JP2011199560A - Cellular phone and scale display method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To materialize scale display in a cellular phone by simple processing.SOLUTION: The cellular phone 10 includes a photographing element 1, a camera lens 2, an AF process part 3 for moving the lens 2 to focus, a distance table 8 for correlatively storing information of a lens position and information of a distance from the lens to a subject, a size table 9 for correlatively storing the information of a distance from the lens to the subject and information of a unit length of a scale, a distance deciding part 5 for obtaining the positional information of the lens 2 when a focused state is attained to decide a distance corresponding to the lens position with reference to the distance table 8, a size deciding part 6 for deciding a unit length of a scale corresponding to the distance with reference to the size table 9, and a CPU 4 for displaying the scale of a unit length decided by the size deciding part 6 on a display part 40 along with a subject image photographed by the photographing element 1.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for displaying a scale in accordance with the size of a subject in a camera-equipped mobile phone.

With a mobile phone, it was impossible to check the size of the subject even if the subject was photographed with a camera.
Conventionally, in digital cameras and video cameras, techniques for displaying a scale that is a measure of the size of a subject have been proposed (see Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and Patent Document 3).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-102007 JP 2002-185823 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-078828

  In the techniques disclosed in Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and Patent Document 3, it is necessary to calculate the distance to the subject and calculate the scale length corresponding to the size of the subject from the distance to the subject and the angle of view. In addition, it is necessary to redo the calculation every time the subject moves. Since the processing capability of the CPU is limited in the mobile phone, when the techniques disclosed in Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and Patent Document 3 are applied, the processing is performed so that it can be easily realized in the mobile phone. It needs to be simplified.

Further, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, scale image information is recorded in a link table inside the camera, but there is a problem that the scale cannot be displayed by an application outside the camera.
On the other hand, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 3, information for scale display is stored in the header of the JPEG file, and when the captured image is reproduced by an external application program, the information is read from the header of the JPEG file and displayed in scale. Like to do. However, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 3 has a problem that scale display cannot be performed with an existing application.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to realize scale display with a simple process in a mobile phone.
It is another object of the present invention to realize scale display with an existing application.

  The cellular phone of the present invention includes an imaging unit, a lens that forms a subject image on the imaging unit, an automatic focusing unit that moves and focuses the lens, lens position information, and a distance from the lens to the subject. A distance table that stores the information in advance in association with each other, a size table that stores in advance information on the distance from the lens to the object and information on the unit length of the scale, and the in-focus state by the automatic focusing unit. The distance determination means for acquiring the position information of the lens at the time, and determining the distance corresponding to the lens position with reference to the distance table, and the distance determined by the distance determination means with reference to the size table Size determining means for determining the unit length of the scale corresponding to the unit length scale, and the unit length scale determined by the size determining means together with the subject image captured by the imaging means It is characterized in further comprising a Shimesuru display means.

  The scale display method of the mobile phone according to the present invention includes an automatic focusing step in which a lens that forms an image of a subject on the imaging unit is moved and focused, and when the focused state is achieved by the automatic focusing step. A distance determination step of determining a distance corresponding to the lens position with reference to a distance table stored in advance in association with the lens position information and the distance information from the lens to the subject. The size for determining the unit length of the scale corresponding to the distance determined in the distance determining step with reference to the size table that stores in advance the information on the distance from the lens to the subject and the information on the unit length of the scale. A determining step and a display step for displaying the unit length scale determined in the size determining step together with the subject image captured by the imaging means. It is characterized in further comprising a.

  According to the present invention, in order to display the scale, the distance information corresponding to the lens position information is acquired from the distance table, and the unit length information corresponding to the distance may be acquired from the size table. Scale display can be realized by simple processing in a mobile phone.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the mobile telephone which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the mobile telephone based on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the lens position information of the camera lens in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the distance table in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the size table in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a scale display in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the mobile telephone which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the mobile telephone based on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile phone according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
The mobile phone 10 includes a camera unit 20 for photographing a subject, a control unit 30 for controlling the entire mobile phone, a display unit 40 for displaying various information, an operation unit 50 including a keyboard, and a base station ( And a wireless communication unit 60 for performing communication with (not shown).

  The camera unit 20 includes an imaging element 1 such as a CCD, a camera lens 2 that forms a subject image on the imaging element 1, and an AF (autofocus) functioning as an automatic focusing unit that focuses the camera lens 2 using a contrast detection method. ) Processing unit 3.

