1. A payment card system comprising:
a. a server system, that facilitates bankcard payment transactions to merchants, the system has a database server that stores pre-existing bankcard data of customers with at least one or more pre-stored bankcard data of the customer and the customer bankcard data in the database server is referenced by a unique customer identifier that does not identify a card-issuing bank;
b. a payment card that is not a card-issuing bank issued bankcard and has an identification that references the unique customer identifier in the database server;
c. the server is capable of receiving and receives merchant originated payment transaction request records identifying the unique customer identifier from the payment card;
d. the server maps the unique customer identifier in the payment transaction record to the card-issuing bank’s bankcard data from the database server and sends the payment transaction record for routing to a card-issuing bank for payment processing, thereby for merchants be able to process bankcard payment transactions without receiving bankcard data and thus avoid security risk inherent in safeguarding others’ bankcard data.
2. The system as in claim 1 wherein:
the system owned and managed by third parties that are not merchants and card-issuing banks.
3. The system as in claim 1 wherein:
a. the server system receives the payment card originated records from a pre-existing router after the pre-existing router had received the payment transaction record from merchants; and
b. the pre-existing router had separated the payment card originated records from card-issuing-bank issued bankcards payment request records and forwards to the server system.
4. The system as in claim 1 wherein:
each customer has pre-stored in the database server at least one or more bankcard data.
5. The system as in claim 1 further comprising:
a. the database server associates a PIN with the unique customer identifier in the database server and thus the payment card;
b. the server system uses the PIN to verify a customer before mapping the unique customer identifier to the pre-existing bankcard data of the customer.
6. The system as in claim 5 further comprising:
the server system facilitates creation of the PIN and delivers the PIN to the customer.
7. The system as in claim 5 further comprising:
the PIN is required at the time of payment card use by the customer at the merchant sales transaction terminal and is used to verify the payment card owner to the server system, thus the system provides a PIN verification for bankcards that do not require a PIN.
8. The system as in claim 5 further comprising:
the server associates a different PIN for each bankcard and thus identifies which bankcard of the customer from a plurality of the bankcards including debit cards that is intended to be used for a specific sales transaction at the merchant by the customer.
9. The system as in claim 1 further comprising:
a. the server system aliases each bankcard data stored in the database server;
b. the server un-aliases each bankcard data retrieved from the database server when a payment card payment transaction record is received and deletes the un-aliased bankcard data when the payment transaction record with the bankcard data is sent to the card-issuing bank, thus providing added security for the protection of the bankcard data stored in the database server.
10. The system as in claim 9 further comprising:
the server system aliases each bankcard data when the bankcard data is received and before being stored in the database server.
11. A method for payment card system comprising the steps of:
a. facilitating by a server system, bankcard payment transactions to merchants, having by the system a database server that stores pre-existing bankcard data of customers with at least one or more pre-stored bankcard data of the customer and referencing the customer bankcard data in the database server by a unique customer identifier that does not identify a card-issuing bank;
b. having a payment card that is not a card-issuing bank issued bankcard and having by the card an identification that references the unique customer identifier in the database server;
c. receiving by the server merchant originated payment transaction request records identifying the unique customer identifier from the payment card;
d. mapping by the server the unique customer identifier in the payment transaction record to the card-issuing bank’s bankcard data from the database server and sending the payment transaction record for routing to a card-issuing bank for payment processing, thereby for merchants be able to process bankcard payment transactions without receiving bankcard data and thus avoid security risk inherent in safeguarding others’ bankcard data.
12. The method as in claim 11 the steps of:
owning and managing the system owned by third parties that are not merchants and card-issuing banks.
13. The method as in claim 11 the steps of:
a. receiving by the server system the payment card originated records from a pre-existing router after the pre-existing router had received the payment transaction record from merchants; and
b. separating by the pre-existing router the payment card originated records from card-issuing-bank issued bankcards payment request records and forwards to the server system.
