CN114390211A

CN114390211A - Exposure convergence method, device, electronic device and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN114390211A
Application number: CN202011126865.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张旭; 张文婷; 孟德珅
Original assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-10-20
Filing date: 2020-10-20
Publication date: 2022-04-22
Anticipated expiration: 2040-10-20
Also published as: CN114390211B

Abstract

The disclosure relates to an exposure convergence method, an exposure convergence device, an electronic apparatus, and a storage medium. The method is applied to an image signal processor assembled on an electronic device, and comprises the following steps: when a camera application in the electronic equipment is started, acquiring current environment light information; determining a target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information from a corresponding relation between a preset ambient light range and an exposure index range; under the condition that the historical exposure index is within the target exposure index range, carrying out exposure convergence by taking the historical exposure index as an initial exposure index; wherein the historical exposure index is: the camera applies a final exposure index employed in at least one start prior to the present start. According to the method and the device, when the historical exposure index is determined to be in the exposure index range corresponding to the current environment light information, the historical exposure index is used as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence, and the purpose of rapid exposure convergence is achieved.

Description

Exposure convergence method, device, electronic device and storage medium

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of image processing, and in particular, to an exposure convergence method and apparatus, an electronic device, and a storage medium.

Background

With the continuous development of imaging technology, more and more users are added to the shooting and shooting line, and even the heat of civil shooting is brought about.

In the related art, when a camera application is started, exposure parameters of the camera application need to be adjusted according to ambient light information of an environment where the camera application is located, so that a captured picture is normally exposed (i.e., has a moderate brightness), and the adjustment process is also called exposure convergence.

At present, although the camera application can accurately determine the final exposure parameters for enabling the picture exposure to be normal according to the ambient light information, the initial exposure parameters adopted when the camera application is started cannot be reasonably set, so that the exposure convergence process lasts for a long time, and poor use experience is brought to a user.

Disclosure of Invention

The disclosure provides an exposure convergence method, an exposure convergence device, an electronic device and a storage medium, which can reasonably determine an initial exposure index when a camera application is started so as to reduce the time required by exposure convergence and achieve the purpose of rapid exposure convergence.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an exposure convergence method applied to an image signal processor mounted on an electronic device, comprising:

when a camera application in the electronic equipment is started, acquiring current environment light information;

determining a target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information from a corresponding relation between a preset ambient light range and an exposure index range;

under the condition that the historical exposure index is within the target exposure index range, carrying out exposure convergence by taking the historical exposure index as an initial exposure index;

wherein the historical exposure index is: the camera applies the final exposure index employed in any one of the activations prior to the current activation.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an exposure convergence apparatus applied to an image signal processor mounted on an electronic device, comprising:

the device comprises an acquisition unit, a processing unit and a control unit, wherein the acquisition unit is used for acquiring current environment light information when a camera application in the electronic equipment is started;

the determining unit is used for determining a target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information from a corresponding relation between a preset ambient light range and an exposure index range;

a convergence unit which performs exposure convergence using a history exposure index as an initial exposure index when the history exposure index is within the target exposure index range;

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

wherein the processor implements the method of the first aspect by executing the executable instructions.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method according to the first aspect.

In the technical scheme of the disclosure, the corresponding relation between the ambient light range and the exposure index range is preset, so that the target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information can be determined on the basis of obtaining the current ambient light information; further judging whether the historical exposure index is in the target exposure index range or not by comparing the obtained historical exposure index with the determined target exposure index range; if yes, the historical exposure index is directly used as an initial exposure index to carry out exposure convergence. It is understood that, since the historical exposure index is an exposure index that makes the picture under the corresponding historical ambient light tend to be normally exposed, when the historical exposure index is within the target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information, it is proved that the current ambient light is closer to the historical ambient light, and correspondingly, the historical exposure index is closer to the target exposure index that makes the picture normally exposed. Therefore, the historical exposure index is used as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence, so that the difference between the initial exposure index and the target exposure index is small, and the effect of rapid exposure convergence is achieved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method of exposure convergence in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating another exposure convergence method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exposure convergence apparatus shown in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of another exposure convergence apparatus shown in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, like numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the exemplary embodiments below are not intended to represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the present disclosure, as detailed in the appended claims.

The terminology used in the present disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used in this disclosure and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It is to be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at … …" or "when … …" or "in response to a determination", depending on the context.

