JP2007150993A - Imaging apparatus and imaging apparatus with interval imaging function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging apparatus capable of changing an imaging interval on the basis of the degree of importance of an imaged event, and to provide an imaging apparatus with an interval imaging function. <P>SOLUTION: In this imaging apparatus, an object or scene important for a user is set by an importance degree setting section 16, and the degree of importance of an image captured by an imaging section 12 is determined by an importance degree determination section 18 with the important object or the important scene set by the importance degree setting section 16 as a reference. In accordance with the degree of importance determined by the importance degree determination section 18, an imaging interval control section 11 then changes an imaging interval of the imaging section 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus having an interval shooting function that can periodically perform shooting without the user being aware of it.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an imaging apparatus having an interval shooting function that can perform shooting periodically without being conscious of a user has been developed. A camera having an imaging device having such a function is referred to as a life log camera. The life log camera is a camera that can be worn by the user at all times to record the life of the day unconsciously, taking into account the battery life and recording capacity, and taking pictures at regular time intervals. It is controlled.

  On the other hand, as a camera that photographs a subject by periodically setting a photographing interval, for example, surveillance cameras described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 below can be cited. In these surveillance cameras, a moving body can be detected by a difference between images.

  A monitoring system that intermittently captures still images of pets and views the pets from a terminal connected to the Internet is also disclosed in Patent Document 3 below.

  Further, a camera that performs interval shooting under shooting conditions according to the shooting environment is disclosed in Patent Document 4 below.

  Further, a technique for photographing a user or the like by changing the photographing timing with a security camera is described in Patent Document 5 below.

And the technique about the camera which makes an imaging | photography interval variable is described in the following patent documents 6 and 7, for example.
JP 2002-218309 A JP 2005-109557 A JP 2004-15356 A JP 2004-126242 A JP 2001-325643 A Japanese Patent No. 3015384 JP 2005-170258 A

  However, in the surveillance cameras described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, when the camera is mounted on a moving body, it is difficult to identify whether the camera itself or the subject has moved based on the difference between images. It was a thing.

  In addition, as described above, various cameras have been developed that regularly shoot regardless of the user's consciousness, but there is a demand for more detailed information about events that are important to the user. That is, there is a demand for important events to be recorded more densely than normal scenes, such as frequent shooting. However, there is no imaging apparatus having a function sufficient to meet the demand in the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 to 7.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an imaging device capable of efficiently performing dense recording of important events and an imaging device having an interval shooting function. That is.

  That is, the invention described in claim 1 is directed to a specific object or a specific scene in an imaging apparatus having an interval shooting function that acquires a time-series image by shooting a plurality of images at shooting intervals. Important object / important scene setting part that can be set as an important object or important scene, and the importance of the captured image is determined based on the important object or important scene set in the important object / important scene setting part. And an imaging interval control unit that changes the imaging interval according to the importance determined by the importance determination unit.

  The invention described in claim 2 is the invention described in claim 1, wherein the important object / important scene setting section includes a photographed image registration section for photographing and registering an important object or an important scene. And

  The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the important object / important scene setting unit includes an object / scene determination unit for identifying an object or a scene, and the object / scene determination unit. It is characterized by having an important object / important scene selection unit that can select an object or scene that is identified as important by the user.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a feature change amount calculation unit that calculates a change amount of the feature of the images before and after the captured time-series image, and the feature change amount. And a similar image deletion unit that extracts at least one image other than at least one image from an image sequence in a section in which a change amount of the feature calculated by the calculation unit is continuously smaller than a predetermined threshold value. It is characterized by.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, when the image determined by the importance level determination unit has a high level of importance, the photographing interval control unit thereafter Control is performed so that the shooting interval is shortened until the determination.