  The control unit 30 includes a CPU 4 and a memory 7 that is a storage unit for storing information. The CPU 4 performs processing according to a program stored in the memory 7 and controls the camera unit 20, the display unit 40, and the wireless communication unit 60. Further, the CPU 4 performs processing according to a program to thereby determine a distance determination unit 5 that determines the distance from the camera lens 2 to the subject, a size determination unit 6 that determines the unit length of the scale, display means that performs display processing, and image data. Are stored in the memory 7 and a notification means for notifying the user. The memory 7 has a distance table 8 and a size table 9. In FIG. 1, description of a microphone and a speaker necessary as a mobile phone is omitted.

  The operation of the mobile phone 10 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the user of the mobile phone 10 operates the operation unit 50 to turn on the subject size measurement function (step S001 in FIG. 2), the CPU 4 controls the camera unit 20 and the image pickup device 1 of the camera unit 20 takes a picture. A subject image is acquired, the acquired subject image is displayed on the display unit 40, and preview display is started (step S002).

  The CPU 4 controls the camera unit 20 to start the operation of the AF processing unit 3. The AF processing unit 3 detects the contrast of the subject image captured by the image sensor 1 and moves the camera lens 2 to a position where the contrast is maximized. Then, the AF processing unit 3 notifies the CPU 4 of in-focus availability information (step S003). At this time, when the contrast of the subject image is sufficiently high and the camera lens 2 can be moved to a position where the contrast is maximized, the AF processing unit 3 enables focusing, and the contrast of the subject image is low. If it is difficult to move the camera lens 2 to a position where the contrast is maximized, it is determined that focusing is impossible.

  The CPU 4 determines the in-focus state of the camera lens 2 based on the in-focus availability information notified from the AF processing unit 3 (step S004). If the CPU 4 determines that it is in focus, it acquires lens position information from the camera unit 20 (step S005). If the CPU 4 determines that the subject is not in focus, the CPU 4 displays a message indicating that the measurement of the distance to the subject has failed on the display unit 40 (step S009).

  After acquiring the lens position information in step S005, the distance determination unit 5 refers to the distance table 8 and determines the distance X from the camera lens 2 to the subject (step S006). In the distance table 8, information on the lens positions L0 to LN in a plurality of stages as shown in FIG. 3 and information on the distances X0 to XN from the camera lens 2 to the subject are associated and registered in advance. The structure of the distance table 8 at this time is shown in FIG. The distance determination unit 5 determines the distance X from the camera lens 2 to the subject by acquiring information about the distance X corresponding to the lens position information acquired from the camera unit 20 from the distance table 8.

  Subsequently, the size determining unit 6 refers to the size table 9 and determines the unit length (length of one scale) z corresponding to the distance X determined by the distance determining unit 5 (step S007). As shown in FIG. 5, in the size table 9, information on distances X0 to XN from the camera lens 2 to the subject and information on scale unit lengths z0 to zN are registered in advance. The size determination unit 6 acquires information on the unit length z of the scale corresponding to the distance X determined by the distance determination unit 5 from the size table 9. In this way, the unit length z of the scale such as 5 cm, 10 cm, and 1 m can be determined.

  The CPU 4 displays the scale of the unit length z determined in step S007 on the display unit 40 together with the subject image (step S008). FIG. 6 shows a scale display example. In FIG. 6, 100 is a subject image, and 101 is a scale.

As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to easily obtain the distance to the subject and measure the vertical and horizontal sizes of the subject using a mobile phone carried by many people on a daily basis. In the present embodiment, it is possible to easily grasp the size of the subject by displaying a scale according to the size of the subject on the sides of the captured subject image. In this embodiment, the distance information corresponding to the lens position information is obtained from the distance table, and the unit length information corresponding to the distance is obtained from the size table. The scale display can be realized with.
Note that when the subject moves, the processing from step S003 onward may be re-executed.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile phone according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment is characterized in that an image storage unit 11 that stores a scaled subject image is added to the configuration of the mobile phone according to the first embodiment.

  The operation of the mobile phone 10 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The operations up to step S008 are the same as those in the first embodiment. When saving the subject image data in the image storage unit 11 of the memory 7, the CPU 4 checks with the user of the mobile phone 10 whether or not to save the scale display (step S 010), and the user saves the scale display. When instructed, the image storage unit 11 stores image data obtained by combining the subject image displayed in step S008 and the scale (step S011). Further, when the scale display is not saved by an instruction from the user, the CPU 4 saves the subject image data displayed in step S008 in the image storage unit 11 (step S012).

