Image capture device controlled according to image capture quality and related image capture method thereof

Abstract

An image capture device has an image capture module and a controller. The image capture module is used for capturing a plurality of consecutive preview images under an automatic shot mode. In addition, the image capture module can be a multi-view image capture module, which is used to capture a plurality of multiple-angle preview images. The controller is used for analyzing the preview images to identify an image capture quality metric index, and determining if a target image capture condition is met by referring to at least the image capture quality metric index. A captured image for the automatic shot mode is stored when the controller determines that the target image capture condition is met.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An image capture device comprising:
 an image capture module, arranged for capturing a plurality of consecutive preview images under an automatic shot mode; and   a controller, arranged for analyzing the consecutive preview images to identify an image capture quality metric index, and determining if a target image capture condition is met by referring to at least the image capture quality metric index;   wherein a captured image for the automatic shot mode is stored when the controller determines that the target image capture condition is met.   
     
     
         2 . The image capture device of  claim 1 , wherein the controller analyzes each of the consecutive preview images to obtain inherent image characteristic information, where the inherent image characteristic information includes at least one of sharpness, blur, brightness, contrast, and color; and the controller determines the image capture quality metric index according to at least the inherent image characteristic information. 
     
     
         3 . The image capture device of  claim 1 , wherein the controller identifies the image capture quality metric index by at least performing a stable estimation for each preview image of the consecutive preview images. 
     
     
         4 . The image capture device of  claim 1 , wherein the controller identifies the image capture quality metric index by at least performing a blur value estimation for each preview image of the consecutive preview images. 
     
     
         5 . The image capture device of  claim 1 , wherein the controller identifies the image capture quality metric index by analyzing at least a portion of each preview image of the consecutive preview images. 
     
     
         6 . The image capture device of  claim 5 , wherein the controller performs face detection upon each preview image to determine a face region to act as at least the portion of each preview image. 
     
     
         7 . The image capture device of  claim 1 , wherein the controller further receives a sensor input which is indicative of a movement status associated with the image capture module; and the controller determines if the target image capture condition is met by referring to the image capture quality metric index and the movement status. 
     
     
         8 . The image capture device of  claim 1 , wherein when the target image capture condition is met, the controller directly selects one of the consecutive preview images as the captured image. 
     
     
         9 . The image capture device of  claim 1 , wherein after the target image capture condition is met, the controller controls the image capture module to capture a new image as the captured image. 
     
     
         10 . An image capture method comprising:
 capturing a plurality of consecutive preview images under an automatic shot mode;   analyzing the consecutive preview images to identify an image capture quality metric index;   determining if a target image capture condition is met by referring to at least the image capture quality metric index; and   when the target image capture condition is met, storing a captured image for the automatic shot mode.   
     
     
         11 . The image capture method of  claim 10 , wherein the step of identifying the image capture quality metric index comprises:
 analyzing each of the consecutive preview images to obtain inherent image characteristic information, where the inherent image characteristic information includes at least one of sharpness, blur, brightness, contrast, and color; and   determining the image capture quality metric index according to at least the inherent image characteristic information.   
     
     
         12 . The image capture method of  claim 10 , wherein the image capture quality metric index is identified by at least performing a stable movement estimation for each preview image of the consecutive preview images. 
     
     
         13 . The image capture method of  claim 10 , wherein the image capture quality metric index is identified by at least performing a blur value estimation for each preview image of the consecutive preview images. 
     
     
         14 . The image capture method of  claim 10 , wherein the image capture quality metric index is identified by analyzing at least a portion of each preview image of the consecutive preview images. 
     
     
         15 . The image capture method of  claim 14 , wherein face detection is performed upon each preview image to determine a face region to act as at least the portion of each preview image. 
     
     
         16 . The image capture method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 receiving a sensor input which is indicative of a movement status associated with an image capture module which generates the consecutive preview images;   wherein the step of determining if the target image capture condition is met comprises:   determining if the target image capture condition is met by referring to the image capture quality metric index and the movement status.   
     