  The invention according to claim 6 is an image pickup means for continuously photographing a subject at a predetermined interval, a selection means capable of selecting an icon corresponding to a specific object or scene from the object or scene as the subject, An object / scene detection unit that detects a specific object or scene corresponding to the icon selected by the selection unit, and an object detected by the object / scene detection unit from the images captured by the imaging unit Based on the importance level determining means for determining the importance level of the scene and the importance level of the object or scene determined by the importance level determining means, the shooting interval of the imaging means for continuously shooting at a predetermined interval is changed. And an imaging interval control means.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect of the present invention, when the image determined by the importance level determination unit has a high importance level, the shooting interval control unit is Control is performed to shorten the shooting interval until the determination.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the imaging device which can change an imaging | photography space | interval from the importance of the image | photographed event, and an imaging device provided with the interval imaging | photography function can be provided. As a result, events important to the user can be recorded densely.

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

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a camera to which an imaging apparatus having an interval shooting function according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

  In FIG. 1, a camera (hereinafter referred to as a life log camera) to which an imaging apparatus having an interval shooting function is applied includes a shooting interval control unit 11, an imaging unit 12 as an imaging unit, and an image storage unit 14. A similar image deletion unit 15, an importance level setting unit 16, an importance level determination unit 18, a determination time interval control unit 19, and a feature change amount calculation unit 21.

  The imaging interval control unit 11 is for operating the shutter of the camera to control the imaging interval. The imaging unit 12 includes an imaging element such as a CCD for forming an optical image of a subject, and an imaging circuit that converts the optical image captured by the CCD into an electrical signal.

  The image storage unit 14 serves as a captured image registration unit for registering important objects and important scenes at the time of shooting set by the importance level setting unit 16. The similar image deletion unit 15 stores at least one image from an image sequence in a section in which a calculated change amount of a feature is smaller than a certain threshold value, and deletes other images. Image deletion means.

  The importance level setting unit 16 is an importance level setting unit having a function for setting an object or an important scene important for the user. An important object is a subject specified by the user, such as a member of the user's family. The important scene is a scene designated by the user, such as a specific scene including the important object, for example, a meal scene.

  The importance level determination unit 18 is an importance level determination unit for determining the importance level of a captured image with reference to the important object or the important scene set by the importance level setting unit 16. The determination time interval control unit 19 is a shooting interval control unit that changes the shooting interval according to the importance determined by the importance determination unit. Further, the feature change amount calculation unit 21 is for calculating the change amount of the feature of the images before and after the photographed time series image.

  Next, the operation of the camera configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S1, an important object for the user or an important scene is set by the importance setting unit 16 of the camera. Here, as an important object, for example, as described above, when setting a family member of a user, each face of the family member is captured in advance by the imaging unit 12 and registered in the image storage unit 14. Is done. As for important scenes, for example, a scene that is always seen in front of the table seated in the house is taken in advance by the camera and registered as an important scene. By registering in this way, a meal scene with a customer can be photographed and recorded even when a customer other than the object registered in the seat in front of the user is sitting.

  In addition, the importance setting unit 16 does not simply set a binary value indicating whether or not an object or a scene is important, but sets, for example, the most important, important, some important, etc., and the life is set accordingly. It may be converted into a numerical value between “1” and “0” inside the log camera and stored as the importance.

  Next, in step S2, shooting time intervals and determination time intervals corresponding to the importance set in step S1 are set. For example, in the case of the most important object / important scene with importance level 1, the shooting interval is taken as an extremely short video compared to the others, and in the case of an important object / important scene with importance level 0.7, the shooting interval is taken. The shooting interval is set to 10 seconds in the case of an object / important scene that is important to a certain degree of 1 second and 0.3, and the shooting interval is set to 5 minutes in the case of other importance 0. A predetermined value (default value) may be set as the initial photographing time interval and determination time interval.

  Then, the life log camera is worn by hanging from the user's neck or the like, and it is determined in step S3 whether or not the photographing time has come. Here, the time is measured in advance by a measuring unit (not shown). As a result, the determination is repeated until the shooting time is reached. When the shooting time is reached, the process proceeds to step S4, and actual shooting is performed by the imaging unit 12. The captured image is recorded in the image storage unit 14.

  Here, in step S5, it is determined whether or not it is a determination time. As a result of this determination, if the determination time has not yet been reached, the process proceeds to step S3 and the subsequent processing operations are repeated. On the other hand, when the determination time comes, the process proceeds to step S6, and the image captured in step S4 is collated with the important object / important scene set in step S1. That is, the image captured in step S4 and the image registered in the image storage unit 14 in step S1 are collated, and the similarity is determined.

