JP2006253804A - Photographing apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a photographing apparatus and a photographing method for easily selecting an important region corresponding to the region of interest of a user from a photographed image. <P>SOLUTION: The photographing apparatus photographs the region of interest determined by zooming of the desired region, photographs the image of a photographing region including the region of interest at a desired layout and a zoom magnification, stores the photographed image to a temporary memory 18, and a template matching execution section 26 particularizes the important region corresponding to the region of interest in the image of the photographing region on the basis of the image of the region of interest. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus having a function of selecting an important region corresponding to a region of interest of a user in a photographed image, and a photographing method in such a photographing device.

Patent Document 1 proposes a digital camera that corrects the brightness so that the brightness of an image in the assist frame is appropriate when an object is captured with an assist frame set. Here, some assist frames are displayed in extreme sizes and positions, and an assist frame corresponding to a subject is selected by an assist frame selection switch.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-8062

  However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to select an appropriate frame from various positions and sizes of assist frames, and there is a problem that the user cannot easily select. In particular, in a situation where assist frames are set for a plurality of people, such as when taking a group photo, the burden on the user increases as the number of people increases.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a photographing apparatus and a photographing method that can easily select an important region corresponding to a user's region of interest from a photographed image.

One aspect of the imaging device of the present invention is:
An imaging unit that acquires an image of the region of interest determined by zooming the desired region, and acquires an image of the imaging region including the region of interest with a desired composition and zoom magnification;
Based on the image of the region of interest acquired by the imaging unit, an important region specifying unit that specifies an important region corresponding to the region of interest in the image of the imaging region acquired by the imaging unit;
It is characterized by comprising.

One aspect of the photographing method of the present invention is as follows.
A region of interest imaging process for obtaining an image of a region of interest determined by zooming the desired region;
A main photographing step of acquiring an image of a photographing region including the region of interest with a desired composition and zoom magnification;
Based on the image acquired in the region of interest imaging step, an important region specifying step of specifying an important region corresponding to the region of interest in the image acquired in the main imaging step;
It is characterized by comprising.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the imaging | photography apparatus and imaging | photography method which can select easily the important area | region corresponding to a user's interested area | region from a picked-up image can be provided.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The imaging apparatus includes an optical system 12, a zoom magnification control unit 14, an image sensor 16, a temporary memory 18, and a region of interest size conversion unit 20. , An electronic image enlargement / reduction unit 22, an image display unit 24, a template matching execution unit 26, and a memory 28.

  Here, the optical system 12 includes an optical zoom lens, and the zoom magnification is performed by the zoom magnification control unit 14 in accordance with a user operation of a zoom button (not shown).

  The image sensor 16 captures a subject image formed by the optical system 12, and the captured image is stored in the temporary memory 18. Note that the captured image does not mean only an image captured during so-called main shooting in which the entire composition is determined, and the image display unit 24 such as an electronic viewfinder or a liquid crystal display is used for determining the composition and focusing. In addition, an image photographed to display a so-called through image is also included. Furthermore, in this embodiment, as will be described later, zoom-up presentation shooting is performed for the user to designate a region of interest, and an image acquired at that time is also included.

  The temporary memory 18 further stores the zoom magnification set by the zoom magnification control unit 14.

  The region-of-interest size conversion unit 20 converts the size of the region of interest as described later from the zoom magnification at the time of zoom-up presentation shooting and the zoom magnification at the time of main shooting stored in the temporary memory 18. .

  The electronic image enlargement / reduction unit 22 electronically enlarges / reduces the captured image for the through image stored in the temporary memory 18 in accordance with a user operation of a zoom button (not shown) to the image display unit 24. indicate. In addition, it has a function of reducing the captured image stored during the zoom-up presentation shooting stored in the temporary memory 18 to the converted size converted by the region-of-interest size conversion unit 20.

  The template matching execution unit 26 uses the captured image at the time of zoom-up presentation shooting reduced by the electronic image enlargement / reduction unit 22 as a template, and performs template matching on the captured image at the time of actual shooting stored in the temporary memory 18. Processing is executed, and a region that matches the region of interest is extracted as an important region. The extracted position and size of the important area are stored and recorded in the memory 28 in association with the photographed image at the time of actual photographing. This association can be recorded as Exif information in an image file of a captured image, for example.

  Next, the operation of the photographing apparatus 10 having such a configuration will be described with reference to the operation flowchart of FIG.

