JP2002084440A - Digital camera, image processing method and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the time required for displaying a histogram on the basis of image data obtained by image pickup from the image pickup as much as possible. SOLUTION: The image processing method has image pickup steps A01, A04 where an object is picked up to obtain image data, a thumbnail image generating step A05 where thumbnail image data are generated from the obtained image data, a histogram collection step A08 where data for a histogram are collected on the basis of the generated thumbnail image data, and a histogram display step A09 where the obtained histogram data that are superimposed on the thumbnail image and the resulting image is displayed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a digital camera for displaying a histogram of a captured image, an image processing method of the digital camera, and a recording medium applied to the digital camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as personal computers have become widespread, digital cameras capable of easily photographing and acquiring image data have become widespread.

In this type of digital camera, a CCD (Charge), which is used as an image pickup device in many models, is used.
Due to the characteristics of the Coupled Device (charge coupled device), the latitude (dynamic range) is narrower than that of a camera using a silver halide film (hereinafter abbreviated as “silver halide camera”) at the time of shooting, so that the exposure is particularly accurately controlled. There is a need.

However, as one method for obtaining an appropriate exposure taking advantage of the characteristics of a digital camera, arithmetic processing is performed using luminance information for each pixel constituting a captured image, and a histogram is obtained. It has been considered to make adjustments to obtain an appropriate exposure after displaying on a liquid crystal finder.

[0005]

However, in the current digital camera, the number of pixels constituting the CCD is 3,000,000 pixels or more even in the popular device class, and the amount of image data per image obtained is very large. Has become.

Accordingly, the amount of calculation required to obtain the histogram is enormous, and even if a processor capable of high-speed processing is used, it takes a long time to obtain the histogram from a captured image. Become.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the time from imaging to displaying a histogram based on image data obtained by the imaging as much as possible. A camera, an image processing method of the digital camera, and a recording medium applied to the digital camera.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
Imaging means for imaging a subject to obtain image data; resizing image creation means for creating resized image data having a different number of pixels from the image data obtained by the imaging means; and resize image data created by the resize image creation means And a histogram display means for displaying the histogram data obtained by the histogram totalization means.

With such a configuration, by performing a totaling operation of the histogram based on the resized image data with the reduced data amount, the time from when the image is captured to when the histogram based on the image data obtained by the imaging is displayed is reduced. It can be shortened reliably.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the resized image data is thumbnail image data for previewing the original image data obtained by the imaging means. I do.

With such a configuration, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, a histogram is generally generated automatically from the original image data at the time of imaging, and the histogram is generated from the thumbnail image whose data amount is greatly reduced. Since counting is performed, there is no need to create resized image data,
Unnecessary processing can be omitted.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a storage unit for storing the resized image data, wherein the histogram totalizing unit is based on the resized image data read from the storage unit. And perform histogram aggregation.

With such a configuration, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, the resizing image data is temporarily recorded in a storage means such as a memory, and the histogram is totalized. The histogram can be totaled and displayed while adjusting the time with respect to other processes to be executed, and the resized image data can be stored for later processes.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the image processing apparatus further includes a storage unit for storing the image data obtained by the imaging unit, and the storage unit stores the histogram obtained by the histogram totalizing unit. Data is also stored.

With this configuration, in addition to the first aspect of the present invention, the resizing image data is once recorded in a storage unit such as a memory, and then the histogram aggregation is performed. The histogram can be totaled and displayed while performing time adjustment with other processes, and the resized image data can be stored together with the original image data.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup means for picking up an image of a subject to obtain image data, a thinning means for thinning out the image data obtained by the image pickup means in accordance with a predetermined procedure, and the thinning means. It is characterized by comprising histogram totalizing means for totalizing histograms based on image data with a reduced data amount, and histogram displaying means for displaying histogram data obtained by the histogram totalizing means.

