KR20090042594A - Apparatus for processing digital image and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for processing digital image and a method for controlling the same are provided to perform a digital image stabilization operation automatically in case the digital image stabilization is needed. While photographing, vibration sensors(110,120) measure a level of vibration from a movement of the main body. In case the vibration correction mode is turned on, the vibration correction unit(130) stabilizes the vibration of the main body while taking a photograph according to the level of vibration. A level of vibration is inputted to a control unit(140). In case the level of vibration is over the base level, the control unit performs a control action to operate the digital image stabilization mode.

Description

Apparatus for processing digital image and method for controlling the same}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital image processing apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a digital image processing apparatus for capturing an image input through an imaging device by pressing a shutter release button and a control method thereof. will be.

The digital image processing apparatus includes any device that processes an image of a digital camera, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a phone camera, a PC camera, or uses an image recognition sensor.

In such a digital image processing apparatus, an image input through an image pickup device may be displayed on a video display device. In addition, the user may capture a desired image by pressing the shutter release button and store the image as an image file.

In this case, when the user captures a desired image, the digital image processing apparatus such as a camera may shake due to the shaking of the user. That is, when the user captures an image desired by the user, the image input through the image pickup device may be shaken due to the shaking, and thus, the image capturing may fail.

In particular, the recent trend toward miniaturization and slimming of the digital image processing apparatus enables the digital image processing apparatus to be more easily shaken during shooting.

In order to solve the problem that the user does not acquire the desired image due to the hand shake during shooting, a hand shake sensor may be used. That is, the amount of hand shake may be measured using the hand shake sensor, and hand shake may be corrected.

The present invention provides a digital image processing apparatus and a method of controlling the same, in which an image stabilization function is required, even when the image stabilization mode is not set, so that the image can be automatically taken in the image stabilization mode. For the purpose of

The present invention includes a hand shake detection unit mounted to a main body to measure a hand shake level at which the main body moves when photographing; A hand shake correction unit configured to correct hand shake of the main body at the time of shooting according to the hand shake level when the hand shake correction mode is set; And a controller configured to receive the camera shake level and set the camera shake correction mode when the camera shake level is equal to or greater than a set reference level.

The hand shake detection unit may include a hand shake detection sensor for measuring the hand shake, and a hand shake detection sensor controller for controlling the hand shake detection sensor.

The hand shake detection sensor control unit, the amplifier for receiving and amplifying the amount of the hand shake, a filter for removing noise from the amount of the hand shake, a signal converter for converting the analog signal of the amount of the hand shake to a digital signal, and the hand shake An image stabilization controller may be provided to generate the image stabilization level from a positive digital signal.

When the camera shake correction mode is set because the camera shake level is greater than or equal to the reference level, the controller may release the camera shake correction mode after the shooting is finished.

Another aspect of the invention, the step of measuring the camera shake level that is the degree of movement of the main body at the time of imaging; Comparing the camera shake level with a set reference level; Setting a camera shake correction mode when the camera shake level is equal to or greater than the reference level; And performing the imaging by correcting the camera shake when the camera shake correction mode is set.

According to the digital image processing apparatus and the control method thereof according to the present invention, even when the camera shake correction mode is not set, shooting can be automatically performed in the camera shake correction mode when the camera shake correction function is required.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing an embodiment of a digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, the digital image processing apparatus 100 includes a hand shake detection unit 110 and 120; Image stabilization unit 130; Control unit 140; And user input units S0, S1, S2, and S3.

The hand shake detection units 110 and 120 may be mounted on the body to measure the hand shake level at which the body moves. When the camera shake correction mode is set, the camera shake correction unit 130 may correct camera shake at the time of photographing according to the camera shake level.

The controller 140 may receive the hand shake level and set the hand shake correction mode when the hand shake level is greater than or equal to the set reference level. The user input units S0, S1, S2, and S3 may generate a first signal, a second signal, and a camera shake correction mode setting signal according to a user input.

