Primary and auxiliary image capture devices for image processing and related methods

1. An apparatus for creating an image of a scene, the apparatus comprising:

at least two image capture devices comprising of an image sensor and other components assisting in the capture process, wherein;

the first image capture device comprising a first image-quality characteristic;

the second image capture device comprising a second image-quality characteristic, the second image-quality characteristic being of lower quality than the first image-quality characteristic;

a processor, wherein said processor is configured to:

receive image data captured by one of the two sensors;

analyze the captured image data to determine a first exposure level of the object in the scene that one of the image-capture devices is focused on;

analyze an area of the captured image data to determine whether the area is over-exposed or under-exposed;

determine a second exposure level to compensate for one of the over-exposed or under-exposed area of the scene;

the apparatus configured to capture a first image with the first image sensor at the first exposure level;

the apparatus configured to capture a second image with the second image sensor at the second exposure level;

said processor further configured to:

perform image view matching by cropping and resizing the second image to match the field of view and resolution of the first image;

perform color calibration to match the color of second image to the first image;

extracting pixel disparities between the first image and the view matched, color calibrated, second image;

create a modified second of images by utilizing higher quality pixels obtained from the first image displaced according to the extracted pixel disparities to replace corresponding pixels on the view matched, color calibrated second image where the view matched, color corrected second image does not meet predefined quality criteria, and wherein the quality criteria are one of the image sensor characteristics, the lens characteristics, the uncorrectable color differential the uncorrectable distortion or the difference in noise profiles of the two image capture devices;

use the modified second image to compensate for the underexposed or overexposed areas in the first image to create a high dynamic range image.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein processor identifies distortion characteristics of the image capture devices; and

performs a transformative procedure to correct distortion for equalizing the captured image pair.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the primary and auxiliary image capture devices are components of a mobile telephone, wherein the auxiliary image capture device is configured to face in a first position towards a user and to face in a second position towards the scene, and

wherein the auxiliary image capture device includes a mechanism for directing a path of light from the scene towards the auxiliary image capture device such that the primary image capture device and the auxiliary image capture device captures the first and second images of the scene.

4. A system for creating an image of a scene, the system comprising:

at least two image capture devices comprising of an image sensor and other components assisting in the capture process, wherein;

the first image capture device comprising a first image-quality characteristic;

the second image capture device comprising a second image-quality characteristic, the second image-quality characteristic being of lower quality than the first image-quality characteristic;

a processor, wherein said processor is configured to:

receive image data captured by one of the two sensors;

analyze the captured image data to determine a first exposure level of the object in the scene that one of the image-capture devices is focused on;

analyze an area of the captured image data to determine whether the area is over-exposed or under-exposed;

determine a second exposure level to compensate for one of the over-exposed or under-exposed area of the scene;

the system configured to capture a first image with the first image sensor at the first exposure level;

the system configured to capture a second image with the second image sensor at the second exposure level;

said processor further configured to:

perform image view matching by cropping and resizing the second image to match the field of view and resolution of the first image;

perform color calibration to match the color of second image to the first image;

extracting pixel disparities between the first image and the view matched, color calibrated; second image;

create a modified second of images by utilizing higher quality pixels obtained from the first image displaced according to the extracted pixel disparities to replace corresponding pixels on the view matched, color calibrated second image where the view matched, color corrected second image does not meet predefined quality criteria, and wherein the quality criteria are one of the image sensor characteristics, the lens characteristics, the uncorrectable color differential the uncorrectable distortion or the difference in noise profiles of the two image capture devices;

use the modified second image to compensate for the underexposed or overexposed areas in the first image to create a high dynamic range image.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein processor identifies distortion characteristics of the image capture devices; and

performs a transformative procedure to correct distortion for equalizing the captured image pair.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer-readable instructions, that when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

capture a first image at a first image-quality characteristic;

capture a second image at a second image-quality characteristic, the second image-quality characteristic being of lower quality than the first image-quality characteristic;

receive image data captured by one of the two sensors;

analyze the captured image data to determine a first exposure level of the object in the scene that one of the image-capture devices is focused on;

analyze an area of the captured image data to determine whether the area is over-exposed or under-exposed;

determine a second exposure level to compensate for one of the over-exposed or under-exposed area of the scene;

capture a first image at the first exposure level;

capture a second image at the second exposure level;

perform image view matching by cropping and resizing the second image to match the field of view and resolution of the first image;

perform color calibration to match the color of second image to the first image;

extracting pixel disparities between the first image and the view matched, color calibrated; second image;

create a modified second of image by utilizing higher quality pixels obtained from the first image displaced according to the extracted pixel disparities to replace corresponding pixels on the view matched, color calibrated second image where the view matched, color corrected second image does not meet predefined quality criteria, and wherein the quality criteria are one of the image sensor characteristics, the lens characteristics, the uncorrectable color differential the uncorrectable distortion or the difference in noise profiles of the two image capture devices;

use the modified second image to compensate for the underexposed or overexposed areas in the first image to create a high dynamic range image.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 , further comprising identifying distortion characteristics of the image capture devices; and performing a transformative procedure to correct distortion for equalizing the captured image pair.