JP2000188705A - Electronic still camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain panorama photographing by displaying a contour image of a picture being a source of panorama synthesis so as to photographing an object while confirming an overlap area with that of an adjacent picture. SOLUTION: A panorama picture is generated by using a moving state detection means 112 that detects a moving state of the electronic still camera in a photographing state, a means 109 that extracts a contour of the picture obtained through photographing to display an extracted contour picture on a display section, and a means that forms background of the extracted contour picture for a transparent area, synthesizes a monitor object image photographed for panorama synthesis with the area and displays the synthesized picture on the display section.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic still camera for generating a panoramic image by synthesizing a plurality of images obtained by photographing in a panoramic photographing mode.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a plurality of subject images are photographed such that a part of adjacent images is overlapped, and a plurality of images obtained by photographing are synthesized to generate a panoramic image. As an electronic still camera that can play back and display the panoramic image that has been captured, additional information such as the shooting conditions at the time of shooting and the moving state of the electronic still camera at the time of shooting is added to each of a plurality of screens shot for panoramic synthesis. Based on the stored additional information, an overlapping area of each screen is predicted, and a correspondence between each image in the overlapping area is calculated using the predicted area. A panorama image is generated by reading and combining images from the storage unit, and the display unit displays the panorama image.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional electronic still camera has a problem that the photographing condition at the time of photographing is not improved.
And additional information such as the moving state of the electronic still camera at the time of shooting is stored.Based on the stored additional information, since there is a calculation unit for an overlapping area of each image stored for panorama synthesis, There is a problem that it takes a long processing time for detecting an overlapping area of an image.

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, there is a problem that increasing the clock speed of the system and shortening the processing time increases power consumption.

Further, in the conventional electronic still camera, even in the panorama shooting mode, zooming is possible, so that images may be captured at different zooming magnifications when a series of screens are created during panorama shooting. was there.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems.

[0007]

According to an electronic still camera of the present invention, a subject image is divided into a plurality of screens by an image pickup means so that a part of the screen is overlapped, and photographed. Means for synthesizing a plurality of screens to generate a panoramic image, displaying a video, extracting a contour of an image obtained by shooting, and displaying an extracted contour image on the display, The background of the contour image is a transparent area,
Next, a panoramic image is generated using a unit that combines a monitor image of a subject image captured for panoramic synthesis and displays the combined image on a display unit.

Further, the electronic still camera according to the present invention includes a moving state detecting means for detecting a moving state of the electronic still camera at the time of photographing.

Further, the electronic still camera according to the present invention includes a photographing condition storing means for storing photographing conditions of the electronic still camera at the time of photographing.

In the electronic still camera according to the present invention, the moving state detecting means of the electronic still camera detects an angular velocity component generated by the movement of the camera and displays the angular velocity component on the display unit in accordance with the amount of movement. It is characterized by comprising means for moving the extracted contour image.

Further, in the electronic still camera according to the present invention, when the moving direction obtained by the moving state detecting means is a horizontal direction, the moving direction of the extracted contour image displayed on the display unit is determined by the moving state detecting means. Moves in the direction opposite to the direction detected by.

Further, in the electronic still camera according to the present invention, when the moving direction obtained by the moving state detecting means is the vertical direction, the moving direction of the extracted contour image displayed on the display unit is determined by the moving state detecting means. It is characterized by moving in the same direction as the direction detected by.

Further, the moving amount of the extracted contour image displayed on the display section is stopped while leaving the set overlapping area.

Further, the electronic still camera according to the present invention is characterized in that the moving state detecting means detects a moving amount and a direction of panning of the camera by an acceleration sensor.

Further, the electronic still camera according to the present invention is characterized in that the moving state detecting means detects a moving amount and a moving direction of the camera in a panning and tilt direction by a plurality of acceleration sensors.

Further, in the electronic still camera according to the present invention, when a series of a plurality of subject images are photographed in the panoramic photographing mode, an image serving as a source for panoramic synthesis using the zoom magnification of the electronic still camera is taken. And a step of automatically setting and fixing the variable magnification ratio.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.
It will be described based on.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a photographing lens group, 1
02 is a CCD, 103 is an analog / digital converter (hereinafter abbreviated as A / D converter), and 104 is a video signal processing unit.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a work memory; 106, a camera control group; 107, a control driver group; 109, an image contour extraction unit; 110, a CPU;
12 is a moving state detecting means, and 113 is a memory.

