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AppleGranted patentCameras & imagingInterest 6/10

Apple patents camera interface that blends zoom levels from multiple lenses

Apple has been granted a patent for a user interface that manages multiple cameras with different zoom capabilities. The system allows users to zoom smoothly across the combined range of different lenses and can display content from two cameras simultaneously. It also supports independent panning and zooming of separate viewfinder windows to create composite images or videos.

Why it mattersThis filing suggests Apple is refining how its multi-lens cameras work together, potentially offering smoother transitions between wide and telephoto shots or enabling unique split-screen video effects.

In the filing’s own words

An electronic device has multiple cameras and displays a digital viewfinder user interface for previewing visual information provided by the cameras. The multiple cameras may have different properties such as focal lengths. When a single digital viewfinder is provided, the user interface allows zooming over a zoom range that includes the respective zoom ranges of both cameras. The zoom setting to determine which camera provides visual information to the viewfinder and which camera is used to capture visual information. The user interface also allows the simultaneous display of content provided by different cameras at the same time. When two digital viewfinders are provided, the user interface allows zooming, freezing, and panning of one digital viewfinder independently of the other. The device allows storing of a composite images and/or videos using both digital viewfinders and corresponding cameras.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An electronic device, comprising: one or more processors; one or more cameras; one or more input devices; and memory storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for: while the electronic device is configured to capture content from the one or more cameras at a first magnification level, detecting, via the one or more input devices, a user input that corresponds to a request to change a magnification level; in response to detecting a first portion of the user input, configuring the electronic device to capture content at a second magnification level that is different from the first magnification level; while the electronic device is configured to capture content at the second magnification level, detecting, via the one or more input devices, a second portion of the user input, the second portion including movement with a respective magnitude; and in response to detecting the second portion of the user input: in accordance with a determination that the respective magnitude of the movement exceeds a threshold magnitude, configuring the electronic device to capture content at a third magnification level that is different from the second magnification level; and in accordance with a determination that the respective magnitude of the movement does not exceed the threshold magnitude, the electronic device continues to be configured to capture content at the second magnification level.

Facts

Company
Apple (Apple Inc.)
Official title
Digital viewfinder user interface for multiple cameras
Patent number
US12739511B2
Application number
18949752
Filed
Nov 15, 2024
Granted
Sep 15, 2026
Inventors
6
Claims
11

Classified under

H04N 23/69 Electricity & electronicsG03B 17/20 Physics & computingG06F 3/04842 Physics & computingG06F 3/04883 Physics & computingH04N 13/25 Electricity & electronicsH04N 23/632 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.