Journal of Computer and Communications, 2013, 1, 11-17
Published Online November 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/jcc)
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jcc.2013.16003
Open Access JCC
11
A Simple Model for On-Sensor Phase-Detection
Autofocusing Algorithm
Przemysław Śliwiński, Paweł Wachel
Institute of Computer Engineering, Control and Robotics, Wrocław University of Technology, Wrocław, Poland.
Email: Przemyslaw.Sliwinski@pwr.wroc.pl, Pawel.Wachel@pwr.wroc.pl
Received September 2013
ABSTRACT
A simple model of the phase-detection autofocus device based on the partially masked sensor pixels is described. The
cross-correla tion funct i on of the half-images registered by the masked pixels is proposed as a focus function. It is shown
that—in such setting—focusing is equivalent to searching of the cross-correlation function maximum. Application of
stochastic approximation algorithms to unimodal and non-unimodal focus functions is shortly discussed.
Keywords: Phase Detection Autofocus; On-Sensor Circuit; Formal Model; Cros s-Correlation; Stochastic
Approximation
1. Introduction
In imaging, focusing can be defined as seeking for the
image being the best approximation of the captured scene.
The proposed autofocusing algorithm is of a stochastic
optimization type. Within the stochastic framework we
model the scene as a random process (continuous, s ta-
tionary and fourth-order) of an unknown distribution1.
Assuming that the dimensions of the lens and sensors are
far larger than the length of the light-wave we can use the
first order (geometric/linear) approximation of the optics
laws [1,2]. In particular, we can model the lens as a li-
near low-pass filter with a symmetric (box) impulse re-
sponse centered at the origin [3]. The width of the box is
therefore proportional to the distance between the sensor
and the image plane. One can note that the scene is in
focuswhen the sensor is in the image plane, that is, in
the plane where all rays from a single point at the scene
converge into a single point (and the corresponding im-
pulse response of the lens is the Dirac delta function).
A popular approach to this problem in digital imaging
is to use the sequentially collected images with their va-
riance serving as a focus function. Such an approach is
referred to as the contrast-detection auto-focusing (we
will use the common CD AF acronym for shortness)
which also includes algorithms based on an image histo-
gram or its gradient analysis. It does not require any ad-
ditional equipment and hence can be implemented in
virtually all digital cameras. Its well-known issue, how-
ever, is that a single image does not provide information
about either:
the distance between the sensor and the image plane,
or
the direction toward the sensor should be shifted in
order to attain a focused image,
and subsequently CD algorithms seek the focus itera-
tively, in the back-and-forth manner (shifting the lens
accordingly), and require capturing an image in each
position determined by the algorithm. The CD AF algo-
rithms are usually derivatives of the stochastic approxi-
mation routines (like e.g. the golden-section search (if a
noise is negligible) or the Kiefer-Wolfowitz algorithm (if
the noise impact cannot be ignored) [4,5]). In conse-
quence, they are rather slow and not directly applicable
in e.g. object tracking or video applications.
In order to overcome these deficiencies one can use
algorithms based on the phase-detection auto-focusing
(PD AF) principle, in which a single image is split into
two, lef t- and right-hand side halves. Typically, image
splitting is achieved with the help of a separate optical
path consisting of semi-transparent/pellicle mirrors and
dedicated line sensors and such an implementation is
often met in digital SLRs; see e.g. [3]). The half-images
if the scene is out-of-focus—are shifted with respect to
each other. Such a shift is traditionally referred to as a
phase shiftand maintains information about both:
the distance between the sensor and the image plane,
and
the direction towards the sensor should be moved.
1For simplicity, we consider a 1D case rather than the full 2D one.
A Simple Model for On-Sensor Phase-Detection Autofocusing Algorithm
Open Access JCC
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This property makes the PD AF algorithms faster than
CD AF ones since—in principle—a single (but split)
image suffices to determine the correct (in-focus) sensor
position. The technological progress in image sensors
fabrication has recently allowed partially masking the
microlenses and subsequently implementing the PD AF
on sensors. Masking makes possible splitting a single
image registered by the sensor without the use of the
aforementioned additional optical equipment. The on-
sensor PD AF approach (at the cost of a more compli-
cated sensor fabrication) can therefore speed up on-sen-
sor focusing and make it appropriate in e.g. focus track-
ing applications. It can also be considered as an interest-
ing alternative to the CD AF-based shape-from-focus
algorithms used in a 3D scene restitution ; cf. [6-9].