With the continuous development of imaging technology, most of the electronic devices in the future already have camera functions, and the shooting requirements of users can be met only by installing camera applications on the electronic devices. In the related art, when a camera application (hereinafter, simply referred to as a camera for convenience) is started, an exposure parameter of the camera needs to be adjusted according to ambient light information of an environment where the camera is located, so as to expose a captured picture normally, and the adjustment process is also referred to as exposure convergence.

Since the exposure convergence process involves a large number of exposure parameters, a technician usually converts a plurality of exposure parameters into a unified standard parameter, which is called an exposure index, for describing the exposure degree of a frame under the corresponding exposure parameters. When the camera is started up and exposure convergence is performed, exposure convergence is generally performed by determining an exposure index in order to avoid a problem that the number of exposure parameters is large, which makes it difficult to determine the value of the exposure parameter used for exposure convergence.

At present, most cameras of electronic devices adopt a cold start mode to perform exposure convergence. In this case, when the camera in the electronic device is started, the camera reads a preset initial exposure index (mostly based on a common ambient light setting), and determines a final exposure index by collecting ambient light information, thereby completing exposure convergence from the initial exposure index to the final exposure index. In the cold start mode, if the preset initial exposure index is greatly different from the determined final exposure index, a serious underexposure or overexposure phenomenon occurs at the initial stage of exposure convergence. It appears to the user that the problem of too bright or too dark a picture occurs in the first few frames of the camera preview picture. Similarly, the difference between the initial exposure index and the final exposure index is large, so that the duration of the exposure convergence process is long, and a camera preview picture needs a long time to be restored to normal exposure.

In addition to the above-described cold start method, a camera start method of warm start is also proposed in the related art. In this method, the camera stores the final exposure index used for the current start after each start, and when the camera is started next time, the final exposure index is used as the initial exposure index of the next exposure convergence to perform exposure convergence. It is understood that, when the warm-start mode is adopted, if the ambient light of the camera during the start is closer to the ambient light of the camera during the next start, the initial exposure index of the next exposure convergence is closer to the final exposure index, the exposure convergence duration is shorter, and the problems of overexposure or underexposure cannot occur. However, when the difference between the ambient light of the two camera starts is large, the difference between the final exposure index used for the two exposure convergence is large, that is, the difference between the initial exposure index and the final exposure index used for the next exposure convergence is large, which also causes the above-mentioned problem of frame exposure in the cold start and the problem of long duration of exposure convergence.

Therefore, in the related art, whether the camera adopts cold start or hot start, there are high probabilities that transient overexposure or underexposure occurs in the preview screen due to improper setting of the initial exposure index, and that the exposure convergence process is long in duration.

To this end, the present disclosure proposes an exposure convergence method to solve the above-mentioned problems. Before describing the technical solution of the present disclosure in detail, it should be emphasized that the camera start-up process in the present disclosure refers to: the camera application of the electronic equipment is opened, and the image signal processor performs the first exposure convergence so as to make the preview picture of the camera application tend to be exposed to a normal process. After the first exposure convergence, the image signal processor automatically adjusts the exposure parameters according to the user adjustment operation or according to the ambient light, and the exposure convergence is not regarded as the exposure convergence in the starting process of the camera of the present disclosure, but as the exposure convergence in the running process of the camera.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an exposure convergence method applied to an image signal processor according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, the method may include the steps of:

step 102, when a camera application in the electronic device is started, current ambient light information is acquired.

In the present disclosure, the image signal processor may be a component for image signal processing included in any electronic device. The component may be an image signal processor separately provided in the electronic device, or may be an image processing module included in a central processing unit of the electronic device. How to arrange the image signal processor in the electronic device can be determined by those skilled in the art according to practical situations, and the present disclosure does not limit this.

Accordingly, the present disclosure also does not limit the electronic device to which the image signal processor is equipped. The electronic equipment can be a mobile terminal, such as a smart phone, a tablet computer and the like; the system can also be a fixed terminal such as a PC, an intelligent television and the like; and professional photographic equipment such as a digital camera, a video camera and the like can also be used. It should be understood that any electronic device having a photographing function may be used as the electronic device to which the image signal processor is equipped in the present disclosure.

As can be seen from the above, in the related art, it is generally simpler to determine the initial exposure index in the exposure convergence process. When the camera adopts cold start, directly taking a preset initial exposure index as an initial exposure index of exposure convergence; and when the camera is started in a hot state, directly taking the final exposure index adopted when the camera is started last time as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence. According to the method, exposure convergence is not directly carried out based on a preset initial exposure index or a last final exposure index, before exposure convergence, a rough exposure index range is determined based on current ambient light information preferentially, and then a specific determination of the initial exposure index is determined according to the determined exposure index range.

