Patents by Inventor Yongfang Liang
Yongfang Liang 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).
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Patent number: 9832378Abstract: Special blend operations for wide area-of-view image generation utilizing a “floating auto exposure” scheme are described. Pixel values in the two images being stitched together are blended within a transition band around a “seam.” identified in the overlap region between the images after changes in exposure and/or color saturation are accounted for. In some embodiments, changes in exposure and/or color saturation are accounted for through the use of one or more exposure mapping curves, the selection and use of which are based, at least in part, on a determined “Exposure Ratio” value, i.e., the amount that the camera's exposure settings have deviated from their initial capture settings. In other embodiments, the Exposure Ratio value is also used to determine regions along the seam where either: alpha blending, Poisson blending—or a combination of the two—should be used to blend in the transitional areas on each side of the seam.Type: GrantFiled: June 6, 2013Date of Patent: November 28, 2017Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Frank Doepke, Marius Tico, Ting Chen, Yongfang Liang
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Patent number: 9756247Abstract: A method for automatic image capture control and digital imaging is described. An image buffer is initialized to store a digital image produced by an image sensor, through allocation of a region in memory for the buffer that is large enough to store a full resolution frame from the image sensor. While non-binning streaming frames, from the sensor and in the buffer, are being displayed in preview, the sensor is reconfigured into binning mode, and then binned streaming frames are processed in the buffer, but without allocating a smaller region in memory for the buffer. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.Type: GrantFiled: September 10, 2015Date of Patent: September 5, 2017Assignee: APPLE INC.Inventors: Yongfang Liang, Munchiro Mori, Haitao Guo, Ting Chen
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Patent number: 9344638Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer readable media to capture and process high dynamic range (HDR) images when appropriate for a scene are disclosed. When appropriate, multiple images at a single—slightly underexposed—exposure value are captured (making a constant bracket HDR capture sequence) and local tone mapping (LTM) applied to each image. Local tone map and histogram information can be used to generate a noise-amplification mask which can be used during fusion operations. Images obtained and fused in the disclosed manner provide high dynamic range with improved noise and de-ghosting characteristics.Type: GrantFiled: May 30, 2014Date of Patent: May 17, 2016Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Xuemei Zhang, Marius Tico, Yingjun Bai, Farhan A. Baqai, Fabio Riccardi, Juanqing Chen, Paul M. Hubel, George E. Williams, Todd S. Sachs, Yongfang Liang
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Publication number: 20160057348Abstract: A method for automatic image capture control and digital imaging is described. An image buffer is initialized to store a digital image produced by an image sensor, through allocation of a region in memory for the buffer that is large enough to store a full resolution frame from the image sensor. While non-binning streaming frames, from the sensor and in the buffer, are being displayed in preview, the sensor is reconfigured into binning mode, and then binned streaming frames are processed in the buffer, but without allocating a smaller region in memory for the buffer. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 10, 2015Publication date: February 25, 2016Inventors: Yongfang Liang, Munchiro Mori, Haitao Guo, Ting Chen
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Patent number: 9215355Abstract: Calculating a temporal filter values to filter video data for noise and ghosting artifacts. A sensor specific noise model may be derived using the video capture settings of the video source to estimate the noise variance for an image, and to determine the amount of the temporal filtering to be applied to a frame or pixel. The global motion and sensor specific noise model may be used to populate filter coefficient look-up tables based on the local motion and luma values of each pixel in the frame. The maximum absolute difference between frames may be used to estimate global motion between two frames such that filter strength may be reduced for frames exhibiting high global motion and increased for frames exhibiting low global motion. According to an embodiment, the increase in temporal filtering between frames may be capped to avoid sudden visible noise differences between frames.Type: GrantFiled: September 14, 2012Date of Patent: December 15, 2015Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Ting Chen, Yongfang Liang, Anita Nariani Schulze
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Publication number: 20150350513Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer readable media to capture and process high dynamic range (HDR) images when appropriate for a scene are disclosed. When appropriate, multiple images at a single—slightly underexposed—exposure value are captured (making a constant bracket HDR capture sequence) and local tone mapping (LTM) applied to each image. Local tone map and histogram information can be used to generate a noise-amplification mask which can be used during fusion operations. Images obtained and fused in the disclosed manner provide high dynamic range with improved noise and de-ghosting characteristics.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 30, 2014Publication date: December 3, 2015Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventors: Xuemei Zhang, Marius Tico, Yingjun Bai, Farhan A. Baqai, Fabio Riccardi, Juanqing Chen, Paul M. Hubel, George E. Williams, Todd S. Sachs, Yongfang Liang
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Patent number: 9160912Abstract: A method for automatic image capture control and digital imaging is described. An image buffer is initialized to store a digital image produced by an image sensor, through allocation of a region in memory for the buffer that is large enough to store a full resolution frame from the image sensor. While non-binning streaming frames, from the sensor and in the buffer, are being displayed in preview, the sensor is reconfigured into binning mode, and then binned streaming frames are processed in the buffer, but without allocating a smaller region in memory for the buffer. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.Type: GrantFiled: September 27, 2012Date of Patent: October 13, 2015Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Yongfang Liang, Munehiro Mori, Haitao Guo, Ting Chen
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Publication number: 20140362173Abstract: Special blend operations for wide area-of-view image generation utilizing a “floating auto exposure” scheme are described. Pixel values in the two images being stitched together are blended within a transition band around a “seam.” identified in the overlap region between the images after changes in exposure and/or color saturation are accounted for. In some embodiments, changes in exposure and/or color saturation are accounted for through the use of one or more exposure mapping curves, the selection and use of which are based, at least in part, on a determined “Exposure Ratio” value, i.e., the amount that the camera's exposure settings have deviated from their initial capture settings. In other embodiments, the Exposure Ratio value is also used to determine regions along the seam where either: alpha blending, Poisson blending—or a combination of the two—should be used to blend in the transitional areas on each side of the seam.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 6, 2013Publication date: December 11, 2014Inventors: Frank Doepke, Marius Tico, Ting Chen, Yongfang Liang
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Publication number: 20130329075Abstract: A method for automatic image capture control and digital imaging is described. An image buffer is initialized to store a digital image produced by an image sensor, through allocation of a region in memory for the buffer that is large enough to store a full resolution frame from the image sensor. While non-binning streaming frames, from the sensor and in the buffer, are being displayed in preview, the sensor is reconfigured into binning mode, and then binned streaming frames are processed in the buffer, but without allocating a smaller region in memory for the buffer. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 27, 2012Publication date: December 12, 2013Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventors: Yongfang Liang, Munehiro Mori, Haitao Guo, Ting Chen
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Publication number: 20130083246Abstract: Calculating a temporal filter values to filter video data for noise and ghosting artifacts. A sensor specific noise model may be derived using the video capture settings of the video source to estimate the noise variance for an image, and to determine the amount of the temporal filtering to be applied to a frame or pixel. The global motion and sensor specific noise model may be used to populate filter coefficient look-up tables based on the local motion and luma values of each pixel in the frame. The maximum absolute difference between frames may be used to estimate global motion between two frames such that filter strength may be reduced for frames exhibiting high global motion and increased for frames exhibiting low global motion. According to an embodiment, the increase in temporal filtering between frames may be capped to avoid sudden visible noise differences between frames.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 14, 2012Publication date: April 4, 2013Applicant: APPLE INC.Inventors: Ting Chen, Yongfang Liang, Anita Nariani Schulze