2. Assumptions
We propose a simple model of a sensor with masked
pixels and a corresponding focus function. We also con-
sider several stochastic ap proximation algorithms search -
ing for the location of the focus function maximum
(which corresponds to the location of the image sensor in
the image plane).
Our analysis can also be adopted to the sensors in
which e.g. every second green pixel on the Bayer CFA is
replaced by a phase detection pixel (such an approach
allows for a pixel-level autofocusing precision and im-
plies only minor modifications to existing sensors), see
Figure 1. Several leading manufacturers, like e.g. Aptina,
Canon, Fuji, Olympus or Sony, offer CMOS sensors
equippe d with PD AF cir cuits.
Remark 1: Recently, Canon introduced an alternative
dual-pixel approach in which a single pixel consists of
two photosensors coupled under a single microlens. It
can also be approximated by the proposed model since
the half-images are registered there by the left-hand and
right-hand side photosensors of each pixel. Canons im-
plementation makes masking the microlenses unneces-
sary, nevertheless, it results in a sensor with twice as
many pixels.
In focusing problems, it is usually assumed that the
impulse response of the lens is of a rectangular shape, cf.
e.g. [3,10,11]:
( )()
[ ]
( )
,2
,
1
xIaxH
aa
=
(1)
where the width parameter
a
is proportional to distance
between the sensor and the image planes (
vsa −∼
; see
Figure 2). In our PD AF problem the following approx-
imations of the impulse responses for the left- and right-
hand side masked pixel sensors are proposed (see Figure
3).
( )( )( )( )
. and a
xa
xHxR
a
xa
xHxL
⋅=
+
⋅=
(2)
Figure 1. (a) A standard image sensor (with a Bayer CFA);
(b) The interleaved left- and right-half masked pixels—the
PD sensors; (c) An image sensor with embedded PD sensors.
Figure 2. The block diagram of the on-sensor phase detec-
tion autofocus (PD AF) system model.
Figure 3. Half-masked pixels split the rectangular impulse
response of the lens into a pair of two triangular ones. The
collected “shifted” half-images are used in the on-sensor
phase detection algorithms (note that both figures, this and
that in Figure 7, are presented for illustrative purposes and
are not the exact schemes).
Observe that both impulse responses have the same
support and moreover that
( )()
.xLxR −=
(3)
Collecting separately the images from the left- and
right-hand side masked pixels, we obtain a pair of half-
images (that is, the convolutions of the scene
( )
xS
with
either of the impulse responses):
and similarly
( )()()()( )
.xRSdxRSxI
R
∗=−=
∞−
ξξξ
a) b) c)
Left half-image
Half-images formation
Right half-image
Whole image + L R
mic ro len s
Half- mas ked
microlenses
A Simple Model for On-Sensor Phase-Detection Autofocusing Algorithm
Open Access JCC
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About the scene
( )
xS
we assume that it is a wide-
sense fourth-order stationary and ergodic process and
that its autocorrelation function
( )
x
ρ
is continuous and
bounded. Such a process admits a particularly important
class of piecewise-smooth images; see [12, p. 529].2
Analogous assumptions hold for the additive noise
( )
xZ
corrupting the half-images; cf. [2].
3. Focus Function
In order to propose the focus function, we need the fol-
lowing lemma.
Lemma 1: The symmetry property (3) implies that
()( )()( )
xLSxRS •=∗
that is, that the convolution of the scene with the right-
hand side impulse response
( )
xR
equals to the scene
cross-correlation with the left-hand side one
( )
xL
(note
that here we use the term cross-correlation in the sig-
nal proces s ing sense).
Proof: Inde ed, observe that exploiting shift invariance
of the convolution operation yields that
()( )
( )()
() ()()( )
.