14. The method as in claim 11 the steps of:
pre-storing by each customer in the database server at least one or more bankcard data.
15. The method as in claim 11 further comprising the steps of:
a. associating by the database server a PIN with the unique customer identifier in the database server and thus the payment card;
b. using by the server system the PIN to verify a customer before mapping the unique customer identifier to the pre-existing bankcard data of the customer.
16. The method as in claim 15 further comprising the steps of:
facilitating by the server system creation of the PIN and delivers the PIN to the customer.
17. The method as in claim 15 further comprising the steps of:
requiring the PIN at the time of payment card use by the customer at the merchant sales transaction terminal and using to verify the payment card owner to the server system, thus the system provides a PIN verification for bankcards that do not require a PIN.
18. The method as in claim 15 further comprising the steps of:
associating by the server a different PIN for each bankcard and thus identifies which bankcard of the customer from a plurality of the bankcards including debit cards that is intended to be used for a specific sales transaction at the merchant by the customer.
19. The method as in claim 11 further comprising the steps of:
a. aliasing by the server system each bankcard data stored in the database server;
b. un-aliasing by the server each bankcard data retrieved from the database server when a payment card payment transaction record is received and deletes the un-aliased bankcard data when the payment transaction record with the bankcard data is sent to the card-issuing bank, thus providing added security for the protection of the bankcard data stored in the database server.
20. The method as in claim 17 further comprising the steps of:
aliasing by the server system each bankcard data when the bankcard data is received and before being stored in the database server.
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. A method of capturing a high dynamic range (HDR) image, comprising:
capturing multiple images of a scene at respectively different exposure settings;
capturing a further image of an object placed in the scene at one exposure setting;
forming a first radiance image from the multiple images;
forming a second radiance image from the further image;
merging the first radiance image and the second radiance image to form the HDR image.
2. The method according to claim 1, the step of capturing the multiple images including using a predetermined range of exposure settings.
3. The method according to claim 1, the step of capturing the further image including:
capturing a test image of the object in the scene; and
selecting the one exposure setting based on the captured test image.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the one exposure setting is selected to capture a predetermined dynamic range for the object.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first radiance image includes a high dynamic range.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein an illumination range associated with the high dynamic range is greater than about 90 dB.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second radiance image includes a low dynamic range.
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein an illumination range associated with the low dynamic range is less than about 50 dB.
9. The method according to claim 1, the step of forming the first radiance image including:
generating a respective plurality of radiance images for each of the multiple images based on the corresponding exposure setting; and
combining the plurality of radiance images to form the first radiance image.
10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the scene is slowly varying with time and the object varies faster than the scene.
11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the multiple exposure times are adjusted based on one or more of an exposure time, an F-number or a shutter speed.
12. The method according to claim 1, the step of merging the first and second radiance images comprising:
forming a masked image by subtracting one of the multiple images from the further image;
forming an inverse masked image from an inverse of the masked image;
applying the inverse masked image to the first radiance image;
applying the masked image to the second radiance image; and
merging the masked first and second radiance images to form the HDR image.
13. The method according to claim 12, the step of forming the masked image including selecting one of multiple images having a similar exposure setting as the one exposure setting of the further image.
14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the masked image includes a boundary between the region including the object and the region excluding the object.
15. The method according to claim 14, wherein a transition of the boundary includes a binary transition or a sloping transition.
16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the step of merging the first and second radiance images includes applying a gradient weighting function to each of the masked first and second radiance images at the boundary.
17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the HDR image is formed without image registration.
18. The method according to claim 1, wherein the HDR image is formed without motion compensation.
19. An image processor for reconstructing a high dynamic range (HDR) image, comprising:
a controller that receives: a) a first radiance image formed from multiple images of a scene captured over a range of different exposure settings and b) a second radiance image formed from a further image including the scene and an object placed in the scene, the further image captured at one exposure setting;
a mask generator that generates a masked image of the object by comparing at least one of the multiple images to the further image; and
a merge generator that merges the first radiance image and the second radiance image using the masked image to reconstruct the HDR image.