Reference numeral 114 denotes an image synthesis processing unit; 115, an image display memory; 116, an image display unit;
An extension unit 118 is an image recording unit.

The imaging lens group 101 provided sequentially from the subject side includes an aperture mechanism and a shutter mechanism (not shown).

The camera control group 106 for controlling this lens group is controlled by the CPU 110 to control the aperture, turn on / off the shutter, and drive a predetermined lens (not shown) of the lens group to zoom. , Zoom control and focus control are performed.

The subject captured by the optical system forms an image on the CCD 102, which is an image pickup body, and is converted into an electric signal and output.

The video signal supplied from the CCD 102 is
A desired output value can be obtained through a signal amplifier and an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit (not shown).

The video signal is analog / digital (hereinafter A / D
D) A converter 103, a video signal processor 104 to which the output of the A / D converter 103 is supplied, and a series of corrections such as white balance adjustment, gamma correction, and brightness adjustment processed by the video signal processor. Work memory 105
There is.

The digital image (video) subjected to the video processing
The signal is temporarily stored in the main memory 113, and then stored in the main memory 113.
The image is stored in the image display memory 115 under the control of U110.

Generally, a VRAM is used as an image display memory.
(Video RAM). And the image display unit 11
6 are drawn based on the display method 6 (for example, the PAL / NTSC method).

Although the work memory 105 and the main memory 113 are described separately here, one memory may be used instead.

When the image is stored in the recording medium, the digital image data corrected by the video signal processing unit 104 is stored in the main memory 11 under the control of the CPU 110.
3 and is supplied to the image compression / decompression unit 117 to compress the image data.

The compressed digital image data is stored in an image recording unit 118 as a recording medium via an interface (not shown).

To reproduce an image stored in the recording medium, a reproduction mode is selected by the photographing mode
Input to 110.

The CPU 110 reads out all of the image signals recorded or stored from the image recording medium 118 or specified compressed image data via an interface (not shown) and supplies the read image data to the image compression / decompression unit 117.

The image data compressed by the image compression / expansion unit 117 is expanded and stored in the main memory 113.

The means for displaying on the image display unit is the same as the steps described at the time of image capturing. The above is the outline of the operation of a general electronic still camera.

Here, the electronic still camera of the present invention is provided with a moving state detecting means 112 connected to the CPU 110 and a zoom magnification value at the time of photographing in the camera control group 106 in addition to the above-mentioned respective constituent elements. Read CP from sensor
Means for storing in U110, an image contour extracting unit 109 connected to the bus line, a memory unit for storing data obtained by the image contour extracting unit 109, and an image for synthesizing a plurality of images to generate a panoramic image A combination processing unit 114 is provided.

The moving state detecting means 112 comprises an angular velocity sensor 120 and an A / D converter 121 shown in FIG.

The output of the A / D converter 120 is
The CPU 110 performs angle calculation.

In the angle calculation, for example, an output level P according to an angle change generated in the movement due to panning of the electronic still camera is supplied to the A / D converter 121.

The output level P is proportional to the angular velocity. The CPU 110 integrates the output of the A / D converter 121 every certain period to obtain an average level Pave.

The average level Pave is converted into an angle component to obtain an angle signal. If the angle sensor 120 is mounted so as to detect the panning direction, it will be referred to as a so-called horizontal movement amount.

When the angle sensor 120 is used in combination with the one that detects the movement of the camera in the tilt direction, it is possible to obtain an angle signal of up, down, left, right and intermediate values of the camera.

A gyro sensor having three axes may be used as the acceleration sensor.

Next, the image contour extraction unit 109 has a plurality of digital filters, and which digital filter is to be used is determined by the control of the CPU 110.

Since the threshold value to be extracted differs depending on the luminance of the photographed image and the like, the average value of the luminance levels of the image is calculated and the CP is calculated.
U110 selects a coefficient 108 for extracting the contour.

Alternatively, the user can set the above-mentioned coefficient 108 by an operation such as key input from the photographing mode setting means 111 of the CPU 110.

The extracted image contour data is stored in the memory 113. The CPU 110 represents the image as a transparent area other than the image contour extraction data.