It should be understood that, because the present disclosure determines a rough exposure index range based on the current ambient light information before exposure convergence, and determines an initial exposure index according to the exposure index range, the determined initial exposure index can be relatively close to a final exposure index for making a picture exposed normally with a relatively high probability, thereby achieving a purpose of shortening the exposure convergence time and avoiding a problem of transient exposure misappropriation of a preview picture.

In the present disclosure, the acquisition of current ambient light information typically requires the assistance of a light sensor. Taking the case of separately providing an image signal processor in an electronic device as an example: when the electronic equipment detects that the camera is opened by a user, a central processing unit of the electronic equipment can send an image acquisition signal to the image signal processor; after receiving the image acquisition signal, the image signal processor can send a light acquisition instruction to the light sensor so that the light sensor acquires a current environment light signal and returns the current environment light signal; after receiving the current ambient light signal returned by the light sensor, the image signal processor can generate current ambient light information based on the current ambient light signal. Of course, when the image signal processor is not separately arranged, the interaction process between the central processing unit and the image signal processor is only required to be modified into the interaction between a plurality of modules in the central processing unit, and the interaction flow is almost unchanged. It should be noted that the above process of obtaining the current ambient light information is only exemplary, and any manner of obtaining the ambient light information can be applied to the present disclosure, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

In the present disclosure, an operation of obtaining a historical exposure index is also included. In one embodiment, the historical exposure index may be the same as the initial exposure index used during the warm start, which is the final exposure index used during the last start of the camera; alternatively, the historical exposure index may include: the camera is applied to a plurality of final exposure indexes adopted in a plurality of starting processes before the current starting. In addition to the final exposure index used in the historical exposure convergence process, the historical exposure index may also be an exposure index that is preset by the technician. Of course, the above examples are merely illustrative, and the specific meaning of the historical exposure index may be determined by one skilled in the art based on the actual situation, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

In practical applications, after the exposure convergence is completed, the image signal processor may save the final exposure index in the local storage space, so as to be read from the local storage space by the image signal processor when the subsequent camera is started.

And 104, determining a target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information from a corresponding relation between a preset ambient light range and an exposure index range.

In the present disclosure, a corresponding relationship between the ambient light range and the exposure index range is pre-configured, so as to determine a target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information according to the current ambient light information. Specifically, a plurality of ambient light ranges and a preset exposure index range corresponding to each ambient light range may be recorded in the corresponding relationship. For example, the correspondence may be as shown in table 1 below:

range of ambient light	Range of exposure index
		0～13107	320～399
13108～26215	240～319
		26216～39322	160～239
39323～52429	80～159
		52430～65535	0～79

TABLE 1

In actual operation, after the current ambient light information is determined, a target ambient light range corresponding to the current ambient light information can be determined from a plurality of ambient light ranges included in the corresponding relationship, and further a preset exposure index range corresponding to the target ambient light range is determined as a target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information.

Taking the corresponding relation in table 1 as an example, assuming that the value of the current ambient light information determined by the image signal processor is 14000, the determined target ambient light range is 13108-26215, and the further determined target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information is 240-319.

After the target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information is determined, the obtained historical exposure index can be compared with the determined target exposure index range, and whether the historical exposure index is in the target exposure index range or not is judged.

In one embodiment, the historical exposure index is a final exposure index used by the image signal processor during the convergence of the last exposure. In this embodiment, it is only necessary to determine whether the historical exposure index is within the determined target exposure index range. Because the historical exposure index is unique, the judgment operation is simpler, and the efficiency is higher.

In another embodiment, the historical exposure index includes: the camera is applied to a plurality of final exposure indexes adopted in a plurality of starting processes before the current starting. In this embodiment, the image signal processor may determine whether any one of the plurality of final exposure indexes belongs to the determined target exposure index range after reading the plurality of final exposure indexes. When it is determined that any final exposure index belongs to the determined target exposure index range, the final exposure index can be used as the initial exposure index of the convergence of the exposure. Compared with the previous embodiment, since the historical exposure index of the present embodiment includes a plurality of final exposure indexes, the probability that the historical exposure index can be used as the initial exposure index of the convergence of the present exposure is improved.

