Patent Application
20160150119
This application claims priority of Taiwanese Application No. 103140787, filed on Nov. 25, 2014, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The disclosure relates to an image capture system, more particularly to a dynamic image capture system capable of selectively storing images captured thereby.
An image capture system, for example, a digital video camera or a smart phone, can be operated in a video recording mode, where it captures a series of images of an object or a scene at an image capture rate of, for example, 30 frames/sec, and then stores the captured images in a storage module, such as a memory card, installed therein. In this case, if the image capture system is operated in the video recording mode for a long period of time, there will be many images to be stored in the storage module. Therefore, the storage module may be required to provide a relatively large memory storage space for long-period video recording.
Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a dynamic image capture system that can selectively store images captured thereby.
According to the present disclosure, there is provided a dynamic image capture system. The dynamic image capture system of this disclosure includes an image capture device that includes a storage module, an image capture module and a control unit.
The image capture module captures a series of images at a predetermined image capture rate.
The control unit includes a processing module electrically connected to the image capture module for receiving the images captured thereby, and further electrically connected to the storage module. The processing module is operable in one of a standard state, where the processing module stores all the images from the image capture module in the storage module, and a selective-saving state, where the processing module selects a subgroup of the images from the images received thereby at an image selection rate of 1/K, where K is an integer not less than one, so as to store the subgroup of the images selected thereby in the storage module.
Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Before the present disclosure is described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying embodiments, it should be noted herein that like elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the disclosure.
Referring to
The image capture device 1 includes a storage module 12, an image capture module 11, a user input interface 13, and a control unit 14 including a processing module 141 that is connected electrically to the image capture module 11, the user input interface 13 and the storage module 12. The image capture module 11 captures a series of images at a predetermined image capture rate, for example, sixty images per second, and outputs the images captured thereby to the processing module 141 of the control unit 14.
The processing module 141 is operable in one of a standard state, where the processing module 141 stores all the images received from the image capture module 11 in the storage module 12, and a selective-saving state, where the processing module 141 selects a subgroup of the images from all the images received thereby at an image selection rate of 1/K, where K is an integer not less than one, and stores the subgroup of the images selected thereby in the storage module 12.
The user input interface 13 is manually operable to control the processing module 141 to switch between the standard state and the selective-saving state. Specifically, the user input interface 13 is manually operable to generate and output a first control signal to the processing module 141 when it is desirable to switch the processing module 141 into the standard state.
The detection device 2 of this embodiment is capable of detecting motion of the dynamic image capture system so as to generate a detecting signal, and outputs the detecting signal to the image capture device 1. In this embodiment, the control unit 14 of the image capture device 1 further includes a control module 142 that is electrically connected to the detection device 2 for receiving the detecting signal therefrom, and that is further electrically connected to the processing module 141 for controlling the processing module 141 to operate in the standard state upon determining that a predetermined condition is met with reference to the detecting signal.
In this embodiment, for example, the detection device 2 includes a sensing unit 3 that includes, but is not limited to, a motion sensor module 31 for sensing motion thereof that is representative of the motion of the dynamic image capture system so as to generate the detecting signal. The detecting signal is represented by, for example, a sensing index (e.g., a sensing value) that is associated with the motion thus sensed. The control module 142 determines that the predetermined condition is met when the sensing value representing the detecting signal is greater than a predetermined threshold value.
In this embodiment, the motion sensor module 31 includes, but is not limited to, an angular velocity sensor 311 for sensing an angular velocity. In this case, the detecting signal is represented by a sensing value of the angular velocity sensed by the angular velocity sensor 311.
Specifically, when the predetermined condition is met, the control module 142 generates and outputs a second control signal to the processing module 141. Thus, the processing module 141 switches from the selective-saving state to the standard state in response to receipt of any one of the first control signal from the user input interface 13 and the second control signal from the control module 142.
