User established variable image sizes for a digital image capture device

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for allowing a user to establish variable image sizes in a digital image capture device having an image sensor are described. Aspects of the present invention include allowing the user to specify a custom output size for an image about to be captured using the image capture device by specifying a value for one of an image dimension, an aspect ratio of the image, and a print size of the image; determining from the user-specified output size for the image a corresponding capture area of the image sensor; capturing sensor data corresponding only to the capture area of the image sensor; and processing the captured sensor data into the image of the user-specified output size.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a digital image capture device, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for allowing a user to establish variable image sizes for a digital image capture device. Background technique [0002] Digital image capture devices, such as digital still cameras and camera phones, typically capture images using a standard aspect ratio, ie, the ratio of the image's height to width. The two most commonly used aspect ratios are 4:3 and 3:2. These ratios are commonly used because most computer screens and video monitors have a 4:3 ratio, and conventional 35mm film photography produces negatives with a 3:2 ratio (and thus 4"x6" is a common print format). [0003] Since digital cameras have a fairly high resolution, and sometimes far more than is needed, some digital cameras will provide users with the option to select the resolution at which they want to capture images. For example, users of the SONY DSC-F707 can choose from...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

One disadvantage is that the user is limited to at most two different aspect ratios 4:3 and 3:2, and thus cannot easily generate images of 16:9 or any non-standard aspect ratio

A related disadvantage is that the user is restricted to a limited number of manufacturer preset image sizes (as listed above for the SONY DSC-F707), so non-standard sizes cannot be easily and automatically generated even with standard aspect ratios Image

Another disadvantage is that in the two conventional methods described above, the image sensor captures the full-size image, which is subsequently clipped and interpolated

The result is that unnecessary data is collected from the image sensor, resulting in unnecessary conversion processing and thus wasting digital camera battery life, wasting processing time, and using more camera storage memory than necessary

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