It should be understood that, since the historical exposure index in the present embodiment includes a plurality of final exposure indexes, it is likely that a case will occur in which the plurality of final exposure indexes all belong to the determined target exposure index range. For this situation, a person skilled in the art may determine the final exposure index as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence in different ways according to actual needs, which is not limited by the present disclosure. For example, the following two ways may be employed:

in one mode, the image signal processor may compare the plurality of final exposure indexes with the determined target exposure index range one by one after obtaining the plurality of final exposure indexes, and once determining that any final exposure index is within the target exposure index range, immediately stop the comparison process, and use the any final exposure index as the initial exposure index of the convergence of the current exposure. By the method, when a plurality of final exposure indexes are in the determined target exposure index range, all the final exposure indexes contained in the historical exposure indexes do not need to be compared with the target exposure index range, and the occupation of processing resources of the image signal processor in the comparison process is reduced.

In another mode, the image signal processor may compare the plurality of final exposure indexes with the determined target exposure index range one by one after obtaining the plurality of final exposure indexes, but compare all the final exposure indexes included in the historical exposure indexes with the determined target exposure index range to determine all the final exposure indexes within the target exposure index range; on the basis, any determined final exposure index can be used as the initial exposure index of the convergence of the exposure. Furthermore, the middle value of the target exposure index range can be determined, all the determined final exposure indexes are subtracted from the middle value, and the final exposure index with the minimum difference value from the middle value is used as the initial exposure index of the current exposure convergence, so that the accuracy of the determined initial exposure index is further improved.

106, under the condition that the historical exposure index is in the target exposure index range, taking the historical exposure index as an initial exposure index for exposure convergence; wherein the historical exposure index is: the camera applies the final exposure index employed in any one of the activations prior to the current activation.

It should be understood that, since the determined target exposure index range corresponds to the obtained current ambient light information, when the historical exposure index is in the determined target exposure index range, it can be proved that the current ambient light is closer to the historical ambient light in which the image signal processor adopts the historical exposure index. Obviously, the historical exposure index is closer to the target exposure index (i.e., the final exposure index adopted by exposure convergence in the current camera starting process) determined based on the current ambient light information. As can be seen, if the historical exposure index is determined as the initial exposure index of the current exposure convergence, the duration of the exposure convergence can be greatly reduced.

In addition, the purpose of determining the target exposure index is to: the exposure of the preview screen is made normal. Obviously, when the historical exposure index is close to the target exposure index, the problems of overexposure or underexposure do not occur at the initial stage of convergence of the present exposure.

It should be noted that the exposure convergence in the present disclosure refers to: when the camera is started, the initial exposure index is adjusted to the target exposure index, so that the camera preview picture tends to be exposed normally. The process is a dynamic adjustment process. Therefore, in practical application, after the image signal processor determines the target exposure index based on the current ambient light information, the actual exposure convergence process is as follows: the historical exposure index as the initial exposure index is converged to the target exposure index.

In addition, the exposure index is only a standard parameter for representing a plurality of exposure parameters. The image signal processor cannot perform picture adjustment based on the exposure index in actual operation. Therefore, in practical application, each exposure index corresponds to at least one group of exposure parameters, so that after the initial exposure index and the target exposure index adopted by the current exposure convergence are determined, the initial exposure parameters corresponding to the initial exposure index and the target exposure parameters corresponding to the target exposure index are further determined, and the exposure convergence process is completed by adjusting the exposure parameters of the picture.

It should be understood that the exposure index, as a standard parameter representing a plurality of exposure parameters, characterizes the final exposure of the frame. In practical situations, a plurality of exposure parameters can present similar frame exposure situations through different numerical value combinations. Therefore, when the same exposure index corresponds to multiple sets of exposure parameters, the screen exposure conditions presented by the multiple sets of exposure parameters are substantially the same, and a person skilled in the art can determine any one set of the exposure parameters as the exposure parameters corresponding to the exposure convergence according to actual requirements, for example, the finally adopted exposure parameters can be determined in view of the influence of the exposure parameters on other screen dimensions such as the depth of field, the frame rate, and the like.

In this disclosure, the exposure parameters corresponding to the exposure index may include: exposure time, exposure gain, aperture, shutter, sensitivity. Exposure duration and exposure gain are mostly used as exposure parameters corresponding to exposure indexes on mobile terminals such as smart phones; in professional photographing and imaging apparatuses such as digital cameras and video cameras, an aperture, a shutter, and sensitivity are often used as exposure parameters corresponding to exposure indexes. The exposure parameter corresponding to the exposure index can be determined by those skilled in the art according to practical situations, and the disclosure does not limit this.

