Patents by Inventor Alessandro Capra

Alessandro Capra has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10551934
    Abstract: Hand gestures, such as hand or finger hovering, in the proximity space of a sensing panel are detected from X-node and Y-node sensing signals indicative of the presence of a hand feature at corresponding row and column locations of a sensing panel. Hovering is detected by detecting the locations of maxima for a plurality of frames over a time window for sets of X-node and Y-node sensing signals by recognizing a hovering gesture if the locations of the maxima detected vary over the plurality of frames for one of the sets of sensing signals and not for the other of set. Finger shapes are distinguished over “ghosts” generated by palm or fist features by transforming the node-intensity representation for the sensing signals into a node-distance representation based on distances of detection intensities for a number of nodes under a peak for a mean point between valleys adjacent to the peak.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS S.R.L.
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana Guarneri, Alessandro Capra
  • Publication number: 20180164894
    Abstract: Hand gestures, such as hand or finger hovering, in the proximity space of a sensing panel are detected from X-node and Y-node sensing signals indicative of the presence of a hand feature at corresponding row and column locations of a sensing panel. Hovering is detected by detecting the locations of maxima for a plurality of frames over a time window for sets of X-node and Y-node sensing signals by recognizing a hovering gesture if the locations of the maxima detected vary over the plurality of frames for one of the sets of sensing signals and not for the other of set. Finger shapes are distinguished over “ghosts” generated by palm or fist features by transforming the node-intensity representation for the sensing signals into a node-distance representation based on distances of detection intensities for a number of nodes under a peak for a mean point between valleys adjacent to the peak.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2018
    Publication date: June 14, 2018
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana Guarneri, Alessandro Capra
  • Patent number: 9971429
    Abstract: In an embodiment, hand gestures, such as hand or finger hovering, in the proximity space of a sensing panel are detected from X-node and Y-node sensing signals indicative of the presence of a hand feature at corresponding row locations and column locations of a sensing panel. Hovering is detected by detecting the locations of maxima for a plurality of frames over a time window for a set of X-node sensing signals and for a set of Y-node sensing signals by recognizing a hovering gesture if the locations of the maxima detected vary over the plurality of frames for one of the sets of X-node and Y-node sensing signals while remaining stationary for the other of the sets of X-node and Y-node sensing signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana Guarneri, Alessandro Capra
  • Patent number: 9910503
    Abstract: In an embodiment, hand gestures, such as hand or finger hovering, in the proximity space of a sensing panel are detected from X-node and Y-node sensing signals indicative of the presence of a hand feature at corresponding row locations and column locations of a sensing panel. Hovering is detected by detecting the locations of maxima for a plurality of frames over a time window for a set of X-node sensing signals and for a set of Y-node sensing signals by recognizing a hovering gesture if the locations of the maxima detected vary over the plurality of frames for one of the sets of X-node and Y-node sensing signals while remaining stationary for the other of the sets of X-node and Y-node sensing signals(Y).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana Guarneri, Alessandro Capra
  • Patent number: 9804713
    Abstract: An embodiment of a method for processing finger-detection data produced by a touch screen includes: computing the area of the finger-data map and extracting the main axes from the finger-data map, computing the lengths and orientations of the main axes, determining from the main axes a major axis having a major-axis orientation, computing a geometrical center and a center of mass of the finger-data map, computing an eccentricity of the finger-data map as a function of the lengths of the main axes outputting the major-axis orientation as indicative of the finger-orientation direction in the plane of the screen, outputting the mutual position of the geometrical center and the center of mass of the finger-data map as indicative of finger-pointing direction along the finger-orientation direction in the plane of the screen, and outputting a combination of the eccentricity and the area of the finger data map as indicative of finger orientation with respect to the plane of the screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana Guarneri, Alessandro Capra
  • Patent number: 9658723
    Abstract: Detecting the presence of a finger in proximity of a screen that generates detection signals in the horizontal direction and vertical direction includes sampling the detection signals and generating raw-data vectors X and Y. The raw data have a maximum for elements of the vector that define the position of the finger on the screen in the directions X and Y, respectively. The vectors X and Y are divided into subsets defined as “macro-areas” and cumulative values computed of each macro-area by adding together all the elements of the vector X and of the vector Y that belong to the macro-area. The maximum values are selected from among horizontal cumulative values and vertical cumulative values. A value identifying the macro-area selected on the basis of the maximum values is supplied, or no value supplied in the presence of elements of disturbance in the proximity of the screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana Guarneri, Alessandro Capra
  • Patent number: 9239643
    Abstract: An embodiment of a method of recognizing finger detection data in a detection data map produced by a touch screen includes converting the data from the x, y, z space into a three-descriptor space including: a first coordinate representative of the number of intensity peaks in the map, a second coordinate representative of the number of nodes (i.e., pixels) absorbed under one or more of the intensity peaks. A third coordinate may be selected as the angular coefficient or slope of a piecewise-linear approximating function passing through points having the numbers of nodes absorbed under the intensity peaks ordered in decreasing order over said intensity peaks, which permits singling out finger data with respect to non-finger data over the whole of the touch screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2016
