Multi-exposure imaging system and method for eliminating rolling shutter flicker

1. A multi-exposure imaging system, comprising:

a long exposure image sensor for capturing a long exposure image based on a long exposure from a scene;

a short exposure image sensor for capturing a short exposure image based on a short exposure from the scene;

an exposure ratio calculator for obtaining an exposure ratio of the long exposure to the short exposure; and

a flicker gain detector for generating a long accumulated value by accumulating pixel values of a portion of the long exposure image, for generating a short accumulated value by accumulating pixel values of a portion of the short exposure image corresponding to the portion of the long exposure image, and for generating a flicker gain according to the long accumulated value, the short accumulated value and the exposure ratio;

wherein the portion of the short exposure image corresponds to the portion of the long exposure image with the same scene.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the flicker gain detector generates the flicker gain by dividing the long accumulated value by the short average value and further by the exposure ratio.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

a compensator for compensates the pixel values of the portion of the short exposure image by the flicker gain; and

an image composition unit for generating a composite image based on the compensated pixel values of the portion of the short exposure image and the pixel values of the portion of the long exposure image.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the flicker gain detector comprises:

a clipping detector for detecting underexposed or overexposed pixels of the long exposure image and the short exposure image, such that the flicker gain detector generates the short accumulated value and the long accumulated value without accumulating the underexposed or overexposed pixels.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the portion of the long exposure image is a line of the long exposure image, and the portion of the short exposure image is a line of the short exposure image.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the flicker gain detector comprises:

a first demultiplexer for receiving the line of the long exposure image and separating pixel value of each pixel into sub-pixel value based on a corresponding color;

a second demultiplexer for receiving the line of the short exposure image and separating pixel of each pixel into sub-pixel values based on corresponding color;

a plurality of first line summations, each summing up the sub-pixel values of the same color from the first demultiplexer, such that the long accumulated value includes summed sub-pixel values based on corresponding colors;

a plurality of second line summations, each summing up the sub-pixel values of the same color from the second demultiplexer such that the short accumulated value includes summed sub-pixel values based on corresponding colors; and

a plurality of flicker gain calculations, each receiving the summed sub-pixel values of the same color respectively from the first line summations and the second line summations and receiving the exposure ratio for calculating the flicker gain.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the flicker gain detector further comprises:

a clipping detector for detecting underexposed or overexposed pixels of the long exposure image and the short exposure image, such that the first line summations and the second line summations generate summed sub-pixel values without accumulating the underexposed or overexposed pixels.

8. A multi-exposure imaging system for capturing a video under an environment with a periodic flicker, comprising:

a long exposure image sensor for capturing a first long exposure frame based on a long exposure from a scene and subsequently capturing a second long exposure frame based on the long exposure;

a short exposure image sensor for capturing a first short exposure frame based on a short exposure from the scene and subsequently capturing a second short exposure frame based on the long exposure;

an exposure ratio calculator for obtaining an exposure ratio of the long exposure to the short exposure; and

a flicker gain estimator for generating a second flicker gain of the second short exposure frame based on a first flicker gain of the first short exposure frame.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the flicker gain estimator comprises:

a first flicker gain detector for generating a long accumulated value by accumulating pixel values of a line of the first long exposure frame, for generating a short accumulated value by accumulating pixel values of a line of the first short exposure frame corresponding to the line of the long exposure frame, and for generating the first flicker gain according to the long accumulated value, the short accumulated value and the exposure ratio;

a flicker gain storage for storing the first flicker gain from the first flicker gain detector; and

a flicker gain shift for generating a line shift of the second short/long exposure frame to the first short/long exposure frame and accordingly estimating the second flicker gain.

10. The system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the line shift is determined based on a frame rate of the video, a frequency of the flicker, and line number of one frame of the video.

11. The system as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising:

a compensator for compensating the second short exposure frame by the second flicker gain; and

an image composition unit for combining the second long exposure frame and the compensated second short exposure frame to generate a second frame of the video.

12. The system as claimed in claim 8 , further comprises:

a second flicker gain detector for generating a long accumulated value by accumulating pixel values of a line of the second long exposure frame, for generating a short accumulated value by accumulating pixel values of a line of the second short exposure frame corresponding to the line of the second long exposure frame, and for generating a third flicker gain according to the long accumulated value, the short accumulated value and the exposure ratio;

an arbitrator for selecting one of the second flicker gain and the third flicker gain to output;

a compensator for compensating the second short exposure frame based on the arbitrator; and

an image composition unit for combining the second long exposure frame and the compensated second short exposure frame to generate a second frame of the video.

13. A method for eliminating flicker of a multi-exposure imaging system, comprising the steps of:

capturing a long exposure image based on a long exposure from a scene;

capturing a short exposure image based on a short exposure from the scene;

obtaining an exposure ratio of the long exposure to the short exposure;

generating a long accumulated value by accumulating pixel values of a portion of the long exposure image;

generating a short accumulated value by accumulating pixel values of a portion of the short exposure image corresponding to the portion of the long exposure image with the same scene; and

generating a flicker gain according to the long average value, the short average value and the exposure ratio.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the flicker gain generating step generates the flicker gain by dividing the long accumulated value by the short average value and further by the exposure ratio.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13 , further comprising:

compensating the pixel values of the portion of the short exposure image by the flicker gain; and

generating a composite image based on the compensated pixel values of the portion of the short exposure image and the pixel values of the portion of the long exposure image.

16. The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the portion of the long exposure image is a line of the long exposure image, and the portion of the short exposure image is a line of the short exposure image.