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GoogleGranted patentCameras & imagingInterest 6/10

Google patents phone camera logic for choosing between flash and multi-shot

This patent describes a method where a mobile device uses sensor data to decide how to take a photo in the dark. It chooses between firing the flash or taking several pictures without the flash to combine into one better image.

Why it mattersIt improves the quality of photos taken in dim environments by letting the phone automatically pick the best capture strategy.

In the filing’s own words

This document describes techniques and apparatuses for computational photography under low-light conditions for an image-capture device on a mobile computing device. In aspects, described are techniques and apparatuses for an image-capture device to utilize sensor data in determining whether to enable flash photography or capture multiple images of the scene without use of a flash under low-light conditions. In other aspects, an image-capture device may utilize device data in determining whether to enable flash photography or capture multiple images of the scene without use of a flash under low-light conditions. The disclosed techniques and apparatuses may provide improved computational photography under low-light conditions for an image-capture device on a mobile computing device.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method comprising: receiving, at a mobile computing device and during a low-light condition for a scene, sensor data concerning ambient conditions of the scene; determining, based on the received sensor data concerning the ambient conditions of the scene and using one or more image-capture devices of the mobile computing device, whether to (1) capture multiple images of the scene without use of a flash or (2) capture an image of the scene using the flash; responsive to determining to capture the multiple images of the scene without use of the flash, generating and providing a post-computational image using the multiple images of the scene; and responsive to determining to capture the image of the scene using the flash, generating and providing a flash-captured image.

Facts

Company
Google (Google LLC)
Official title
Computational photography under low-light conditions
Patent number
US12732705B2
Application number
18293107
Filed
Jul 29, 2021
Granted
Sep 8, 2026
Inventors
3
Claims
20

Classified under

H04N 23/71 Electricity & electronicsH04N 23/64 Electricity & electronicsH04N 23/65 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.