In the present disclosure, when it is determined that the historical exposure index is not within the determined target exposure index range, it may be determined that: when the historical exposure index is adopted, the difference between the ambient light of the image signal processor and the current ambient light is larger, and if the historical exposure index is still used as the initial exposure index adopted by the exposure convergence, the problems that the exposure convergence time is too long when the hot start is adopted in the related technology and the exposure is unreasonable in the preview picture at the initial stage of the exposure convergence are likely to occur. Therefore, in this case, the historical exposure index is no longer used as the initial exposure index at which the present exposure converges.

In this case, a preset initial exposure index corresponding to the current ambient light information may be further determined from the corresponding relationship, so as to determine the preset initial exposure index as the initial exposure index adopted by the exposure convergence. Specifically, a preset initial exposure index corresponding to each ambient light range may be further preset in the corresponding relationship. For example, as shown in table 2:

range of ambient light	Range of exposure index	Presetting initial exposure index
			0～13107	320～399	360
13108～26215	240～319	280
			26216～39322	160～239	200
39323～52429	80～159	120
			52430～65535	0～79	40

TABLE 2

In actual operation, after determining a target ambient light range corresponding to the current ambient light information from a plurality of ambient light ranges included in the corresponding relationship, a preset initial exposure index corresponding to the target ambient light range may be further determined as: and the preset initial exposure index is used as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence.

It should be understood that the determined preset initial exposure index corresponds to the current ambient light information, and the target exposure index is also determined based on the current ambient light information. In other words, the determined preset initial exposure index and the finally determined target exposure index should be relatively close to each other, and it can be seen that if the preset initial exposure index is taken as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence of this time, the duration of the exposure convergence can be reduced to achieve the purpose of rapid exposure convergence, and the problem that the preview picture at the initial stage of the exposure convergence is overexposed or underexposed does not occur.

In the present disclosure, the target exposure index may also be manually set by the user, in which case, in the case where the electronic device detects an exposure adjustment operation by the user, an exposure convergence instruction may be sent to the image signal processor; so that the image signal processor converges the determined historical exposure index to the target exposure index after reading the target exposure index included in the exposure convergence instruction. By setting the target exposure index by the user, the process of exposure convergence is controllable for the user, and the problem of inaccurate picture exposure caused by inaccurate automatic determination of the target exposure index by equipment is avoided.

According to the technical scheme, the corresponding relation between the ambient light range and the exposure index range is preset, so that the exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information can be determined on the basis of obtaining the current ambient light information; and further judging whether the historical exposure index is in the exposure index range or not by comparing the acquired historical exposure index with the determined exposure index range. If so, directly adopting the historical exposure index as an initial exposure index to carry out exposure convergence in the starting process of the camera. It is understood that, since the historical exposure index is an exposure index that makes the picture under the corresponding historical ambient light tend to be normally exposed, when the historical exposure index is within the exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information, it is proved that the current ambient light is closer to the historical ambient light, and correspondingly, the historical exposure index is closer to the final exposure index that makes the picture normally exposed. Therefore, the historical exposure index is used as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence, so that the difference between the initial exposure index and the target exposure index is small, and the effect of rapid exposure convergence is achieved; meanwhile, because the current ambient light is closer to the historical ambient light, when the historical exposure index is taken as the initial exposure index, the problem of overexposure or underexposure of the preview picture in the related technology can not occur at the initial stage (or the previous frames) of the exposure convergence, and the visual experience of the user is improved.

Furthermore, corresponding preset initial exposure indexes are further configured for the respective ambient light ranges in the corresponding relationship, so that when the historical exposure index is not within the determined target exposure index range, the preset initial exposure index corresponding to the current ambient light information can be used as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence, and the target exposure index is determined based on the current ambient light information, so that the determined target exposure index is closer to the determined preset initial exposure index. It can be seen that when the historical exposure index is not within the determined target exposure index range, the present disclosure can still achieve fast exposure convergence based on the preset initial exposure index configured in the above correspondence, and simultaneously avoid the problem of overexposure or underexposure of the preview screen at the initial stage of exposure convergence in the related art.

For convenience of understanding, the following describes the technical solution of the present disclosure by taking exposure convergence of the smartphone in the camera opening process as an example.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating another exposure convergence method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, which is applied to an image signal processor in a smart phone. As shown in fig. 2, the method may include the steps of:

step 201, receiving an image acquisition instruction sent by a central processing unit.

In this embodiment, the smartphone may have a camera application installed in advance to take a photograph or a video through the smartphone.

