Apple patents method to sync image processing across multiple camera sensors
Apple has filed a patent application describing a system that coordinates how two different camera sensors process images. The device compares basic image data from the area where both cameras see the same scene to create shared settings for processing the photos.
In the filing’s own words
An apparatus can include a first image sensor having a first field of view (FOV) and configured to capture a first image, a second image sensor having a second FOV and configured to capture a second image, an image statistics collection subsystem configured to gather first image statistics information associated with the first image and to gather second image statistics information associated with the second image, a disparity detection subsystem configured to compare the first image statistics information with the second image statistics information, and image signal processing blocks configured to synchronize processing of the first and second images based on the comparison of the first image statistics information with the second image statistics information. Processing of the first and second images can involve using one or more combined image signal processing control parameters based on image statistics information within an overlapping FOV and/or a within a total FOV.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method of operating an electronic device having at least first and second image sensors, comprising: capturing a first image using the first image sensor having a first view of a scene; capturing a second image using the second image sensor having a second view of the scene different than the first view, wherein the first view and the second view coincide in an overlapping view area; and processing the first and second images using a shared image signal processing control parameter computed based on information associated with the first image within the overlapping view area and information associated with the second image within the overlapping view area.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Synchronizing Image Signal Processing Across Multiple Image Sensors
- Publication number
- US20260303771A1
- Application number
- 19710199
- Filed
- Jun 16, 2026
- Published
- Oct 1, 2026
- Inventors
- 5
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H04N 13/133 Electricity & electronicsH04N 13/15 Electricity & electronicsH04N 13/161 Electricity & electronicsH04N 13/167 Electricity & electronicsH04N 13/339 Electricity & electronicsMore from Apple in Cameras & imaging
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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.