camera

Connection to camera on mobile device

Description

A camera object represents a connection to a camera on a mobile device. After you create the object, you can acquire images from the device camera using Object Functions.

Add-On Required

To use this function for accessing mobile device sensors remotely from MATLAB^® installed on a desktop or laptop computer, you must also install either MATLAB Support Package for Apple iOS Sensors or MATLAB Support Package for Android^® Sensors. For more information, see Get and Manage Add-Ons.

Creation

Syntax

cam = camera(m,name)

Description

cam = camera(m,name) connects to the camera specified by name on the mobile device m.

Input Arguments

m — mobile device connection

mobiledev object

mobile device connection, specified as a mobiledev object.

name — Camera name

'back' | 'front'

Camera name, specified as 'back' or 'front'. Valid camera names are listed in the AvailableCameras property of the mobiledev object.

Example: cam = camera(m,'front') creates a connection to the front-facing camera of the mobile device represented by the mobiledev object m.

Properties

Name — Camera name

'back' | 'front'

This property is read-only.

Camera name, returned as 'back' or 'front'. The 'back' camera is the rear-facing camera on the back of the phone. The 'front' camera is the front-facing camera on the display side of the device. For devices that have additional supported cameras, other values are possible. For example, an additional camera on the back might be named 'back-1'.

Data Types: char | string

AvailableResolutions — Available resolutions

cell array

This property is read-only.

Available resolutions of the camera, returned as a cell array of strings. Possible resolutions are '640x480' and '1280x720'. If the device camera does not support one of these resolutions, the closest supported resolution is selected.

Data Types: cell

Resolution — Camera resolution

character vector | string

Camera resolution, returned as a character vector or string scalar. Valid values are listed in the AvailableResolutions property. You can set the camera resolution using dot notation.

Example: cam.Resolution = '1280x720' sets the camera resolution to 1280-by-720.

Data Types: char | string

ZoomRange — Zoom range of camera

double array

This property is read-only.

Range of supported zoom values of camera, returned as a two-element array of doubles, indicating minimum and maximum supported zoom values. The values are determined by your camera.

Example: [0.5 10]

Data Types: double

Zoom — Zoom setting of camera

double

Zoom setting of camera, specified as a double within the range defined by ZoomRange. The default value is 1. You can set the camera zoom using dot notation. This property does not reflect manual zoom changes made on the device by a pinch-to-zoom gesture.

Example: cam.Zoom = 3

Data Types: double

Flash — Camera flash mode

'auto' | 'on' | 'off'

Camera flash mode, specified as 'auto', 'on', or 'off'. This property is only available for cameras that support flash. You can set the flash mode using dot notation.

Example: cam.Flash = 'off' turns off flash.

Data Types: char | string

Autofocus — Camera autofocus mode

'on' | 'off'

Camera autofocus mode, specified as 'on' or 'off'. This property is only available for cameras that support autofocus. You can set the autofocus mode using dot notation.

Example: cam.Autofocus = 'off' turns off autofocus.

Data Types: char | string

Object Functions

snapshot

Acquire single image frame from mobile device camera

Examples

Connect to a Camera on a Mobile Device

This example assumes that you have already installed and set up MATLAB Mobile™ on your device and connected to the MathWorks^® Cloud. If you have not, see Install MATLAB Mobile on Your Device.

If you want to read the data in a different session of MATLAB, start MATLAB Online™ or MATLAB on your local computer.

Start MATLAB Mobile on your mobile device.

In your MATLAB session, create a mobiledev object m.

m = mobiledev

m = 
mobiledev with properties:

                   Connected: 1
            AvailableCameras: {'back' 'front'}
                     Logging: 0
            InitialTimestamp: ''

   AccelerationSensorEnabled: 0
AngularVelocitySensorEnabled: 0
       MagneticSensorEnabled: 0
    OrientationSensorEnabled: 0
       PositionSensorEnabled: 0

The AvailableCameras property indicates that this device has both 'back' and 'front' cameras.

Create a connection to the 'back' camera of the device.

cam = camera(m,'back')

cam = 
  Camera with properties:

                    Name: 'back'
    AvailableResolutions: {'640x480'  '1280x720'}
               ZoomRange: [1 121.8750]
              Resolution: '640x480'
                    Zoom: 1
                   Flash: 'off'
               Autofocus: 'on'

Creating the connection returns the camera object and displays its properties.

Version History

Introduced in R2019a