JP2002245071A - Device and method for managing image, image database unit and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a configuration for directly specifying a photographing image place based on two pieces of information, i.e., position information and image information in the case of photographing. SOLUTION: The database of images from the whole angles of the whole country is constructed, the database and image information are respectively referred to and, then, the name of the place is specified. Since the amount of image information of each place in the whole country are large, whereby burden to a computer and long arithmetic time is required, position information is combined with image information so as to attain easy reference. Besides, the featured values of the images are extracted and reference is performed by the featured values so that a transmission data amount and a retrieval time are reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image management apparatus and an image management method for managing image data obtained via a camcorder or other imaging devices, and more particularly, to a digital or electronic file. The present invention relates to an image management apparatus and an image management method for managing captured image data in a format that can be processed on a computer.

More specifically, the present invention relates to an image management apparatus and an image management method for editing, organizing, and retrieving a large number of image data obtained and collected from an imaging apparatus based on a shooting place and a shooting situation. More specifically, the present invention relates to an image management apparatus and an image management method for specifying a place or a building where a photograph was taken based on positional information and video information at the time of photographing, and for automatically generating a title of an image.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a VTR-integrated camera, that is, a "camcorder" has become widespread. Image data captured on the camcorder is recorded on, for example, a video tape. Alternatively, the image data can be computerized and stored in a peripheral device of the computer system such as a hard disk drive (HDD). Furthermore, the captured image can be edited on a computer,
It can also be distributed over a network as a computer file.

[0004] A problem with usability of this type of product, such as a camcorder, is retrieval of image data after photographing. As the number of stored image data increases, in order to prevent and effectively utilize these information resources, techniques such as titles, editing, sorting, and searching for each image data become important. .

When an image is shot by a camcorder, the date and time of shooting is automatically recorded, so that it is possible to search later. However, it is not possible to immediately understand where and what was photographed only by the date and time. The user has no choice but to remember from the date or to play back the image and judge it from the content such as landscape. In addition, even if the date is the same, the shooting location may change every moment, and in such a case, it becomes more difficult to specify the shooting location.

[0006] For example, in an image such as a photograph of a mountain scenery that hardly contains information that can identify a subject, if the user does not memorize it clearly or record it in a memo, it will elapse over time. Information associated with the image, such as the shooting location and the shooting situation, will be lost.

This is the same problem not only in a camcorder but also in a still image camera such as a digital still camera. Even if you try to organize a lot of image files into an album, the date and time alone will not help.

For example, GPS (Global Positioning Sys
tem), that is, a position measurement function based on the global positioning system (measuring position based on GPS signals transmitted from three or more GPS satellites orbiting the sky), PHS
There is also an idea to record position information obtained by identification information (CS-ID) from a currently registered base station in (Personal Handyphone System) together with an image.
However, the position information obtained from GPS or PHS is physical information such as XX degrees east longitude and XX degrees north latitude, and is meaningless because it is not possible to directly analogize the shooting location, building, and shooting situation.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-122638 discloses a first image data including image data generated in accordance with photographing and photographing data indicating the photographing position and photographing direction of the image data.
Input means for inputting three-dimensional data, first storage means for storing three-dimensional data, and processing means for displaying a three-dimensional image represented by the three-dimensional data on a display device. There is disclosed an image processing apparatus that reads out image data at a shooting position corresponding to the image data and combines and displays an image represented by the image data on a stereoscopic image according to the shooting data. Therefore, on the three-dimensional map corresponding to the spatial position where the image was taken, the map can be displayed corresponding to the shooting direction, and the image can be arranged and displayed in that direction, so that the positional relationship can be clearly expressed. By moving the viewpoint, images of other positions and directions are sequentially shown, and virtual 3
The same scene as reality can be reproduced on a three-dimensional map.

[0010] However, the image processing apparatus described in the publication does not refer to the relationship between a photographed image and a photographed position.

