Camera with high-quality still capture during continuous video capture

1. An apparatus comprising:

a first circuit configured to generate an intermediate video frame by de-mosaicing a source frame, wherein (i) said source frame has a source resolution and has a Bayer color space and (ii) said intermediate video frame has said source resolution and has an intermediate color space different than said Bayer color space; and

a second circuit configured to (i) generate a video stream by compressing said intermediate video frame with a video compression technique, (ii) generate a still picture by buffering a copy of said source frame and (iii) transfer both said video stream and said still picture to a medium, wherein (a) said still picture has said source resolution and a Bayer-domain format when transferred to said medium, (b) generating said still picture occurs in a parallel path with said compressing of said intermediate video frame, (c) said video stream has a lower resolution than said still picture and (d) said source frame used to generate said intermediate video frame is excluded from said buffering.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said still picture comprises said source frame processed to remove imperfections induced by an electro-optical sensor.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said second circuit transfers said still picture using a lossless compression process.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said second circuit transfers still picture using a non-compression process.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said second circuit is further configured to down-sample said intermediate video frame prior to compressing.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said second circuit is further configured to buffer an additional intermediate video frame while said still picture is being generated.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said second circuit is further configured to transmit said video stream in a transmission medium.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a first circuit configured to generate a source frame having a source resolution and a Bayer color space; and

a second circuit configured to (i) generate a complete uncompressed video frame by processing said source frame during a first period and (ii) generate a partial uncompressed picture frame by processing a portion of said source frame during a second period, wherein (a) a complete uncompressed picture frame has a higher resolution than said complete uncompressed video frame, (b) said first period is interleaved with said second period, (c) said source frame is captured in a buffer during said first period and presented from said buffer during said second period.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein said second circuit is further configured to generate said complete uncompressed video frame by down-sampling said source frame.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein (i) said first period occurs during an active time of receiving said source frame and (ii) said second period occurs during a blanking time between ending reception of said source frame and beginning reception of a next source frame.

11. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein said second circuit is further configured to generate (i) a segment of a video stream by compressing said complete uncompressed video frame during a third period and (ii) at least a portion of a still picture by compressing said complete uncompressed picture frame during a fourth period, wherein said third period is interleaved with said fourth period.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein generation of said video stream is uninterrupted by generation of said still picture.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein said second circuit is further configured to buffer said source frame before generating said partial uncompressed picture frame.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein said second circuit is further configured to buffer at least a portion of a next source frame before completing generation of said still picture.

15. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein said second circuit is further configured to buffer at least a portion of said complete uncompressed video frame before generating said segment of said video stream.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a first circuit configured to generate an intermediate video frame by first de-mosaicing a source frame, wherein (i) said source frame has a source resolution and has a Bayer color space and (ii) said intermediate video frame has a video resolution and has a video color space different than said Bayer color space; and

a second circuit configured to (i) generate a video stream by compressing said intermediate video frame with a video compression technique, (ii) generate an intermediate picture frame by second de-mosaicing said source frame, (iii) generate a still picture by compressing said intermediate picture frame with a still picture compression technique and (iv) transfer both said video stream and said still picture to a medium, wherein (a) said intermediate picture frame has said source resolution and has a picture color space, (b) said still picture has said source resolution when transferred to said medium, (c) said video stream has a lower resolution than said still picture, (d) said generation of said still picture occurs in a parallel path with said compressing of said intermediate video frame and (e) said source frame used to generate said intermediate video frame is excluded from a buffering used in said generation of said intermediate picture frame.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein said second circuit is further configured to down-sample said source frame before generating said intermediate video frame.

18. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein said video resolution is lower than said source resolution.

19. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein said picture color space comprises an sRGB color space.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19 , wherein said still picture compression technique converts said video color space to said sRGB color space.