JP2005311757A - Image processing apparatus and portable terminal device employing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing apparatus capable of efficiently reducing image data picked up by automatic tracing. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus is provided with an image signal processing means 10 for processing an image signal transmitted from a camera 20 to acquire image data, an image data reducing means 11 for reducing the image data quantity, an image data storing means 12 for storing the image data, and an image display means 13 for displaying an image based on the image data on a screen. The apparatus is further provided with an object selecting means 14 for selecting a specific object image data including a specific object from the image data, an automatic tracing means 15 for outputting a tracing signal for automatically tracing the selected specific object on the screen, and a control signal generating means 16 for outputting a control signal for controlling the photographing direction of the camera on the basis of the tracing signal. Out of the data, the data other than the specific object image are reduced by the means 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing device and a portable terminal device using the same.

  In recent years, mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones are equipped with various functions such as a still image / moving image shooting function and an Internet connection function, and are becoming increasingly sophisticated. With regard to still image and video shooting functions, mobile phones and the like are becoming thinner and thinner, so unlike cameras mounted on digital still cameras (DSC) and digital video cameras (DVC), A thin camera module in which a lens is integrated and mounted on a circuit board is mounted on a mobile phone or the like. In the DSC and DVC shooting functions, high-functional models equipped with camera shake correction and the like have been put into practical use. However, since camera drive control is complicated and large, these functions are not available in thin camera modules. It is difficult to realize, and functions such as camera shake correction are not yet installed in mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones. A camera control method related to camera shake correction is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 and the like.

  The applicant of the present application has proposed a structure of a thin camera module capable of realizing a function of automatically tracking so that a specific subject can always be placed at the center of the screen when shooting while tracking a specific moving subject (Japanese Patent Application No. 2004). -113791). As shown in FIG. 7, the thin camera module 300 proposed by the applicant of the present application includes a first housing 303 in which a lens 301 and an image sensor 302 are incorporated, in a hollow portion 305 of a second housing 304. The first housing 303 and the second housing 304 are mounted on a circuit board 306 and constitute a camera module 300. The first casing 303 can be tilted in an angular range of about 15 degrees or less with respect to the central axis PP ′ of the first casing 303 by using the space portion 307 provided in the circuit board 306. it can. The camera module 300 shown in FIG. 7 can be thinned to 6 to 7 mm or less, and can be sufficiently mounted on a mobile phone or the like. By mounting this thin camera module on a mobile terminal device such as a mobile phone, an automatic tracking function can be realized. Further, if the same tilt function is used, a camera shake correction function can also be realized.

  However, even if the thin camera module 200 shown in FIG. 7 is installed in a mobile phone or the like to realize an automatic tracking function or the like, still image or video recording data taken with the mobile phone or the like is connected to the Internet. A new problem arises when sending using the function. That is, the communication speed of data communication such as a cellular phone is considerably lower than that of a general personal computer. On the other hand, recorded image data, particularly moving image data, has a huge amount of information. Therefore, the problem that the transmission time becomes very long occurs. Although recent mobile phones have been considerably reduced in power consumption, the battery operation time can be significantly reduced if transmission takes a long time, or in some cases, transmission may be interrupted due to battery exhaustion. The problem that it is interrupted by.

In order to solve such problems, various image compression technologies (MPEG2, MPEG4, etc.) have been developed, and a dedicated LSI for performing such image compression is also installed in recent mobile phones equipped with cameras. Has been. The image compression technique is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 2.
JP-A-5-14801 JP-A-10-108134

  However, the image compression as disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 2 requires a large amount of calculation necessary for processing, and is a heavy load for a mobile phone or the like that cannot always be equipped with a high-performance processing device. In addition, when compressed image data is reproduced, there is a problem in practical use such as deterioration of image quality such as deterioration of image sharpness.

  Therefore, when the thin film camera module proposed by the applicant of the present application in Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-113791 is mounted on a mobile phone or the like and an automatic tracking mechanism in moving image shooting is added, the above-described problems can be solved. Significant significance in putting technology to practical use.

  The present invention has been made in view of this point, and a main object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of efficiently reducing image data captured by automatic tracking or the like.

  An image processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises an image signal processing means for obtaining image data by processing an image signal transmitted from a camera, and an image data reduction means for reducing the amount of data of the image data. An image data storage means for storing the image data, an image display means for displaying an image based on the image data stored in the image data storage means on a screen, and the image data Subject selection means for selecting specific image data including a specific subject, automatic tracking means for outputting a tracking signal for automatically tracking the selected specific subject on the screen, and the camera based on the tracking signal Control signal generating means for outputting a control signal for controlling the photographing direction, and among the image data, image data other than the specific subject image data is reduced by the image data reducing means. Specially that To.