[0011] There has been a demand for a mechanism that allows the name of a shooting location (eg, a castle in Tokyo Disneyland or Mt. Fuji taken from Lake Motosu) to be known at the time of shooting or even after shooting. If the name of the shooting location can be obtained automatically, the title and keyword can be automatically generated in the image file based on this,
When a database is created, a desired image file can be quickly searched.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to manage captured image data in a format that can be processed on a computer by being digitized or converted into an electronic file.
An object of the present invention is to provide an excellent image management device and an excellent image management method.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an excellent image management apparatus and image management method capable of editing, organizing, and retrieving a large number of image data obtained and collected from an image pickup apparatus based on a shooting place and a shooting situation. Is to provide.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an excellent image management apparatus capable of specifying a place or a building where a photograph was taken based on positional information and video information at the time of photographing and automatically generating a title of an image. An image management method is provided.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a first aspect of the present invention is an image management apparatus or method for managing a captured image, comprising: Image acquisition means or step for acquiring information, position information acquisition means or step for acquiring position information at the time of imaging of image information, and image database or step for registering image information in association with the name of the place where the image was taken, Referring to the image database based on image information and its position information, and a place name specifying means or step for specifying a place name of the most similar image information in the database as a place name at the time of shooting or a title of the image information; and And an image management apparatus or method.

According to the image management apparatus and method according to the first aspect of the present invention, by constructing a database of images from all angles in the whole country, it is possible to refer to the image database and the image information, respectively. The location name at the time of shooting can be specified.

The place name can be used at the time of image reproduction and editing, for example, as a title of image information. The image information in various parts of the country requires an enormous amount of information and requires a great deal of computer load and computation time. However, the image information can be easily referred to by combining the image information with the position information.

Further, the image database may be classified and managed for each position information within a predetermined range. In such a case, the place name specifying means or step can reduce the search time by searching the image database limited to a range including the position information of the image information to be searched.

The image processing apparatus may further comprise a feature extracting means or step for extracting the feature value from the image information.
In such a case, by referring to the feature amount, the amount of transmission data and the search time can be saved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image database device for managing image information, wherein the data registration means registers the image information in association with the name of the place where the image was taken, And a data search means for searching data registered by the data registration means and returning a location name of the corresponding image information in response to a request including information. .

According to the image database device according to the second aspect of the present invention, by constructing a database of images from all angles in the whole country in advance, it becomes possible for an apparatus user such as a camcorder or a personal computer to handle photographed images. By referring to the image database and the image information, the user can always specify the place name at the time of shooting.

The place name can be used at the time of reproducing and editing an image, for example, as a title of image information. The image information in various parts of the country requires an enormous amount of information and requires a great deal of computer load and computation time. However, the image information can be easily referred to by combining the image information with the position information.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium in which computer software written to execute a process for managing a captured image on a computer system is physically stored in a computer-readable format. The computer software includes an image acquisition step of acquiring image information, a position information acquisition step of acquiring position information at the time of photographing of the image information, and an image database that associates the image information with a place name of the photographed place. And a location that specifies the location name of the most similar image information in the database as the location name at the time of shooting or the title of the image information by referring to the image database based on the image information and its location information. And a name specifying step.

The storage medium according to the third aspect of the present invention is a medium that provides computer software in a computer-readable format to a general-purpose computer system that can execute various program codes.
Such a medium is, for example, a CD (Compact Disc) or F
It is a removable and portable storage medium such as D (Floppy Disc) and MO (Magneto-Optical disc). Alternatively, it is technically possible to provide computer software to a specific computer system via a transmission medium such as a network (a network may be either wireless or wired).

Such a storage medium defines a structural or functional cooperative relationship between the computer software and the storage medium in order to realize predetermined computer software functions on a computer system. It is. In other words, by installing predetermined computer software into the computer system via the storage medium according to the third aspect of the present invention, a cooperative action is exhibited on the computer system, and the third aspect of the present invention is realized. The same operation and effect as those of the image management apparatus and method according to the first aspect can be obtained.

