Patent Application
20240073520
The present application relates generally to dual camera tracking systems, and more particularly but not exclusively to dual camera tracking systems that may be used in standalone imaging systems and for head-mounted displays for extended reality (XR) applications such as computer games.
As recognized herein, photographic applications of distant, small objects, such as bird-watching, can be enjoyed best with relatively large lenses and high-resolution cameras. As also recognized herein, such a lens has a narrow field of view, meaning that peripheral vision is lost when looking through the lens. Further, present principles recognize that the relatively large weight of such a lens coupled with a large aperture and narrow focus plane can complicate aiming the lens at the target subject, such as a flying bird. Even if the subject is within the frame, the photographer might not realize if the subject is in focus.
An auxiliary camera is integrated into a telephoto lens of a main or primary camera to provide subject tracking and situational awareness while viewing the viewfinder of the main camera. Stereoscopic depth data from the auxiliary camera can be used to establish the focal length of the lens of the main camera.
Accordingly, in one aspect an assembly includes at least one main camera configured to receive light through at least one lens and generate images based thereon. The assembly also includes at least one auxiliary camera configured to render a first auxiliary image, and at least one processor configured with instructions to, based at least in part on the first auxiliary image, establish a focal length of the lens. The instructions also are executable to, based at least in part on output of at least one machine learning (ML) model receiving at least the first image as input, control the main camera.
In examples, the auxiliary camera can include only a single lens and imager, or it can be a stereoscopic camera.
In non-limiting implementations the instructions may be executable to control the main camera at least in part by moving the lens of the main camera to capture a subject imaged by the auxiliary camera. In other implementations the instructions can be executable to control the main camera at least in part by presenting on at least one display an indication of where to aim the main camera.
In an example, the auxiliary camera is mounted to a hood of the lens. In a specific example the auxiliary camera is mounted to a front portion of the hood of the lens. The auxiliary camera can be supported by a housing with a surface matching and flush with a surface of the hood of the lens.
A computer simulation head-mounted display can support the main camera and the auxiliary camera.
In another aspect, a method includes imaging a subject using an auxiliary camera mounted on a lens assembly of a main camera, and establishing at least a focal length of a lens of the lens assembly at least in part based on the imaging.
In another aspect, an apparatus includes at least one main camera configured to receive light through at least one lens and generate images based thereon. At least one auxiliary camera is configured to render a first auxiliary image for controlling at least a focal length of the lens. Also, a housing includes a surface matching and flush with a surface of a hood of the lens and supporting the auxiliary camera.
The details of the present application, both as to its structure and operation, can be best understood in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which:
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This disclosure relates generally to computer ecosystems including aspects of consumer electronics (CE) device networks such as but not limited to computer game networks and camera systems. A system herein may include server and client components which may be connected over a network such that data may be exchanged between the client and server components. The client components may include one or more computing devices including game consoles such as Sony PlayStation® or a game console made by Microsoft or Nintendo or other manufacturer, extended reality (XR) headsets such as virtual reality (VR) headsets, augmented reality (AR) headsets, portable televisions (e.g., smart TVs, Internet-enabled TVs), portable computers such as laptops and tablet computers, and other mobile devices including smart phones and additional examples discussed below. These client devices may operate with a variety of operating environments. For example, some of the client computers may employ, as examples, Linux operating systems, operating systems from Microsoft, or a Unix operating system, or operating systems produced by Apple, Inc., or Google, or a Berkeley Software Distribution or Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) OS including descendants of BSD. These operating environments may be used to execute one or more browsing programs, such as a browser made by Microsoft or Google or Mozilla or other browser program that can access websites hosted by the Internet servers discussed below. Also, an operating environment according to present principles may be used to execute one or more computer game programs.
Servers and/or gateways may be used that may include one or more processors executing instructions that configure the servers to receive and transmit data over a network such as the Internet. Or a client and server can be connected over a local intranet or a virtual private network. A server or controller may be instantiated by a game console such as a Sony PlayStation®, a personal computer, etc.
Information may be exchanged over a network between the clients and servers. To this end and for security, servers and/or clients can include firewalls, load balancers, temporary storages, and proxies, and other network infrastructure for reliability and security. One or more servers may form an apparatus that implement methods of providing a secure community such as an online social website or gamer network to network members.
A processor may be a single- or multi-chip processor that can execute logic by means of various lines such as address lines, data lines, and control lines and registers and shift registers.
Components included in one embodiment can be used in other embodiments in any appropriate combination. For example, any of the various components described herein and/or depicted in the Figures may be combined, interchanged, or excluded from other embodiments.
“A system having at least one of A, B, and C” (likewise “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” and “a system having at least one of A, B, C”) includes systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together.
Referring now to
Accordingly, to undertake such principles the AVD 12 can be established by some, or all of the components shown. For example, the AVD 12 can include one or more touch-enabled displays 14 that may be implemented by a high definition or ultra-high definition “4K” or higher flat screen. The touch-enabled display(s) 14 may include, for example, a capacitive or resistive touch sensing layer with a grid of electrodes for touch sensing consistent with present principles.