  With the above configuration, by selectively reducing image data other than the image data including the specific subject that is automatically tracked, the data amount of the entire image data can be reduced, Even when the captured image data is reproduced, the sharpness of the target image of the specific subject is maintained, so that the entire reproduction screen can be viewed without a sense of incongruity.

  In a preferred embodiment, the specific subject image data is reduced by the image data reduction means, and the reduction rate of the data reduction is other than the specific subject image data. It is smaller than the reduction rate of image data.

  With the above configuration, image data including a specific subject to be automatically tracked is reduced at a reduction rate smaller than other image data, so that the sharpness of the image of the target specific subject is not reduced. Thus, the data amount of the entire image data can be further reduced.

  Further, at least a part of the image data other than the specific subject image data may be reduced.

  In a preferred embodiment, the image data reduction means comprises means for compressing the image data.

  In a preferred embodiment, the automatic tracking means outputs a tracking signal so as to place the selected specific subject at a substantially center of the screen.

  The image processing method of the present invention includes a step of processing image signals transmitted from a camera to obtain image data, a step of selecting specific subject image data including a specific subject from the image data, Of the image data, a step of outputting a tracking signal for automatically tracking the selected specific subject on the screen, a step of outputting a control signal for controlling the shooting direction of the camera based on the tracking signal, And a step of reducing the data amount of image data other than the specific subject image data.

  In a preferred embodiment, the method further includes a step of reducing a data amount of the specific subject image data, wherein the data amount reduction rate of the specific subject image data is other than the specific subject image data. It is smaller than the data amount reduction rate of the image data.

  A portable terminal device of the present invention is a portable terminal device including the above-described image processing device, a rotatable camera, and a rotation control unit that controls rotation of the camera, wherein the rotation control unit includes the image processing unit. The camera is rotationally controlled based on a control signal output from the control signal generating means of the apparatus.

  In a preferred embodiment, the image processing apparatus further comprises transmission means for transmitting the image data stored in the image data storage means of the image processing apparatus via a communication line.

  Another image processing apparatus of the present invention is an image signal processing means for processing image signals transmitted from a camera to obtain image data, and image data for reducing the amount of image data. A reduction means, an image data storage means for storing the image data, an image display means for displaying an image based on the image data stored in the image data storage means, and the image Object selection means for selecting specific object image data including a specific object from the data, and an arrangement signal for automatically arranging the image data including the selected specific object so as to be arranged substantially at the center of the screen And an automatic arrangement means for outputting the image data, wherein image data other than the specific subject image data is reduced by the image data reduction means among the image data. .

  With the above configuration, the amount of data of the entire image data can be reduced by selectively reducing the image data other than the image data including the specific subject arranged at the center of the screen. At the same time, even when the captured image data is reproduced, the sharpness of the image of the target specific subject does not deteriorate, so that the entire reproduction screen can be viewed without a sense of incongruity.

  In a preferred embodiment, the specific subject image data is reduced by the image data reduction means, and the reduction rate of the data reduction is other than the specific subject image data. It is smaller than the reduction rate of image data.

  A portable terminal device according to the present invention is a portable terminal device including the above-described image processing device, and transmits image data stored in the image data storage means of the image processing device via a communication line. The transmission means to be provided.

  According to the present invention, the image data other than the image data including the specific subject to be automatically tracked (automatically arranged) is selectively reduced to thereby reduce the data of the entire image data. It is possible to realize an image processing apparatus that can reduce the amount and can view the entire reproduction screen without a sense of incongruity while maintaining the sharpness of the image of the target specific subject even when the captured image data is reproduced. . Furthermore, when the image processing apparatus is mounted on a portable terminal device having a transmission means, image data captured by automatic tracking (automatic placement) and processed by the image processing apparatus can be transmitted in a short time. It becomes possible.

  When the present inventor performs shooting while automatically tracking a specific moving subject, image data of high importance is image data of a specific subject obtained by automatic tracking among image data obtained by shooting. -A background image that is relatively moving with respect to a specific subject is merely a "flowing image", so it is usually less important image data, unless there is a special purpose. Focusing on the fact that there is no particular hindrance even if it is considered, the inventors have come up with a method for effectively reducing the amount of information of image data photographed using the automatic tracking function.