Still other objects, features and advantages of the present invention are:
It will become apparent from the following more detailed description based on the embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying drawings.

[0027]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

The present invention proposes a mechanism for directly specifying the location of a photographed image based on two types of information, ie, position information and image information at the time of photographing by a photographing device such as a camcorder. Basically, a database of images from all angles nationwide has been built, and by referring to this database and image information,
It specifies the place name (or building name).
(Actually, it is only necessary to store an image database of only major places such as sightseeing spots.) When it comes to image information all over the country, the amount of information becomes enormous. Need. Therefore, in the present invention, it is possible to easily refer to the image information by combining the position information with the image information. Also, as image information,
Although the image itself can be referred to, the amount of transmission data and the search time can be saved by extracting the feature amount of the image and referring to the feature amount requiring a small data amount.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the entire configuration of an image recording / reproducing system 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the image recording / reproducing system 10 includes a photographing device 11, a receiving device 12, a recording / reproducing device 13, an image database 14, and a feature extracting device 15.

The photographing device 11 is a device for supplying a photographed image to the recording / reproducing device 13, and corresponds to, for example, a camcorder or a digital still camera.

The receiving device 12 is a device for acquiring position information based on an externally received signal and providing the recording / reproducing device 13 with the position information.
S (Global Positioning System) and PHS (Personal
It can be configured based on devices such as Handyphone System). GPS, or Global Positioning System, is a GPS system that is transmitted from three or more GPS satellites orbiting the sky.
This is a position measurement system that measures the position based on the S signal, and has an accuracy of, for example, about several tens of meters. Also, PH
According to S, the identification information (C
The position information can be obtained by the S-ID), and the position can be specified with an accuracy of, for example, about 100 meters.

The recording / reproducing device 13 combines the image information input from the photographing device 11 with the specified position information to record or reproduce the image information in a format that can be referred to based on the position information. Device.

The image database 14 is a database that stores images from all angles in the whole country (actually, it is only necessary to store an image database of only major places such as sightseeing spots). Image information in various parts of the country requires an enormous amount of information and requires a great deal of computational power and computation time to search. However, the recording / reproducing device 13 can easily refer to the image database 14 by combining position information. Can be.

The feature extracting device 15 includes a recording / reproducing device 13
This is a device that performs a predetermined arithmetic process on each piece of image information stored above and extracts a feature amount thereof. Since the image information has a large data size, the recording / reproducing device 13 can save the transmission data amount and the search time by using the feature amount instead of the image information.

In this image recording / reproducing system 10, a scene to which a title is to be added at the time of reproducing an image is reproduced, and positional information of the portion and a reproduced image are obtained. The reproduced image may be left as it is, but compression or feature extraction processing is performed to reduce the amount of data. Then, the image information (or the compressed image information or feature amount) and the position information are transmitted to the image database 14 to perform a search.

The image database 14 first searches the database for an image that matches (or is similar to) the transmitted image information by limiting the range from the position information to the image database around the place. In the database, information of the image itself or the compression value or feature amount and the corresponding place name (or building name) are stored.
An image closest to the transmitted image is selected, the name of the corresponding location is output, and this is returned to the recording / reproducing device 13 side.

The recording / reproducing apparatus 13 overwrites this place name information on a recording medium as a title or additional information (or records it on a new recording part at the time of editing).

At the time of searching the image database 14, there may be a case where a place name (or a building name) cannot be specified. In such a case, some candidates closer to the feature value may be listed, and the user may be allowed to select from the candidates.

According to the image recording / reproducing system 10 according to the present embodiment, the position information and the image information are obtained, and the database is queried. It is also possible to obtain a place name (or a building name) beforehand.

If the photographing device 11 is a camcorder, the recording / reproducing device 13 records the photographed image using a sequential access recording medium such as a tape. If the photographing device 11 is a digital still camera, the recording / reproducing device 13 records a photographed image using a randomly accessible recording medium such as a semiconductor memory. Regardless of which recording medium is used, the format for recording the additional information (subcode) together with the image recording area or image data is already common in the art, and the recording is performed using that part. can do.

