JP2002112165A - Image processing unit, image processing system, image processing method, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing unit that adopts the configuration of automatically classifying photographed images for each period (by event), so as to enhance the browsing performance of the photographed images and the ease of classifying the images by users. SOLUTION: In the image processing unit 100, having a function of classifying images and storing them, a storage means 113 adopts acquired dates for one genre of classifications, in the case of classifying and storing the images by the acquired dates, on the basis of acquired data information of the images.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the classification and storage of images obtained by photographing with a digital camera or the like.
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing system, an image processing method, and a storage medium in which computer-readable processing steps are used for an apparatus or system for browsing or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a so-called electronic album (hereinafter, also referred to as "electronic album software") which is software for storing or browsing a photographed image obtained by photographing with a digital camera has been various. Things are widespread. The purpose of such electronic album software is to provide the user with the convenience of browsing the captured images and searching for the desired captured images by displaying the captured images on the screen in a sorted and organized manner. It is in.

The electronic album software can be started by a terminal device such as a personal computer including a CPU, a memory, and the like, and the following operations are performed by the terminal device by the start. (1) Capture a captured image from a digital camera. (2) A list of captured images (hereinafter referred to as “captured images”) is displayed. (3) Classify the captured image. The classification here will be described later in detail, but includes automatic classification by software, classification by user's own operation, and the like. (4) According to the classification, the captured image is additionally stored in the database for the electronic album. (5) The images stored in the database are displayed as a list in the form of an electronic album in accordance with a user's instruction.

[0004] As a method of classifying captured images in the above process (3), there is the following method. They are arranged in chronological order from the past to the present (or from the present to the past). The image alignment at this time may be automatically executed by software. Classification is made on a day-by-day basis, and each day is grouped in large units such as months or years. When the user browses, do the following. When the year or month including the shooting date to be viewed is specified, a display in which the days are arranged like a calendar appears on the display device. When an arbitrary day is designated from among them, a list of images taken on that day is displayed. Classify according to the content of the image itself. In this case, the classification may have a hierarchical structure (for example, “Drinking party → company →
Classification work is performed by the user, as in the "welcome party for newcomers").

[0005]

However, the conventional electronic album software as described above has the following problems.

(Problem 1) In the case of the electronic album software according to the above-described classification method, all images are simply arranged in the order of photographing, that is, both images on the same photographing date and images on photographing dates separated by day are included. , All are simply arranged next to each other, so that the browsability deteriorates.

(Problem 2) In the case of electronic album software according to the classification method described above, for example, if a user travels for several days, he or she may want to group the captured images during the travel as one classification. However, in the electronic album software, since the electronic album software is classified every shooting day, the compatibility with shooting over several days is poor.

(Problem 3) In the case of electronic album software according to the above-described classification method, in this type of software, since the image classification work is performed by the user himself and classified according to the content of the user himself, the result of the classification is different. It can be said that it is more excellent in browsability than the classification method. However, the user has to perform the classification by himself.

In view of the above, the present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and has a structure in which a photographed image can be automatically classified for each event in which a photograph such as a trip is taken. PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM CONTAINING PROCESSING STEPS FOR IMPLEMENTING IMPROVEMENT OF BROWSE AND REDUCTION OF IMAGE CLASSIFICATION BY USER The purpose is to provide.

[0010]

For such a purpose,
A first invention is an image processing apparatus having a function of classifying and storing a plurality of images, and classifies and stores the plurality of images by acquisition date based on the acquisition date information of the plurality of images. In this case, a storage unit that classifies a plurality of acquisition dates into one classification is provided.

According to a second aspect, in the first aspect,
The image includes a shot image, and the acquisition date includes a shooting date.

According to a third aspect, in the first aspect,
The plurality of acquisition dates are consecutive days.

[0013] In a fourth aspect based on the first aspect,
A display unit that displays the image stored in the storage unit according to the classification.

According to a fifth aspect, in the fourth aspect,
The display means displays the classification items of the image contents together with the display of the storage image, and the storage means displays the storage image of the storage means in accordance with an instruction from the user on the display on the display means. It is characterized in that it is classified and stored according to contents.

A sixth invention is an image processing system in which a plurality of devices are communicably connected to each other, wherein at least one of the plurality of devices is one of the first to fifth embodiments.
And a function of the image processing apparatus according to any one of the above.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing method including a processing step of classifying and storing a plurality of images, wherein the processing step is based on acquisition date information of the plurality of images. When classifying by date of acquisition and saving,
The method is characterized by including a storing step in which a plurality of acquisition dates are classified into one classification.