  That is, first, the zoom magnification and the captured image at the time of zoom-up presentation shooting are acquired and stored in the temporary memory 18 (step ST101). This is because the optical zoom of the optical system 12 by the zoom magnification control unit 14 is used, and as shown in the upper part of FIG. Then, for example, a shutter button (not shown) is half-pressed or fully pressed to capture the captured image and the zoom magnification at that time into the temporary memory 18. When digital zoom by the electronic image enlargement / reduction unit 22 is used, the zoom magnification of the digital zoom is stored in the temporary memory 18.

  Separately, the main photographing is performed with the composition desired by the user as shown in the lower part of FIG. 3, and the zoom magnification and the photographed image at the time of the main photographing are stored in the temporary memory 18 (step ST102). This is based on the premise of shooting in a situation where the distance between the subject and the shooting device 10 does not change.

  Here, either the zoom-up presentation shooting or the main shooting may be performed first.

  Next, the region-of-interest size conversion unit 20 reads out the zoom magnifications at the time of zoom-up presentation shooting and main shooting stored in the temporary memory 18 (step ST103), and uses the ratio to perform the main shooting. The size of the region of interest 30 in the display screen 24A, that is, the captured image acquired by the actual imaging is converted (step ST104).

  Then, the electronic image enlargement / reduction unit 22 reads out the photographed image at the time of zoom-up presentation photographing stored in the temporary memory 18 (step ST105), and the photographed image is about the size converted in step ST104. A template is created by reducing the size (step ST106).

  After that, the captured image at the time of actual photographing stored in the temporary memory 18 is read (step ST107), and the template (reduced image) created at step ST106 is correlated while shifting in the captured image at the time of actual photographing. A template matching process for performing the process is executed (step ST108). As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, the important regions 34 corresponding to the region of interest in the captured image 32 at the time of actual photographing are extracted, and their positions are obtained (step ST109). Then, the positions and sizes of these important areas 34 are stored in the memory 28 in association with the captured image 32 at the time of the actual capturing (step ST110).

  As described above, in the present embodiment, in order to present one main subject to the image capturing apparatus 10, zooming is performed so that only the main subject is captured, and the main composition is determined when the entire composition is determined. Take two shots for convenience of shooting, zoom-in presentation Use the ratio of the magnification at the time of shooting and the zoom magnification at the time of main shooting, convert the size of the main subject during the main shooting, and present the zoom-up A template is created by reducing the size of the captured image at the time of shooting, and template matching processing with the captured image at the time of actual shooting is performed, so that the position of the main subject in the captured image 32 at the time of actual shooting can be known. .

  Accordingly, when there are a plurality of similar subjects in the photographed image 32 at the time of the main photographing, the photographing device can determine the positions and sizes of the subjects without forcing the user to perform a plurality of setting operations. Since it can obtain | require by 10 side, a user's burden can be reduced significantly.

  In addition, since an important area corresponding to the user's area of interest can be selected using an existing device without providing an interface such as a touch panel, this function can be realized at low cost.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on one Embodiment, this invention is not limited to one Embodiment mentioned above, Of course, a various deformation | transformation and application are possible within the range of the summary of this invention. It is.

  For example, the user directly designates the region of interest by zooming up, but a designation method other than zoom-in or an indirect designation method may be employed.

  In addition, although everything is performed within the imaging device, for example, the captured images and zoom magnification at the time of zoom-up presentation shooting and main shooting stored in a temporary memory are transferred to an external device such as a computer and the information is stored in the information. Based on this, an important area may be selected by an external device.

  Furthermore, the photographing apparatus is not limited to a digital camera. That is, in the case of a film camera using an APS film provided with a magnetic recording unit, information indicating whether zoom-up presentation shooting or actual shooting or zoom magnification information can be magnetically recorded on the film. It is possible to select an important area by using a photographed image converted into digital data and the like and magnetic recording information thereof.

(Appendix)
The invention having the following configuration can be extracted from the specific embodiment.

(1) An imaging unit that acquires an image of a region of interest determined by zooming a desired region, and acquires an image of the imaging region including the region of interest with a desired composition and zoom magnification;
Based on the image of the region of interest acquired by the imaging unit, an important region specifying unit that specifies an important region corresponding to the region of interest in the image of the imaging region acquired by the imaging unit;
An imaging apparatus comprising:

(Correspondence with embodiment)
The photographing unit corresponds to, for example, the optical system 12, the zoom magnification control unit 14, the image sensor 16, the temporary memory 18, the electronic image enlargement / reduction unit 22, and the image display unit 24. The important region specifying means corresponds to, for example, the region of interest size conversion unit 20, the electronic image enlargement / reduction unit 22, the image display unit 24, and the template matching execution unit 26.