FIG. 2 schematically shows an image recording mechanism in the recording / reproducing system 10 when a video tape is adopted as a recording medium.

The photographing device 11 has an image pickup device 11A such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) for converting the amount of light received from a subject into an electric signal, and processes the electric light received signal to form a predetermined format. It comprises a camera image processing unit 11B for generating image information and a video recording signal processing unit 11C for converting image information into a recording signal.

The recording / reproducing device 13 can read out image data inputted from the photographing device 11 together with position information inputted from the receiving device 12 such as GPS onto a recording surface of a video tape as a recording medium. (Position information is recorded, for example, in a subcode area of the corresponding image data).

FIG. 3 schematically shows an image recording mechanism in the recording / reproducing system 10 when a semiconductor memory is employed as a recording medium.

The photographing device 11 includes an image pickup device 11A such as a CCD and a camera image processing unit 11 which processes the electric light receiving signal to generate image information of a predetermined format.
B and a video recording signal processing unit 11C for converting image information into a recording signal.

The recording / reproducing device 13 records the image data input from the photographing device 11 together with the position information input from the receiving device 12 such as a GPS on a semiconductor memory as a recording medium in a readable format. I do.

In addition, the recording / reproducing device 13 is a hardware
Disc, CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable), D
It should be understood that the configuration is the same as described above even when a VD (Digital Versatile Disc) is adopted as a recording medium for image information and position information.

The recording / reproducing apparatus 13 and / or
Alternatively, the feature extracting device 15 can be implemented in a form of executing an application specialized in the present invention on a specific computer system.

FIG. 4 schematically shows the configuration of a computer system 500 capable of realizing the functions of the recording / reproducing device 13 and / or the feature extracting device 14.
Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to FIG.

A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101 which is a main controller of the system 100 executes various applications under the control of an operating system (OS). As shown, the CPU 10
1 is interconnected with other devices (described later) by a bus 108.

The memory 102 is a storage device used to store program codes to be executed by the CPU 101 and temporarily store work data being executed. It should be understood that the memory 102 shown in the figure includes both non-volatile and volatile memories. Also, the memory 102
Can function as a semiconductor memory that records image information and position information input by the system 100.

The display controller 103 uses C
This is a dedicated controller for actually processing a drawing command issued by the PU 101. The drawing data processed by the display controller 103 is once written in, for example, a frame buffer (not shown) and then output to the screen by the display 111.

The user input interface 104 is a device for connecting user input devices such as a keyboard (KBD) 112 and a mouse 113 to the computer system 100. For example, a combination of a GUI (Graphical User Interface) provided on the screen of the display 111 and these user input devices 112 and 113 provides an interactive user input environment.

Network interface 105
Connects the system 100 to a LAN (Local Area Network) according to a predetermined communication protocol such as Ethernet.
Etc., and even a wide area network such as the Internet.

On a network, a plurality of host terminals such as a content receiving device are connected in a transparent state, and a distributed computing environment is constructed. For example, the image database 14 is connected to the image database 14 via a network, and the computer system 100 can search the image database 14 by transferring image information (or a compression value or a characteristic value thereof). Can be received via a network.

On the network, distribution of software programs, data contents, and the like can be performed. For example, an application for performing image management according to each embodiment of the present invention can be downloaded via a network. In addition, image information with position information stored on the computer system 100 can be distributed via a network.

The information input interface 106 is a device for connecting the photographing device 11 and the receiving device 12 described above and inputting image information and position information from outside.
For example, IEEE1394 or USB (Universal Serial
Bus) and other general-purpose interface specifications.

The external device interface 107 is a device for connecting an external device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) 114, a media drive 115, or a video tape recorder (not shown) to the computer system 100. It is.