The digital image processing apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention automatically enters the image stabilizer mode even when the image stabilizer mode is not set when it is determined as a condition such as an instant capture or an unstable posture. You can do that.

When capturing the moment or the posture is unstable at the time of shooting, i.e., when the digital image processing device such as a camera is moved quickly for fast capturing, or due to the fast movement for a certain distance, the shaking state of the digital image processing device is lost during the preparation time. When it is severe compared to the stable state, it is possible to automatically enter the camera shake correction mode even if the current shooting mode is not the camera shake correction mode.

In this case, when the hand shake level measured by the hand shake detection unit 110 or 120 is higher than the set reference level, it may be determined that the hand shake correction is required. Therefore, when the measured image stabilization level is higher than the reference level, the image stabilization mode may be automatically set even when the image stabilization mode is not set.

The camera shake detection unit 110 or 120 may be mounted to the main body 10a as shown in FIG. 2. The hand shake detection units 110 and 120 may include a hand shake detection sensor 110 and a hand shake detection sensor controller 120 to measure a hand shake level at which the main body moves.

The hand shake sensor 110 may measure hand shake. The hand shake sensor controller 120 may control the hand shake sensor.

The hand shake detection sensor 110 may use an angular velocity sensor or an acceleration sensor such as a gyro sensor. The hand shake signal measured by the hand shake detection sensor 110 may be an analog signal.

Accordingly, the hand shake detection sensor controller 120 may generate the hand shake level after amplifying the measured hand shake analog signal, removing the noise, and converting the signal to a digital signal. The camera shake level can be set by the designer. The camera shake level may vary slightly depending on the manufacturer of the camera shake sensor 110 such as a gyro sensor and according to a given specification.

The shake detection sensor controller 120 may include an amplifier 121, a filter 122, a signal converter 123, and a shake processing controller 124.

The amplifier 121 may amplify the shake signal measured by the shake detection sensor 110 to a level necessary for signal processing. The filter 122 may filter the shake signal amplified by a high pass filter (HPF) and / or a low pass filter (LPF), and may remove noise included in the shake signal.

The signal converter 123 may convert the positive analog signal of the camera shake into a digital signal. That is, the signal converter 123 may be an analog digital converter (ADC) for converting an analog signal into a digital signal that can be processed by the camera shake processing controller 124.

The hand shake processing controller 124 may receive the hand shake signal of the digital signal to generate a hand shake level. In addition, the hand shake processing controller 124 may transmit the hand shake level to the controller 140 so that the hand shake correction mode may be set according to the hand shake level.

In some embodiments, the jitter processing controller 124 may be implemented in the controller 140. The controller 140 may be implemented as a digital signal processor 207 and / or a micro controller 212 in the controller 200 of the digital image processing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 3.

The controller 140 may receive the shake level from the shake detection unit 110 or 120 to set the shake correction mode when the shake level is equal to or greater than a set reference level. In this case, the reference level may be preset internally through experiments or the like. In another embodiment, the reference level may be set adaptively or by learning according to the digital image processing apparatus 100.

For example, the reference level may be an angular velocity level of 0.3 degrees per second or the center frequency of the shaking frequency is 10 Hz. In this case, it may be recognized that the image stabilization mode needs to be set when the measured image stabilization level is 0.3 degrees per second or more, or when the center frequency of the image stabilization frequency is 10 Hz or more.

That is, when the measured shake level is greater than or equal to the reference level, the controller 140 may check the current photographing mode and control the camera shake correction mode to be automatically set if the shake correction mode is not set.

In addition, when the camera shake correction mode is set because the camera shake level is higher than or equal to the reference level, the controller 140 may release the camera shake correction mode after the shooting is finished. Of course, the camera shake correction mode can be set by receiving the setting of the camera shake correction mode from the outside.

When the camera shake correction mode is set, the camera shake correction unit 130 may correct camera shake at the time of photographing according to the camera shake level. In this case, the camera shake correction may be performed by a conventional camera shake correction algorithm.