With such a configuration, the amount of data can be easily reduced by performing thinning-out processing of image data obtained by imaging, and the data can be used for tabulation of the histogram. Therefore, the histogram can be obtained more quickly. it can.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, the thinning-out means sets n sets (n is a natural number of 2 or more) of one set of primary color components constituting one pixel. And selecting one set to obtain a primary color component closest to the luminance in the set.

According to this structure, in addition to the operation of the fifth aspect of the present invention, thinning is performed in units of pixels consisting of the primary color components RGB in the image data obtained before the color conversion, which are obtained by imaging. And the primary color component "G" which is closest to the luminance
Since the process directly proceeds to the histogram aggregation from, the histogram can be obtained at an earlier point in time.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, the thinning means includes a set of one set of luminance and chrominance components constituting one pixel, where n is 2
It is characterized in that one set is selected for each of the above (natural numbers) and a luminance component in the set is obtained.

According to this structure, in addition to the operation of the fifth aspect of the present invention, after generating a luminance / color difference signal for storage from image data obtained by imaging, the luminance of the obtained signal is obtained. Since the histograms are totaled by thinning out the components, a simpler and more accurate histogram can be obtained.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, the thinning means comprises n blocks (n is 2) in units of a block composed of luminance components of a plurality of pixels which divide one image. It is characterized in that one block is selected for each of the above (natural numbers) and a luminance component in the block is obtained.

With such a configuration, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 5, the luminance and chrominance signals are generated from the image data obtained by the imaging for storage and stored, and then the blocks are obtained. Since the histogram aggregation is performed by thinning out the luminance components on a block basis, the histogram can be obtained more easily and more accurately.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect, the thinning rate is set by the thinning means in accordance with the number and type of pixels constituting the image data obtained by the imaging means. It is characterized by further comprising setting means.

With such a configuration, in addition to the operation of the fifth aspect of the present invention, the thinning rate is set in accordance with the number and type of constituent pixels of the image data obtained by the image pickup means. After thinning out, histogram aggregation based on a desired data amount can always be performed.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image capturing step of capturing an object to obtain image data, a resized image generating step of generating resized image data having a different number of pixels from the image data obtained in the image capturing step, It is characterized by comprising a histogram totalizing step of totalizing histograms based on the resized image data generated in the resized image generating step, and a histogram displaying step of displaying the histogram data obtained in the histogram totalizing step.

According to such a method, the totalizing operation of the histogram is performed based on the resized image data in which the data amount is reduced, so that the time from when the image is captured to when the histogram based on the image data obtained by the imaging is displayed is reduced. It can be shortened reliably.

[0028] According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imaging step of imaging a subject to obtain image data, a thinning step of thinning image data obtained in the imaging step according to a predetermined procedure, and a thinning step. It is characterized by comprising a histogram totalizing step of totalizing histograms based on image data with a reduced data amount, and a histogram displaying step of displaying histogram data obtained in the histogram totalizing step.

According to such a method, the amount of data can be easily reduced by performing the thinning process of the image data obtained by imaging, and the data can be used for the aggregation of the histogram. Therefore, the histogram can be obtained more quickly. Can be.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imaging step of imaging a subject to obtain image data, a resize image creation step of creating resized image data having a different number of pixels from the image data obtained in the imaging step, A control program including an instruction for causing a computer to execute a histogram totalizing step of performing histogram totalization based on the resized image data generated in the resized image generating step, and a histogram displaying step of displaying histogram data obtained in the histogram totalizing step Is recorded.

With such recorded contents, by performing a tallying operation of the histogram based on the resized image data whose data amount has been reduced, the time from when the image is captured to when the histogram based on the image data obtained by the image capturing is displayed. Can be reliably reduced.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imaging step of imaging a subject to obtain image data, a thinning step of thinning image data obtained in the imaging step according to a predetermined procedure, and a thinning step. A control program including instructions for causing a computer to execute a histogram totalizing step of performing histogram totalization based on image data with a reduced data amount and a histogram displaying step of displaying histogram data obtained in the histogram totalizing step is recorded. It is characterized by.

