New Apple Patent Depicts Front Facing Camera

A new Apple patent application entitled "Apparatus and Method for Compensating for Variations in Digital Cameras" depicts a front facing camera on a handheld device.

According to AppleInsider the patent says that the current manufacturing process for digital video cameras is inconsistent and often results in flaws. Camera modules are manufactured separately as independent units before they are incorporated into a larger device, such as an iPhone or iPod. This results in cameras with minor variations in lens thickness, color response, wavelength cutoff, and more.

"Similar cameras manufactured on similar product lines may operate non-uniformly. For example manufacturing variations may result in variations in response to external stimuli, such as ambient light," The application reads. "Such variations in camera responses may produce a non-uniformity in images rendered by digital cameras of the same type, consequently, leading to an inconsistent product performance and to variations in product lines(s)."


Apple proposes a fix which would use acquired "video images of colored light" to measure and compensate for a specific camera's "bias". Another method could use a "signal processor" that would adjust the calibrated color intensities of images captured by the camera based on a preconfigured calibration.

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