For camera shake correction, a position detector (not shown), a position detector (not shown), a driver IC (not shown), etc. for checking the position of the camera shake correction mechanism may be further provided.

The user inputs S0, S1, S2, and S3 may generate a power-on signal, a first signal, a second signal, and a camera shake correction mode setting signal according to a user input. To this end, the user input units S0, S1, S2, and S3 may include a power input signal generator S0, a first signal generator S1, a second signal generator S2, and a camera shake correction mode setting signal generator. (S3) can be provided.

Each of the power input signal generator S0, the first signal generator S1, the second signal generator S2, and the camera shake correction mode setting signal generator S3 may be provided by a user from outside. It may comprise switching elements which are reacted by manipulating the fields 23, 26, 24.

The power input signal generator S0 may include a switching device that detects that the power button 24 of FIG. 2 is pressed. Each of the first signal generator S1 and the second signal generator S2 may include a switching element that detects that the shutter release button 26 of FIG.

The image stabilizer mode setting signal generator S3 may include a switching device that detects that the image stabilizer mode setting button 24 of FIG. 2 is pressed. That is, the camera shake correction mode setting signal generator S3 may receive the camera shake correction mode setting from the outside.

When the first signal generated by the first signal generator S1 or the second signal generated by the second signal generator S2 is input, the controller 140 sets the image stabilizer mode when the image stabilizer level is equal to or greater than a set reference level. You can do that.

As an exemplary embodiment, when the first signal by the first signal generator S1 is input, the camera shake correction mode may be set when the camera shake level at the time when the first signal is input is equal to or higher than the set reference level. In this case, it may be determined whether the camera shake correction mode is set based on the camera shake degree when the shutter release button is pressed once.

As another embodiment, when the second signal by the second signal generator S2 is input, the camera shake correction mode may be set when the shake level at the time when the second signal is input is equal to or higher than the set reference level. In this case, it may be determined whether the camera shake correction mode is set based on the camera shake degree at the time when the shutter release button is pressed in two steps.

As another embodiment, the image stabilizer mode may be set when the image stabilizer level before inputting the first signal and the second signal is equal to or greater than the set reference level. In this case, it may be determined whether the camera shake correction mode is set on the basis of the camera shake degree before the shutter release button is pressed.

In the present embodiment, the hand shake is detected while the power is turned on. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the present invention may be applied regardless of ON / OFF of a power supply.

That is, when the power is turned off, the camera judges the photographer's willingness to shoot from the camera shake level detected by the camera shake detection sensor 110, and immediately checks the camera shake level immediately after the power is turned on, and automatically changes the camera shake correction mode. It may be.

According to the present invention, even when the user does not set the image stabilizer mode, the system intelligently determines a case in which image stabilization is required, and can perform imaging by image stabilization. Therefore, even when the user does not set the camera shake correction mode, it is possible to obtain a good quality picture with the camera shake corrected in a situation in which the camera shake is required.

Meanwhile, as an embodiment of a digital image processing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, a digital camera, a control apparatus thereof, and a control method thereof are described in US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0130650 (name: secondary function of the camera). Method of automatically focusing using a quadratic function in camera.

Matters relating to the digital camera, the control apparatus, and the control method disclosed in the above-mentioned US application will be included in the present specification, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

2 is a rear view of a digital camera 20 which is an embodiment of a digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, on the back of the digital camera 20, the direction button 21, the menu-OK button 22, the wide angle (Zoom) button (W), the telephoto (Zoom) ) Button T, a speaker SP, and a display panel 25 may be provided.

The direction button 21 may include four buttons, an up button 21a, a down button 21b, a left button 21c, and a right button 21d. The direction button 21 and the menu-OK button 22 are keys for executing various menus relating to the operation of the digital image processing apparatus such as a digital camera.

The wide-angle zoom button W or the tele-zoom button T has a wider angle of view or a narrower angle of view depending on its input. In particular, it may be used to change the size of the selected exposure area. In this case, when the wide-zoom button W is input, the size of the selected exposure area is reduced, and when the tele-zoom button T is input, the size of the selected exposure area may be increased.