An eighth invention is an image processing method including a processing step of classifying and storing a captured image taken from the outside, wherein the processing step includes obtaining a shooting date of the captured image. A step of storing the captured images by classifying them by shooting date based on the shooting date obtained in the shooting date obtaining step, and storing a plurality of shooting dates into one classification; A classification item combining step of combining the classification items of the plurality of imaging dates, which are consecutive imaging dates with no intervening days, into one classification item with respect to the classification items in the storage step; The present invention is characterized by including an image registration step of registering the captured image and an image display step of displaying the stored image in the storage step.

According to a ninth aspect, in the eighth aspect,
The storing step includes storing the image for a long period of time, and the image displaying step includes displaying the stored image in a viewable manner.

In a tenth aspect based on the eighth aspect, the image displaying step displays the classification items of the image contents together with the display of the stored image, and the storing step includes the display in the display step. According to the above-mentioned instruction from the user, the stored images in the storing step are classified and stored according to image contents.

According to an eleventh aspect, a processing program for implementing the functions of the image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 or the functions of the image processing system according to claim 6 is provided.
It is a storage medium that is readable by a computer.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable storage medium stores the processing steps of the image processing method according to any one of the seventh to tenth aspects.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) The present invention provides, for example,
It is applied to an image processing apparatus 100 as shown in FIG. The image processing apparatus 100 is configured to be connectable to a device or a system (here, a digital camera as an example) for acquiring a captured image, such as a digital camera, and to be able to start electronic album software.

Specifically, first, the image processing apparatus 100
As shown in FIG. 1, the CPU 101 and the ROM 1
02, a RAM 103, a control unit 105 of an operation unit 109 such as a keyboard and a mouse, a control unit 106 of a display unit 110 such as a CRT, a control of a hard disk (HD) 111 and a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) 112. Interface between the unit 107 and the digital camera (I
/ F) unit 108 and an electronic album memory 113 used for storing captured images captured from a digital camera via the I / F unit 108, and the like.
04 so as to be communicable with each other.

The CPU 101 has a ROM 102 or an HD
By executing the software stored in the memory 111 or the software supplied from the FD 112, the components connected to the system bus 104 are controlled in a comprehensive manner.
In particular, the CPU 101 reads out the electronic album software in the present embodiment, which will be described in detail later, from the ROM 102, the HD 111, or the FD 112 and executes the software, thereby realizing the most characteristic operation in the present embodiment. Perform control.

The RAM 103 functions as a main memory or a work area of the CPU 101. The control unit 105 of the operation unit 109 controls an instruction input from the operation unit 109. The control unit 106 of the display unit 110 controls the display of the display unit 110. Control unit 10 of HD111 and FD112
Reference numeral 7 controls access to the HD 111 and the FD 112 that store various applications including a boot program and electronic album software.

The I / F unit 108 captures a photographed image from a digital camera. Specifically, for example, the image processing apparatus 100 and the digital camera are connected by a cable or the like, or the image processing apparatus 1 is used as a recording medium of the digital camera.
Replace with 00. Thus, the I / F unit 108 captures a captured image from the digital camera.

The electronic album memory 113 stores a photographed image obtained by a digital camera. At this time,
In the electronic album memory 113, a captured image obtained by a digital camera is stored as a thumbnail (reduced image). Further, the electronic album memory 113 also stores management information of stored images. The format of the management information of the stored image will be described later.

FIG. 2 shows a case where the classification according to the present invention is performed, and the result is stored in management information (data for each event) stored in the electronic album memory 113, and then stored in the electronic album memory 113 using the management information. FIG. 4 shows an example in which a list of stored images is displayed on the display unit 110. FIG. As shown in FIG. 2 above, the display unit 110 displays July 1
The day is the image 201 (1), 201 (2) of the shooting date, July 1
Images 202 (1) and 202 on the 5th and 16th are shooting dates
(2), 202 (3), July 18 is the image 20 of the shooting date
3 (1), July 22 is a shooting date image 204 (1), etc., continuous shooting dates are collectively one item, and one independent shooting date is also one item. It is classified and listed. For example, regarding the images 201 (1) and 201 (2) whose shooting date is July 1, “7
The image 201 (1) and 201 (2) are displayed side by side with the “Month 1” as a date heading (classification heading). In FIG. The display (thumbnail) is arranged.
However, a display method other than the thumbnail, for example, another display format such as a display using a file name or an icon may be used.