  Thus, in the present embodiment, the image data obtained by combining the subject image and the scale is stored in the image storage unit 11 in accordance with the user's instruction, so that not only the scale display can be confirmed later on the mobile phone. By outputting image data to the outside, scale display can be confirmed even in existing applications.

  In addition, the control part 30 of 1st, 2nd embodiment is realizable with the computer provided with CPU, memory, and an interface as mentioned above, and the program which controls these hardware resources. The CPU executes the processes described in the first and second embodiments according to the program stored in the memory.

  A part or all of the above embodiments can be described as in the following supplementary notes, but is not limited thereto.

  (Supplementary Note 1) Imaging means, lens for forming a subject image on the imaging means, automatic focusing means for moving and focusing the lens, information on the lens position, and information on the distance from the lens to the subject A distance table for storing in advance, a size table for storing in advance information on the distance from the lens to the object and information on the unit length of the scale, and when the in-focus state is achieved by the automatic focusing means The unit length of the scale corresponding to the distance determined by the distance determining means by referring to the size table, and the distance determining means for acquiring the lens position information and determining the distance corresponding to the lens position by referring to the distance table And a display unit for displaying a unit length scale determined by the size determination unit together with a subject image captured by the imaging unit. Mobile phone that butterflies.

  (Supplementary note 2) In the mobile phone according to Supplementary note 1, storage means for storing image data, and storage processing means for saving data of an image obtained by combining the subject image and the scale in accordance with a user instruction, into the storage means; A mobile phone comprising:

  (Supplementary note 3) The mobile phone according to supplementary note 1 or supplementary note 2, further comprising notification means for notifying the user that measurement of the distance to the subject has failed when the lens is out of focus. .

  (Additional remark 4) The lens which forms a to-be-photographed object image to an image pickup means is moved and it focuses, The position information of the lens when it becomes a focusing state by an automatic focusing step is acquired, and lens A distance determination step for determining a distance corresponding to the lens position with reference to a distance table that stores in advance the position information and the distance information from the lens to the subject, and information on the distance from the lens to the subject. The size determination step for determining the unit length of the scale corresponding to the distance determined in the distance determination step with reference to the size table stored in advance in association with the information on the unit length of the scale, and determined in this size determination step A scale table for a cellular phone, comprising: a display step for displaying a unit length scale together with a subject image photographed by an imaging means; Method.

  The present invention can be applied to a technique for displaying a scale according to the size of a subject in a camera-equipped mobile phone.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Imaging device, 2 ... Camera lens, 3 ... AF process part, 4 ... CPU, 5 ... Distance determination part, 6 ... Size determination part, 7 ... Memory, 8 ... Distance table, 9 ... Size table, 10 ... Mobile phone , 11: Image storage unit, 20: Camera unit, 30: Control unit, 40: Display unit, 50: Operation unit, 60: Wireless communication unit.

Claims (4)

Imaging means;
A lens that forms a subject image on the imaging means;
Automatic focusing means for moving and focusing the lens;
A distance table that stores in advance the information on the lens position and the information on the distance from the lens to the subject in association with each other;
A size table for storing in advance the information on the distance from the lens to the subject and the information on the unit length of the scale in association with each other;
Distance determining means for acquiring position information of the lens when the in-focus state is obtained by the automatic focusing means, and determining a distance corresponding to the lens position with reference to the distance table;
Referring to the size table, size determining means for determining a unit length of a scale corresponding to the distance determined by the distance determining means;
A mobile phone comprising: a display unit configured to display a unit length scale determined by the size determining unit together with a subject image captured by the imaging unit. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein
Storage means for storing image data;
A cellular phone comprising: a storage processing unit that stores data of an image obtained by combining the subject image and the scale in the storage unit according to a user instruction. The mobile phone according to claim 1 or 2,
The mobile phone further comprises notification means for notifying the user that measurement of the distance to the subject has failed when the lens is out of focus. An automatic focusing step for moving and focusing a lens that forms an image of a subject on the imaging means;
The lens position information when the in-focus state is obtained by the automatic focusing step is acquired, and the lens position information and the distance information from the lens to the subject are stored in advance in association with each other. A distance determining step for determining a distance corresponding to the lens position;
Size determination for determining the unit length of the scale corresponding to the distance determined in the distance determination step with reference to a size table stored in advance by associating information on the distance from the lens to the subject and information on the unit length of the scale Steps,
A scale display method for a cellular phone, comprising: a display step of displaying a unit length scale determined in the size determination step together with a subject image captured by the imaging means.

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