The HDD 114 is an external storage device on which a magnetic disk as a storage carrier is fixedly mounted (well-known), and is superior to other external storage devices in terms of storage capacity and data transfer speed. Placing a software program on the HDD 114 in an executable state is called “installing” the program in the system. Usually HD
D114 includes programs to be executed by the CPU 101.
The code is stored in a nonvolatile manner. For example, the application for performing image management according to the embodiment of the present invention is an HD application.
It can be installed on D114. Further, image information with position information can be stored on the HDD 114.

The media drive 115 has a CD (Compa
ct Disc), MO (Magneto-Opticaldisc), DVD (Di
It is a device for loading a replaceable portable medium such as a digital versatile disc, a memory card, or a video tape, and accessing a data recording surface thereof. The portable media is mainly used for backing up software programs, data files, and the like as computer-readable data, and for transferring them between systems (that is, including sales, distribution, and distribution). For example, an application for performing image management according to the embodiment of the present invention can be physically distributed and distributed between a plurality of devices using these portable media. Further, image information with position information can be physically distributed / distributed between devices using these portable media.

An example of the computer system 100 as shown in FIG. 4 is a personal computer “PC / AT (Personal Computer / Advanced Tesla) of IBM Corporation.
A compatible computer or a successor thereof. Of course, a computer having another architecture can be applied as the computer system 100 according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention.
1 schematically shows the overall configuration of an image reproduction / editing system 20. As shown in FIG.
0 is composed of a reproducing device 21, an editing / recording device 22, a feature extracting device 23, and an image database 14.

The editing / recording device 22 is a photographing device (described above).
Is a device for storing image information in a format that can be referred to based on the position information by combining the image information input from the device with the specified position information, and is also used as a storage location of the image being edited. .

The reproducing device 21 is a device for reproducing the image stored in the editing / recording device 22.
The image information read from the recording device 22 is reproduced together with the accompanying position information.

The image database 14 is a database that stores images from all angles in the whole country. Image information in various parts of the country requires an enormous amount of information and requires a great deal of computational power and computation time to search. However, the recording / reproducing device 13 can easily refer to the image database 14 by combining position information. (Same as above).

The feature extracting device 23 includes an editing / recording device 22
Performs predetermined arithmetic processing on the image information read from
This is a device for extracting the feature amount. Image information is data
Since the size is large, the amount of transmission data and the search time can be saved by using the feature amount instead of the image information.

In the image editing / recording system 20, a scene to which a title is to be added when an image is reproduced by the reproducing device 21 is reproduced, and positional information of the portion and a reproduced image are obtained. The reproduced image may be left as it is, but compression or feature extraction processing is performed to reduce the amount of data. Then, the image information (or the compressed image information or feature amount) and the position information are transmitted to the image database 14 to perform a search.

The image database 14 first searches the database for an image that matches (or is similar to) the transmitted image information by limiting the range from the position information to the image database around the place. In the database, information of the image itself or the compressed place or feature amount and the corresponding place name (or building name) are stored.
An image closest to the transmitted image is selected, the name of the corresponding location is output, and this is returned to the editing / recording device 22 side.

The editing / recording device 22 overwrites the place name information on the recording medium as a title or additional information (or records the information in a new recording portion at the time of editing).

At the time of searching the image database 14, it is assumed that a place name (or a building name) cannot be specified. In such a case, some candidates closer to the characteristic location may be listed, and the user may be allowed to select from the candidates.

According to the image editing / recording system 20 according to the present embodiment, the position information and the image information are obtained and the database is queried. It is also possible to obtain a place name (or a building name) beforehand.

The functions of the reproducing device 21, the editing / recording device 22, and / or the feature extracting device 23 described above are implemented by an application specialized in the present invention on a computer system 100 as shown in FIG. It is also possible to implement it in the form of execution (same as above).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for adding location information such as a place name (or building name) to image information while referring to an image database. Such processing is actually executed on the recording / reproducing device 13 shown in FIG. 1, the editing / recording device 22 shown in FIG. 5, or the computer system 100 having the functions of these devices. Hereinafter, a process of adding position information such as a place name (or a building name) to image information will be described with reference to this flowchart.