As the display panel 25, an image display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) may be used. Sound may be output through the speaker SP.

Meanwhile, a shutter release button 26, a flash (not shown), a power button 23, a lens unit (not shown), and a camera shake correction mode setting button 24 are provided on the front or the top of the digital camera 20. Can be. In addition, the front and rear of the digital camera 20 may be provided with an objective lens and an eyepiece of the view finder 27.

The camera shake correction mode setting button 24 may receive the camera shake correction mode setting from the outside.

The shutter release button 26 is opened and closed to expose the film or an image pickup device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) for a predetermined time. In addition, the shutter release button records an image on the image pickup device by properly exposing a subject in association with an aperture (not shown).

The shutter release button 26 can be pressed in two steps. The first signal may be generated when the shutter release button 26 is pressed to one end, and the second signal may be generated when the shutter release button 26 is pressed to one end.

3 is a block diagram of a control apparatus 200 of a digital image processing apparatus, which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The control device 200 of the digital image processing apparatus may be mounted in the digital camera 20 of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawing, an optical system OPS including a lens unit and a filter unit optically processes light from a subject. The lens unit of the optical system OPS includes a zoom lens, a focus lens, and a compensation lens. When the user presses the wide-angle zoom button W or the tele-zoom button T included in the user input unit INP, a signal corresponding thereto is input to the microcontroller 212.

Accordingly, as the microcontroller 212 controls the lens driver 210, the zoom motor M _Z is driven to move the zoom lens. That is, when the wide-zoom button W is pressed, the focal length of the zoom lens is shortened to widen the angle of view, and when the tele-zoom button T is pressed, the focal length of the zoom lens becomes long and the angle of view is narrowed.

On the other hand, in the auto focusing mode, the main controller embedded in the digital signal processor 207 controls the lens driver 210 through the microcontroller 212, whereby the focus motor M _F is driven. do. That is, the focus lens is moved to a position where the sharpest picture is obtained by driving the focus motor M _F.

The compensation lens compensates for the overall refractive index and is not driven separately. Reference numeral M _A denotes a motor for driving an aperture (not shown).

In the filter section of the optical system OPS, an optical low pass filter removes optical noise of high frequency components. Infra-Red cut filter cuts the infrared component of the incident light.

The photoelectric conversion unit OEC may include an imaging device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS). The photoelectric conversion unit OEC converts light from the optical system OPS into an electrical analog signal.

The analog-to-digital converter may include a CDS-ADC (Correlation Double Sampler and Analog-to-Digital Converter) device 201. The analog-to-digital converter processes the analog signal from the photoelectric converter (OEC), removes the high frequency noise, adjusts the amplitude, and converts the analog signal into a digital signal. Here, the digital signal processor 207 controls the timing circuit 202 to control the operation of the photoelectric converter OEC and the analog-to-digital converter 201.

The real time clock 203 provides time information to the digital signal processor 207. The digital signal processor 207 processes digital signals from the CDS-ADC element 201 to generate digital image signals classified into luminance (Y value) and chromaticity (R, G, B) signals.

The light emitting unit LAMP driven by the microcontroller 212 under the control of the main controller built in the digital signal processor 207 includes a self-timer lamp, an auto-focus lamp, a mode indicating lamp, a flash standby lamp, and the like. May be included. The user input unit INP may include a direction button 21, a wide-angle zoom button W, a telephoto-zoom button T, and the like.

The digital image signal from the digital signal processor 207 is temporarily stored in the DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) 204. The EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) 205 stores algorithms and setting data such as a boot program and a key input program required for the operation of the digital signal processor 207. In the memory card interface 206, a user's memory card may be attached or detached.

The digital image signal from the digital signal processor 207 is input to the display panel driver 214, whereby the image is displayed on the display panel 215.

