Apple Files HDR Imaging Patent Application

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So, instead of reading all the lines and then reading again, they're gonna read every line twice? Genius! Definitely warrants a patent.
 
I guess so, they are reading two pictures or more depending on the shutter speed.
Just hope this is not affecting actual HDR usage and the way to improve it further.
 
[citation][nom]senupe[/nom]I guess so, they are reading two pictures or more depending on the shutter speed.Just hope this is not affecting actual HDR usage and the way to improve it further.[/citation]

Reading from 2 or more pictures, and changes image based on it. Only difference I see if how many times they read the data or how they read it. I bet there is a lot of prior art from other companies on this. Heck I just used HDR Camera+ on my android phone to take some photos which works off of 3 photos and than makes a 4th HDR picture.
 
I don't know why there would be prior art. You can have numerous methods to achieve the same result, so just because cameras have had HDR doesn't mean there's prior art. Nobody can patent HDR itself, but you could patent your "specific method" of implementing it.

This is just like when it was discovered Apple filed for a facial recognition patent. Everyone was whining "how can Apple patent facial recognition". Apple wasn't trying to patent facial recognition (which would be impossible), they patented a specific method for doing it. If you search the USPTO you'll find numerous facial recognition patents. Some for still images, some for video, some need bright light, some work in low light, some are highly secure, some require a single frontal picture, some require multiple pictures from the front & sides and on and on. Apple's version was a low security system that required minimal processing power suitable for portable devices and their patent specifically stated that.

Yet people still whine on thinking Apple was trying to patent something that already existed (facial recognition).
 
I wonder how long it'll be before we finally get digicam sensors with signal to noise ratios better than 60db. If we got up to about 105db then the need for HDR would be cut in half because we could have faster exposures and still retain so much shadow detail without garbage noise that we could redraw the tone curves to accommodate 14 stops of exposure. It'd be awesome.

Anyway, Apple's approach is novel.
 
Patents seem lame unless it's for a real invention. This idea doesn't seem new or revolutionary at all. At best, it's just a fairly obvious step in an established technology. But patents bring in money, and that is what drives corporations. If corporations are people (corporate personhood), they're real assholes.
 
My wifes HTC One S comes with HDR app built in! So sorry HTC but three years from now you will be Sued by Apple, Inventor of HDR Photography!
 
[citation][nom]Cryio[/nom]This would be one of the most retarded patents ever.[/citation]

Its as retarded as the rest. They take old ideas and patent it for smartphones and in so doing inhibits other smartphone manufacturers from implementing technologies to which Apple really had no original input. A smartphone is just a computer so I don't know how they get away with such farcical behaviour. If the Americans are happy with it fine, but anybody who is interested can go read the history of HDR imaging on wikipedia. I don't think the world should be held technologically hostage just because some US patent office can't be bothered to use wikipedia.
 
Sounds alot like the HAM mode on the good ol' Amiga... Have one base image then add another with the differences.

"Hold-And-Modify, usually abbreviated as HAM, is a display mode of the Commodore Amiga computer. It uses a highly unusual technique to express the color of pixels, allowing many more colors to appear on screen than would otherwise be possible."
 
Isn't that exactly what telescope arrays already do? Take multiple images of teh same piece of sky at slightly different angles and apply DSP to enhance resolution by canceling sensor noise, atmospheric noise and other variables.

I think the NASA and other similar agencies must have heaps of prior art in that domain.

Many cameras also have a panoramic feature that lets you scan an area and automatically stitch images/video together to create a higher resolution final result.
 
[citation][nom]The_Trutherizer[/nom]Its as retarded as the rest. They take old ideas and patent it for smartphones and in so doing inhibits other smartphone manufacturers from implementing technologies to which Apple really had no original input. A smartphone is just a computer so I don't know how they get away with such farcical behaviour. If the Americans are happy with it fine, but anybody who is interested can go read the history of HDR imaging on wikipedia. I don't think the world should be held technologically hostage just because some US patent office can't be bothered to use wikipedia.[/citation]

US patent office patents get thrown out more and more in courts around the world as many newer patents are to generic to pass in other country's offices. I feel sorry for the real US inventors as they could come to suffer in court due to the offices poor rep.
 
[citation][nom]Cryio[/nom]This would be one of the most retarded patents ever.[/citation]
This would be one of the most retarded comments ever. As usual, Tom's posters living up to their reputation if knowing little about tech but having a "know it all attitude" about it at the ame time.
 
Eric - we have something for what you "claim" crApple is doing - it's called COPYRIGHT(ing) the actually code that does it. Not the "results" of that code.

That's what they SHOULD do.

But then, they could only block people from using that EXACT code to do it - if someone wrote how to do it in another programming language - they couldn't do squat about it - which is why they are trying to Patent the RESULTS. A blatant abuse of the patent system.
 
Ups, i just fart as i read apple and patent in same sentence... i should patent it before apple or i`m screwed!
I think USPTO are on apples payroll... the antitrust goverment agency should investigate this !
 
I hope this isn't an attempt to patent HDR, which has existed for nearly a century, or an attempt to make it exclusive to Apple products. HDR is much more accessible to the general public now, and shouldn't be stifled.
 
any decent dslr can do hdr if you know how to find the right menu.most of its in the post processing just not how apple does it. apple doesnt allow you to adjust the image I have free software you can adjust it to your desired effect.
 
No real invention here. Slight improvement, maybe, which might already be done. Stop screwing around with the patent filing, Apple.
 
[citation][nom]ericlw[/nom]HDR has been around since the early film days. how can apple think they can patent the hdr process.[/citation]
They are Apple. They can afford more lawyers than anyone else, so they can drown previous art techniques in patent suits. Down with the Apple tort!
 
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