(Function and effect)
According to the photographing apparatus described in (1), an important region corresponding to the user's region of interest can be easily selected from the photographed image, and the burden on the user can be greatly reduced. Moreover, since an important area corresponding to the user's area of interest can be selected using an existing device, this function can be realized at low cost.

  (2) The recording apparatus according to (1), further comprising recording means for recording information representing the important area specified by the important area specifying means in association with an image of the shooting area acquired by the shooting means. The photographing apparatus described.

(Correspondence with embodiment)
The recording means corresponds to the memory 28, for example.

(Function and effect)
According to the photographing apparatus described in (2), information representing an important area is recorded in association with a photographed image at the time of actual photographing, so that information representing the important area can be used whenever necessary. . Further, the recorded information can be transferred to an external device and used in the device.

  (3) The important region specifying unit performs template matching on the image of the imaging region acquired by the imaging unit, using the image of the region of interest acquired by the imaging unit as a template, thereby determining the important region. The imaging apparatus according to (1), further including a template matching means for specifying.

(Correspondence with embodiment)
The template matching unit corresponds to the template matching execution unit 26, for example.

(Function and effect)
According to the photographing apparatus described in (3), since the user's desired image is used as a template, the user's desired important area can be searched.

  (4) The important region specifying unit creates a template by converting the image of the region of interest acquired by the imaging unit into a size that matches the zoom magnification of the image of the imaging region acquired by the imaging unit. The image taking apparatus according to (3), further including a template creating unit.

(Correspondence with embodiment)
The template creation means corresponds to, for example, the region of interest size conversion unit 20 and the electronic image enlargement / reduction unit 22.

(Function and effect)
According to the photographing apparatus described in (4), since it is not necessary to perform template matching while changing the size of the template, high-speed processing is possible.

(5) a region of interest imaging step of acquiring an image of the region of interest determined by zooming the desired region;
A main photographing step of acquiring an image of a photographing region including the region of interest with a desired composition and zoom magnification;
Based on the image acquired in the region of interest imaging step, an important region specifying step of specifying an important region corresponding to the region of interest in the image acquired in the main imaging step;
A photographing method characterized by comprising:

(Correspondence with embodiment)
The region of interest imaging process corresponds to, for example, step ST101. The main photographing process corresponds to, for example, step ST102. The important region specifying process corresponds to, for example, steps ST103 to ST109.

(Function and effect)
According to the photographing method described in (5), an important region corresponding to the user's region of interest can be easily selected from the photographed image, and the burden on the user can be greatly reduced. Moreover, since an important area corresponding to the user's area of interest can be selected using an existing device, this function can be realized at low cost.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an operation flowchart of the photographing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining zoom-up presentation shooting and main shooting. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing selected important areas in the captured image.

Explanation of symbols

    DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Imaging device, 12 ... Optical system, 14 ... Zoom magnification control part, 16 ... Imaging device, 18 ... Temporary memory, 20 ... Region-of-interest size conversion part, 22 ... Electronic image expansion / reduction part, 24 ... Image display part 24A ... display screen, 26 ... template matching execution unit, 28 ... memory, 30 ... region of interest, 32 ... captured image, 34 ... important region.

Claims (5)

An imaging unit that acquires an image of the region of interest determined by zooming the desired region, and acquires an image of the imaging region including the region of interest with a desired composition and zoom magnification;
Based on the image of the region of interest acquired by the imaging unit, an important region specifying unit that specifies an important region corresponding to the region of interest in the image of the imaging region acquired by the imaging unit;
An imaging apparatus comprising:   2. The photographing according to claim 1, further comprising recording means for recording information representing the important area specified by the important area specifying means in association with the image of the photographing area acquired by the photographing means. apparatus.   The important area specifying means uses the image of the region of interest acquired by the imaging means as a template and performs template matching on the image of the imaging area acquired by the imaging means, thereby specifying the important area The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a matching unit.   The important region specifying unit converts the image of the region of interest acquired by the imaging unit into a size that matches the zoom magnification of the image of the imaging region acquired by the imaging unit, and generates a template. The imaging device according to claim 3, comprising: A region of interest imaging process for obtaining an image of a region of interest determined by zooming the desired region;
A main photographing step of acquiring an image of a photographing region including the region of interest with a desired composition and zoom magnification;
Based on the image acquired in the region of interest imaging step, an important region specifying step of specifying an important region corresponding to the region of interest in the image acquired in the main imaging step;
A photographing method characterized by comprising:

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