  If the maximum collation value exceeds a predetermined threshold as a result of collation in step S7, the process proceeds to step S8, and the important object / important scene when the collation value is maximum is selected. Next, in step S9, the importance level of the important object / important scene selected in step S8 is determined by the importance level determination unit 18, and the shooting time interval and determination set in step S2 are determined based on the importance level. The time interval is changed. On the other hand, if the maximum collation value does not exceed the threshold value as a result of collation in step S7, the process proceeds to step S10, where the determination time interval and imaging time interval are reset and returned to the default values.

  Thereafter, in step S11, the state of a power switch (not shown) is detected. Here, if the power switch is kept on, shooting is performed based on the changed shooting interval until the next determination is made after moving to step S3. If the power switch is turned off in step S11, shooting by the life log camera is finished.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, important objects and important scenes are registered in advance, and if the photographed image is similar to this, it is determined that it is important and the photographing interval is changed. It becomes possible to photograph important events precisely.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the first embodiment described above, the important object and the important scene are registered by actually photographing the important object and the important scene in the important object and important scene setting unit. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, when setting an important object or an important scene, an important object or scene is selected by selecting an object icon or scene icon registered in the camera in advance by the user. An important scene is set.

  Hereinafter, the second embodiment will be described. The basic configuration of the camera is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and the basic shooting operation is also the same. Therefore, for these configurations and operations, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same parts, and illustration and description thereof will be omitted, and only the configurations and operations of different parts will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a camera to which an imaging apparatus having an interval shooting function according to the second embodiment of the present invention is applied.

  In FIG. 3, the life log camera includes an imaging interval control unit 11, an imaging unit 12, an image storage unit 14, a similar image deletion unit 15, an importance level setting unit 16, and an importance level determination unit 18. The determination time interval control unit 19, the icon registration unit 22, and the object / scene detection unit 23 are configured.

  The icon registration unit 22 is registered with an icon for the user to select as important when setting an important object or an important scene. As described above, the object / scene detection unit 23 is detection means for identifying an object or scene corresponding to an object icon or scene icon registered in advance in the camera from other objects. For example, when the user selects a face icon as an important object, face detection processing is performed on the captured image, and if a face is detected, it is determined that there is an important object, and if no face is detected, there is no important object. Is determined.

  The operation of the life log camera in the second embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S21, an object icon or a scene icon registered in the icon registration unit 22 is selected by the camera importance setting unit 16 so as to set an object or an important scene for the user. The Here, as described above, it is assumed that the face icon is selected as the important object.

  Next, in step S22, a shooting time interval and a determination time interval corresponding to the icon selected in step S21 are set. In step S23, it is determined whether or not the shooting time has come. Here, when the shooting time comes, the process proceeds to step S24, where actual shooting is performed by the imaging unit 12. The captured image is recorded in the image storage unit 14.

  Next, in step S25, it is determined whether it is a determination time. As a result of the determination, if the determination time has not yet been reached, the process proceeds to step S23 and the subsequent processing operations are repeated. On the other hand, when the determination time is reached, the process proceeds to step S26, and detection processing corresponding to the icon selected in step S21 is performed on the image shot in step S24, that is, the face is detected with respect to the shot image. A detection process is performed.

  In step S27, if face detection is performed, it is determined that there is an important object / important scene. In this case, the process proceeds to step S28, and an important object / important scene is selected. Next, in step S29, the importance level of the important object / important scene selected in step S28 is determined by the importance level determination unit 18. Based on the importance level, the shooting time interval set in step S22 and The determination time interval is changed.

  On the other hand, if no face is detected in step S27, it is determined that there is no important object / important scene, the process proceeds to step S30, and the determination time interval and shooting time interval are reset to the default values. It is.

  Thereafter, in step S31, the state of a power switch (not shown) is detected. Here, if the power switch is kept on, shooting is performed based on the changed shooting interval until the next determination is made after moving to step S23. If the power switch is turned off in step S31, shooting by the life log camera is completed.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, since the pre-registered icon is used for setting the important object / important scene, the important object / important scene can be set more easily than the first embodiment described above. Is possible.