With such a recorded content, the data amount can be easily reduced by performing the thinning process of the image data obtained by the imaging, and the data amount can be used for the aggregation of the histogram, so that the histogram can be obtained more quickly. be able to.

[0034]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a digital camera will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the circuit configuration. In the photographing mode, a light image of a subject incident via an image pickup lens 11 is formed on an image pickup surface of an image pickup device 12.

The image pickup device 12 is, for example, a primary color system (RG
The image sensor is composed of a CCD having a color filter of B) and is driven and controlled by a system controller 13 described later. Image data obtained by photoelectric conversion is output to a digital process circuit 14.

The digital process circuit 14 includes the image sensor 1
2 is expanded and stored in the frame memory 15, and then the image data stored in the frame memory 15 is subjected to white balance adjustment, gradation conversion, and color conversion (from the primary color image data to the luminance / color difference system). After performing image processing such as conversion to image data, sharpness adjustment, and the like, resized main image data and thumbnail image data are generated.

The image data of the main image is read out from the frame memory 15 to the compression / expansion circuit 16, and is compressed by the compression / expansion circuit 16 in accordance with the data compression method selected and set in advance by the digital camera. The output is sent to a first card interface 18 or a second card interface 19 via a selector 17 for switching and selecting an output according to a signal from the system controller 13.

The image data of the thumbnail image is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 26 and is displayed on the frame memory 1.
5 to a compression / expansion circuit 16 and a JPEG (Joint Photograph c) with a predetermined compression ratio.
The data is compressed according to the O.Ding Experts Group, and then transmitted to the first card interface 18 or the second card interface 19 via the selector 17.

Here, the image data of the main image is described as J
Only when the selection setting for compression by the PEG method is made, both the main image data and the thumbnail image data are combined into one, and the first card interface 18 or the second card It is sent to the interface 19.

Thus, the first card interface 18 converts the image data received via the selector 17 into the first card interface.
Memory card 2 installed in slot 20 of
After the data is appropriately converted in accordance with the first file format, the data is written into the first memory card 21.

The presence or absence of the first memory card 21 in the first slot 20 is determined by the first slot 2
The detection signal is sent to the system controller 13 by the slot attachment detection means 22 provided with a microswitch, for example.

Similarly, the second card interface 19 appropriately converts the image data received via the selector 17 according to the file format of the second memory card 24 mounted in the second slot 23. Writing to the second memory card 24.

The presence or absence of the second memory card 24 in the second slot 23 is determined by the second slot 2
The detection signal is sent to the system controller 13 by the slot attachment detection means 25 provided with a micro switch, for example.

Each of the first memory card 21 and the second memory card 24 encloses a flash memory conforming to a different standard. For example, the first memory card 21 is a smart media (registered trademark), Memory card 24 is a Compact Flash (registered trademark), and a first slot 20 and a second slot 23 for mounting these, and a first card interface 18 and a second card interface 19 for controlling input / output operations of the first and second slots
Shall conform to the respective standards.

The first memory card 21 mounted in the first slot 20 or the second memory card 24 mounted in the second slot 23 is used for displaying a histogram for displaying a histogram immediately after recording. The image data of the thumbnail image is read. The read image data is expanded by a compression / expansion circuit 16 from a first card interface 18 or a second card interface 19 via a selector 17 and then the frame memory 15 is read. It is expanded and stored above.

The image data of the thumbnail images developed and stored in the frame memory 15 is processed by the system controller 13 via the memory controller 27 to generate a histogram. The image data of the thumbnail image in which the histogram is overwritten on the memory 15 is sent to the liquid crystal monitor 26 and displayed and output.

The system controller 13 has an EEPROM
The operation of the entire digital camera is controlled in accordance with an operation program fixedly stored in M28.
Memory card changeover switch (SW) 29a, release switch (SW) 29b, AE lock switch (SW)
29c, exposure compensation dial 29d, white balance (WB) switching dial 29e, aperture switching dial 2
9f, operation signals of a switch group including a shutter speed switching dial 29g, a photometry mode switching dial 29h, and a shooting mode / reproduction mode switching dial 30 are directly input.

