JP2005176248A - Imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging apparatus which is capable of outputting image data wherein the influence of camera shake is reduced, even in the case of magnification using an electronic zoom. <P>SOLUTION: An electronic camera 100 comprises an imaging device 2 for consecutively generating a plurality of image data, a motion vector detection section 4 for detecting a motion vector caused by a camera shake from the plurality of generated image data, an image segmenting section 5 for determining segmenting positions of regions determined to cancel the detected motion vector, respectively and segmenting the regions with the segmenting positions determined therefor, and an image composing section 6 for overlapping the plurality of segmented image data with each other so as not to locate pixels in the same position, and synthesizing one piece of image data having a desired resolution from the plurality of overlapped image data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, and more particularly to an imaging apparatus such as a digital video camera or a digital still camera having an electronic zoom function.

  In recent years, imaging devices such as digital video cameras and digital still cameras have been required to have high zoom magnification (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 5).

  For this reason, the development of an optical zoom that changes the focal length of the lens is underway, but in order to realize a high zoom magnification, the size of the optical zoom device increases and the cost also increases.

  Therefore, a high zoom magnification is realized in a small size and at a low cost by using an electronic zoom function that obtains a zoom effect by enlarging an image captured in a partial area of the image sensor.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a conventional imaging apparatus.

  In FIG. 4, an electronic camera 101 as an imaging device includes an optical lens system 12, an imaging device 13, a first signal processing unit 14, an image clipping unit 15, a pixel interpolation processing unit 16, and a second signal processing unit 17 in this order. Prepare in series.

  The electronic camera 101 having such a configuration performs the following processing when performing electronic zoom.

  First, light incident on the electronic camera 101 from the subject is photoelectrically converted by the image pickup device 13 via the optical lens system 12 to become image data, which is sent to the first signal processing unit 14. The first signal processing unit 14 performs processing such as pixel sampling and AGC in the image data, and the image cutout unit 15 cuts out an area to be enlarged from the processed image data. The clipped image data is subjected to pixel interpolation by the pixel interpolation processing unit 16 and generated to a desired resolution. The second signal processing unit 17 outputs the image data subjected to pixel interpolation by the pixel interpolation processing unit 16 in accordance with the output form.

In the electronic zoom mode, when the electronic camera 101 enlarges and outputs a partial region of the image data cut out by the image cutout unit 15 by the second signal processing unit 17, the electronic camera 101 is based on the pixel information of the region. The pixel interpolation processing unit 16 performs pixel interpolation by calculation.
JP 10-191135 A JP 09-130663 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-149360 JP 08-65556 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-107466

  However, the electronic zoom performed by the conventional electronic camera 101 has a problem that the resolution is lowered because a small amount of pixel information is compensated by pixel interpolation and then output after being enlarged. This problem becomes more prominent as the electronic zoom magnification increases and the ratio that must be compensated by pixel interpolation increases.

  Further, when the image is enlarged and output by the electronic zoom, since the angle of view is usually on the telephoto side, there is a problem that the quality of the image data output due to the camera shake of the photographer is deteriorated.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus capable of outputting image data with little influence of camera shake even when enlarging with an electronic zoom.

  The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data of the subject is enlarged and output by electronic zoom processing, and continuous image data generation means for continuously generating a plurality of image data from the subject by continuous shooting; Motion vector detection means for detecting a motion vector due to camera shake from a plurality of generated image data, and each region to be cut out from the plurality of image data according to a desired electronic zoom magnification, and the detected motion vector And a region extracting means for determining each of the determined cutout positions so as to cancel each of the regions and cutting out each of the regions for which the cutout positions have been determined.

  The image pickup apparatus according to claim 2 is the image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data superimposing means superimposes the image data in each of the cut out regions so that the pixels do not have the same position, and the plurality of the overlapped image data. Image data synthesizing means for synthesizing one image data having a desired resolution from the image data.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the imaging device according to the first or second aspect, the synthesized image data is used as image data for moving image output.

  The imaging apparatus according to claim 4 is the imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the number of images when the continuous shooting is performed is changed according to a size of the cut-out image. It is characterized by.

  According to the imaging apparatus according to claim 1, each region to be detected from a plurality of image data according to a desired electronic zoom magnification is detected from a plurality of image data generated by continuous shooting from a subject. Since each region is cut out at the cut-out position of each region determined so as to cancel the detected motion vector, image data with less influence of camera shake can be obtained.

  According to the imaging device according to claim 2, since one image data having a desired resolution is synthesized from an image obtained by superimposing the image data in each cut out region so that the pixels do not have the same position, Image data can be obtained.

  According to the imaging apparatus of the fourth aspect, since the number of images to be continuously captured is changed according to the size of each cut out region, it is possible to output image data with high resolution even at a high electronic zoom magnification.

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

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, an electronic camera 100 that is an imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention guides light from a subject and forms an image, and photoelectrically generates light from the image formed by the optical lens system 1. An image sensor 2 that generates image data by conversion, a first signal processor 3 that receives image data from the image sensor 2 and performs signal processing such as sampling of pixels in the data and AGC, and the first signal processor 3 The image cutout unit 5 that cuts out an area to be enlarged for each of the plurality of image data signal-processed in the above, and the image synthesis that combines the image data cut out from the area to be enlarged by the image cutout unit 5 into a desired output resolution The unit 6 and the second signal processing unit 7 that outputs the image data combined by the image combining unit 6 in accordance with the output form are provided in series in this order. In addition, the electronic camera 100 includes a motion vector detection unit 4 that detects a motion vector from the image data signal-processed by the first signal processing unit 3 and sends the motion vector to the image cutout unit 5 and the image synthesis unit 6. Prepare.