     
         17 . The image capture method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 after the target image capture condition is met, directly selecting one of the consecutive preview images as the captured image.   
     
     
         18 . The image capture method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 when the target image capture condition is met, capturing a new image as the captured image.   
     
     
         19 . An image capture device comprising:
 a multi-view image capture module, arranged for simultaneously generating a plurality of image capture outputs respectively corresponding to a plurality of different viewing angles; and   a controller, arranged for calculating an image capture quality metric index for each of the image capture outputs;   wherein a specific image capture output generated from the multi-view image capture module is outputted by the image capture device according to a plurality of image capture quality metric indices of the image capture outputs.   
     
     
         20 . The image capture device of  claim 19 , wherein each of the image capture outputs is a single image or a video sequence. 
     
     
         21 . The image capture device of  claim 19 , wherein the controller refers to the image capture quality metric indices of the image capture outputs to directly select one of the image capture outputs as the specific image capture output. 
     
     
         22 . The image capture device of  claim 19 , wherein the controller refers to the image capture quality metric indices of the image capture outputs to control the multi-view image capture module to generate a new image capture output corresponding to a selected viewing angle as the specific image capture output. 
     
     
         23 . The image capture device of  claim 19 , wherein the controller performs face detection upon each image capture output to obtain face detection information, and determines the image capture quality metric index according to at least the face detection information. 
     
     
         24 . The image capture device of  claim 23 , wherein the face detection information includes at least one of a face angle, a face number, a face size, a face position, a face symmetry, an eye number, and an eye blink status. 
     
     
         25 . The image capture device of  claim 19 , wherein the controller receives auto-focus information of each image capture output from the multi-view image capture module, and determines the image capture quality metric index according to at least the auto-focus information. 
     
     
         26 . The image capture device of  claim 19 , wherein the controller analyzes each of the image capture output to obtain inherent image characteristic information, where the inherent image characteristic information includes at least one of sharpness, blur, brightness, contrast, and color; and the controller determines the image capture quality metric index according to at least the inherent image characteristic information. 
     
     
         27 . An image capture method comprising:
 utilizing a multi-view image capture module for simultaneously generating a plurality of image capture outputs respectively corresponding to a plurality of different viewing angles;   calculating an image capture quality metric index for each of the image capture outputs; and   outputting a specific image capture output generated from the multi-view image capture module according to a plurality of image capture quality metric indices of the image capture outputs.   
     
     
         28 . The image capture method of  claim 27 , wherein each of the image capture outputs is a single image or a video sequence. 
     
     
         29 . The image capture method of  claim 27 , wherein the step of outputting the specific image capture output comprises:
 referring to the image capture quality metric indices of the image capture outputs to directly select one of the image capture outputs as the specific image capture output.   
     
     
         30 . The image capture method of  claim 27 , wherein the step of outputting the specific image capture output comprises:
 referring to the image capture quality metric indices of the image capture outputs to control the multi-view image capture module to generate a new image capture output corresponding to a selected viewing angle as the specific image capture output.   
     
     
         31 . The image capture method of  claim 27 , wherein the step of calculating the image capture quality metric index comprises:
 performing face detection upon each image capture output to obtain face detection information; and   determining the image capture quality metric index according to at least the face detection information.   
     
     
         32 . The image capture method of  claim 31 , wherein the face detection information includes at least one of a face angle, a face number, a face size, a face position, a face symmetry, an eye number, and an eye blink status. 
     
     
         33 . The image capture method of  claim 27 , wherein the step of calculating the image capture quality metric index comprises:
 receiving auto-focus information of each image capture output from the multi-view image capture module; and   determining the image capture quality metric index according to at least the auto-focus information.   
     
     
         34 . The image capture method of  claim 27 , wherein the step of calculating the image capture quality metric index comprises:
 analyzing each of the image capture output to obtain inherent image characteristic information, where the inherent image characteristic information includes at least one of sharpness, blur, brightness, contrast, and color; and   determining the image capture quality metric index according to at least the inherent image characteristic information.