First, an image is reproduced, a screen on which a place name (or building name) is to be entered is displayed, and the screen is designated (step S1).

Next, position information corresponding to the designated screen is obtained from the subcode of the storage area of the designated screen (step S2).

Next, the feature is extracted from the designated screen (step S3).

Next, it is connected to the image database 14 via a communication medium such as a network (Step S).
4) The position information and the image feature value information are transmitted to the image database, and a database search is requested (step S5).

The image database 14 selects a surrounding database from the received position information (step S6), and searches for an image whose image feature amount matches from the range of the selected database (step S7).

Then, the image database 14 acquires the location name (or building name) of the found image and returns it to the set (step S8).

The image reproducing device or the editing / recording device that has received the place name (or the building name) records the place name (or the building name) of the image in the subcode and associates the image with the image information (step S9).

As described above, in order to reduce the data amount, not the image information itself but the feature amount of the image is used. RGB (Red Gr.
eenBule) can be used.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, an image is divided into several areas, and feature amounts such as color information and luminance information are extracted for each area. And RGB
The level at which each component exists in each area is extracted as a feature value, and is expressed as a histogram.

The nature of the subject can be estimated from the pattern at the level where each color component exists.
For example, if the background of the subject image has many blue components, it is assumed that the subject image is the sky or the sea. If the center of the image is whitish, it is assumed that the building is some kind of building. Or,
A feature value based on a high frequency component (for example, a fine pattern) can be used. In any case, it is preferable to use a feature amount that makes it easy to search for a place.

Finally, the manner in which images captured by a camcorder, digital still camera, or the like are managed in a database in accordance with the image management according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

For example, it is assumed that a user is taking a walk while photographing a subject in an amusement park such as Tokyo Disneyland while carrying a cam code.

In such a case, the image can be captured by the original function of the photographing apparatus, and the position information at the time of photographing can be obtained by the position measuring function such as GPS. However, the position information at the time of shooting is north latitude xx degrees x
It is only a physical indication value, such as x minutes, east longitude yy degrees yy minutes, and is not information that can specify a place name (or building name) or a subject. The image information and the original position information at the time of shooting are stored on a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory or a video tape (see FIG. 8).

Next, the photographed image information is displayed on a screen on a display, and an image in which a place name (or a building name) is to be inserted is designated. Then, it connects to the image database 14 and transfers the image information or its characteristic value information and its position information, and requests a place name (or a building name) or information corresponding to the title of the image (see FIG. 9). See).

On the image database 14, a large number of records composed of a combination of image information (or its characteristic value information) and place name information (or other information corresponding to the title of the image) are managed in a database. The image database 14 performs database collation based on the received image information and position information. At this time, the search range in the database can be limited based on physical location information such as xx degrees xx north latitude and yy degrees yy longitude east sent from the request source. Then, the corresponding record is taken out and the position information is returned to the request source.

When the request source obtains new location information including a place name (or building name) and a title, it overwrites the corresponding location information with the recorded subcode (or records it in a new recording portion when editing). Do).

[Supplement] The present invention has been described in detail with reference to the specific embodiments. However, it is obvious that those skilled in the art can modify or substitute the embodiment without departing from the spirit of the present invention. That is, the present invention has been disclosed by way of example, and should not be construed as limiting. In order to determine the gist of the present invention, the claims described at the beginning should be considered.

[0091]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an excellent image management device and an excellent image management method that can manage captured image data in a format that can be processed on a computer by being digitized or converted to an electronic file.

Further, according to the present invention, an excellent image management apparatus and image management method capable of editing, organizing, and retrieving a large number of image data obtained / collected from an imaging apparatus based on a shooting location and a shooting situation. Can be provided.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided an excellent image management apparatus capable of specifying a place or a building where a photograph was taken based on positional information and video information at the time of photographing, and automatically generating a title of an image. An image management method can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an overall configuration of an image recording / reproducing system 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an image recording mechanism in the recording / reproducing system 10 when a video tape is adopted as a recording medium.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing an image recording mechanism in the recording / reproducing system 10 when a semiconductor memory is employed as a recording medium.