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana Guarneri, Alessandro Capra, Sebastiano Battiato, Giovanni Maria Farinella, Francesco Cristaldi
  • Patent number: 9036048
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a light sensor includes four cell arrays, one for each color of the Bayer pattern, and four lenses each focusing the light coming from the scene to be captured on a respective cell array. The lenses are oriented such that at least a second green image, commonly provided by the fourth cell array, is both horizontally and vertically shifted (spaced) apart by half a pixel pitch from a first (reference) green image. In a second embodiment, the four lenses are oriented such that the red and blue images are respectively shifted (spaced) apart by half a pixel pitch from the first or reference green image, one horizontally and the other vertically, and the second green image is shifted (spaced) apart by half a pixel pitch from the reference green image both horizontally and vertically.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Marco Farina, Mirko Ignazio Guarnera, Massimo Mancuso, Giuseppe Messina, Alessandro Capra
  • Publication number: 20150040076
    Abstract: In an embodiment, hand gestures, such as hand or finger hovering, in the proximity space of a sensing panel are detected from X-node and Y-node sensing signals indicative of the presence of a hand feature at corresponding row locations and column locations of a sensing panel. Hovering is detected by detecting the locations of maxima for a plurality of frames over a time window for a set of X-node sensing signals and for a set of Y-node sensing signals by recognizing a hovering gesture if the locations of the maxima detected vary over the plurality of frames for one of the sets of X-node and Y-node sensing signals while remaining stationary for the other of the sets of X-node and Y-node sensing signals(Y).
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2014
    Publication date: February 5, 2015
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana GUARNERI, Alessandro CAPRA
  • Publication number: 20150035779
    Abstract: In an embodiment, hand gestures, such as hand or finger hovering, in the proximity space of a sensing panel are detected from X-node and Y-node sensing signals indicative of the presence of a hand feature at corresponding row locations and column locations of a sensing panel. Hovering is detected by detecting the locations of maxima for a plurality of frames over a time window for a set of X-node sensing signals and for a set of Y-node sensing signals by recognizing a hovering gesture if the locations of the maxima detected vary over the plurality of frames for one of the sets of X-node and Y-node sensing signals while remaining stationary for the other of the sets of X-node and Y-node sensing signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2014
    Publication date: February 5, 2015
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana GUARNERI, Alessandro CAPRA
  • Publication number: 20150002461
    Abstract: An embodiment of a method for detecting the presence of a finger in the proximity of a screen that generates detection signals in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction comprises: —sampling the detection signals and generating raw-data vectors X and Y, wherein the raw data have a maximum for the elements of the vector that define the position of the finger on the screen in the direction X and in the direction Y, respectively; —dividing the aforesaid vectors X and Y into subsets defined as “macro-areas”; —computing the cumulative values (A, B, C, D, E, F) of each macro-area by adding together all the elements of the vector X and of the vector Y that belong to the aforesaid macro-area; and—selecting the maximum values from among the horizontal cumulative values (A, B, C) and the vertical cumulative values (D, E, F).
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2014
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana GUARNERI, Alessandro CAPRA
  • Publication number: 20140098045
    Abstract: An embodiment of a method of recognizing finger detection data in a detection data map produced by a touch screen includes converting the data from the x, y, z space into a three-descriptor space including: a first coordinate representative of the number of intensity peaks in the map, a second coordinate representative of the number of nodes (i.e., pixels) absorbed under one or more of the intensity peaks. A third coordinate may be selected as the angular coefficient or slope of a piecewise-linear approximating function passing through points having the numbers of nodes absorbed under the intensity peaks ordered in decreasing order over said intensity peaks, which permits singling out finger data with respect to non-finger data over the whole of the touch screen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2013
    Publication date: April 10, 2014
    Applicant: STMicroelectronics S.r.l
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana GUARNERI, Alessandro CAPRA, Sebastiano BATTIATO, Giovanni Maria FARINELLA, Francesco CRISTALDI
  • Publication number: 20140085260
    Abstract: An embodiment of a method for processing finger-detection data produced by a touch screen includes: computing the area of the finger-data map and extracting the main axes from the finger-data map, computing the lengths and orientations of the main axes, determining from the main axes a major axis having a major-axis orientation, computing a geometrical center and a center of mass of the finger-data map, computing an eccentricity of the finger-data map as a function of the lengths of the main axes outputting the major-axis orientation as indicative of the finger-orientation direction in the plane of the screen, outputting the mutual position of the geometrical center and the center of mass of the finger-data map as indicative of finger-pointing direction along the finger-orientation direction in the plane of the screen, and outputting a combination of the eccentricity and the area of the finger data map as indicative of finger orientation with respect to the plane of the screen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2013
    Publication date: March 27, 2014
    Applicant: STMicroelectronics S.r.L.