The system controller 13 has a calendar circuit 31 for passing the date and time at that time and a viewfinder for displaying the operation status in an optical viewfinder (not shown) provided separately from the liquid crystal monitor 26. It is also connected to the internal LCD 32 and controls these operations.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 mainly shows the system controller 1 when any switch is operated in the photographing mode.
3 shows the details of the processing, and here, in particular, only the case where the release switch 29b is operated will be described in detail, and the description of the processing contents when other switches are operated will be omitted.

At the beginning of the process, it is determined whether or not the release switch 29b has been operated (step A01).
Alternatively, by repeatedly determining whether or not any of the other switches have been operated (step A02), it is on standby to operate any of these switches.

In step A02, the release switch 2
If it is determined that a switch other than 9b has been operated,
After executing the process corresponding to the operated switch (step A03), the process returns to the process from step A01 again.

When it is determined in step A01 that the release switch 29b has been operated, the system controller 13 controls the drive of the image pickup device 12 at that time under the set conditions to cause the digital process circuit 14 to acquire image data (step S01). A04).

The digital process circuit 14 expands and stores the image data acquired from the image sensor 12 in the frame memory 15 and sequentially performs image processing such as white balance adjustment, gradation conversion, color conversion, sharpness adjustment, and the like. Then, each image data of the main image and the resized thumbnail image is generated (step A05).

The image data of the main image is stored in the frame memory 1
5 to a compression / decompression circuit 16, compressed according to a data compression method selected and set in advance, and then via a selector 17, one of a first card interface 18 and a second card interface 19, for example, a first card interface 19. To the card interface 18.

The image data of the thumbnail image has a pixel configuration of, for example, 120 dots by 160 dots, and is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 26 as it is, and is read from the frame memory 15 to the compression / decompression circuit 16. Are compressed by the JPEG system with a predetermined compression ratio, and then sent to the first card interface 18 via the selector 17 as well.

The first card interface 18 converts the image data received via the selector 17 according to the file format of the first memory card 21 mounted on the first slot 20 as appropriate, and Writing to the memory card 21 (step A06).

FIG. 3 exemplifies the hierarchical structure of the image data file thus written in the first memory card 21, for example, under the folder "@" indicating the first memory card 21, the image data file is displayed. There is a folder "IMGE" indicating that there are multiple folders "DIR" underneath.
100 "," DIR101 "}.

Then, these folders "DIRxxx"
Under "FILExxx. (File name) .xxx"
(Extension) ".

As indicated by the broken lines in the figure, image data files having the same file name are different even if their identifiers are different.
Are treated as composing two identical images. Note that the identifier "JPG" in the figure is a JPEG image file and "T
IF ”means TIFF (Tagged Image Fil)
e Format) image file, “THM” is a thumbnail image file, and “HST” is a histogram image file.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of each image data file. FIG. 4A shows the structure of a JPEG image file, which has a data file structure in which a thumbnail image and a main image are paired following a header. Therefore, unlike other image data files, there is no need to separately set the thumbnail image data.

FIG. 4 (2) shows the structure of a TIFF image file, which has a data file structure in which only a main image is added following a header. Since a plurality of image data files marked with "." Can be stored, for example, a plurality of continuously shot image data can be collectively converted into one image data file.

FIG. 4 (3) shows the structure of a thumbnail image file, which has a data file structure in which only thumbnail image data is added following a header.

FIG. 4D shows the structure of a histogram image file obtained by the later-described histogram aggregation, which has a data file structure in which only the histogram image data is added following the header.

The histogram image file may be a text file in which the frequency corresponding to each luminance value is represented by text data instead of an image file. In this case, it is assumed that the data file capacity is further reduced. can do.

After completing the storage in the first memory card 21, the system controller 13 reads out the corresponding thumbnail image data from the image data file stored in the first memory card 21 (step A0).
7) Tally the histograms (step A08).