As one example, the dynamic capture system of this embodiment may be installed on a bicycle such that the dynamic capture system moves along with the bicycle. Therefore, motion of the bicycle is representative of the motion of the dynamic image capture system, and is detected by the motion sensor module 31 of the detection device 2. In this example, it is assumed that K=60, and the predetermined threshold corresponding to the angular velocity is 120 dps. Referring to
In such a configuration, the image capture system of this disclosure can selectively store the images captured by the image capture module 11 based on the motion thereof, thereby effectively saving the memory storage space in the storage module 12.
In addition, the motion sensor module 31 includes, but is not limited to, a compass sensor 314 for sensing a geographic cardinal direction to generate a sensing index. Specifically, the control module 142 determines that the predetermined condition is met when the geographic cardinal direction with which the sensing index corresponds to the specific geographic cardinal direction(s).
In this embodiment, the motion sensor module 31 of the sensing unit 3 of the detection device 2 further includes, in addition to the angular velocity sensor 311, a coordinate acceleration sensor 313 for sensing a coordinate acceleration so as to generate a sensing value that is associated with the coordinate acceleration thus sensed, and a gravity sensor 312 for sensing a proper acceleration so as to generate a sensing value that is associated with the proper acceleration thus sensed.
In addition, the detection device 2 is further capable of detecting a parameter associated with an environment in which the dynamic image capture system is situated, so that the detecting signal generated thereby is further representative of the parameter thus detected. In this embodiment, the sensing unit 3 of the detection device 2 further includes a temperature sensor 32 and an atmospheric pressure sensor 33, in addition to the motion sensor module 31. The temperature sensor 32 senses a temperature associated with the environment so as to generate a sensing value that is associated with the temperature thus sensed. The atmospheric pressure sensor 33 senses an air pressure associated with the environment so as to generate a sensing value that is associated with the air pressure thus sensed.
Therefore, the detecting signal of this embodiment is represented by the sensing value of the angular velocity sensed by the angular velocity sensor 311, the sensing value of the coordinate acceleration sensed by the coordinate acceleration sensor 313, the sensing value of the proper acceleration sensed by the gravity sensor 312, the sensing value of the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor 32 and the sensing value of the air pressure sensed by the air pressure sensor 33.
In this embodiment, the control module 142 determines that the predetermined condition is met when any one of the sensing values represented by the detecting signal is greater than a respective predetermined threshold so as to output the second control signal to the processing module 141.
For example, once the control module 142 detects that the sensing value associated with the temperature is greater than the respective predetermined threshold, the second control signal generated by the control module 142 is outputted to the processing module 141. As a result, the processing module 141 switches from the selective-saving state to the standard state in response to receipt of the second control signal.
In addition, unlike the previous embodiments, the detection device 2 is capable of detecting change associated with an environment in which the dynamic image capture system is situated so as to generate a detecting signal signifying the change. The processing module 141 of the control unit 14 of the image capture device 1 is in communication with the detection device for receiving the detecting signal therefrom, and is controlled to operate in the standard state upon receipt of the detecting signal. In other words, the detecting signal in this embodiment serves as a kind of control signal. Specifically, in this embodiment, the detection device 2 includes an auxiliary image capture module 21 and an image comparison module 22 coupled to the auxiliary image capture module 21.
The auxiliary image capture module 21 captures a series of detection images associated with the environment, and outputs the detection images captured thereby to the image comparison module 22.
The image comparison module 22 receives the detection images from the auxiliary image capture module 21. The image comparison module 22 is operable to compare each adjacent pair of the detection images and generate a control signal upon determining that a difference between two adjacent ones of the detection images is greater than a threshold condition. An example of the threshold condition is that there exists a difference between two adjacent ones of the detection images.
To sum up, the present disclosure saves memory storage space of the storage module 12 by monitoring what happens in the surroundings of the dynamic image capture system, be it changes in the environment, or specific parameters associated with the environment, through a variety of sensing means or determination schemes, such that when the surroundings of the dynamic image capture system are considered to be minimally varying, the dynamic image capture system operates in the selective-saving state to save fewer images, and only operates in the standard state to save all images when the surroundings are considered to involve more significant changes or when a preset condition is satisfied. The embodiments of this disclosure entail the use of the first control signal from the input interface 13 (
While the present disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 103140787 | Nov 2014 | TW | national |
