Concurrent image processing for generating an output image

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application automatically utilize parallel image captures in an image processing pipeline. In one embodiment, image processing circuitry concurrently receives first image data to be processed and second image data to be processed, wherein the second image data is processed to aid in enhancement of the first image data.

Therefore, having thus described various embodiments, at least the following is claimed: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 a hardware processor; and   an image processing circuitry configured to receive first image data to be processed and second image data to be processed to aid in enhancement of the first image data,   the image processing circuitry comprising an imaging pipeline for processing a plurality of image data, wherein the image processing circuitry is configured to process the first image data at full-resolution and is configured to process the second image data at a down-scaled resolution; wherein a portion of the image processing circuitry is configured to shut down after passing extracted data for processing of the first image data without storing the extracted data in memory.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a first image sensor configured to capture the first image data and a second image sensor configured to capture the second image data. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the enhancement of the first image data comprises at least one of noise filtering, dynamic range optimization, or high dynamic range imaging. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the image processing circuitry features multiple parallel pipeline paths comprising a first pipeline configured to process the first image data at full-resolution and a second pipeline configured to process the second image data at the down-scaled resolution. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the image processing circuitry features a single pipeline path configured to process a multiplexed stream comprising the first image data at full-resolution and the second image data at the down-scaled resolution. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising an image sensor configured to capture the first image data, wherein the first image data is downsampled to generate the second image data. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein a first portion of the image pipeline that processes the second image data is instantiated to decode the second image data and to tap extracted enhancement data to a second portion of the image pipeline that processes the first image data and is instantiated for decoding the first image data. 
     
     
         8 . An image processing method, comprising:
 obtaining first image data at full resolution to be processed and second image data at a down-scaled resolution to be processed to aid in processing of the first image data;   processing, by image processing circuitry, the second image data and extracting enhancement image data to aid in processing of the first image data; and   processing, by the image processing circuitry, the first image data using the enhancement image data.   
     
     
         9 . The image processing method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 capturing the first image data with a first image sensor; and   concurrently capturing the second image data with a second image sensor.   
     
     
         10 . The image processing method of  claim 8 , further comprising generating an output bitstream comprising encoded layers of the first image data and the second image data. 
     
     
         11 . The image processing method of  claim 8 , wherein the processing of the first image data and the second image data utilizes multiple parallel pipeline paths comprising a first pipeline configured to process the first image data at full-resolution and a second pipeline configured to process the second image data at the down-scaled resolution. 
     
     
         12 . The image processing method of  claim 8 , wherein the processing of the first image data and the second image data utilizes a single pipeline path configured to process a multiplexed stream comprising the first image data at full-resolution and the second image data at the down-scaled resolution. 
     
     
         13 . The image processing method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 capturing the first image data with a first image sensor; and   downsampling the first image data to generate the second image data.   
     
     
         14 . The image processing method of  claim 8 , wherein the processing of the first image data comprises object or facial recognition. 
     
     
         15 . The image processing method of  claim 8 , wherein the processing comprises decoding of the first image data. 
     
     
         16 . The image processing method of  claim 15 , wherein a portion of an image pipeline that processes the second image data is instantiated for decoding the second image data and tapping the enhancement data to a portion of the image pipeline that processes the first image data and is instantiated for decoding the first image data. 
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having an image processing program, when executed by a hardware processor, causes the hardware processor to:
 obtain first image data at full resolution to be processed and second image data at a down-scaled resolution to be processed to aid in processing of the first image data;   extract enhancement image data from the second image data to aid in processing of the first image data; and   process the first image data using the enhancement image data.   
     
     
         18 . The computer readable medium of  claim 17 , the program further causing the hardware processor to:
 capture the first image data with a first image sensor; and   concurrently capture the second image data with a second image sensor.   
     
     
         19 . The computer readable medium of  claim 17 , the program further causing the hardware processor to:
 capture the first image data with a first image sensor; and   downsample the first image data to generate the second image data.   
     
     
         20 . The computer readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the processing comprises decoding of the first image data.