On the basis, the central processing unit of the smart phone can send an image acquisition signal to the image signal processor when detecting the clicking operation of the user on the icon of the camera application to start the camera application; the image signal processor can respond to the image acquisition signal and instruct the light sensor to acquire the current ambient light.

Step 202, sending a current ambient light collection instruction to the light sensor.

Step 203, current environment light information is generated based on the current environment light signal collected by the light sensor.

In actual operation, what light sensor gathered is ambient light signal, and image signal processor need convert it into ambient light information after receiving ambient light signal and just can further handle. Specifically, any conversion method capable of realizing "light signal → light information" may be adopted, and the present disclosure does not limit this.

Step 204, determining a target exposure index range and a target initial exposure index corresponding to the current ambient light information from the exposure index lookup table.

In this embodiment, the correspondence relationship described above is stored in the form of a table, which may be named as an exposure index lookup table.

Continuing with the example of table 2, assuming that the determined value of the current ambient light information is 14000, the determined target ambient light range is 13108-26215, the determined target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information is 240-319, and the predetermined initial exposure index corresponding to the current ambient light information is 280.

Step 205, reading a pre-stored historical exposure index.

Step 206, judging whether the historical exposure index is in the range of the determined target exposure index; if yes, go to step 207A, otherwise, go to step 207B.

In this embodiment, the historical exposure index is taken as the final exposure index used in the previous exposure convergence process as an example.

Step 207A, taking the historical exposure index as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence for exposure convergence.

Assuming that the read historical exposure index is 300, obviously, 300 is in the range of 240-319, that is, the historical exposure index is in the range of the determined target exposure index, and further, the historical exposure index of 300 can be used as the initial exposure index of the current exposure convergence for exposure convergence.

Obviously, since the historical exposure index is within the determined target exposure index range, it can be seen that the last ambient light is closer to the current ambient light, and the finally determined target exposure index of the convergence of the current exposure is also closer to the historical exposure index. For example, it may be further assumed that the determined target exposure index is 310, that is, when the camera is started, the exposure parameter of the first frame in the current exposure convergence process is set as: the exposure parameter corresponding to the exposure index 300 is used as the exposure parameter of the last frame in the exposure convergence process for exposure convergence, while the exposure parameter corresponding to the exposure index 310 is used as the exposure parameter of the last frame in the current exposure convergence process for exposure convergence.

Step 207B, taking the target initial exposure index as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence for exposure convergence.

Assuming that the read historical exposure index is 380, obviously, 380 is not in the range of 240-319, that is, the historical exposure index is not in the range of the determined target exposure index, and therefore the historical exposure index of 380 cannot be used as the initial exposure index of the convergence of the current exposure for exposure convergence, but 280 should be used as the initial exposure index of the convergence of the current exposure for exposure convergence

Obviously, since the historical exposure index is not within the determined target exposure index range, it can be seen that the difference between the ambient light of the previous exposure convergence and the ambient light of the current exposure convergence is large, and the finally determined target exposure index of the current exposure convergence also has a large difference with the historical exposure index. However, since the current ambient light information is within the range of the target ambient light information 13108-26215, the target exposure index finally determined based on the current ambient light information should be within the corresponding target exposure index range 240-319. Still assuming that the determined target exposure index is 310, then, when the camera is started, the exposure parameters of the first frame in the current exposure convergence process are not set as follows, as in the hot start mode: historical exposure index 380 corresponds to the exposure parameter. Instead, the exposure parameters of the first frame in the exposure convergence process are set as follows: and the exposure parameter corresponding to the exposure index 280 is used as the exposure parameter of the last frame in the current exposure convergence process for exposure convergence, wherein the exposure parameter corresponding to the exposure index 310 is used as the exposure parameter of the last frame in the current exposure convergence process. Obviously, compared with the hot start mode, the method can greatly reduce the difference between the target exposure index and the initial exposure index, thereby achieving the purpose of rapid exposure convergence.

According to the technical scheme, no matter whether the historical exposure index is in the exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information or not, the initial exposure index close to the target exposure index can be determined by the method and the device, so that the purpose of rapid exposure convergence is achieved.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exposure convergence apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to fig. 3, the apparatus includes an acquisition unit 301, a determination unit 302, and a convergence unit 303.