SRx
S Rxd
SxLdSLx
ξ ξξ
ζ ζζ
−∞
−∞
= −
=+=•
Consider now the stochastic cross-correlation between
the left- and right-half images
( )(){}
()() ()(){}
( )()( )(){}
.,corr
,corr
,corr
η
η
η
+•∗=
+∗∗=
+
xLSxLS
xRSxLS
xIxI
RL
Hence
( )(){}
()()
{
()()( )
}
()()(){}
()()
.
,corr
ξζξζ
ξηζ
ξξξη
ζζζ
η
ddLL
xSxSE
dLxS
dLxSE
xIxI
RL
×
++−=
++×
−=
+
∫∫
∞−
∞−
∞−
∞−
Recall that
( )
ηρ
is the autocorrelation function of the
scene process
( )
xS
. Observing that due to stationarity
we have
() ()(){}
()() (){}
() ()()
( )
ζξηρ
ζξηρ
ζξη
ξηζ
++=
−−++=
−++=
++−
xx
xSxSE
xSxSE
we obtain
( )(){}
() ( )
[ ]
()( )
( )
()()( )
( )
.
,corr
?
ηρ
ξξξηρ
ξξζζζξηρ
η
ξηρ
=
+•=
++=
+
∫∫
∞−
+=
∞−
∞−
dLL
dLdL
xIxI
L
RL
  
We thus have the following proposition.
Proposition 2: The phase-detection focus function,
( )
xf
, is the following cross-correlatio n pr oduct
( )()()( )
.
ηρη
LLf ••=
(4)
Proof: To verify both the unimodality and symmetry
property of
( )
η
f
observe that the cross-correlation of
the
( )
x
L
with itself is the autocorrelation of
( )
xL
. As
such it has a maximum at
0=x
and is a symmetric
function w.r.t.
x
. Moreover,
( )
x
ρ
is known to be sym-
metric with a maximum at x = 0. So their cross-corre-
lation has a maximum at
0=x
and is symmetric w.r.t.
x
. Note finally that
( )
xZ
is stationary and independent
of the image process
( )
x
S
. Hence it has a constant va-
riance which only adds up to the correlations of the half-
images. Subsequently, its presence does not alter the
unimodality property of the images correlation and the
position of the correlation function maximum.
4. Focusing Algorithms
Because of random character of the scene process
( )
xS
,
the focus function (viz. the correlation function
( )
η
f
)
needs to be estimated from its realizations (captured im-
ages). The resulting estimate (the empirical correlation
function) can clearly be different from the actual correla-
tion function and, in particular, it can have false local
maxima [16]. One can consider two approaches to this
problem:
In the first, we can neglect the randomness and treat
the empirical correlation function as the genuine fo-
cus function. This approach is called stochastic coun-
terpart optimization [17]. It can be justified by virtue
of the observation that a number of data used in cal-
culations is large (as the number n of points in se nsors
can be counted in thousands). Thus, th e impact of the
random noise is averaged (the covariance estimates
converge as fast as
( )
1
nO
in the MISE sense [16])
and the unimodality and the position of maximum of
the correlation function are maintained. In such a
scenario one can use the well-known golden-section
search algorithm [4,18].
In the second, examined below, we search for the
actual maximum of the focus function using the noisy
data. To this end, we apply the standard Kiefer-Wol-
fowitz algorithm, see [19] and cf. e.g. [5,20,21]. Then
we take the version of the K-W algorithm oper- ating
2The
deterministic models of images, e.g. based on Besov or Sobolev,
or TV spaces, are not—to the best of the Authors’ knowledge—consi-
dered in the focusing context yet; cf. e.g. [13-15].
A Simple Model for On-Sensor Phase-Detection Autofocusing Algorithm
Open Access JCC
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on the smoothed functional as in [22-23] and cf.
[24,25], in order to apply the algorithm to the case
when the correlation function is not unimodal.
