Computational camera and method for setting multiple focus planes in a captured image

1. A method of capturing and processing an image of a scene, comprising:

capturing the image of the scene with a computational camera;

setting at least two different focus planes in the captured image, the at least two different focus planes comprising at least one first focus plane and at least one second focus plane, at least one first object in the scene being located at the at least one first focus plane and at least one second object in the scene being located at the at least one second focus plane;

displaying a first rendered image of the captured image with a focus in the at least one first focus plane, the at least one first object being in focus and the at least one second object being out of focus in the first rendered image;

selecting a portion of the first rendered image having the at least one second object by a user input command;

displaying a second rendered image of the captured image having a first region with the at least one first object, and a second region with a focus in the at least one second focus plane in which the at least one second object is in focus and displayed at a larger size compared to a size at which the at least one second object is displayed in the first rendered image, and

wherein the second rendered image has a first region with a focus in the at least one first focus plane in which the at least one first object is in focus.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprises setting objects between the at least two different focus planes to be out of focus.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein setting at least two different focus planes comprises:

identifying at least two different objects in the captured computational image, the at least two different objects corresponding to respective objects in the scene, the respective objects having different distances to the computational camera when the image is captured, and

setting the at least two different focus planes to comprise the at least two identified objects.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying the captured image with the at least two different focus planes.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising reverting to displaying the first rendered image of the captured computational image with a focus in the at least one first focus plane after displaying the second rendered image.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprises selecting the portion of the first rendered image to be magnified by a gesture on a touch screen of the computational camera.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the gesture is selected from the group consisting of a tap, a double tap, a drawing of a circle and a moving of two fingers in opposite directions.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one focus plane of the at least two different focus planes covers only a part of an area of the image.

9. A computational camera device, comprising:

an image sensor,

optics to guide light from a scene to said image sensor, and

a processor configured to process data from the image sensor to form a captured image, wherein the processor is configured to set at least two different focus planes in the captured image, the at least two different focus planes comprise at least one first focus plane and at least one second focus plane, and at least one first object in the scene being located at the at least one first focus plane and at least one second object in the scene being located at the at least one second focus plane;

wherein, the processor is configured to successively display a first rendered image of the captured image with a focus in the at least one first focus plane, the at least one first object being in focus and the at least one second object being out of focus in the first rendered image, select a portion of the first rendered image having the at least one second object by a user input command, and display a second rendered image of the captured image having a first region with the at least one first object, and a second region with a focus in the at least one second focus plane in which the at least one second object is in focus and displayed at a larger size compared to a size at which the at least one second object is displayed in the first rendered image, and

wherein the second rendered image has a first region with a focus in the at least one first focus plane in which the at least one first object is in focus.

10. The computational camera device of claim 9 , wherein the device is implemented as a mobile device selected from the group consisting of a dedicated camera device, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant and a computer.

11. The device of claim 9 further comprising an input device to enable a user to select a portion to be magnified in the first rendered image of the computational image, wherein the processor is configured to set at least one of the at least two different focus planes to comprise an object in the selected portion of the image.

12. The device of claim 9 further comprising wherein, the processor is configured to revert to displaying the first rendered image of the computational image with a focus in the at least one first focus plane.

13. A computational camera device, comprising:

an image sensor,

optics to guide light from a scene to said image sensor, and

a processor configured to process data from the image sensor to form a computational image, wherein the processor is configured to set at least two different focus planes in the image,

wherein the device is configured to perform the method of claim 1 .