As we know, Google purchased Motorola Mobility and with that purchase came thousands of patents for mobile devices. A document posted online shown that there was one patent missing and Google has just applied for it. That patent was one for a multi-LED flash to be embedded on the back side of a smartphone, or tablet for that matter. The idea behind a multi-LED flash is so that a low light photo situation can have different levels of light and will create a better exposure for the photo.
Phones on the market today typically have one LED flash, or maybe a dual-LED flash, but nothing is available in the multi-LED sector. According to an online source, an image shows the LED flash would form a circle around the camera lens, while another image shows the LED flash above and below the camera lens, seemingly giving Google two options to develop the flash. Seeing the flash LED’s in a circle pattern is nothing new to photographers that have been using light rings for years to get better, more even exposure for images, but it is completely new in the smartphone game.
Marco photographers have been using that type of lighting for years and now that it might come to the smartphone market, it will open a whole new world when it comes to the quality of an image shot via a smartphone camera sensor. More light is almost always better than low light when it comes to images. Google is not saying whether they will reserve the patent for its own developing or if it will pass it along to the Motorola Mobility branch that they own. The patent could also be opened up for license fees to other companies, so Google has plenty of options.
Even though a company is granted the right to develop a new product, does not mean that they will be doing so anytime soon. It would be nice to see smartphones with some advancements in camera technology that does not only revolve around the megapixels the camera can produce. The new patent for Google could mean changes in the design for the Nexus brand smartphones and tablets, or it could mean a new look for some Droid handsets from Motorola. Motorola has a phone called the X phone that is one the list of to be released, but it is not clear if this technology will end up there or not.