4.1. Unimodal Case
Since the focus function
( )
xf
in (4) is unimodal by
assumption, to apply Kiefer-Wolfowitz stochastic appro-
ximation algorithm, we merely need to assure that
( )
xf
is also sufficiently smooth. Recalling that
( )
xf
is itself
the correlation of the continuous and bounded function
()( )
xLL
with the continuous and bounded autocorrela-
tion function
( )
x
ρ
, we infer that
( )
xf
has at least one
bounded derivative, that is, it satisfies the Kiefer-Wol-
fowitz convergence conditions.
4.2. Multimodal Case
Let the autocorrelation function of the scene process
( )
xS
be multimodal.3 Then, the focus function
( )
xf
in
(4) is no longer unimodal and the standard stochastic
approximation algorithms fail in general and find local
maxima. We show that by convolving
( )
xf
with a rec-
tangular kernel (box) function, we obtain a (smoothed)
version of
( )
xf
which gains unimodality property and
maintains the position of the maximum of
( )
xf
; cf. [22].
The following lemma gives sufficient conditions for the
focus and kernel funct i ons,
( )
xf
and
( )
xh
.
Lemma 3: Let
( )
( )
[ ]
( )
xIrxh
rr,
1
2
=
and let
( )
xf
be
a multimodal focus function with the global maximum at
0, with a support included in [r, r]. Then, the convolu-
tion
()( )
xfh
is unimodal with the maximum at 0.4
By assumption, f(x) has a global maximum at 0. Let
F(x) denote its primitive function. The convolution of f(x)
with a rectangular kernel
( )
xh
of support [r, r] equals
to
()( )( )() ()
.
22
1
r
rxFrxF
df
r
xfh
rx
rx
−−+
==∗
+
ξξ
If, for all
θ
>− rx
and
,yx <
the following differ-
ences are negative
()()() ()
,0
22 <
−−+
−−+
r
rxFrxF
r
ryFryF
that is if
() ()() ()
,rxFrxFryFryF−−+<−−+
(5)
then the convolution is unimodal (since it also is symme-
tric). Since the support of
( )
xf
is at most [r, r], then
for any
0, >yx
, we have that
( )( )
,ryFryF +=+
and
the condition in (5) reduces to
() ()
,
rxFryF
−>−
which holds for any
0, >yx
, as
( )
xf
is non-negative
(and
( )
xF
non-decreasing) and
yx <
.
5. Numerical Simulations
The hardware equipped with the on-sensor PD pixels has
not been available to Authors at the time of the paper
preparation. Therefore, we performed a simple numerical
experiment illustrating the approach and based on a sty-
lized model in the environment provided by the Mathe-
matica and C++ packages. A sample scene
( )
xS
is pre-
sented in Figure 4 together with the half-images,
( )
xI
L
and
( )
xI
R
. Figure 5 shows the shape of the resulting fo-
cus function
( )
xf
. In Figure 6 the results of application
of the Kiefer-Wolfowitz algorithms are shown for the
sequences
( )
1
=nna
and
( )
3/1
=nnc
(as in the orig-
inal algorithm in [19]). The white noise of uniform dis-
tribution in the interval
[ ]
1.0,1.0 was added to the
focus func t ion.
6. Final Remarks
In the classic paper by Krotkov [26], several criteria of
Figure 4. The sam ple scene (black li ne), and its left (brown)
and right (r ed) half-images.
Figure 5. The focus function of the scene from Figure 4.
3But still symmetric—due to stationarity of S(x).
4If f(x) is not symmetric, the convolution with such h(x) remains un-
imodal with the maximum at o rigin, bu t this po int may no lo nger be th e
actual maximum of the focus function.
A Simple Model for On-Sensor Phase-Detection Autofocusing Algorithm
Open Access JCC
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Figure 6. Mean squared error of the Kiefer-Wolfowitz algo-
rithm vs. the number n of the algorithm test points.
a good focus functionare given. Usin g these criteria we
shortly discuss the properties of the considered approach.
6.1. Unimodality
The unimodality property has been formally shown for
filters with linear impulse responses, as in (2) and (3).