  Before describing the present invention, a general method of automatic tracking will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 8A shows a state where the target specific subject 60 is photographed by the camera and the target specific subject 60 is located at the center of the display screen 50. FIG. 8B shows that the specific subject 60 has reached the position of the specific subject 61 in the display screen 51 as a result of the specific subject 60 moving at the next time. Here, the moving amount 63 of the specific subject 61 is calculated using the image data on the display screen 51. Next, as shown in FIG. 8C, the shooting direction of the camera is rotated so that the specific subject 62 is positioned at the center of the display screen 52 based on the calculated movement amount 63 of the specific subject. By repeating this operation continuously at regular time intervals, automatic tracking is performed in which the moving specific subject is always displayed at the center of the screen. As a camera whose rotation (tilting) is controlled, for example, a thin camera module shown in FIG. 7 can be cited. By using this, such an automatic tracking function can be used for a thin portable terminal such as a mobile phone. It can be realized with a device.

  In such automatic tracking shooting, the target specific subject is always in the center of the screen, while the specific subject is changing every moment because the specific subject is moving. The image data around the specific subject that changes from moment to moment has a special purpose (for example, shooting is performed following the target specific subject. In general, it is considered that the degree of importance is lower than that of image data of a specific subject obtained by automatic tracking (except when the surrounding scenery changes).

  Based on the above knowledge, the present invention regards image data other than specific image data including a specific subject obtained by automatic tracking among captured image data as less important data. It is intended to reduce the data amount of the entire image data by selectively reducing this less important image data. When image data with selectively reduced data is reproduced in this way, even if the sharpness of the image other than the specific subject is poor, if the specific subject at the center of the screen is reproduced clearly, there is almost no sense of incongruity. You can see the playback screen.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following drawings, components having substantially the same function are denoted by the same reference numerals for the sake of simplicity. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 processes image signals transmitted from the camera 20 to obtain image data, and image data for reducing the amount of image data. -Data reduction means 11, image data storage means 12 for storing image data, and image display means 13 for displaying an image based on the image data stored in the image data storage means 12 on the screen. It has. Furthermore, a subject selection unit 14 that selects specific subject image data including a specific subject from the image data, an automatic tracking unit 15 that outputs a tracking signal for automatically tracking the selected specific subject on the screen, and a tracking signal And a control signal generating means 16 for outputting a control signal for controlling the photographing direction of the camera. Of the image data, image data other than the specific subject image data is reduced by the image data reduction means 11.

  According to the above configuration, image data other than the image data (specific subject image data) including the specific subject to be automatically tracked selected by the subject selection unit 14 is displayed by the image data reduction unit 11. It is possible to selectively reduce the data, thereby reducing the amount of data of the entire image data, and also when the captured image data is reproduced, the target specific subject can be reduced. The sharpness of the image is maintained. Therefore, the entire playback screen can be viewed without a sense of incongruity.

  In FIG. 1, an image signal photographed by a camera 20 provided outside is transmitted to an image signal processing means 10, where the image signal is processed to obtain image data. As the image signal processing means 10, a dedicated image signal processor, DSP or the like is used. The camera 20 provided outside includes an image sensor 22 such as a CCD or CMOS image sensor, and a lens 21 that forms an image of incident light on the image sensor 22, and includes, for example, a circuit as shown in FIG. It is in the form of a camera module that is integrally mounted on the substrate.

  The image data obtained by processing by the image signal processing means 10 is temporarily stored in the image data storage means 12, and the image data stored in the image data storage means 12 by the image display means 13. Image based on the screen. The image data storage means 12 uses a semiconductor memory such as a video RAM (VRAM), for example, and the image display means 13 uses a liquid crystal driver for driving the liquid crystal panel when using a liquid crystal panel as a display device, for example.

  Next, a description will be given of an image processing method when shooting by automatically tracking a specific subject. FIG. 2 shows an image display screen 30 based on the captured image data, and the specific subject 31 is located at the center of the display screen 30. Image data (specific subject image data) 32 including the specific subject 31 is selected by the subject selection means 14 shown in FIG. As a method of selecting the specific subject 31, for example, the following method can be used.

  First, in the display screen 30, two corners P and Q are designated by a pointer so as to surround a specific subject, and an image block 32 ′ including the specific subject 31 is specified. As a specific method, the center of the specific subject 31 may be designated by a pointer, and a block within a certain range from the center may be specified as an image block 32 ′ including the specific subject 31. In addition, the image block 32 ′ including the specific subject 31 can be specified using the autofocus function. Next, based on the image data (specific subject image data) 32 of the image block 32 ', the specific subject 31 is recognized and selected using recognition means such as contour recognition or luminance recognition.