In the present embodiment, as described above, the classification of the photographed image is performed not by the photographing date but by the event of the photographing.
As an example, it is assumed that it has the following properties.
For example, a general user does not use a camera every day, but takes an image with a camera when carrying out a certain event, that is, a memorial of something or going out to play somewhere. Therefore, there is a day on which no shooting was performed between events where shooting was performed. For example, even if you go out to play every weekend and take a picture, there is a weekday during which no picture was taken between each picture. Also, if you go on a trip for several days, you will have to shoot every day during that time. That is, if shooting continues for several days, it is considered that the event is one event such as a trip.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, a day when no image is taken by the digital camera is defined as an event delimiter.
By treating as one event, images are classified by event.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the flow of processing upon activation of electronic album software for classifying images as described above. That is, in the image processing apparatus 100, the CPU 101
The electronic album software according to the flowchart of FIG. Thereby, the image processing apparatus 100
A captured image is taken from a digital camera and classified according to an event as follows.

Step S301: The CPU 101 sets the I / O
A captured image is captured from the digital camera into the image processing apparatus 100 via the F unit 108.

Step S302: The CPU 101 obtains shooting date and time information from the shot image (captured image) captured in step S301. Specifically, for example,
The captured image (image file) includes shooting date and time information, and the CPU 101 obtains the shooting date and time information. Then, the CPU 101 stores the captured image in the electronic album memory 113 based on the shooting date and time information. At this time, the CPU 101 executes a determination process in the next step S303.

The photographing date and time information may be included in another file, for example, and the photographing date and time information may be obtained from the file. Alternatively, the shooting date and time information may be obtained by referring to the time stamp of the image file.

Step S303: Here, the CPU 101
In order to manage the images stored in the electronic album memory 113, for example, management information (data for each event) as shown in FIG. 4 is used. This event-specific data
It is stored in the electronic album memory 113. The event-specific data is, as shown in FIG. 4, table data in which an image file name indicating a stored image is associated with a shooting date (item). In the event-specific data in FIG. 4, the image file name is img_01. jpg, img
_02. The image of jpg is an image on July 1 of the shooting date, and the image file name is img_03. jpg, img_
04. jpg, img_05. jpg image is July 1
The 5th to 16th days are images of the shooting date, and the image file name is img_06. The image of jpg is an image on July 18 of the shooting date, and the image file name is img_07. The image of jpg indicates that July 22 is the image of the shooting date. That is, in the event-by-event data in FIG. 4, the consecutive shooting dates are grouped as one item.
Therefore, according to FIG. 4, the image img_03. j
pg, img_04. jpg, img_05. jpg
Is an image taken between July 15 and July 16. By the way, the specific data structure of the event-specific data may be a hash table, a list, an ASCII text, or the like as long as the photographing date and the image file name belonging to each photographing date can be registered and referenced.

Then, the CPU 101 proceeds to step S30.
It is determined whether or not an item of the shooting date that matches the shooting date and time information of the target captured image acquired in step 2 has already been registered in the event-specific data in the electronic album memory 113. For example, if the shooting date and time indicated by the shooting date and time information of the target captured image is “July 17”, the same “July 17” item does not exist in the event-specific data in FIG. In this case, the process proceeds to the next step S304.

Step S304: The CPU 101 stores the item of the shooting date and time of the day before or next to the shooting date and time indicated by the shooting date and time information of the target captured image in the electronic album memory 11
It is determined whether or not the data has already been registered in the event-specific data of No. 3. For example, when the shooting date and time indicated by the shooting date and time information of the target captured image is “July 17”, FIG.
According to the event-specific data, the day before “July 17” (July 1
6) and the next day (July 18)
In this case, the process proceeds to the next step S305.

Step S305: The CPU 101 sets the event data in the electronic album memory 113 to
The item of the shooting date and time indicated by the shooting date and time information of the target captured image is added. Thus, when the shooting date and time indicated by the shooting date and time information of the target captured image is “July 17”, the event-specific data in the electronic album memory 113 is in a state as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the shooting date “July 17” is changed to “July 15 to 16”.
"July 15th to 17th" is one item.

Step S306: As a result of the processing in step S305, the CPU 101
It is determined whether or not there is an item having consecutive shooting dates among the items of event-specific data in 3. That is, it is determined whether or not there is an item having a date with no date between them. For example, in the event-specific data shown in FIG.
As a result of the processing in step S305, the item “July 15
The 17th day ”and the next item“ July 18th ”are consecutive shooting dates. In this case, the process proceeds to the next step S307.