For example, continuous subjects for performing panoramic photography will be described with reference to FIG. The first image for panoramic shooting is B (within the solid frame).

Assume that adjacent images are A and C (both are dashed areas). The image B photographed in the panoramic photographing mode makes the area other than the image contour extracting unit transparent by the image contour extracting means.

Next, the adjacent image A (or image C) is loaded into the memory 113 as a subject image. The CPU 110 supplies the contour extraction data of the image C and the image B stored in the memory 113 to the image processing unit 114 to perform image synthesis, and stores the resultant in the image display memory 115.

The combined data read from the image display memory 115 is displayed on the image table 116 as a video.

FIG. 4 shows an image of the combined state.
Further, the image outline extracted image of the image B is extracted by the moving state detecting means of the camera, and the image B 'projected on the display unit also moves.

In FIG. 3, when the camera is panned to the left and moved to the subject image A, the image B 'projected on the display moves rightward (R direction in FIG. 5). .

In FIG. 5, the image B 'moves to the right end of the display unit in accordance with the amount of movement of the camera. At this time, the adjacent image A captured by the camera unit is also displayed in a panning state from the left side to the right side of the display unit. Is done.

On the other hand, the image B 'is moved to a predetermined area required for the parabola synthesis, for example, the X area in FIG. 5, regardless of whether or not the detection amount of the moving state of the camera is output. The movement of the image B 'is stopped.

The X area may be set in the ROM of the CPU 110 in advance, or may be a key input unit of the CPU 110 or an area setting unit (for example, a method using a cursor or a touch panel) from the screen.

Then, the portion a1 of the image B 'and the a
Pan the camera so that the two parts overlap.

The positional relationship between the subject image shown in FIG. 3, the optical axis of the camera lens of the electronic still camera of this embodiment, and the display unit has been described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 6, f is an electronic still camera, g is a display unit, and e is the optical axis direction of the camera.

When the camera is tilted, the operation is the same as that described in the panorama synthesis by panning except that the tilt direction of the camera and the moving direction of the image B 'are the same.

The above-mentioned panoramic composition can be performed on a plurality of continuous images.

A series of operations of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step S 01, the setting of panorama shooting or normal shooting (step S 02) is made by the shooting mode setting means 111.

In step S03, photographing conditions such as focus, white balance, and aperture are determined. When the shooting conditions are determined, shooting is performed (step S04).

The zoom magnification value at that time is set to R
Store it temporarily in AM. Until a series of panoramic shootings is completed, a step S05 is provided to stop zooming by inputting a zoom switch attached to the camera.

The photographed image B (example in FIG. 3) is fetched and stored in the memory (step S06). The image outline of the image B stored in the memory is extracted (step S0).
7).

When the image B is taken into the memory, a monitor image captured by the camera is displayed on the display unit.

Then, the image B ′ from which the image outline has been extracted is combined with the monitor image and displayed on the display unit.

At this time, means for setting an overlap area necessary for panoramic photography (step S09) may be taken.

Next, the photographer performs panning to make the adjacent image A
The optical axis of the camera is moved to (Step S11) (Step S08).

Step S12 of moving the composite image on the display unit according to the moving amount and moving direction is provided. When the image matching areas of the image B 'and the image A match, the shutter is turned on (step S13).

If they do not match, the panorama setting may be canceled (step S14). When the shutter is turned on, the adjacent image A is stored in the memory (step S17), and the original image B is stored.
And the adjacent image A to generate a panorama (step S18).

This panoramic image data is provided with a step S20 which is subjected to data compression (step S19) and stored in a recording medium.

[0073]

As described above, the electronic still camera according to the first aspect of the present invention displays the outline image of the image that is the source of the panorama composition, so that the overlapping area with the adjacent image is confirmed. It is possible to take a panoramic image without fail because the image can be taken while the camera is being shot.

The electronic still camera apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention can perform control according to the amount of movement of the camera in order to detect the movement state of the camera at the time of shooting.

In the electronic still camera device according to the third aspect of the present invention, since the photographing conditions of the camera at the time of photographing are stored, control according to the photographing conditions of the camera can be performed.