  Hereinafter, the electronic zoom process executed by the electronic camera 100 will be described.

  In this process, the electronic camera 100 continuously captures a plurality of images to obtain one image output.

  First, when a plurality of images are continuously captured by the electronic camera 100, the image sensor 2 (continuous image data generating means) receives light incident from the subject through the optical lens system 1 every time the image is captured. Image data is generated by photoelectric conversion on the image plane, and the generated image data is output to the first signal processing unit 3. Each time image data is output from the image sensor 2, the first signal processing unit 3 performs processing such as sampling of pixels in the image data, AGC, etc., and processing the processed image data with the image clipping unit 5 and the motion vector. It sends to the detection part 4 simultaneously.

  The motion vector detection unit 4 (motion vector detection means) continuously compares and analyzes the image data sent from the first signal processing unit 3, detects a motion vector due to camera shake, and detects the detected motion vector. Are sent to the image cutout unit 5 and the image rigid unit 6. For example, a technique using an acceleration sensor is used to detect a motion vector due to camera shake.

  The image cutout unit 5 determines a cutout region from a desired electronic zoom magnification of the plurality of image data sent from the first signal processing unit 3. More specifically, the larger the desired electronic zoom magnification, the smaller the area to be cut out, and the smaller the desired electronic zoom magnification, the larger the area to be cut out. Next, the image cutout unit 5 (region cutout unit) determines the cutout position of the region of each image data so that the motion vector due to the camera shake detected by the motion vector detection unit 4 is canceled, Cut out the data.

  The image synthesizing unit 6 (image data superimposing means) performs a superimposition process shown in FIG. 2 to be described later, which superimposes a plurality of image data cut out by the image cutout unit 5. Further, the image synthesis unit 6 (image data synthesis means) synthesizes image data having a predetermined output resolution by sampling from the plurality of image data subjected to the superimposition processing. The second signal processing unit 7 outputs the image data combined by the image combining unit 6 according to the output form. As a result, when the image is magnified and output with the electronic zoom, the angle of view is on the telephoto side, so it is possible to reliably prevent the problem that the quality of the image data output due to the camera shake of the photographer is deteriorated, and high quality Image data can be output.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart of image processing executed by the image composition unit in FIG.

  In the following processing, a case where there are two image data (FIG. 3) will be described in order to simplify the description.

  In FIG. 2, first, image data 9a and 10a (FIG. 3 (a)) obtained by cutting out areas to be enlarged by the image cutout unit 5 are acquired for each of the image data 9 and 10 (step S21).

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the image data 9a and 10a are overlaid with an accuracy of a pixel unit or less (step S22). This superposition is performed so that the pixels of the image data 9a and 10a are not in the same position. More specifically, the processing is performed so that the pixels of the images 9a and 10a are shifted by half of the pixel interval.

  Thereafter, the image data 11 (FIG. 3C) having a predetermined output resolution is synthesized by sampling from the image data 9a and 10a superimposed in step S22 (step S23), and this process is terminated.

  According to this process, the image composition unit 6 superimposes the image data 9a and 10a obtained by extracting the region to be enlarged by the image cutout unit 5 with an accuracy of a pixel unit or less (step S22), and the overlaid image data 9a. , 10a to synthesize image data 11 having a predetermined output resolution by sampling (step S23), and thus, after supplementing a small amount of pixel information from one image data by pixel interpolation as in the case of an electronic zoom by a conventional electronic camera, the image data 11 is enlarged. Therefore, high-resolution image data can be output.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, when shooting with the electronic camera 100 mounted on a tripod, camera shake does not occur, so there is almost no effect. However, when shooting with the electronic camera 100 held by hand, camera shake causes It is possible to effectively prevent the quality of the output image data from being deteriorated. In particular, when the electronic camera 100 is photographed by hand, when the electronic zoom is performed, since the angle of view becomes telephoto, the influence of camera shake becomes significant and a sufficient effect can be obtained.

  In this embodiment, the image data captured by the electronic camera 100 is used to output as a still image. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the image data is used to output as a moving image. The same effect can be achieved. Further, as the electronic zoom magnification is increased, by increasing the number of times of photographing to obtain one output image, it is possible to output high resolution image data even at a high electronic zoom magnification.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart of the image process performed by the image synthetic | combination part in FIG. (A)-(c) is a figure explaining the image process performed by the image synthetic | combination part in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the conventional imaging device.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Electronic camera 1 Optical lens system 2 Image pick-up element 3 1st signal processing part 4 Motion vector detection part 5 Image clipping part 6 Image composition part 7 2nd signal processing part

Claims (4)

In an imaging device that enlarges and outputs image data of a subject by electronic zoom processing,
Continuous image data generating means for continuously generating a plurality of image data from the subject by continuous shooting;
Motion vector detection means for detecting a motion vector due to camera shake from the plurality of generated image data;
In accordance with a desired electronic zoom magnification, each region to be cut out from the plurality of image data is determined, and the cut-out position of each of the determined regions is determined so as to cancel the detected motion vector. An imaging apparatus comprising: an area cutting means for cutting out each area whose position is determined. Image data superimposing means for superimposing image data in each of the clipped regions so that the pixels are not at the same position;
The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: image data synthesis means for synthesizing one image data having a desired resolution from the plurality of superimposed image data.   3. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the synthesized image data is used as image data for moving image output.   4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of images when the continuous shooting is performed is changed according to a size of each of the cut out regions. 5.

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