20. The image processor according to claim 19, further comprising a radiance image generator that generates a) the first radiance image from the multiple images and b) the second radiance image from the further image based on a pixel intensity and the exposure settings in the respective multiple images and the further image.
21. The image processor according to claim 19, wherein the mask generator:
subtracts one of the multiple images from the further image to form the masked image, and
forms an inverse masked image from an inverse of the masked image.
22. The image processor according to claim 21, wherein the mask generator applies the inverse masked image to the first radiance image and applies the masked image to the second radiance image, and
the merge generator merges the masked first radiance image and the masked second radiance image received from the mask generator.
23. The image processor according to claim 21, wherein the controller applies the inverse masked image to the first radiance image and applies the masked image to the second radiance image, and
the merge generator merges the masked first radiance image and the masked second radiance image received from the controller.
24. The image processor according to claim 21, wherein the merge generator applies the inverse masked image to the first radiance image and applies the masked image to the second radiance image, and
merges the masked first radiance image and the masked second radiance image.
25. The image processor according to claim 21, wherein the masked image includes a boundary between the region including the object and the region excluding the object and the mask generator selects a sharp transition or a soft transition for the boundary.
26. The image processor according to claim 19, wherein the mask generator selects one of the multiple images having a similar exposure setting as the one exposure setting of the further image.
27. The image processor according to claim 19, wherein the scene is slowly varying with time and the range of different exposure settings represents a high dynamic range.
28. The image processor according to claim 27, wherein the object varies faster than the scene and the one exposure setting represents a low dynamic range.
29. The image processor according to claim 19, wherein the image processor reconstructs the HDR image without image registration.
30. The image processor according to claim 19, wherein the image processor reconstructs the HDR image without motion detection.
31. An imaging device for generating a high dynamic range (HDR) image comprising:
an image sensor, including a plurality of pixels, that captures an image; and
an image processor including:
a controller that receives: a) a first radiance image formed from multiple images of a scene captured by the image sensor over a high dynamic range and b) a second radiance image formed from a further image including the scene and an object placed in the scene, the further image captured by the image sensor with a low dynamic range, and
a merge generator that merges the first radiance image and the second radiance image to generate the HDR image,
wherein the merge generator merges portions of the second radiance image including the object with portions of the first radiance image substantially excluding the object.
32. The imaging device according to claim 31, further comprising a memory that stores one or more of the first radiance image, the second radiance image, the HDR image, the multiple images and the further image.
33. The imaging device according to claim 31, further comprising a mask generator that generates a masked image of the object by comparing at least one of the multiple images to the further image,
wherein the merge generator merges the portions of the second radiance image with the portions of the first radiance image based on the masked image.
34. The imaging device according to claim 31, further comprising a radiance generator that generates the first and second radiance images based on a pixel intensity and the exposure settings of the respective multiple images and the further image.
35. The imaging device according to claim 31, further comprising:
a shutter that selectively passes light associated with the image;
imaging optics that focus the selectively passed light from the shutter to the image sensor; and
a display that displays the HDR image.
36. The imaging device according to claim 35, further comprising a user interface coupled to the image processor and that causes the imaging device to selectively capture the multiple images with the high dynamic range or the further image with the low dynamic range.
37. The imaging device according to claim 36, wherein at least one of the shutter, the imaging optics or the image sensor is adjusted based on the selective capture of the multiple images with the high dynamic range.
38. The imaging device according to claim 36, wherein at least one of the shutter, the imaging optics or the image sensor is adjusted based on selective capture of the further image with the low dynamic range.
39. The imaging device according to claim 31, wherein the high dynamic range is based on a corresponding range of exposure times for the multiple images.
40. The imaging device according to claim 31, wherein the low dynamic range based on a predetermined exposure time to capture the object in the further image.