On the other hand, the digital image signal from the digital signal processor 207 can be transmitted by serial communication via a universal serial bus (USB) connection portion 31a or an RS232C interface 208 and the connection portion 31b thereof, and a video filter ( 209 and through the video output unit 31c.

Here, the digital signal processor 207 may have a microcontroller 212 therein.

The audio processor 213 outputs the audio signal from the microphone MIC to the digital signal processor 207 or the speaker SP, and outputs the audio signal from the digital signal processor 207 to the speaker SP.

The user input unit mentioned in the description of FIG. 1 may include a user input unit INP. The controller 140 of FIG. 1 may include a digital signal processor 207 and / or a microcontroller 212. The hand shake detection units 110 and 120 of FIG. 1 may include a hand shake detection sensor 217 and a hand shake detection sensor controller 216.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a control method (S400) of a digital image processing apparatus as a preferred embodiment according to the present invention. The control method S400 of the digital image processing apparatus may be implemented in the control apparatus 200 of the digital image processing apparatus of FIG. 3. To this end, the control method S400 of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention may be a program or algorithm stored in the storage means of FIG. 3 or implemented in the form of a semiconductor chip such as firmware.

Therefore, for the same matters as those described for the digital image processing apparatus 100 in the control method (S400) of the digital image processing apparatus, the description thereof will be omitted.

Control method (S400) of the digital image processing apparatus includes a hand shake measurement step (S420); Image stabilization level (S430); Image stabilization mode setting step (S440); And a photographing step (S450).

In the camera shake measurement step (S420), the camera shake level, which is a degree of movement of the main body, is measured. In the camera shake level comparison step (S430), the camera shake level is compared with a set reference level.

In the camera shake correction mode setting step (S440), when the camera shake level is equal to or greater than the reference level, the camera shake correction mode is set. In the photographing step S450, when the camera shake correction mode is set, the camera shake correction is performed.

The control method S400 of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment may be operated in conjunction with a signal generated by the selection of the shutter release button 26 of FIG. 2. In this case, the first signal may be generated when the shutter release button is pressed to one end, and the second signal may be generated when the shutter release button is pressed in two steps.

When the first signal is input, a preparation operation such as a setting necessary for photographing, such as exposure setting and focus adjustment, may be performed. When the second signal is input, photographing may be performed according to a set photographing condition.

That is, when the first signal is input, the control method S400 of the digital image processing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment may set the image stabilizer mode when the image stabilizer level is equal to or greater than a set reference level. That is, the camera shake correction mode may be set when the camera shake level at the time when the first signal is input, that is, when the shutter release button is pressed once, is equal to or greater than the set reference level.

As another embodiment, when the second signal is input, the camera shake correction mode may be set when the camera shake level is equal to or greater than the set reference level. That is, when the second signal is input, that is, when the camera shake level at the time when the shutter release button is pressed in two steps is more than the set reference level, the camera shake correction mode may be set.

In addition, as another embodiment, the camera shake correction mode may be set when the camera shake level before the first signal and the second signal are input is equal to or higher than the set reference level. In this case, it may be determined whether the camera shake correction mode is set on the basis of the camera shake degree before the shutter release button is pressed.

In addition, the control method (S400) of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment detects a hand shake while the power is turned on. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the present invention may be applied regardless of ON / OFF of a power supply.

That is, the camera may determine the photographing intention of the photographer from the camera shake level when the power is turned off, check the camera shake level immediately after the power is turned on, and automatically change the camera shake correction mode.

In addition, the control method (S400) of the digital image processing apparatus may further include image stabilization mode release steps (S460 and S470). In the camera shake correction mode releasing steps S460 and S470, if the camera shake correction mode is set because the camera shake level is equal to or greater than the reference level, the camera shake correction mode is canceled after the shooting is finished.

At this time, if the camera shake level after the camera shake correction photographing in the camera shake correction mode is lower than the reference level, the setting of the camera shake correction mode may be released.

