36 ,  G02B7/09

摘要： Various embodiments include synchronization of camera focus movement control with frame capture. In some embodiments, such synchronization may comprise synchronized focus movement control that is based at least in part on integration timing and/or region of interest (ROI) timing. According to some examples, an actuator of a camera module may be controlled such that a lens group and/or an image sensor of the camera module move towards a focus position during one or more time periods (e.g., a non-integration time period in which the image sensor is not being exposed, a non-ROI time period in which a ROI of the image sensor is not being exposed for image capture, and/or a blanking interval, etc.). Additionally, or alternatively, the actuator may be controlled such that the lens group and the image sensor do not move relative to each other in a focus direction during one or more other time periods (e.g., an integration time period in which the image sensor is being exposed, a ROI time period in which the ROI of the image sensor is being exposed, etc.).

公开(公告)号：US11616899B1

公开(公告)日：2023-03-28

申请号：US17483719

申请日：2021-09-23

申请人： Apple Inc.

发明人： Abhishek Dhanda ,  Yunfeng Li ,  Santiago Alban ,  Andrew D. Fernandez

IPC分类号： H04N5/00 ,  H04N5/232

摘要： A camera system may include one or more controllers to perform in-field monitoring of autofocus performance and instability mitigation. The controllers may monitor one or more parameters associated with adjustment of a relative position between a lens group and an image sensor and/or one or more images. The controllers may analyze the parameters and/or images to calculate various metrics. The controllers may evaluate the metrics with respect to corresponding thresholds. The controllers may detect, based at least in part of the evaluation the metrics, one or more instability events associated with controller performance degradation. In response to detecting the instability events, the controllers may perform one or more remedial actions to mitigate the controller performance degradation.

公开(公告)号：US20220116544A1

公开(公告)日：2022-04-14

申请号：US17485258

申请日：2021-09-24

申请人： Apple Inc.

发明人： Mark N. Gamadia ,  Abhishek Dhanda ,  Gregory Guyomarc'h ,  Andrew D. Fernandez ,  Moshe Laifenfeld

IPC分类号： H04N5/232

摘要： Various embodiments disclosed herein include techniques for determining autofocus for a camera on a mobile device. In some instances, depth imaging is used to assist in determining a focus position for the camera through an autofocus process. For example, a determination of depth may be used to determine a focus position for the camera. In another example, the determination of depth may be used to assist another autofocus process.

公开(公告)号：US11019241B1

公开(公告)日：2021-05-25

申请号：US16566737

申请日：2019-09-10

申请人： Apple Inc.

发明人： Abhishek Dhanda ,  Andrew D. Fernandez ,  Arathi S. Bale ,  David C. Beard ,  Santiago Alban

IPC分类号： H04N5/225 ,  H04N5/232

摘要： Methods and apparatus are disclosed for selecting a lens control mode for a camera in external magnetic fields or other types of non-magnetic interference. In embodiments, when the camera is activated, a test of a position sensor for the camera lens is performed by moving the camera lens through a range of positions and collecting values from the sensor. In embodiments, the sensor readings are analyzed to determine conditions such as (a) whether the sensor is saturated by an external magnetic field or non-magnetic interference, (b) whether the sensor's readings are within an error margin, and (c) whether a computed position offset for the sensor is valid. Based on the analysis, the camera is placed into a first control mode where movement of the lens is controlled using the position sensor, or a second control mode where lens movement is controlled without the position sensor.