In this case, if the thumbnail image data read from the first memory card 21 is composed of information of Y, Cb, Cr (luminance and color difference system), the number of pixels having the same luminance value is determined using the luminance information Y. The histogram obtained as a result of the tallying is converted into a data file using the same file name as the original thumbnail image data.
And the image data is expanded and stored in the frame memory 15 so as to be superimposed on the thumbnail image.
In step A09, the display is output (step A09), and the process returns to step A01 to wait for the next operation again.

FIG. 5 illustrates a histogram displayed on the thumbnail image on the liquid crystal monitor 26 in this manner. In this case, on the thumbnail screen, the histogram H
G and the memory card information M indicating the type (smart media [SM]) of the memory card being selected for switching.
C, a secret symbol SR indicating that this image file is stored in a secret mode that requires a password for reading, and the "52" th image data stored in the first memory card 21. The serial number shown is also displayed.

By confirming the histogram displayed in this manner, for example, by operating the exposure compensation dial 29d to shift to the next photographing, unnecessary “overexposure” is obtained.
It is possible to surely eliminate “blackout” and obtain an image with the intended exposure.

However, the histogram useful for confirming the exposure is such that the totalizing operation of the histogram is performed based on the resized image data having a reduced data amount, not the main image data itself having a huge data amount. In addition, it is possible to greatly reduce the time from imaging to display of a histogram based on image data obtained by the imaging.

Particularly in this case, as the resized image data, the histograms are totaled from thumbnail images whose data amount is greatly reduced, which is generally automatically created from the original image data at the time of image capturing. Therefore, it is not necessary to create special resized image data, and unnecessary processing can be omitted.

When the histogram requires more detailed contents than those obtained from the thumbnail image data, the main image data stored in the first memory card 21 is resized by appropriately thinning out the pixels. What is necessary is just to perform histogram totaling on the above.

Further, since the main image data and the thumbnail image data as the resized image data are recorded on the memory card as the storage medium, the histogram aggregation is performed. The histogram can be aggregated and displayed while making adjustments, and the resized image data can be stored together with the original image data so that the histogram of this image can be redisplayed later when the image is displayed again. It is also possible to omit the histogram aggregation processing.

The processing of the system controller 13 described above has been described as being performed according to an operation program fixedly stored in the EEPROM 28 from the beginning, but the contents of the EEPROM 28 are externally rewritten by version upgrade or the like. It is also possible that the functions described above can be realized by rewriting the operation program via some kind of recording medium or communication medium.

(Second Embodiment) Hereinafter, a second embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a digital camera will be described with reference to the drawings.

The circuit configuration is basically the same as that shown in FIG. 1, and the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and their illustration and description will be omitted.

FIG. 6 shows mainly the system controller 1 when any switch is operated in the photographing mode.
3 shows the details of the processing, and here, in particular, only the case where the release switch 29b is operated will be described in detail, and the description of the processing contents when other switches are operated will be omitted.

At the beginning of the processing, it is determined whether or not the release switch 29b has been operated (step B01).
Alternatively, by repeatedly determining whether or not any of the other switches has been operated (step B02), it is on standby to operate any of these switches.

In step B02, the release switch 2
If it is determined that a switch other than 9b has been operated,
After executing the process corresponding to the operated switch (step B03), the process returns to the process from step B01 again.

If it is determined in step B01 that the release switch 29b has been operated, the system controller 13 controls the drive of the image pickup device 12 at that time under the set conditions to cause the digital process circuit 14 to acquire image data (step S01). B04).

The digital process circuit 14 expands and stores the image data obtained from the image pickup device 12 in the compression / decompression circuit 16, and then adjusts the image data for white balance, gradation conversion, color conversion, and sharpness adjustment. , And the like, and generates image data of the main image and the resized thumbnail image (step B05).

At this time, the system controller 13 expands and stores the image data of the main image in the frame memory 15, skips the luminance information by the pixel by the memory controller 27, and thins out the pixels to greatly reduce the data amount. Image data of only the reduced luminance information is obtained, and the histograms are totaled (step B06).