The acquiring unit 301 is configured to acquire current ambient light information when a camera application in the electronic device is started;

the determining unit 302 is configured to determine a target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information from a preset corresponding relationship between an ambient light range and an exposure index range;

the convergence unit 303, in the case that the historical exposure index is within the target exposure index range, performs exposure convergence using the historical exposure index as an initial exposure index;

Optionally, the determining unit 302 is further configured to:

determining a target ambient light range to which the current ambient light information belongs from a plurality of ambient light ranges contained in the corresponding relationship;

and determining a preset exposure index range corresponding to the target environment light range as a target exposure index range.

Optionally, the historical exposure index is a final exposure index adopted in the last starting process of the camera application; or,

the historical exposure index includes: the camera is applied to a plurality of final exposure indexes adopted in a plurality of starting processes before the current starting.

As shown in fig. 4, fig. 4 is a block diagram of another exposure convergence apparatus shown in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, which is based on the foregoing embodiment shown in fig. 3, and further includes: a judging unit 304, a first exponent determining unit 305, a second exponent determining unit 306, and a receiving unit 307.

Optionally, the method further includes:

the judging unit 304, configured to read the plurality of final exposure indexes; judging whether any final exposure index in the plurality of final exposure indexes belongs to the target exposure index range;

wherein in a case where it is determined that there is any one final exposure index that belongs to the target exposure index range, the any one final exposure index is taken as the initial exposure index.

Alternatively to this, the first and second parts may,

the first index determining unit 305 is configured to determine a preset initial exposure index corresponding to the current ambient light information from the corresponding relationship; and under the condition that the historical exposure index is determined not to be in the target exposure index range, taking the determined preset initial exposure index as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence.

Alternatively to this, the first and second parts may,

the second index determining unit 306 is configured to determine a target exposure index of the current exposure convergence based on the current ambient light information;

the convergence unit 303 is further configured to: converging the historical exposure index to the target exposure index.

Alternatively to this, the first and second parts may,

the receiving unit 307 configured to receive an exposure convergence instruction transmitted by the electronic apparatus in a case where an exposure adjustment operation by a user is detected;

the convergence unit 303 is further configured to read a target exposure index included in the exposure convergence instruction and converge the historical exposure index to the target exposure index.

For the device embodiments, since they substantially correspond to the method embodiments, reference may be made to the partial description of the method embodiments for relevant points. The above-described embodiments of the apparatus are merely illustrative, and the units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the modules can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the disclosed solution. One of ordinary skill in the art can understand and implement it without inventive effort.

Correspondingly, the present disclosure also provides a signal processing apparatus, including: a processor; a memory for storing processor-executable instructions; wherein the processor is configured to implement the exposure convergence method as in any one of the above embodiments, such as the method may include: when a camera application in the electronic equipment is started, acquiring current environment light information; determining a target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information from a corresponding relation between a preset ambient light range and an exposure index range; under the condition that the historical exposure index is within the target exposure index range, carrying out exposure convergence by taking the historical exposure index as an initial exposure index; wherein the historical exposure index is: the camera applies the final exposure index employed in any one of the activations prior to the current activation.

Accordingly, the present disclosure also provides an electronic device comprising a memory, and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory, and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for implementing the exposure convergence method as described in any of the above embodiments, such as the method may comprise: when a camera application in the electronic equipment is started, acquiring current environment light information; determining a target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information from a corresponding relation between a preset ambient light range and an exposure index range; under the condition that the historical exposure index is within the target exposure index range, carrying out exposure convergence by taking the historical exposure index as an initial exposure index; wherein the historical exposure index is: the camera applies the final exposure index employed in any one of the activations prior to the current activation.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus 500 for implementing exposure convergence according to an example embodiment. For example, the apparatus 500 may be a mobile phone, a computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a messaging device, a game console, a tablet device, a medical device, an exercise device, a personal digital assistant, and the like.

Referring to fig. 5, the apparatus 500 may include one or more of the following components: processing component 502, memory 504, power component 506, multimedia component 508, audio component 510, input/output (I/O) interface 512, sensor component 514, and communication component 516.

The processing component 502 generally controls overall operation of the device 500, such as operations associated with display, telephone calls, data communications, camera operations, and recording operations. The processing components 502 may include one or more processors 520 to execute instructions to perform all or a portion of the steps of the methods described above. Further, the processing component 502 can include one or more modules that facilitate interaction between the processing component 502 and other components. For example, the processing component 502 can include a multimedia module to facilitate interaction between the multimedia component 508 and the processing component 502.

The memory 504 is configured to store various types of data to support operations at the apparatus 500. Examples of such data include instructions for any application or method operating on device 500, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, videos, and so forth. The memory 504 may be implemented by any type or combination of volatile or non-volatile memory devices such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks.