Step S307: The CPU 101 combines items including consecutive shooting dates determined in step S306. For example, in the event-specific data shown in FIG. 5, as a result of the processing in step S305, the item "7
Since the 15th to 17th of the month "and the next item" July 18 "are continuous shooting dates with no intervening day, these items are combined and the" July 15 ""~ 18 days" is one item. As a result, the electronic album memory 11
The event-specific data in 3 is in a state as shown in FIG.

Step S309: The CPU 101 registers an image file name indicating the target captured image for the item combined in step S307. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, the image file name of the target captured image whose shooting date is July 17 (img_06.jp in this example)
g) is registered in the item “July 15 to 18”.
Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S310 described later.

Step S308: On the other hand, step S30
As a result of the determination in step 4, the item of the shooting date and time of the day before or the next day indicated by the shooting date and time of the target captured image is
If the event has not been registered in the event-specific data in the electronic album memory 113, the CPU 101 proceeds to step S3.
In step 08, the item of the shooting date indicated by the shooting date and time information of the target captured image is newly added to the event-specific data in the electronic album memory 113. After that, the CPU 10
1 proceeds to step S309, and as described above,
The image file name indicating the target captured image is registered in the event-specific data in the electronic album memory 113. However, the registration destination of the image file name is a newly added item. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S310 described later.

As a result of the determination in step S303, the item of the shooting date that matches the shooting date and time information of the target captured image is
If the data has already been registered in the event-specific data of the electronic album memory 113, the CPU 101 proceeds directly to step S309, and stores the image file name indicating the target captured image in the event-specific data of the electronic album memory 113 as described above. Register However, the registration destination of the image file name is a corresponding item that has already been registered.
Thereafter, the process proceeds to the next step S310.

Step S310: The CPU 101 determines whether or not a photographed image to be processed exists (whether or not all photographed images to be processed have been registered). As a result of this determination, if there is still a captured image to be processed, the process returns to step S301, and the subsequent processing steps are repeatedly executed. On the other hand, when the processing of all the captured images is completed, the processing ends.

Steps S301 to S310 as described above
By executing the processing of, the electronic album memory 113 stores
The captured images are automatically classified by event and stored. The stored image in the electronic album memory 113 is stored for a long time, for example, and when the user desires, the screen display of the captured image for each event as shown in FIG. It becomes possible.
For example, when the user instructs the screen display of the electronic album on the operation unit 105, the CPU 101 sequentially reads the stored images from the electronic album memory 113 in accordance with the event-specific data as shown in FIG. A list is displayed on the display unit 106 in the image arrangement state as shown in FIG.

(Second Embodiment) In this embodiment,
In the automatic classification for each event according to the first embodiment, classification is further performed for each image content.

More specifically, in the processing by starting the electronic album software in the present embodiment, first, the CP
U101 displays a list of images captured from the digital camera on the display unit 106. Display unit 1 at this time
If the images in the list display 06 are displayed by event according to the automatic classification by event according to the first embodiment, the list of captured images can be more easily viewed.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a list display on display unit 106 in the present embodiment. In the list display, in the area (classification area) 401, classifications based on image contents are displayed in a tree shape. In the area (new image area) 402, a list of images classified by event as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed.

The user operates the operation unit 110 (here, a mouse as an example) on the list display screen as shown in FIG. 8 to move a desired image in the new image area 402 into the classification area 401. Classify by dragging to the desired item.

The user can delete all the images included in any item in the new image area 402 by using the classification area 401.
If the user wants to classify the item into a desired item, drag the item. As a result, all of the images included in the above-described arbitrary items are collectively classified.

Specifically, for example, “February 16 to 17
By dragging the item portion of "day" to the category item of "picnic", all the images taken in these two days can be classified into the item of "picnic" by one operation. Also, by dragging the individual images, the images can be classified one by one. As described above, according to the present embodiment, the user can easily classify images.

As described above, the images classified by the user's operation are stored in the electronic album memory 113 according to the classification.

In the present embodiment, the process for classifying the images taken from the digital camera into the new image area 402 by event is in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG. Means that the event-specific data does not exist as a database of the entire electronic album software, but the new image area 4
02 is provisional data to be displayed in No. 02. Further, the classification area 401 may be a classification method other than the content-based classification using a hierarchical structure as shown in FIG.
What is required in the present embodiment is that the classification method of the present invention is applied to the display of the new image area 402 displayed as “new image”, thereby simplifying the classification operation by the user after the display. .

Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing program codes of software for realizing the functions of the host and the terminal of the first and second embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide the system or the apparatus with the storage medium. It is needless to say that the present invention is also achieved when the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the apparatus reads out and executes the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the first and second embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, C
DR, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, D
A VD-RAM, a DVD-RW, a DVD-R + W, a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, a nonvolatile memory card, or the like can be used. The functions of the first and second embodiments are realized by executing the program code read by the computer, and the OS running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the present invention includes a case in which the functions of the first and second embodiments are implemented by performing part or all of the actual processing. Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written to a memory provided in an extended function board inserted into the computer or an extended function unit connected to the computer,
Based on the instructions of the program code, a CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the first and second embodiments are realized by the processing. Needless to say, cases are included.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention, images acquired over several days can be automatically saved as one classification. For example, in the case of classifying and storing photographed images obtained by a digital camera or the like, it is possible to classify each event in both one-day photographing and several-day photographing, and to make electronic album browsing and operation easier. Performance can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied in a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of a screen display of photographed images (electronic albums) automatically classified by event on a display unit of the image processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of event-specific data stored in an electronic album memory of the image processing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a state in which a new shooting date item is additionally registered in the event-specific data.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a state in which items having consecutive shooting dates are combined in the event-specific data.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a state in which a target image is additionally registered as one item obtained by combining items having consecutive shooting dates in the event-specific data.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen display on the display unit according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Image processing device 101 CPU 102 ROM 103 RAM 104 System bus 105 Control unit 106 Control unit 107 Control unit 108 I / F unit 109 Operation unit 110 Display unit 111 HD 112 FD 113 Electronic album memory

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H04N 5/91 H04N 5/91 NF term (reference) 5B050 AA09 BA10 BA15 CA07 DA04 FA12 FA19 5B075 MM11 ND03 ND06 ND20 ND23 ND40 NR02 NR05 NR12 PP02 PP03 PP13 PP30 PQ02 PQ40 PQ46 UU40 5B082 AA13 EA05 EA10 GC03 5C052 AA01 AA17 AB04 AC08 CC11 DD02 DD04 EE03 GA02 GA03 GB06 GC05 GE08 5C053 FA08 FA14 FA23 FA27 GB06 GB36 HA29 LA22 KA04 LA11

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus having a function of classifying and storing a plurality of images, wherein the plurality of images are classified and stored by acquisition date based on acquisition date information of the plurality of images. , Multiple acquisition dates
An image processing apparatus, comprising: a storage unit that classifies the image data into two categories. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image includes a photographed image, and the acquisition date includes a photographing date.
The image processing apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of acquisition dates are consecutive days. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying the image stored in said storage means according to said classification. 5. The display means displays a classification item of image content together with the display of the stored image, and the storage means displays the storage means in accordance with an instruction from a user on the display on the display means. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the stored images are classified and stored according to image contents. 6. An image processing system in which a plurality of devices are communicably connected to each other, wherein at least one of the plurality of devices is the image processing apparatus according to claim 1. An image processing system having the following functions. 7. An image processing method including a processing step of classifying and storing a plurality of images, wherein the processing step includes the step of dividing the plurality of images by acquisition date based on acquisition date information of the plurality of images. An image processing method characterized by including a storage step of classifying and storing a plurality of acquisition dates as one classification. 8. An image processing method including a processing step of classifying and storing a captured image captured from outside, wherein the processing step includes: a capturing date obtaining step of obtaining a capturing date of the captured image; A storing step of classifying the captured images by shooting date based on the shooting date obtained in the shooting date obtaining step and storing the plurality of shooting dates into one classification; A classification item combining step of combining the classification items of the plurality of imaging dates, which are consecutive imaging dates with no intervening days, into one classification item; An image processing method, comprising: an image registration step of registering an embedded image; and an image display step of displaying the stored image in the storage step. 9. The image display step displays the classification items of the image contents together with the display of the stored image, and the storage step includes the step of, in accordance with an instruction from a user on the display in the image display step, 9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein images stored in the storing step are classified and stored according to image contents. 10. The image storing method according to claim 8, further comprising an image classification storing step in which the user determines a classification different from the shooting date classification in the storing image and stores the captured image. The image processing method described in the above. 11. A computer readable storage of a processing program for implementing the function of the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or the function of the image processing system according to claim 6. A storage medium characterized by the above-mentioned. 12. A storage medium, wherein the processing steps of the image processing method according to claim 7 are readable by a computer.