FIG. 7 shows the concept in the case where pixel data is skipped by skipping dot-sequentially the uncompressed primary color RGB image data (4: 4: 4) before performing the color conversion.

In this case, one set of three sets of RGB data constituting one pixel is selected for every n (n is a natural number of 2 or more) sets, and the primary color component G closest to the luminance information in the set is selected. Is used to perform histogram totalization.

[0086] Therefore, the totalization of the histogram can be started at a point in time before the color conversion is performed on the image data obtained by imaging, so that the histogram can be obtained at an earlier point in time.

FIG. 8 is different from the case of FIG.
Uncompressed luminance / color difference system YCbC after performing the above color conversion
This shows the concept in the case where pixel data is skipped by skipping dot-sequentially the image data (4: 2: 2) of r.

In this case, data of two pieces of luminance information Y and one piece of color difference information Cb and Cr forming one pixel are set as one set, and one set is selected for every n (n is a natural number of 2 or more) sets. Thus, the histogram aggregation is performed using the luminance information Y1 in the set.

Therefore, since the luminance and chrominance signals are generated for storage in the memory card and the luminance components of the obtained signals are thinned out and the histograms are totaled, the histogram can be obtained more simply and accurately.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the luminance / color difference YCbCr image block data (4: 2: 2) is shown in a dot-sequential manner to skip pixels.

In this case, data of two luminance information blocks Y and one chrominance information block Cb, Cr constituting one block (8 × 8 pixels) are set as n (n is 2).
One set is selected for each (natural number) set, and histogram aggregation is performed using one luminance information block Y in the set.

For this reason, after the luminance and chrominance signals are generated for storage from the image data obtained by the imaging and are divided into blocks, the obtained luminance components are thinned out in units of blocks and the histograms are aggregated. A histogram can be obtained simply and accurately.

After the histograms are aggregated in this way and the main image data and the thumbnail image data are compressed by the compression / expansion circuit 16, the obtained image data and histogram data are put together and the first data is passed through the selector 17. The data is sent to one of the card interface 18 and the second card interface 19, for example, the first card interface 18.

The first card interface 18 appropriately converts each image data and the histogram data received via the selector 17 according to the file format of the first memory card 21 mounted in the first slot 20. Is written to the first memory card 21 as data having the same file name but different identifiers (step B).
07).

Thereafter, the pixel data and the histogram data of the thumbnail image written in the first memory card 21 are read out (step B08), and the compression / expansion circuit 16 develops and stores the histogram so that the histogram is superimposed on the thumbnail image. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the display is output on the liquid crystal monitor 26 (step B09), and the process returns to the step B01 to wait for the next operation again.

As described above, the resized image data is not created from the original main image data as in the first embodiment, and the histogram is not aggregated from the resized image data. By performing the thinning-out processing, the data amount is easily reduced and used for the aggregation of the histogram, so that the histogram can be obtained more quickly.

In the above embodiment, FIGS.
In the above description, one set is simply selected from n (n is a natural number of 2 or more) sets. However, this digital value n can be arbitrarily changed by the user of the digital camera, and It is conceivable that the thinning rate can be arbitrarily variably set according to the number of constituent pixels, the type of the subject image, and the like.

In this case, the user of the digital camera can arbitrarily set the thinning rate arbitrarily, so that the histogram can be totaled based on a desired data amount after thinning.

Note that in the second embodiment,
The processing of the system controller 13 described above is based on the EEPR
Although it has been described that the operation is performed according to the operation program fixedly stored in the OM 28 from the beginning, this EE 28
The contents of the PROM 28 can be externally rewritten by a version upgrade or the like, and the functions described above may be realized by rewriting the operation program via any recording medium or communication medium.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof.

Further, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent features. For example, even if some components are deleted from all the components shown in the embodiments, at least one of the problems described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved and the effects described in the column of the effect of the invention can be solved. In a case where at least one of the effects described above is obtained, a configuration in which this component is deleted can be extracted as an invention.