    Inventors: Nunziata Ivana GUARNERI, Alessandro CAPRA
  • Patent number: 8570386
    Abstract: A method of processing and device configure to process digital images to enhance image quality and correct motion blur. A number N of images of a scene are captured with an exposure time T. An order of sharpness of the images is determined and the sharpest image is used as a reference image for generating an output image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.L.
    Inventors: Alfio Castorina, Giuseppe Spampinato, Alessandro Capra, Arcangelo Ranieri Bruna
  • Publication number: 20130229540
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a light sensor includes four cell arrays, one for each color of the Bayer pattern, and four lenses each focusing the light coming from the scene to be captured on a respective cell array. The lenses are oriented such that at least a second green image, commonly provided by the fourth cell array, is both horizontally and vertically shifted (spaced) apart by half a pixel pitch from a first (reference) green image. In a second embodiment, the four lenses are oriented such that the red and blue images are respectively shifted (spaced) apart by half a pixel pitch from the first or reference green image, one horizontally and the other vertically, and the second green image is shifted (spaced) apart by half a pixel pitch from the reference green image both horizontally and vertically.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2013
    Publication date: September 5, 2013
    Applicant: STMicroelectronics S.r.l
    Inventors: Marco Farina, Mirko Ignazio Guarnera, Massimo Mancuso, Giuseppe Messina, Alessandro Capra
  • Patent number: 8436909
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a light sensor includes four cell arrays, one for each color of the Bayer pattern, and four lenses each focusing the light coming from the scene to be captured on a respective cell array. The lenses are oriented such that at least a second green image, commonly provided by the fourth cell array, is both horizontally and vertically shifted (spaced) apart by half a pixel pitch from a first (reference) green image. In a second embodiment, the four lenses are oriented such that the red and blue images are respectively shifted (spaced) apart by half a pixel pitch from the first or reference green image, one horizontally and the other vertically, and the second green image is shifted (spaced) apart by half a pixel pitch from the reference green image both horizontally and vertically.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2013
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Marco Farina, Mirko Ignazio Guarnera, Massimo Mancuso, Giuseppe Messina, Alessandro Capra
  • Patent number: 8107750
    Abstract: A digital image processing system and method for removing motion effects from images of a video sequence, and generating corresponding motion compensated images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Giuseppe Spampinato, Arcangelo Ranieri Bruna, Alfio Castorina, Alessandro Capra
  • Patent number: 8102435
    Abstract: A method is provided for obtaining an image with a large dynamic range. An image is acquired such that each image pixel is represented by a plurality of values obtained at the same time but for different integration levels (effective exposures). For each pixel, a representative value is selected among those available, such that it is neither saturated nor blackened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Alfio Castorina, Alessandro Capra
  • Patent number: 8090199
    Abstract: A method of processing digital images to reduce the effects of color bleeding. Chrominance components for pixels in a working window are determined and weights are assigned to the pixels in the working window. A chrominance correction for a center pixel in the working window is generated based on the chrominance components and the assigned weights. Fuzzy variables and thresholds may be applied to generate the assigned weights and the chrominance correction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Giuseppe Spampinato, Alfio Castorina, Arcangelo Ranieri Bruna, Alessandro Capra
  • Patent number: 7881554
    Abstract: A luminance intensity of pixels of an input digital image is corrected for generating a corrected digital image. A luminance of each pixel is calculated as a function of the luminance of a corresponding pixel in an original image according to a parametric function. A mask of the input digital image to be corrected is generated according to a bilateral filtering technique. For each pixel of the input digital image, a respective value of at least one parameter of the parametric function is established based upon the luminance of a corresponding pixel of the mask.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2011
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.R.L.
    Inventors: Alfio Castorina, Raimondo Schettini, Francesca Gasparini, Silvia Corchs, Alessandro Capra