JP2003298882A - Digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital camera which contributes to an improvement of photographing techniques. <P>SOLUTION: A digital camera has an image pickup means which photographs a subject to output image data, an image analysis means which detects a principal subject on the basis of the image data and evaluates a composition by analyzing the image data for example, discriminating whether the principal subject is placed in a prescribed area or not, and an output means which outputs an evaluation result of the image analysis means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital camera, and more particularly, to a digital camera that contributes to improvement of a photographer's technique and allows users to enjoy a game by using captured images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it has been proposed to use a digital camera as a portable game machine. JP 200
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-36783 discloses a digital camera in which a game program is stored in a memory of a camera body, and a game image can be displayed on a liquid crystal monitor for displaying a photographed image so that the game can be played. ing.

Further, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-165881, two electronic game machines are connected to each other, and after binarizing image data picked up by a CCD in each electronic game machine, for example, "1" is counted. There is disclosed a game machine that digitizes and digitizes, compares the count values of each other, and competes for a win or loss.

Further, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-198650, when a shutter button is pressed, predetermined information (for example, a predetermined character) which the photographer cannot predict is generated,
An electronic camera for playing a game using this predetermined information is disclosed.

[0005]

However, although the digital cameras described in the above-mentioned prior art documents are fun cameras that can be used as game machines, they can contribute to improving the shooting technique or winning or losing depending on the shooting technique. Not a thing.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a digital camera which can contribute to improvement of photographing technique.

[0007]

A digital camera according to the present invention includes an image pickup means for photographing a subject and outputting image data, an image analysis means for analyzing the image data to evaluate a composition, and the image analysis means. And an output unit that outputs the evaluation result according to 1.

The image analysis means may detect a main subject based on the image data and evaluate whether or not the main subject is located in a predetermined area. The predetermined area may be a golden section rectangle.

The image analysis means may detect the main subject based on the image data and evaluate the blur amount of the main subject and the flow amount of the background subject. Then, the spatial frequency may be calculated from the image data to determine the blur amount of the main subject.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration example of the digital camera. This digital camera 10
In No. 1, the light flux from the subject is incident on the CCD of the photographing processing system 103 via the photographing optical system 102. The output from the CCD is A / D converted and output from the photographing processing system 103, and the A / D converted output is image-processed by the image processing controller 104 and recorded by the recording system 105 including a memory card and the like. It has become so. The photographing optical system 102 and the photographing and writing system 10
3 and the image processing controller 104 correspond to the image pickup means.

The photographing processing system 103 is a CCD,
The recording system 105 includes an image pickup circuit, an A / D converter, and the like.
It is composed of a recording medium such as a memory card interface and a memory card main body. As the recording medium, a magnetic disk such as a hard disk or a floppy (registered trademark) disk or a magneto-optical disk such as an MO may be used as well as a memory card. Although not shown, an image buffer such as a RAM is provided, and the image processing controller 104 uses the image buffer to perform image processing such as white balance processing, color processing, gamma correction, and sharpness adjustment.
Furthermore, JPEG compression processing and decompression processing are executed.

An image recorded in the recording system 105 such as a memory card or an image subjected to image processing is displayed by the LCD driver 106.
It is possible to display from the liquid crystal panel 107 for reproduction via. Further, the playback liquid crystal panel 107 can display various images such as an image display at the time of panorama synthesis, an index display, and an electronic zoom display of a reproduced image.

On the reproduction liquid crystal panel 107, a menu screen is displayed in addition to the reproduced image, and various input such as image reproduction such as image reproduction, image processing, and deletion, time setting, etc. The setting can be done from the menu.

Further, the digital camera 101 has an optical viewfinder (OVF), and the image from the finder optical system 111 can be observed by the finder observation section 110.

Further, various kinds of shooting-related information such as shooting modes, shooting conditions, and the number of remaining shots can be obtained from the control panel 10.
8 is displayed. Note that a part of the shooting-related information can be displayed on the reproducing liquid crystal panel 107 or the finder information liquid crystal panel 109 provided in the finder observing section 110.

The wireless communication unit 114 is a communication unit that wirelessly communicates image data processed by the image processing controller 104 or the like to the outside, and is compliant with a standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), and includes a device number storage unit and a modem. Department, AD /
It includes a DA circuit, an interface (IF) unit, a low-pass filter (RF) unit, an antenna and the like.

The digital camera 101 is provided with a system controller 113 in order to realize an operation according to the operation of the photographer. System controller 11
The control unit 3 controls the respective units 102 to 109/114 in order to perform shooting / playback mode setting, shooting condition setting, shooting execution, image recording, playback display, etc., according to an operation input from the input unit 112. The input unit 112 is a release button, a mode selection button, or the like.