The AVD 12 may also include one or more speakers 16 for outputting audio in accordance with present principles, and at least one additional input device 18 such as an audio receiver/microphone for entering audible commands to the AVD 12 to control the AVD 12. The example AVD 12 may also include one or more network interfaces 20 for communication over at least one network 22 such as the Internet, an WAN, an LAN, etc. under control of one or more processors 24. Thus, the interface 20 may be, without limitation, a Wi-Fi transceiver, which is an example of a wireless computer network interface, such as but not limited to a mesh network transceiver. It is to be understood that the processor 24 controls the AVD 12 to undertake present principles, including the other elements of the AVD 12 described herein such as controlling the display 14 to present images thereon and receiving input therefrom. Furthermore, note the network interface 20 may be a wired or wireless modem or router, or other appropriate interface such as a wireless telephony transceiver, or Wi-Fi transceiver as mentioned above, etc.
In addition to the foregoing, the AVD 12 may also include one or more input and/or output ports 26 such as a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port or a universal serial bus (USB) port to physically connect to another CE device and/or a headphone port to connect headphones to the AVD 12 for presentation of audio from the AVD 12 to a user through the headphones. For example, the input port 26 may be connected via wire or wirelessly to a cable or satellite source 26a of audio video content. Thus, the source 26a may be a separate or integrated set top box, or a satellite receiver. Or the source 26a may be a game console or disk player containing content. The source 26a when implemented as a game console may include some or all of the components described below in relation to the CE device 48.
The AVD 12 may further include one or more computer memories/computer-readable storage media 28 such as disk-based or solid-state storage that are not transitory signals, in some cases embodied in the chassis of the AVD as standalone devices or as a personal video recording device (PVR) or video disk player either internal or external to the chassis of the AVD for playing back AV programs or as removable memory media or the below-described server. Also, in some embodiments, the AVD 12 can include a position or location receiver such as but not limited to a cellphone receiver, GPS receiver and/or altimeter 30 that is configured to receive geographic position information from a satellite or cellphone base station and provide the information to the processor 24 and/or determine an altitude at which the AVD 12 is disposed in conjunction with the processor 24. The component 30 may also be implemented by an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that typically includes a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers to determine the location and orientation of the AVD 12 in three dimension or by an event-based sensors such as event detection sensors (EDS). An EDS consistent with the present disclosure provides an output that indicates a change in light intensity sensed by at least one pixel of a light sensing array. For example, if the light sensed by a pixel is decreasing, the output of the EDS may be −1; if it is increasing, the output of the EDS may be a +1. No change in light intensity below a certain threshold may be indicated by an output binary signal of 0.
Continuing the description of the AVD 12, in some embodiments the AVD 12 may include one or more camera imagers 32 that may be a thermal imaging camera, a digital camera such as a webcam, an IR sensor, an event-based sensor, and/or a camera integrated into the AVD 12 and controllable by the processor 24 to gather pictures/images and/or video in accordance with present principles. A camera imager may include, for example, a charge-coupled device (CCD) chip and/or complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) chip along with imaging components such as lenses, etc.
Also included on the AVD 12 may be a Bluetooth® transceiver 34 and other Near Field Communication (NFC) element 36 for communication with other devices using Bluetooth and/or NFC technology, respectively. An example NFC element can be a radio frequency identification (RFID) element.
Further still, the AVD 12 may include one or more auxiliary sensors 38 (e.g., a pressure sensor, a motion sensor such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, cyclometer, or a magnetic sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, an optical sensor, a speed and/or cadence sensor, an event-based sensor, a gesture sensor (e.g., for sensing gesture command)) that provide input to the processor 24. For example, one or more of the auxiliary sensors 38 may include one or more pressure sensors forming a layer of the touch-enabled display 14 itself and may be, without limitation, piezoelectric pressure sensors, capacitive pressure sensors, piezoresistive strain gauges, optical pressure sensors, electromagnetic pressure sensors, etc.
The AVD 12 may also include an over-the-air TV broadcast port 40 for receiving OTA TV broadcasts providing input to the processor 24. In addition to the foregoing, it is noted that the AVD 12 may also include an infrared (IR) transmitter and/or IR receiver and/or IR transceiver 42 such as an IR data association (IRDA) device. A battery (not shown) may be provided for powering the AVD 12, as may be a kinetic energy harvester that may turn kinetic energy into power to charge the battery and/or power the AVD 12. A graphics processing unit (GPU) 44 and field programmable gated array 46 also may be included. One or more haptics/vibration generators 47 may be provided for generating tactile signals that can be sensed by a person holding or in contact with the device. The haptics generators 47 may thus vibrate all or part of the AVD 12 using an electric motor connected to an off-center and/or off-balanced weight via the motor's rotatable shaft so that the shaft may rotate under control of the motor (which in turn may be controlled by a processor such as the processor 24) to create vibration of various frequencies and/or amplitudes as well as force simulations in various directions.
A light source such as a projector such as an infrared (IR) projector also may be included.