In the electronic still camera device according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the outline image of the original image to be panorama-combined moves according to the amount of movement of the camera, the overlapping region with the adjacent image is further confirmed. It became easier to do.

In the electronic still camera according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the direction in which the contour image of the original image to be subjected to panorama synthesis moves and the direction of panning movement are reversed when panning in panorama shooting. In addition, it is possible to make it easier to confirm an overlapping area with an adjacent image at the time of panning.

In the electronic still camera device according to the present invention, when tilting in panoramic shooting, the direction in which the contour image of the original image to be panoramic combined moves is the same as the direction of tilt movement. Therefore, it is possible to make it easier to confirm the overlapping area with the adjacent image at the time of tilt.

In the electronic still camera according to the seventh aspect of the present invention, when panning and tilting in panoramic shooting, the contour image of the original image to be panoramic combined moves while leaving an overlapping area in which the moving amount is set. Since the image is stopped, the outline image of the original image to be subjected to panorama synthesis and the image of the overlapping portion of the adjacent image can be reliably matched.

In the electronic still camera according to the eighth and ninth aspects of the present invention, the moving state of the electronic still camera can be obtained as information on the moving state of panning and tilting by the acceleration sensor.

The electronic still camera according to the tenth aspect of the present invention can prevent a mistake that the photographer mistakenly changes the zoom magnification ratio during panorama shooting and cannot perform expected panorama synthesis. It is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of an electronic still camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a moving state detecting means of the electronic still camera.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a subject to be photographed in panorama.

FIG. 4 is a composite image of a contour image of a subject B and a subject A displayed on a display unit of the electronic still camera.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a panning state of the present invention displayed on a display unit of the electronic still camera.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a relationship between a display unit of the electronic still camera, an optical axis of the camera, and a subject.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 109 Image contour extraction unit 111 Imaging mode setting unit 112 Moving state detection unit 114 Image synthesis processing unit

Claims (10)

[Claims] An image capturing device captures a subject image by dividing the image into a plurality of screens such that a part of the screen overlaps, and combines a plurality of screens obtained by the capturing device to generate a panoramic image. An electronic still camera having a display unit for displaying an image, a means for extracting an outline of an image obtained by shooting and displaying an extracted outline image on a display unit, and a transparent background of the extracted outline image. An electronic still camera, wherein a panoramic image is generated using a unit that combines an image with a monitor image of a subject image to be captured for panoramic synthesis and displays the image on a display unit. 2. The electronic still camera according to claim 1, further comprising a moving state detecting means for detecting a moving state of the electronic still camera during photographing. 3. The electronic still camera according to claim 1, further comprising a photographing condition storage unit for storing photographing conditions of the electronic still camera at the time of photographing. 4. The electronic still camera according to claim 2, wherein the moving state detecting means detects an angular velocity component generated by the movement of the camera, and extracts the extracted contour displayed on the display unit in accordance with the amount of movement. An electronic still camera, comprising: means for moving an image. 5. The electronic still camera according to claim 2, wherein when the moving direction obtained by the moving state detecting means is a horizontal direction, the moving direction of the extracted contour image displayed on the display unit is the same as the moving direction of the extracted contour image. An electronic still camera which moves in a direction opposite to the direction detected by the moving state detecting means. 6. The electronic still camera according to claim 2, wherein when the moving direction obtained by the moving state detecting means is a vertical direction, the moving direction of the extracted contour image displayed on the display unit is the same as the moving direction of the extracted contour image. An electronic still camera which moves in the same direction as the direction detected by the moving state detecting means. 7. The electronic still camera according to claim 5, wherein the moving amount of the extracted contour image displayed on the display unit is stopped while leaving a set overlapping area. An electronic still camera. 8. The electronic still camera according to claim 2, wherein the moving state detecting means detects a moving amount and a direction of panning of the camera by an acceleration sensor. 9. The electronic still camera according to claim 2, wherein the moving state detecting means detects a moving amount and a moving direction of the camera in panning and tilt directions by a plurality of acceleration sensors. camera. 10. The electronic still camera according to claim 3, wherein in a panoramic photographing mode, when photographing a series of plural subject images, the photographing condition storage means stores a zoom magnification of an image to be a panorama composite image. An electronic still camera, further comprising a step of photographing a series of a plurality of screens with the magnification determined and fixed at the magnification value.