This control includes AF (automatic focusing), shutter speed setting, continuous shooting / single shooting setting, AE (automatic exposure), photometric mode, exposure correction, ISO sensitivity, white balance, strobe control, CCD control, Image processing instructions, recording control, control related to shooting such as image quality setting (hereinafter, referred to as shooting-related control), playback image display, display image selection, electronic zoom,
Controls related to image display and processing such as index display, panorama composition, image protection, and image deletion (hereinafter referred to as playback-related control), as well as clock setting, beep sound setting, print reservation setting, LCD panel brightness adjustment, etc. Controls for other various settings of (hereinafter, referred to as other various setting controls) are included.

Further, the system controller 113 is also provided.
Is equivalent to image analysis means for analyzing image data output by the image pickup means and evaluating a composition or the like. The evaluation result obtained by the image analysis means is scored by the scoring means and displayed on the reproducing liquid crystal panel 107. The reproduction liquid crystal panel 107 corresponds to the output means of the present invention.

As another example of the output means, a connection means for connecting to the wireless communication section 114 or another digital camera such as a cable (not shown) may be used. The evaluation results may be transferred among a plurality of digital cameras, the comparison means provided in the cameras may compare the results to determine the outcome, and the results may be displayed on the reproduction liquid crystal panel 107. Details of the image analysis means will be described as each embodiment described later.

The digital camera 101 has the above-described four types of control (image analysis control, shooting-related control, reproduction-related control, and other various setting controls), and the setting and operation input methods differ depending on the control type. .

Inputs relating to shooting-related control are performed by a condition setting dial and a condition type button, and such a setting process is called a shooting condition setting process. On the other hand, input related to the reproduction-related control and other various setting controls is performed from the menu screen displayed on the reproduction liquid crystal panel 107, and such setting processing is referred to as reproduction-related / other processing. The system controller 113 executes each of these setting processes.

Next, a digital camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. This digital camera is an example in which a high score can be obtained if the main subject is within the golden section point. FIG. 2A is an explanatory diagram of the golden section. Two diagonal lines 2a and 2b are drawn from the apex of the screen frame 1. A perpendicular line is drawn from the four vertices with respect to this diagonal line, and four points (3, 4, 5,
By connecting 6), a golden section rectangle 7 is created. It is said that the most uniform composition can be obtained by arranging the main subject in this rectangle 7.

The digital camera according to the present embodiment detects the main subject based on the image data obtained by the image pickup means, obtains the ratio of the main subject in the golden section rectangle, The higher the ratio, the higher the evaluation score. FIG. 2B shows the display result of the image data obtained by the image pickup means. There is a fence 8 in the foreground, and a bird 9 is flying over the far upper part. Figure 2
In (c), the bird 9 which is the main subject is extracted from the above composition. It can be seen that most of the main subjects are inside the golden section rectangle. On the other hand, FIG. 2 (d)
2A is a reference diagram for comparison with FIG. 2C, and in this composition, it can be seen that the bird, which is the main subject, exists in the upper left portion and is outside the golden section rectangle.

Therefore, the system controller 113
A high evaluation point is given to FIG. 2 (c), and FIG.
Is given a lower evaluation score. This evaluation point is displayed on the reproducing liquid crystal panel 107.

A method of extracting the main subject will be described below. The first method assumes that a subject whose distance from the camera is within a predetermined range is the main subject.
The subject distance of each part in the screen is obtained by the distance measuring means, and the main subject is determined based on the output of the distance measuring means. For example, in the case of the image as shown in FIG. 2B, when the front fence is in front of the predetermined range and the bird behind it is in the predetermined range, this bird is detected as the main subject. To do. If the image pickup device has a distance measuring function, its output can be used.

The second method is to identify the main subject by providing a line-of-sight detecting means in the eyepiece of the finder and detecting the line-of-sight direction of the photographer at the time of release. In this method, calibration is performed in advance so that the output of the detection means and the positional relationship of composition match. Then, it is extracted assuming that the subject on the composition that matches the line-of-sight direction at the time of release is the main subject.

The third method is an example when the camera is set to the portrait mode suitable for photographing a person,
This is a method of extracting a face image from image data. The face image is formed by extracting the skin color area based on the color information. Then, it is assumed that this flesh-colored area is a face image and that it is the main subject. FIG. 3A shows the display result of the image data obtained by the image pickup means. FIG. 3B shows a face image as a main subject extracted from the above composition. The color information analysis means or face image extraction means for extracting a specific color area such as extracting the skin color area is one of the control steps performed by the system controller 113.

According to the digital camera of this embodiment, the image data output by the image pickup means is analyzed, the composition is evaluated in comparison with the golden section rectangle, and the evaluation result is scored by the scoring means. Since it is displayed on the display means (reproducing liquid crystal panel 107), the photographer can judge the composition of the composition from the displayed points, and the photographing technique can be improved. Also, by comparing the score with the score of the image data photographed by another person and playing the game, it can be used as a game for deciding whether to win or lose.