FIG. 4 shows a recording / reproducing device 13 and / or a feature extracting device 1.
FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a computer system 500 capable of realizing the function of No. 4;

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing an overall configuration of an image reproduction / editing system 20 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for adding position information to image information while referring to an image database.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of extracting a feature amount of an image.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state in which images captured by a camcorder, a digital still camera, or the like are managed in a database according to the image management according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the image database provides information such as a place name (or a building name) and a title of an image.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Image recording / playback system 11 ... Photographing device 12 ... Receiving device 13 ... Recording / playback device 14 ... Image database 20 ... Image playback / editing system 100 ... Computer system 101 ... CPU, 102 ... Memory 103 ... Display controller 104 ... user input interface 105 ... network interface 106 ... information input interface 107 ... external device interface, 108 ... bus 111 ... display, 112 ... keyboard, 113 ...
Mouse 114: Hard disk drive, 115: Media drive

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/765 H04N 5/91 L 5/92 5/92 HF Term (Reference) 5B075 ND12 ND34 NK02 NK43 PP02 PP12 PP22 PQ10 UU14 5C022 AA11 AC42 5C053 FA21 FA27 GB21 HA29 JA30 LA01

Claims (11)

[Claims] An image management apparatus for managing a photographed image, comprising: an image acquisition unit for acquiring image information; a position information acquisition unit for acquiring position information at the time of photographing the image information; An image database for registering in association with the place name obtained, and referring to the image database based on the image information and its position information, to determine the place name of the most similar image information in the database at the place name or image at the time of shooting. An image management apparatus comprising: a place name specifying unit that specifies a title of information. 2. The image management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising image recording / reproducing / editing means for storing the place name specified by said place name specifying means together with image information. 3. The image database is classified according to a predetermined range of position information, and the place name specifying means restricts the image database to a range including the position information of the image information to be searched. The image management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a search is performed. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a feature extracting unit for extracting a feature value from the image information, wherein the place name specifying unit searches the image database based on the feature value of the image information. An image management device according to claim 1. 5. An image management method for managing a photographed image, comprising: an image acquisition step of acquiring image information; a position information acquisition step of acquiring position information of the image information at the time of photographing; Registering the location name of the most similar image information in the database with reference to the image database based on the image information and its position information. Or a place name specifying step of specifying the title as the title of the image information. 6. An image recording / reproducing / storing method for storing a place name specified in the place name specifying step together with image information.
7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising an editing step.
The image management method described in 1. 7. The image database is classified according to a predetermined range of position information. In the place name specifying step, the image database is limited to a range including position information of image information to be searched. 7. The image management method according to claim 6, wherein a search is performed. 8. The method according to claim 6, further comprising a feature extracting step of extracting a feature value from the image information, wherein in the place name specifying step, the image database is searched based on the feature value of the image information. The image management method described in 1. 9. An image database apparatus for managing image information, comprising: a data registration unit for registering image information in association with a place name where the image was taken; and a response to a request including the image information and the position information. And a data search unit for searching data registered by the data registration unit and returning a location name of the corresponding image information. 10. The data registering means interpolates image information for each predetermined range of position information, and the data search means restricts data to a range including position information of the image information to be searched. 10. The image database device according to claim 9, wherein the image database is searched. 11. A storage medium in which computer software written to execute a process of managing a captured image on a computer system is physically stored in a computer-readable format, wherein the computer software comprises: An image acquisition step of acquiring image information; a position information acquisition step of acquiring position information at the time of photographing of the image information; a step of registering the image information in an image database in association with a place name of the photographed place; Referring to the image database based on the position information, and specifying a place name of the most similar image information in the database as a place name at the time of shooting or a title of the image information. A storage medium characterized by the above-mentioned.