  The specific subject 31 selected by the above method is automatically tracked by the tracking signal output from the automatic tracking means 15. The tracking signal can be obtained by calculating the moving direction and moving distance of the specific subject 31 after a certain time (for example, 1/30 second) of the specific subject 31. Based on the tracking signal thus obtained, a control signal for actually controlling the shooting direction of the camera 20 is output by the control signal generating means 16. This control signal corresponds to the rotation (tilt) angle of the camera 20 obtained from the tracking signal (corresponding to the moving direction and moving distance of the specific subject 31). The rotation control means 23 provided outside can automatically track the specific subject 31 by controlling the rotation of the camera 20 based on the control signal output from the control signal generating means 16.

  Next, a method for reducing image data obtained by automatically tracking and shooting a specific subject will be described. As described above, in the display screen 30 shown in FIG. 2, the peripheral image data 33 other than the image data 32 of the image block 32 ′ including the specific subject 31 has low information importance. Therefore, other than the image data 32 including the specific subject 31 (that is, the peripheral image data 33) is selectively reduced using the image data reduction unit 11. As a reduction method, the storage capacity of the image data storage means 12 and the processing capacity of the image data reduction means 11 such as image compression such as MPEG, thinning or deletion of specific image data, or reduction of a luminance signal are included. It can be selected appropriately according to various conditions such as. Even when a captured image including image data selectively reduced in this way is reproduced, the sharpness of the image of the target specific subject is maintained, so that the entire reproduction screen can be viewed without a sense of incongruity. it can.

  Note that the data of the image data including the specific subject 31 (specific subject image data) 32 can also be reduced to further reduce the entire image data. The data reduction rate of the data 32 is set to be smaller than the reduction rate of the image data 33 other than the specific subject image data 32. At this time, the data reduction of the specific subject image data 32 is preferably performed at a reduction rate that does not reduce the sharpness of the image of the specific subject 31 even when the image data is reproduced.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the specific subject 31 is located at the center of the display screen 30, but the specific subject 31 is not necessarily located at the center of the display screen 30 at the first shooting stage. Assuming such a case, in the automatic tracking shooting, the specific object selected by the subject selecting means 14 at the start of the automatic tracking shooting in order to always position the target specific object 31 at the center of the display screen. The amount of deviation from the center position of the display screen 30 of the image data 32 including the subject 31 is calculated, and the camera is arranged so that the specific subject 31 is located at the center of the display screen 30 based on the calculated amount of deviation. The shooting direction may be initially set in advance.

  In addition, the image processing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a camera 20 that can be rotated (turned or tilted) as shown in FIG. By mounting on the mobile terminal device, it is possible to provide a portable terminal device to which an automatic tracking function is added. Here, the rotation control unit 23 performs rotation control of the camera 20 based on the control signal output from the control signal generation unit 16 of the image processing apparatus 100. As the rotatable camera 20, a tiltable thin camera module 300 as shown in FIG. 7 can be used. By using this, a thin camera module such as a mobile phone, a PDA, or a notebook PC can be used. It can be mounted on a portable terminal device. In this case, as the rotation control means 23, an electromagnet 308 embedded in the second casing 304 of the thin camera module 300 shown in FIG. 7 (a magnet 309 is embedded in the first casing 303). Fulfills its function.

  The portable terminal device may be equipped with a transmission means for transmitting image data via a communication line (wired or wireless). In this case, since the reduced image data stored in the image storage unit 12 of the image processing apparatus 100 is transmitted, the transmission time can be shortened.

  Furthermore, when the display device (for example, a liquid crystal panel) mounted on the mobile terminal device has a position display function indicating where the specific subject is on the screen of the display device, or when the specific subject is likely to protrude from the screen frame of the display device ( For example, if a warning function for displaying a warning sound or warning is added when a specific subject enters a predetermined width area in the screen frame), it is convenient when shooting while automatically tracking the specific subject. .

  FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 4 show examples of the camera-equipped mobile phone 110 and the PDA 120 on which the image processing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention is mounted. The mobile phone 110 and the PDA 120 incorporate the image processing apparatus 100 (not shown) according to the embodiment of the present invention, a rotatable camera 130, and a rotation control means (see FIG. The rotation control means can control the rotation of the camera based on a control signal output from the control signal generation means of the image processing apparatus 100. Further, a transmission means (not shown) for transmitting image data stored in the image data storage means of the image processing apparatus 100 via a communication line may be provided.