The power supply component 506 provides power to the various components of the device 500. The power components 506 may include a power management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generating, managing, and distributing power for the apparatus 500.

The multimedia component 508 includes a screen that provides an output interface between the device 500 and the user. In some embodiments, the screen may include a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and a Touch Panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touch screen to receive an input signal from a user. The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touch, slide, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensor may not only sense the boundary of a touch or slide action, but also detect the duration and pressure associated with the touch or slide operation. In some embodiments, the multimedia component 508 includes a front facing camera and/or a rear facing camera. The front camera and/or the rear camera may receive external multimedia data when the device 500 is in an operating mode, such as a shooting mode or a video mode. Each front camera and rear camera may be a fixed optical lens system or have a focal length and optical zoom capability.

The audio component 510 is configured to output and/or input audio signals. For example, audio component 510 includes a Microphone (MIC) configured to receive external audio signals when apparatus 500 is in an operating mode, such as a call mode, a recording mode, and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signals may further be stored in the memory 504 or transmitted via the communication component 516. In some embodiments, audio component 510 further includes a speaker for outputting audio signals.

The I/O interface 512 provides an interface between the processing component 502 and peripheral interface modules, which may be keyboards, click wheels, buttons, etc. These buttons may include, but are not limited to: a home button, a volume button, a start button, and a lock button.

The sensor assembly 514 includes one or more sensors for providing various aspects of status assessment for the device 500. For example, the sensor assembly 514 may detect an open/closed state of the apparatus 500, the relative positioning of the components, such as a display and keypad of the apparatus 500, the sensor assembly 514 may also detect a change in the position of the apparatus 500 or a component of the apparatus 500, the presence or absence of user contact with the apparatus 500, orientation or acceleration/deceleration of the apparatus 500, and a change in the temperature of the apparatus 500. The sensor assembly 514 may include a proximity sensor configured to detect the presence of a nearby object without any physical contact. The sensor assembly 514 may also include a light sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor, for use in imaging applications. In some embodiments, the sensor assembly 514 may also include an acceleration sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a magnetic sensor, a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.

The communication component 516 is configured to facilitate communication between the apparatus 500 and other devices in a wired or wireless manner. The apparatus 500 may access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as WiFi, 2G or 3G, 4G LTE, 5G NR (New Radio), or a combination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component 516 receives a broadcast signal or broadcast related information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component 516 further includes a Near Field Communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communications. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, infrared data association (IrDA) technology, Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus 500 may be implemented by one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors or other electronic components for performing the above-described methods.

In an exemplary embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, such as the memory 504 comprising instructions, executable by the processor 520 of the apparatus 500 to perform the above-described method is also provided. For example, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium may be a ROM, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure disclosed herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following, in general, the principles of the disclosure and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the disclosure pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

It will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangements described above and shown in the drawings and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

The above description is only exemplary of the present disclosure and should not be taken as limiting the disclosure, as any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure should be included in the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An exposure convergence method applied to an image signal processor mounted on an electronic device, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the target exposure index range corresponding to the current ambient light information from a preset correspondence between ambient light ranges and exposure index ranges comprises:

3. The method of claim 1,

the historical exposure index is a final exposure index adopted by the camera application in the last starting process; or,

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

reading the plurality of final exposure indices;

judging whether any final exposure index in the plurality of final exposure indexes belongs to the target exposure index range;

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a preset initial exposure index corresponding to the current ambient light information from the corresponding relationship;

and under the condition that the historical exposure index is determined not to be in the target exposure index range, taking the determined preset initial exposure index as the initial exposure index of the exposure convergence.

6. The method of claim 1,

further comprising: determining a target exposure index of the exposure convergence based on the current environment light information;

the exposure convergence by using the historical exposure index as an initial exposure index comprises: converging the historical exposure index to the target exposure index.

7. The method of claim 1,

further comprising: receiving an exposure convergence instruction sent by the electronic equipment under the condition that the exposure adjustment operation of the user is detected;

the exposure convergence by using the historical exposure index as an initial exposure index comprises: and reading a target exposure index contained in the exposure convergence instruction, and converging the historical exposure index to the target exposure index.

8. An exposure convergence apparatus applied to an image signal processor mounted on an electronic device, comprising:

9. An electronic device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

wherein the processor implements the method of any one of claims 1-7 by executing the executable instructions.

10. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions, which when executed by a processor, perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1-7.