Image Acquisition Method and Apparatus

Abstract

An image acquisition sensor of a digital image acquisition apparatus is coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images. Images acquired by the sensor are stored. A motion detector causes the sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement in acquiring the image exceeds a threshold. A controller selectively transfers acquired images for storage. A motion extractor determines motion parameters of a selected, stored image. An image re-constructor corrects the selected image with associated motion parameters. A selected plurality of images nominally of the same scene are merged and corrected by the image re-constructor to produce a high quality image of the scene.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A digital image acquisition apparatus, comprising:
 an image acquisition sensor coupled to imaging optics for acquiring a sequence of images;   an image store for storing one or more of said sequence of images acquired by said sensor;   a dedicated motion detector hardware unit for providing hardware-based sensor control including causing said sensor to cease capture of an image when the degree of movement of the apparatus in acquiring said image exceeds a threshold, and for selectively transferring said one or more of said images acquired by said sensor to said image store; and   a dedicated motion extractor hardware unit for providing hardware-based determination of motion parameters of at least one a selected image stored in said image store.