  Note that the image processing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to a thin mobile terminal device such as a camera-equipped mobile phone or a PDA, but also includes DSC, DVC, and other photographing functions (camera having a rotation mechanism) It can also be installed in video equipment.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, an image processing apparatus 200 according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. The image processing apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 5 processes image signals transmitted from the camera 20 to obtain image data, and image data for reducing the amount of image data. -Data reduction means 11, image data storage means 12 for storing image data, and image display means 13 for displaying an image based on the image data stored in the image data storage means 12 on the screen. It has. Further, the subject selecting means 14 for selecting the specific subject image data from the image data and the arrangement signal for automatically arranging the image data including the selected specific subject so as to be arranged at the approximate center of the screen are output. Automatic placement means 17. Of the image data, image data other than the specific subject image data is reduced by the image data reduction means 11.

  With the above configuration, image data reduction means 11 selectively selects image data (specific subject image data) other than the image data including the specific subject arranged at the center of the screen by the automatic arrangement means 17. By reducing the data, the amount of data of the entire image data can be reduced, and even when the captured image data is played back, the sharpness of the target specific subject image is reduced. I will not let you. Therefore, the entire playback screen can be viewed without a sense of incongruity.

  The image processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment is different from the image processing apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment described above in that the “automatic tracking function” is provided, whereas the “automatic tracking function” is provided. To do. That is, the image processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment has a function of automatically arranging a specific subject at the center of the screen, and provides an efficient data compression method for image data having such a function. It is. The image processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment facilitates observation of a specific subject by always automatically placing the target specific subject at the center of the screen when shooting a specific subject moving with a fixed camera. In addition, image data other than image data including a specific subject that is automatically arranged (specific subject image data) is selectively reduced, thereby reducing the data of the entire image data. The amount of data can be reduced. Of course, the image of the specific subject that is automatically arranged in the center of the screen does not deteriorate the sharpness thereof, so that the entire screen reproduction can be seen without a sense of incongruity.

  Since the basic configuration of the image processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment is the same as that of the image processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 of the first embodiment, only the characteristic differences will be described below.

  FIG. 6A shows an image display screen 40 based on the captured image data, and the specific subject 41 is located at the upper right of the display screen 40. Image data (specific subject image data) 42 including the specific subject 41 is selected by the subject selection means 14. The method for selecting the specific subject 41 is the same as the method described in the first embodiment. Next, the automatic placement means 17 outputs an automatic placement signal for automatically placing the image data 42 including the selected specific subject 41 so as to be placed at the approximate center of the screen. The automatic arrangement signal is obtained by calculating the amount of deviation of the specific subject 41 from the center of the display screen 40 from the position information on the display screen 40 of the specific subject 41 selected by the subject selection means 14. When the specific subject 41 moves, the specific subject is always selected at the center of the screen by continuously selecting the specific subject and generating the automatic arrangement signal at regular time intervals (for example, 1/30 second). Can be automatically arranged.

  Next, based on the arrangement signal output from the automatic arrangement means 17, the image data 42 including the selected specific subject 41 is arranged at the approximate center of the display screen 40. At this time, image data other than the image data 42 including the selected specific subject 41 rearranged is displayed in the region 43 (FIG. 4A) in the display screen 40 in FIG. In FIG. 4, although there is image data on the display screen 40 indicated by the solid line and the display screen 40 ′ indicated by the broken line, the image data exists, but the broken line in the region 44 (FIG. 4A). There is no image data in a portion of the displayed display screen 40 'that does not overlap with the display screen 40 indicated by a solid line.

  Next, a method for reducing image data obtained by automatically arranging specific subject image data at the center of the screen will be described. In the same manner as described in the first embodiment, in the display screen 40 shown in FIG. 4B, the peripheral image data 43 other than the image data 42 including the specific subject 41 is important for the information. The degree is low. Therefore, other than the image data 42 including the specific subject 41 (that is, the peripheral image data 43) is selectively reduced using the image data reduction means 11. In this case, even if the captured image data is reproduced, the sharpness of the target image of the specific subject is maintained, so that the entire reproduction screen can be viewed without a sense of incongruity.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, since no image data exists in the area 44 of the display screen 40, the image of the entire display screen 40 becomes unnatural. The image data 42 including the specific subject 41 may be centered, and the display may be switched to the reduced display screen 45 in which only effective image data around the image data 42 exists.