Both early experiments and formal investigations sugges t
that the symmetry condition ((3) or (6)) is crucial while
the shapes of filters can, for instan ce , resemble square (or
higher monomial) functions. It should be however no-
ticed that the real images may not be stationary (and
hence, our assumption that the correlation function is
symmetric (i.e. depends only on the shift between half-
images) can be violated). Hence, the search for the cor-
relation function maximum can result in an improper
focus distance selection as its maximum may no longer
correspond to the actual (or desired) focus position. In
this case one should consider application of the global
random search algorithms; see e.g. [17,27-29].
6.2. Accuracy and Reproducibility
The accuracy and reproducibility of the PD AF algo-
rithms are affected by the presence of noise; the r ange of
admissible noises is very broad and encompass virtually
all instances found in practice, see e.g. [30]. Observe
further that the proposed approach is of an open-loop
control type. That is, the focus function maximumonce
set—is not further refined. The natural extension of the
approach is to exploit the fact that during the sensor
movement toward the focus plane, the width of the lens
impulse respons e (the para meter
a
in (1)) vanishes and
the new images captured during these movements can be
used to evaluate the maximum. From the formal view-
point (under our correlation function symmetry assump-
tions), these additional measurements are not necessary
when the image plane is fixed, nevertheless, they can be
used in a closed-loop control algorithms, e. g. to track the
focus when the image plane shifts.
6.3. General Applicability
PD AF algorithms are less general than CD AF ones as
they require additional modif ications to the sensor (at the
cost of image quality: the masked pixels are put in place
of the standard pixels in some implementations). How-
ever, in contrast to the standard PD AF algorithms which
require a separate optical path, this new PD AF one
needs merely a new sensor. Moreover, the case we ex-
amine is based on an assumption that scene is a 1D (or
2D) process (random field) while in many situations it is
in fact a 3D one. Expanding the algorithm analysis to-
wards this assumption is a subject of our curre nt study.
6.4. Video Signal Compatibility
As in the CD AF case, the video signal is registered by
the same sensor which collects half-images for the PD
AF algorithm. Thus, the calibration of the separate opti-
cal path, which is often necessary in the standard algo-
rithms based on mirror/splitter, is not required here.
Nevertheless, the pixels are masked and part of the light
is lost (
1
EV per pixel for the considered half-masked
pixels, approximately). It can clearly be seen as a draw-
back in low-light applications. In the abovementioned
Canon’s “dual-pixel” implementation, all the available
light is captured in the final image, however, the number
of pixels to be processed is twice as large.
6.5. Fast (Software) Implementations
Correlation functions can be effectively computed using
the standard routine in which both signals are trans-
formed using FFT, and then multiplied. The correlation
function is then obtained from the IFFT routine. The cost
of a single run of the correlation evaluation is thus log-
linear,
( )
,lo gnnO where
n
is a number of pixels; see
e.g. [18]. In a special case when the golden section-
search algorithm is used, then it is guaranteed that the
maximum number of test points is O(logn); see e.g.
Figure 7. POV-Ray simulation (clock-wise): the scene (the
white square is in focus, the red is closer and the yell ow one
is further from the focus), the image seen by a 33 × 33 sen-
sor with non-masked pixels, the images seen by the right-
and left-hand si de half-masked microlenses.
A Simple Model for On-Sensor Phase-Detection Autofocusing Algorithm
Open Access JCC
16
[4,18]. Hence, the overall complexity is then O(nlog2n).
When, in turn, the Kief er-Wolfowitz algorithm is used to
determine the focus position , the number of test points in
which the correlation is computed is usually fixed (and
slightly larger than O(logn)).5
6.6. Image Readout Issues
Using the image sensor for focusing is clearly beneficial
from the video compatibility point of view. However, it
also means that the algorithm speed is limited by the
sensor framerate. Clearly, this problem is more signifi-
cant in CD algorithms than in PD ones (especially in a
single-ima g e open-loop version of the latter), but in ei-
ther case can further be alleviated when a sensor at hand
offers random access to pixels and one is interested in
focusing in a selected region of the scene.
Acknowledgements
The work is supported by the NCN gran t UMO-2011/01/
B/ST7/00666 .
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