Capture condition selection from brightness and motion

1. A method for capturing an improved archival image, comprising:

capturing at least two preview images of a scene with an image capture device;

determining the scene's brightness;

determining the scene's motion;

determining, with a signal processor, a pixel signal rate based at least in part on the scene's brightness, the pixel signal rate having units of charge-per-unit-time;

determining a scene pixel velocity;

determining a signal ratio equal to the pixel signal rate divided by the scene pixel velocity; and

using the signal ratio to select a capture mode for capturing an archival image.

2. A method for capturing an archival image, using an image capture device with selectable capture modes, ISO and exposure time comprising the steps of:

using an image capture device to capture at least two preview images of a scene;

using a signal processor for:

analyzing the preview images to determine scene brightness and motion in the scene;

determining a pixel signal rate based on the scene brightness and having units of charge-per-unit-time;

determining a pixel velocity based on the motion in the scene;

determining a signal ratio equal to the pixel signal rate divided by the pixel velocity;

selecting a capture mode in accordance with the signal ratio;

selecting an ISO in accordance with the capture mode and the signal ratio; and

selecting an exposure time in accordance with the ISO and the scene brightness; and

using the image capture device to capture an archival image with the selected capture mode, the ISO and the exposure time and causing storage of the archival image into a memory.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the analyzing step includes comparing the at least two preview images with respect to each other to determine global motion or local motion.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the pixel velocity is determined from the global motion.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the pixel velocity is determined from an analysis of the local motion.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the pixel velocity is determined from an average local motion.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the pixel velocity is determined from a peak local motion.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the image capture device includes an inertial measurement device and the global motion is determined with the inertial measuring device.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein the image capture device includes a brightness sensor and the scene brightness is determined with the brightness sensor.

10. The method of claim 2 further comprising using global or local motion determined from the at least two preview images and the determined scene brightness to select the capture mode, the ISO and the exposure time.

11. The method of claim 2 further comprising using a multi-dimensional model to select the capture mode, the ISO and the exposure time in accordance with the signal ratio and the scene brightness.

12. The method of claim 2 wherein the selecting the capture mode step includes selecting a binning ratio.

13. The method of claim 2 wherein the selecting the capture mode step includes selecting a single capture mode or a multiple capture mode.

14. A method for capturing an archival image, using an image capture device with an inertial measurement device, selectable capture modes, ISO and exposure time comprising the steps of:

determining global motion of an image capture device with an inertial measurement device;

converting the global motion of the image capture device to a pixel velocity;

determining scene brightness based on two or more preview images of the scene;

determining, with a signal processor, a pixel signal rate, having units of charge-per-unit-time, based on the scene brightness;

determining a signal ratio equal to the pixel signal rate divided by the pixel velocity;

selecting a capture mode in accordance with the signal ratio;

selecting an ISO in accordance with the signal ratio;

selecting an exposure time in accordance with the ISO and the scene brightness; and

using the image capture device to capture the archival image with the selected capture mode, the ISO and the exposure time and causing the archival image to be stored in memory.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the determining scene brightness step includes analyzing the two or more preview images for the scene brightness.

16. A non-transitory program storage device comprising instructions stored thereon to cause one or more processors to:

capture at least two preview images of a scene with an image capture device;

determine the scene's brightness;

determine the scene's motion;

determine a pixel signal rate based at least in part on the scene's brightness, the pixel signal rate having units of charge-per-unit-time;

determine a scene pixel velocity;

determine a signal ratio equal to the pixel signal rate divided by the scene pixel velocity; and

use the signal ratio to select a capture mode for capturing the archival image.

17. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 16 , further comprising instructions to cause the one or more processors to select an ISO in accordance with the capture mode and the signal ratio.

18. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 17 , further comprising instructions to cause the one or more processors to select an exposure time in accordance with the ISO and the scene's brightness.

19. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 18 , further comprising instructions to cause the one or more processors to capture an image based on the selected capture mode, the ISO and the exposure time.