In addition to the AVD 12, the system 10 may include one or more other CE device types. In one example, a first CE device 48 may be a computer game console that can be used to send computer game audio and video to the AVD 12 via commands sent directly to the AVD 12 and/or through the below-described server while a second CE device 50 may include similar components as the first CE device 48. In the example shown, the second CE device 50 may be configured as a computer game controller manipulated by a player or a head-mounted display (HMD) worn by a player. The HMD may include a heads-up transparent or non-transparent display for respectively presenting AR/MR content or VR content. Alternative or additional devices described herein such as a cameras may employ some or all of the components of the first CE device 48.
In the example shown, only two CE devices are shown, it being understood that fewer or greater devices may be used. A device herein may implement some or all of the components shown for the AVD 12. Any of the components shown in the following figures may incorporate some or all of the components shown in the case of the AVD 12.
Now in reference to the afore-mentioned at least one server 52, it includes at least one server processor 54, at least one tangible computer readable storage medium 56 such as disk-based or solid-state storage, and at least one network interface 58 that, under control of the server processor 54, allows for communication with the other illustrated devices over the network 22, and indeed may facilitate communication between servers and client devices in accordance with present principles. Note that the network interface 58 may be, e.g., a wired or wireless modem or router, Wi-Fi transceiver, or other appropriate interface such as, e.g., a wireless telephony transceiver.
Accordingly, in some embodiments the server 52 may be an Internet server or an entire server “farm” and may include and perform “cloud” functions such that the devices of the system 10 may access a “cloud” environment via the server 52 in example embodiments for, e.g., network gaming applications. Or the server 52 may be implemented by one or more game consoles or other computers in the same room as the other devices shown or nearby.
The components shown in the following figures may include some or all components shown in herein. Any user interfaces (UI) described herein may be consolidated and/or expanded, and UI elements may be mixed and matched between UIs.
Present principles may employ various machine learning models, including deep learning models. Machine learning models consistent with present principles may use various algorithms trained in ways that include supervised learning, unsupervised learning, semi-supervised learning, reinforcement learning, feature learning, self-learning, and other forms of learning. Examples of such algorithms, which can be implemented by computer circuitry, include one or more neural networks, such as a convolutional neural network (CNN), a recurrent neural network (RNN), and a type of RNN known as a long short-term memory (LSTM) network. Support vector machines (SVM) and Bayesian networks also may be considered to be examples of machine learning models. In addition to the types of networks set forth above, models herein may be implemented by classifiers.
As understood herein, performing machine learning may therefore involve accessing and then training a model on training data to enable the model to process further data to make inferences. An artificial neural network/artificial intelligence model trained through machine learning may thus include an input layer, an output layer, and multiple hidden layers in between that that are configured and weighted to make inferences about an appropriate output.
Referring now to
In some examples, a thermal imager 214 (
The auxiliary camera 204 may have about an 85° field of view and can detect the distance to a photographic subject such as a bird using stereoscopic distance measurement techniques or other techniques.
Turning now to
Now referring to
The ML model 702 may be trained on a training set of images with various subjects in them and ground truth annotations of what the subjects are, for example.
In an example as illustrated in
In non-limiting examples, OpenCV image processing may be used for stereoscopic depth sensing. Execution of the ML model 702 may be accelerated by an Edge tensor processing unit (TPU) that can implemented the AI accelerator 704 in
In one example implementation of
The depth may then be calculated by the distance detection modules 700 from the difference in X coordinates between the left-side features and right-side features. Cropping saves processing time and results in fewer otherwise useless features to detect. As used herein, features are “interesting” parts of an image, such as a distinctive edge or corner.
Note that focal length adjustment of the lens 202 may be in addition to autofocus and may provide a starting point for autofocus to begin.
If subject detection of the main camera 200 does not detect the desired subject, the auxiliary camera 204 may be queried for depth to the detected subject in the (wider view) auxiliary camera image. The focus distance of the lens 202 of the main camera 200 can then be established to a “close enough” starting point for autofocus search. If desired, the aperture may be temporarily narrowed to thicken the focus plane. The coordinates to the subject from the auxiliary camera 204 helps pick phase-detect autofocus points.
In another example, the auxiliary camera 204 may be implemented by a smart phone camera the images from which are provided to the main camera via Wi-Fi. The smartphone's view requires alignment, which can be automated via image feature matching between the smartphone's view and the main camera's view.
For multiple subjects of interest, ML may be used to detect and track multiple subjects so that on a single shutter button press, the camera autofocuses on one subject, takes a photo, automatically shifts the autofocus point to the next subject, automatically takes a second photo, and repeats for the other subjects detected.
In addition to techniques described above, focus stacking may be implemented to achieve deep depth of field but using a wide aperture. This provides better image quality for landscape photography for example and improved control of subject isolation in macro photography.
Another example application is in an arena to focus on an interesting athlete or on an e-sports or physical sports spectator to present a magnified image from a main camera of the particular subject on a large screen stadium display.
While the particular embodiments are herein shown and described in detail, it is to be understood that the subject matter which is encompassed by the present invention is limited only by the claims.