  An image processing apparatus 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention is mounted on a mobile terminal device such as a camera-equipped mobile phone or PDA, or a mobile terminal to which an automatic arrangement function is added by being mounted on a DSC, DVC, or other video equipment A device or the like can also be provided. Furthermore, by installing a transmission means for transmitting image data via a communication line (wired or wireless), reduced image data stored in the image storage means 12 of the image processing apparatus 200 is provided. Can be transmitted, the transmission time can be shortened.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated by suitable embodiment, such description is not a limitation matter and of course various modifications are possible.

  According to the present invention, an image processing apparatus capable of efficiently reducing image data captured by automatic tracking or the like, and an information terminal capable of transmitting image data captured by automatic tracking or the like using a communication line An apparatus can be provided.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the display screen of the image based on the image | photographed image data (A) And (b) is a perspective view of the mobile phone carrying the image processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 1 is a perspective view of a PDA equipped with an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram of the structure of the image processing apparatus 200 which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. (A) And (b) is a figure which shows the display screen of the image based on the image | photographed image data. Sectional drawing which shows typically the structure of the thin camera module 300 which can be tilted (A) to (c) are diagrams for explaining a conventional automatic tracking method.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image signal processing means 11 Image data reduction means 12 Image data storage means 13 Image display means 14 Subject selection means 15 Automatic tracking means 16 Control signal generation means 17 Automatic arrangement means 20 Camera 21 Lens 22 Imaging element 23 Rotation control Means 30 Display screen 31 Specific subject 32 Specific image data including specific subject 100,200 Image processing device 110 Mobile phone 120 PDA
300 camera module 303 first housing 304 second housing 306 circuit board

Claims (12)

Image signal processing means for processing image signals transmitted from the camera to obtain image data;
Image data reducing means for reducing the amount of data of the image data;
Image data storage means for storing the image data;
Image display means for displaying an image based on the image data stored in the image data storage means on a screen; subject selection means for selecting specific subject image data including a specific subject from the image data;
Automatic tracking means for outputting a tracking signal for automatically tracking the selected specific subject on the screen;
Control signal generating means for outputting a control signal for controlling the shooting direction of the camera based on the tracking signal;
An image processing apparatus characterized in that image data other than the specific subject image data is reduced by the image data reduction means among the image data. Further, the specific subject image data is also reduced by the image data reduction means, and the reduction rate of the data reduction is that of image data other than the specific subject image data. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus is smaller than a reduction rate. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least a part of the image data other than the specific subject image data is reduced. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data reduction means includes means for compressing the image data. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the automatic tracking unit outputs a tracking signal so that the selected specific subject is arranged at a substantially center of the screen. Processing image signals transmitted from the camera to obtain image data;
Selecting specific subject image data including a specific subject from the image data;
Outputting a tracking signal for automatically tracking the selected specific subject on the screen;
Outputting a control signal for controlling the shooting direction of the camera based on the tracking signal;
An image processing method comprising a step of reducing a data amount of image data other than the specific subject image data among the image data. And a step of reducing a data amount of the specific subject image data.
7. The image processing according to claim 6, wherein a data amount reduction rate of the specific subject image data is smaller than a data amount reduction rate of image data other than the specific subject image data. Method. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1;
A rotatable camera,
A portable terminal device comprising rotation control means for controlling rotation of the camera,
The portable terminal device, wherein the rotation control unit controls the rotation of the camera based on a control signal output from the control signal generation unit of the image processing apparatus. 9. The portable terminal device according to claim 8, further comprising transmission means for transmitting image data stored in the image data storage means of the image processing apparatus via a communication line. Image signal processing means for processing image signals transmitted from the camera to obtain image data;
Image data reducing means for reducing the amount of data of the image data;
Image data storage means for storing the image data;
Image display means for displaying an image based on the image data stored in the image data storage means on a screen; subject selection means for selecting specific subject image data including a specific subject from the image data;
Automatic placement means for outputting a placement signal for automatically placing the selected specific subject image data so as to be placed at substantially the center of the screen;
With
An image processing apparatus characterized in that image data other than the specific subject image data is reduced by the image data reduction means among the image data. Further, the specific subject image data is reduced by the image data reduction means, and the reduction rate of the data reduction is the image data other than the specific subject image data. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image processing apparatus is smaller than a reduction rate. A portable terminal device comprising the image processing device according to claim 10,
A portable terminal device comprising transmission means for transmitting image data stored in the image data storage means of the image processing apparatus via a communication line.

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