In the camera shake correction mode releasing step (S460, S470), it is determined whether the camera shake correction mode is set (S460), and the camera shake correction mode is released after the shooting is finished (S470). At this time, if the camera shake level is less than or equal to the reference level, it is preferable to cancel the set of the camera shake correction models.

In addition, the control method (S400) of the digital image processing apparatus may further include receiving a setting of the image stabilizer mode input from the outside (not shown). That is, the image stabilization mode may be set directly by a user input regardless of the present algorithm.

According to the present invention, even when the user does not set the image stabilization mode, it is possible to intelligently determine a case in which image stabilization is necessary, and perform photographing by image stabilization. Therefore, even when the user does not set the camera shake correction mode, it is possible to obtain a good quality picture with the camera shake corrected in a situation in which the camera shake is required.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, it is merely an example, and those skilled in the art may realize various modifications and equivalent other embodiments therefrom. I can understand. Accordingly, the true scope of protection of the invention should be defined only by the appended claims.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing an embodiment of a digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating a rear surface of a digital camera as an embodiment of a digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a control device included in the digital image processing apparatus of FIG. 2.

4 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a control method of a digital image processing apparatus as a preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: a digital image processing device, 110: a shake detection sensor control unit,

120: camera shake detection sensor, 130: camera shake correction unit,

140: control unit.

Claims (11)

A hand shake detection unit mounted on the main body and measuring a hand shake level at which the main body moves when photographing; A hand shake correction unit configured to correct hand shake of the main body at the time of shooting according to the hand shake level when the hand shake correction mode is set; And And a controller configured to receive the image stabilization level and set the image stabilizer mode to be photographed when the image stabilization level is equal to or greater than a set reference level. The method of claim 1, The hand shake detection unit includes a hand shake detection sensor for measuring the hand shake, and a hand shake detection sensor controller for controlling the hand shake detection sensor. The method of claim 2, The shake detection sensor control unit, An amplifier for receiving and amplifying the amount of the shake; A filter for removing noise from the amount of the camera shake, A signal converter for converting the positive analog signal of the camera shake into a digital signal, and And a hand shake processing controller for generating the hand shake level from the hand shake amount digital signal. The method of claim 2, And the shake detection sensor is an angular velocity sensor or an acceleration sensor. The method of claim 1, And a user input unit having a shutter release button for generating a first signal when pressed to one end and generating a second signal when pressed to two ends, And when the first signal or the second signal is input, the controller is configured to set the image stabilizer mode when the image stabilizer level is equal to or greater than a set reference level. The method of claim 5, And a camera shake correction mode setting signal generator configured to receive the shake correction mode setting from the outside. A hand shake detection unit mounted on the main body and measuring a hand shake level at which the main body moves when photographing; A hand shake correction unit configured to correct hand shake of the main body at the time of shooting according to the hand shake level when the hand shake correction mode is set; And And a control unit configured to receive the image stabilization level so that the image stabilization mode is set when the image stabilization level is equal to or greater than a set reference level, and to release the image stabilization mode after the shooting is finished. Device. Measuring a camera shake level that is a degree of movement of the main body at the time of imaging; Comparing the camera shake level with a set reference level; Setting a camera shake correction mode when the camera shake level is equal to or greater than the reference level; And And correcting the camera shake when the camera shake correction mode is set. The method of claim 8, A first signal is generated when the shutter release button is pressed in one end, and a second signal is generated when the shutter release button is pressed in two steps. And when the first signal or the second signal is input, the camera shake correction mode is set when the camera shake level is higher than or equal to a set reference level. The method of claim 8, And receiving the setting of the image stabilizer mode input from the outside. Measuring a camera shake level that is a degree of movement of the main body at the time of imaging; Comparing the camera shake level with a set reference level; Setting a camera shake correction mode when the camera shake level is equal to or greater than the reference level; Performing photographing by correcting the camera shake when the camera shake correction mode is set; And And canceling the setting of the set image stabilizer mode if the image stabilizer level is equal to or less than a reference level after image stabilization in the image stabilizer mode.

Images