Immediate-mode camera for portable personal electronic devices
Techniques are described for implementing an immediate-mode camera for integration into portable personal electronic device (PPED) environments. Embodiments of the IMC can include an integrated digital camera that can be triggered directly by one or more user interface components, without involving waking up the application processor, waking up display components, waking up digital camera components, and/or starting up camera-related applications. For example, if a user's smart phone is locked, and the user desired to capture a photo, the user can interact with particular UI components in a particular manner, thereby directly triggering capture of image data by the IMC substantially without delay. Implementations of the IMC can involve a low-power, always-on digital camera that is directly controllable by one or more always-on user interface components. The IMC components can be in communication with an always-on region of the application processor via a fast hardware interface.
1. A portable personal electronic device (PPED) for immediate-mode digital image capture, the PPED comprising:
an application processor configured selectively to operate in a sleep mode or an active mode, the application processor having an always-on region that remains active when the application processor is in the sleep mode;
a plurality of user interface components having one or more always-on user interface components, at least one of the one or more always-on user interface components being an IMC trigger component; and
an immediate-mode camera (IMC) system having a digital camera assembly controlled by an IMC controller, the IMC controller coupled with and responsive to the IMC trigger component, the IMC controller configured to:
detect an interaction with the IMC trigger component;
trigger, in response to detecting the interaction, capture of image data by the digital camera assembly;
pretreat the image data to generate pretreated image signals; and
communicate the pretreated image signals via an interface bus to the always-on region of the application processor.
2. The PPED of claim 1 , wherein:
the IMC controller is to detect the interaction while the application processor is in the sleep mode; and
the IMC controller is to perform the detecting and the triggering without waking the application processor out of the sleep mode.
3. The PPED of claim 1 , wherein the detecting is while the application processor is in a sleep mode, and further comprising:
triggering, by the IMC controller, in response to the interaction, in parallel with triggering the capture of the image data, wakeup of the application processor from the sleep mode,
wherein the capture of the image data occurs prior to completing wakeup of the application processor.
4. The PPED of claim 1 , wherein:
the IMC system further has a memory having, stored thereon, image capture settings; and
the IMC controller is to perform the triggering such that the capture of the image data is in accordance with the image capture settings.
5. The PPED of claim 4 , wherein the IMC controller is further to:
update one or more of the image capture settings in the memory responsive to and in accordance with user interactions with one or more of the user interface components indicating user configuration of the one or more of the image capture settings.
6. The PPED of claim 1 , wherein the IMC trigger component is directly coupled with the IMC controller via a hardware coupling.
7. The PPED of claim 1 , wherein the interface bus comprises a serial peripheral interface.
8. The PPED of claim 1 , wherein the application processor has, implemented thereon, a trusted execution environment, the trusted execution environment comprising the always-on region.
9. The PPED of claim 1 , wherein the IMC trigger component is at least one of: a physical button, a force sensor, or a touch sensor.
10. The PPED of claim 1 , wherein the PPED is a smartphone.
11. A method for immediate-mode digital image capture, the method comprising:
detecting, by an immediate-mode camera (IMC) controller of an IMC system integrated into a portable personal electronic device (PPED), an interaction with an IMC trigger component coupled with the IMC controller, the IMC trigger component being one of a set of always-on user interface components integrated into the PPED;
triggering, by the IMC controller, in response to the interaction, capture of image data by a digital camera of the IMC system;
pretreating the image data by the IMC controller to generate pretreated image signals; and
communicating the pretreated image signals via an interface bus to an always-on region of an application processor integrated into the PPED.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the detecting is while the application processor is in a sleep mode; and
the detecting and the triggering are performed without waking the application processor out of the sleep mode.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the detecting is while the application processor is in a sleep mode, and further comprising:
triggering, by the IMC controller, in response to the interaction, in parallel with triggering the capture of the image data, wakeup of the application processor from the sleep mode,
wherein the capture of the image data occurs prior to completing wakeup of the application processor.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the IMC controller is in communication with a memory having, stored thereon prior to the detecting, image capture settings; and
the triggering is such that the capture of the image data is in accordance with the image capture settings.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising, prior to the detecting:
receiving user interactions indicating a user configuration of one or more of the image capture settings; and
updating the one or more of the image capture settings in the memory, by the IMC controller, responsive to and in accordance with the user interactions.
16. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the detecting the interaction with the IMC trigger component comprises detecting concurrent interaction with a plurality of IMC trigger components.
17. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the detecting the interaction with the IMC trigger component comprises detecting a predetermined pattern of interaction with one or more IMC trigger components.
18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the IMC trigger component is directly coupled with the IMC controller via a hardware coupling.
19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the interface bus comprises a serial peripheral interface.
20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the application processor has, implemented thereon, a trusted execution environment, the trusted execution environment comprising the always-on region.