Next, a digital camera according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. This digital camera is an example in which a higher score is obtained for an image in which panning has been performed better.

There is a follow shot as a technique of a high amateur photographer. The camera is a new value-added proposal that will help you learn the technique of panning by moving the camera according to the movement of a moving car or person to capture the main subject in the center of the screen without blurring.

The digital camera according to the present embodiment detects the blur amount of the main subject and the flow amount of the background subject on the basis of the image data obtained by the image pickup means. Alternatively, the higher the flow amount of the background subject, the higher the evaluation point.

As the method of detecting the main subject, various methods described in the first embodiment can be applied. A method of detecting the blur amount of the main subject will be described below. First
In this method, the spatial frequency is calculated from the image data, and the higher the calculated spatial frequency, the smaller the blur. Specifically, the image data in the predetermined area is divided into predetermined pixel blocks, and the DCT transform (discrete cosine transform) is performed for each pixel block to calculate the spatial frequency. And
The spatial frequency of each pixel block is added to obtain the spatial frequency of the image. Here, the reason why the image data of the predetermined area is used is that there is a high possibility that, for example, a rough subject or blurring due to being out of focus exists in the peripheral portion of the image, and that portion is excluded. The predetermined area is, for example, the above-described golden section rectangle.

The second method is to compare the brightness levels for each pixel of the image data and assume that the greater the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value, the less the blur. Even in this method, not all the image data is used, but for example, it is limited to the pixels in the distance measurement area. Although it depends on the accuracy of the distance measuring device, this area should be basically in focus, and the small difference in brightness is because blurring of the image due to camera shake is considered. . It is naturally possible that the brightness difference is small because the contrast of the subject is small.

A method of detecting the flow amount of the background subject will be described below with reference to FIG. When a moving car is panned, the car, which is the main subject, is fixed, and a high-brightness portion of the background subject can be photographed horizontally. Therefore,
The luminance value of each pixel is added in the vertical direction 9 and the horizontal direction 10, respectively. As for the added luminance level, the added value in the vertical direction is averaged, so that the output is changed little. On the other hand, in the horizontal direction, a high brightness portion has a large value and a low brightness portion has a small value. In the follow shot, the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value tends to increase as the flow amount increases. The flow amount increases as the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the horizontal addition data increases.

Even in the case of non-follow shot image data, if there is a portion of high brightness such as the sun, the horizontal addition data of that portion becomes extremely high, but in that case. The vertical addition data has a similar peak. Therefore, first, the addition data in the vertical direction is analyzed, and when there is no protruding peak, it is determined to be the follow shot and the addition data in the horizontal direction is analyzed. As a result of analysis of the addition data in the vertical direction, if there is a protruding peak, it may be determined that the panning has not been performed and the evaluation point may be lowered.

According to the digital camera of the present embodiment, the image data output by the image pickup means is analyzed, the composition is evaluated from the viewpoint of how well the follow shot is taken, and the evaluation result is scored. Since the points are displayed by the means and displayed on the display means (reproducing liquid crystal panel 107), the photographer can judge whether the composition is good or bad based on the displayed points, and the photographing technique can be improved. Also, by comparing the score with the score of the image data photographed by another person and playing the game, it can be used as a game for deciding whether to win or lose.

The present invention, which is embodied in the above-described modes, can be modified in various ways without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, in the digital camera according to the first embodiment, the golden-divided rectangle is set as the predetermined area, and the positional relationship between the predetermined area and the main subject is evaluated. It may be a region. Further, the method of detecting the main subject, the method of calculating the blur amount, and the method of determining the flow amount may be methods other than those described above.

[0040]

According to the present invention, the image pickup means for photographing a subject and outputting the image data, the image analysis means for analyzing the image data to evaluate the composition, and the evaluation result by the image analysis means are output. By providing the output means for controlling the digital camera, it is possible to provide a digital camera that can contribute to the improvement of the photographing technique.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a system configuration example of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of image analysis means according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of another example of the image analysis unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an image analysis unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 ... Digital camera 113 ... System controller

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means for photographing a subject and outputting image data, an image analysis means for analyzing the image data to evaluate a composition, and an output means for outputting an evaluation result by the image analysis means. A digital camera characterized by having. 2. The digital apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image analysis means detects a main subject based on the image data and evaluates whether or not the main subject is located in a predetermined area. camera. 3. The digital camera according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined area is a golden-divided rectangle. 4. The image analysis means detects a main subject based on the image data, and evaluates a blur amount of the main subject and a flow amount of a background subject.
Digital camera described in. 5. The digital camera according to claim 4, wherein a spatial frequency is calculated from the image data to determine a blur amount of a main subject.