1. A mobile device, comprising:
a battery;
a battery charger electrically coupled to the battery; and
an image sensor operably coupled to the battery charger to selectively charge the battery.
2. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein the image sensor comprises an array of pixels and a timingcontrol circuit for controlling the pixels to selectively provide constant current from the pixels to the battery charger.
3. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein the image sensor comprises a timingcontrol circuit and an array of pixels arranged in columns, wherein the timingcontrol circuit selectively controls the pixels so that multiple pixels in an individual column provide current to the battery charger simultaneously.
4. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein:
the image sensor is configured to capture images; and
the image sensor is configured to provide current for charging the battery before andor after capturing images.
5. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein:
the image sensor is configured to capture images; and
the battery powers the image sensor when the image sensor captures images.
6. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein:
the image sensor comprises an array of pixels; and
the mobile device further comprises a signal processor and a switch to (a) direct current from the pixels to the signal processor when the image sensor captures images, and (b) direct current from the pixels to the battery charger when the battery charger charges the battery.
7. The mobile device of claim 1, further comprising a housing, wherein the battery, battery charger, and image sensor are contained within the housing.
8. The mobile device of claim 1, further comprising a camera unit including the image sensor.
9. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein the image sensor comprises a color complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor.
10. A mobile device, comprising:
a rechargeable battery;
a battery charger electrically coupled to the battery; and
an image sensor for capturing images, the image sensor having a plurality of pixels and a timingcontrol circuit operably coupled to the pixels, wherein the timingcontrol circuit controls the pixels to selectively provide constant current from the pixels to the battery charger to charge the battery.
11. The mobile device of claim 10 wherein the pixels are arranged in columns, and wherein the timingcontrol circuit selectively controls the pixels so that multiple pixels in an individual column provide current to the battery charger simultaneously.
12. The mobile device of claim 10, further comprising a signal processor and a switch to (a) direct current from the pixels to the signal processor when the image sensor captures images, and (b) direct current from the pixels to the battery charger when the battery charger charges the battery.
13. A method for operating a mobile device, the method comprising:
capturing an image with an image sensor in the mobile device; and
charging a battery in the mobile device with the image sensor.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein charging the battery occurs before andor after capturing the image.
15. The method of claim 13 wherein:
the image sensor comprises an array of pixels and a timingcontrol circuit for controlling the pixels; and
charging the battery comprises providing constant current from the pixels to the battery charger.
16. The method of claim 13 wherein:
the image sensor comprises a timingcontrol circuit and an array of pixels arranged in columns; and
charging the battery comprises controlling the pixels with the timingcontrol circuit so that multiple pixels in an individual column provide current to the battery charger simultaneously.
17. The method of claim 13 wherein capturing the image comprises powering the image sensor with the battery.
18. The method of claim 13 wherein:
capturing the image comprises providing current from a plurality of pixels in the image sensor to a signal processor in the mobile device; and
charging the battery comprises providing current from the pixels to the battery charger.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An image capturing apparatus comprising:
one imaging optical system;
an image sensor which includes a left-eye light-receiving element and a right-eye light-receiving element, and outputs a left-eye captured image for left eye and a right-eye captured image for right eye upon receiving light beams having passed through said one imaging optical system;
a detection unit which is able to detect a difference, between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, of each of subjects included in the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image;
a control unit which is able to control a focusing unit of said imaging optical system to focus on a given subject included in the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, based on the difference of the given subject between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image detected by said detection unit; and
an extraction unit which is able to create an image for binocular stereopsis using an extraction image, extracted from a region which includes the given subject and has a predetermined size, for each of the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image,
wherein said extraction unit sets the region so that the difference, between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, of a subject which is different from the given subject and included in both the extraction images has a predetermined value.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the subject different from the given subject is a subject positioned farther from the image capturing apparatus than the given subject.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the subject different from the given subject is a subject, which is determined to stand still across a plurality of captured images obtained before the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image are obtained, among the subjects included in the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image.
4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the subject different from the given subject is a subject having a maximum difference between a left-eye captured image and a right-eye captured image obtained during pre-shooting before shooting for recording, which is detected by said detection unit.
5. An image capturing apparatus comprising:
one imaging optical system;
an image sensor which includes a left-eye light-receiving element and a right-eye light-receiving element, and outputs a left-eye captured image for left eye and a right-eye captured image for right eye upon receiving light beams having passed through said one imaging optical system;
a detection unit which is able to detect a difference, between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, of each of subjects included in the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image;
a control which is able to control a focusing unit of said imaging optical system to focus on a given subject included in the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, based on the difference of the given subject between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image detected by said detection unit; and
an extraction unit which is able to create an image for binocular stereopsis using an extraction image, extracted from a region which includes the given subject and has a predetermined size, for each of the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, said extraction unit setting the region so that the difference between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image at a predetermined distance different from a distance between the given subject and the image capturing apparatus has a predetermined value,
wherein said extraction unit sets the region based on a distance between the centers of gravity of the light beams used to output the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, respectively, a distance between said image sensor and an exit pupil of said one imaging optical system, and the difference between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image at the predetermined distance, which is obtained from the predetermined distance.
6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when at least one of the regions set for the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image falls outside a range of an effective pixel of said image sensor, said extraction unit sets the region within the range of the effective pixel.
7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when at least one of the regions set for the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image falls outside a range of an effective pixel of said image sensor, said extraction unit sets the region to eliminate the difference of the given subject between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image.
8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said left-eye light-receiving element and said right-eye light-receiving element receive light beams having passed through different regions in the exit pupil of said one imaging optical system.
9. A method of controlling an image capturing apparatus including one imaging optical system, and an image sensor which includes a left-eye light-receiving element and a right-eye light-receiving element, and outputs a left-eye captured image for left eye and a right-eye captured image for right eye upon receiving light beams having passed through the one imaging optical system, the method comprising:
a detection step of detecting a difference, between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, of each of subjects included in the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image;
a control step of controlling a focusing unit of the imaging optical system to focus on a given subject included in the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, based on the difference of the given subject between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image detected in the detection step; and
an extraction step of creating an image for binocular stereopsis using an extraction image, extracted from a region which includes the given subject and has a predetermined size, for each of the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image,
wherein in the extraction step, the region is set so that the difference, between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, of a subject which is different from the given subject and included in both the extraction images has a predetermined value.
10. A method of controlling an image capturing apparatus including one imaging optical system, and an image sensor which includes a left-eye light-receiving element and a right-eye light-receiving element, and outputs a left-eye captured image for left eye and a right-eye captured image for right eye upon receiving light beams having passed through the one imaging optical system, the method comprising:
a detection step of detecting a difference, between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, of each of subjects included in the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image;
a control step of controlling a focusing unit of the imaging optical system to focus on a given subject included in the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, based on the difference of the given subject between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image detected in the detection step; and
an extraction step of creating an image for binocular stereopsis using an extraction image, extracted from a region which includes the given subject and has a predetermined size, for each of the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, the extraction step setting the region so that the difference between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image at a predetermined distance different from a distance between the given subject and the image capturing apparatus has a predetermined value,
wherein in the extraction step, the region is set based on a distance between the centers of gravity of the light beams used to output the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image, respectively, a distance between the image sensor and an exit pupil of the one imaging optical system, and the difference between the left-eye captured image and the right-eye captured image at the predetermined distance, which is obtained from the predetermined distance.
11. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to execute each step in a method of controlling an image capturing apparatus, defined in claim 9.
12. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to execute each step in a method of controlling an image capturing apparatus, defined in claim 10.