[0102]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the histogram is calculated based on the resized image data with the reduced data amount, and the histogram based on the image data obtained by the imaging is displayed. Can be reliably reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first aspect of the present invention, in addition to a thumbnail image whose data amount is greatly reduced, which is generally automatically generated from original image data at the time of imaging. Since the histograms are totaled, there is no need to create any other resized image data, and unnecessary processing can be omitted.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the present invention, since the resized image data is once recorded in a storage means such as a memory, the histogram aggregation is performed. Histograms can be totaled and displayed while performing time adjustment with other processes executed at the time of imaging, and the resized image data can be stored for later processing.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect of the present invention, the resizing image data is once recorded in a storage means such as a memory, and the histogram is totalized. The histogram can be totaled and displayed while adjusting the time with respect to other processing to be executed, and the resized image data can be stored together with the original image data.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the image data obtained by imaging is thinned out, the amount of data can be easily reduced and the data can be used for aggregation of the histogram, so that the histogram can be obtained more quickly. be able to.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the fifth aspect of the present invention, thinning is performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis consisting of the primary color components RGB in the image data before color conversion obtained by imaging. , And the process directly proceeds to the totaling of the histogram from the primary color component “G” closest to the luminance, so that the histogram can be obtained at a faster time.

According to the seventh aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of the fifth aspect of the present invention, after generating a luminance / color difference signal for storage from image data obtained by imaging,
Since the histogram aggregation is performed by thinning out the luminance components of the obtained signals, the histogram can be obtained more simply and accurately.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the fifth aspect of the present invention, after the luminance and chrominance signals are generated for storage from the image data obtained by imaging and are blocked, Since the histogram aggregation is performed by thinning out the obtained luminance components in block units, the histogram can be obtained more easily and more accurately.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the fifth aspect of the present invention, the thinning rate is set in accordance with the number and type of constituent pixels of the image data obtained by the imaging means. Thus, it is possible to always perform the histogram totalization based on the desired data amount after thinning.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the totalization of the histogram is performed on the basis of the resized image data with the reduced data amount, so that the histogram from the imaging to the display of the histogram based on the image data obtained by the imaging is displayed. Time can be reliably reduced.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, since the image data obtained by imaging is thinned out, the amount of data can be easily reduced and the data can be used for tabulation of the histogram, so that the histogram can be obtained more quickly. Can be done.

According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, the totalizing operation of the histogram is performed based on the resized image data whose data amount has been reduced, so that the histogram from the image pickup to the display of the histogram based on the image data obtained by the image pickup is displayed. Time can be reliably reduced.

According to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, by thinning out image data obtained by imaging, the amount of data can be easily reduced and the data can be used for totaling histograms. Can be done.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a digital camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing contents corresponding to a switch operation in a shooting mode according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary view illustrating a hierarchical structure of an image data file written in the memory card according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view showing the structure of each image data file according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram exemplifying a display state of a histogram during operation according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing corresponding to a switch operation in a shooting mode according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view showing the concept of pixel thinning according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a view showing the concept of pixel thinning according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the concept of pixel thinning according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Imaging lens 12 ... Imaging element 13 ... System controller 14 ... Digital process circuit 15 ... Frame memory 16 ... Compression / expansion circuit 17 ... Selector 18 ... 1st card interface 19 ... 2nd card interface 20 ... 1st slot 21 ... First memory card 22 ... Slot mounting detecting means 23 ... Second slot 24 ... Second memory card 25 ... Slot mounting detecting means 26 ... LCD monitor 27 ... Memory controller 28 ... EEPROM 29a ... Memory card switch (SW) 29b ... Release switch (SW) 29c ... AE lock switch (SW) 29d ... Exposure compensation dial 29e ... White balance switch dial 29f ... Aperture switch dial 29g ... Shutter speed switch dial 29h ... Metering Mode switching dial 30: Shooting mode / playback mode switching dial HG: Histogram MC: Memory card information No: Serial number SR: Secret symbol

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/91 H04N 9/07 A 5C065 5/92 101: 00 9/07 5/91 J // H04N 101 : 00 5/92 HF term (Reference) 2H054 AA01 2H102 AA16 5C022 AA13 AB01 AC03 AC14 AC32 AC42 AC69 CA00 5C052 GA02 GB06 GB09 GC03 GC05 GE06 GE08 GF00 5C053 FA05 FA09 FA27 GA11 GB36 HA21 JA16 KA03 KA21 KA24 KA24 BB DD02 FF03 GG23 GG27 GG30 GG32 GG44 GG49

Claims (13)

[Claims] An image capturing means for capturing an image of a subject to obtain image data, a resized image generating means for generating resized image data having a different number of pixels from the image data obtained by the image capturing means, A digital camera, comprising: histogram totalizing means for performing histogram totalization based on created resized image data; and histogram displaying means for displaying histogram data obtained by the histogram totalizing means. 2. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein said resized image data is thumbnail image data for previewing original image data obtained by said imaging means. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising storage means for storing said resized image data, wherein said histogram totalization means performs histogram totalization based on the resized image data read from said storage means. Digital camera. 4. The digital device according to claim 1, further comprising storage means for storing image data obtained by said imaging means, wherein said storage means also stores histogram data obtained by said histogram totalization means. camera. 5. An image pickup means for picking up an image of a subject to obtain image data, a thinning means for thinning out the image data obtained by the image pickup means in accordance with a predetermined procedure, and an image reduced in data amount by the thinning means. A digital camera, comprising: histogram totalizing means for performing histogram totalizing based on data; and histogram displaying means for displaying histogram data obtained by the histogram totalizing means. 6. The thinning means selects one set for each of n sets (n is a natural number of 2 or more) with one set of primary color components constituting one pixel as a set, and is closest to the luminance in the set. The digital camera according to claim 5, wherein a primary color component is obtained. 7. The thinning means selects one set for each of n sets (n is a natural number of 2 or more) with one set of luminance and chrominance components constituting one pixel, and determines the luminance component in the set. The digital camera according to claim 5, wherein the digital camera is obtained. 8. The thinning means includes a unit of a block composed of luminance components of a plurality of pixels that divide one image.
6. The digital camera according to claim 5, wherein one block is selected for each block (n is a natural number of 2 or more) to obtain a luminance component in the block. 9. A thinning rate setting means for setting a thinning rate by said thinning means in accordance with the number and type of constituent pixels of image data obtained by said image pickup means. Digital camera. 10. An image capturing step of capturing an image of a subject to obtain image data, a resize image generating step of generating resized image data having a different number of pixels from the image data obtained in the image capturing step, and a resize image generating step. An image processing method for a digital camera, comprising: a histogram totalizing step of totalizing histograms based on created resized image data; and a histogram displaying step of displaying histogram data obtained in the histogram totalizing step. 11. An imaging step of capturing an image of a subject to obtain image data, a thinning step of thinning out image data obtained in the imaging step according to a predetermined procedure, and an image having a reduced data amount in the thinning step. An image processing method for a digital camera, comprising: a histogram totalizing step of totalizing histograms based on data; and a histogram displaying step of displaying histogram data obtained in the histogram totalizing step. 12. An image capturing step of capturing an object to obtain image data, a resize image generating step of generating resized image data having a different number of pixels from the image data obtained in the image capturing step, and a resize image generating step. A control program including an instruction to cause a computer to execute a histogram totalizing step of performing histogram totalization based on the created resized image data and a histogram displaying step of displaying histogram data obtained in the histogram totalizing step is recorded. A computer-readable recording medium. 13. An image pickup step of picking up an image of a subject to obtain image data; a thinning step of thinning out the image data obtained in the image pickup step in accordance with a predetermined procedure; A computer recorded with a control program including an instruction for causing a computer to execute a histogram totalizing step of performing histogram totalizing based on data, and a histogram displaying step of displaying histogram data obtained in the histogram totalizing step. Is a readable recording medium.