  In addition, although the example of the detection of a face was demonstrated as an example of an object, it is not restricted to this. For example, flowers, mountains, rivers, men, children, pets, and the like, and examples of scenes include various patterns such as night views, sunset views, landscapes, roads, and specific places.

  Furthermore, it goes without saying that the functions of the life log camera in the second embodiment and the lyflag camera in the first embodiment described above are not independent but may be combined.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, the images taken by the life log camera are sequentially registered in the image storage unit 14, but in this third embodiment, a series of continuous image sequences. Therefore, similar scenes are determined and extracted to be removed.

  Hereinafter, the third embodiment will be described. The basic configuration of the camera is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and the basic shooting operation is also the same. Therefore, for these configurations and operations, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts, and illustration and description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the life log camera according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In the flowchart of FIG. 5, the processing operations of steps S41 to S44 and steps S47 to S53 are the same as steps S1 to S4 and steps S5 to S11 of the flowchart of FIG. 2 in the first embodiment described above. Therefore, the description will be omitted with reference to the corresponding step numbers.

  When actual shooting is performed by the imaging unit 12 in step S44, in step S45, whether or not the captured image is a scene (similar image) similar to a series of consecutively captured image sequences. Is judged. The determination of whether or not the image is a similar image is performed by the feature change amount calculation unit 21, and the change amount of the feature of the image before and after the photographed time series image is calculated, and the change of the calculated feature is calculated. This is done by comparing the quantity with a predetermined threshold. Here, if the feature change amount is continuously smaller than the predetermined threshold value, at least one image is stored from the image sequence of the continuous section, and the other images are transferred to step S46. Then, it is deleted by being extracted by the similar image deletion unit 15. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S43 and the subsequent processing operations are repeated.

  It should be noted that the images before and after the time series image are not limited to images that are moved back and forth with a unit shooting interval, but also include images that are moved back and forth with a plurality of units shooting intervals.

  On the other hand, in step S45, if the amount of change in the feature exceeds a predetermined threshold value, it is not determined that the image is a similar image. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S47 to determine whether or not the determination time is reached. Processing operations of S47 to S53 are performed.

  Thus, according to the third embodiment, the similar image deletion unit 15 determines similar scenes from a series of consecutive image series and deletes them when they are similar. It is possible to cope with a shortage of storage capacity due to a reduction in shooting interval due to an important object or an important scene.

  In addition, although this 3rd Embodiment demonstrated that the basic structure of the camera was the same as 1st Embodiment, it is applicable not only to this but the camera of 2nd Embodiment. Of course.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention other than embodiment mentioned above, this invention can be variously modified.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a camera to which an imaging apparatus having an interval shooting function according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the life log camera by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the camera with which the imaging device provided with the interval imaging | photography function which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention was applied. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the life log camera by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the life log camera by the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Shooting interval control part, 12 ... Imaging part, 14 ... Image memory | storage part, 15 ... Similar image deletion part, 16 ... Importance setting part, 18 ... Importance determination part, 19 ... Determination time interval control part, 21 ... Feature Change amount calculation unit, 22 ... icon registration unit, 23 ... object / scene detection unit.

Claims (7)

In an imaging device having an interval shooting function for acquiring a time-series image by shooting a plurality of images at shooting intervals,
An important object / important scene setting unit capable of setting a specific object or a specific scene as an important object or an important scene;
An importance level determination unit that determines the level of importance of a photographed image based on the important object or the important scene set in the important object / important scene setting unit;
A shooting interval control unit that changes the shooting interval according to the importance determined by the importance determination unit;
An imaging device comprising:   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the important object / important scene setting unit includes a captured image registration unit that captures and registers an important object or an important scene.   The important object / important scene setting unit is capable of selecting an object / scene determination unit for identifying an object / scene, and an object / scene identified by the object / scene determination unit that can be selected by the user. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an object / important scene selection unit. A feature change amount calculation unit that calculates a change amount of the feature of the images before and after the captured time-series image;
A similar image deletion unit that extracts an image other than at least one image from an image sequence of a section in which a value of a feature change calculated by the feature change amount calculation unit is smaller than a predetermined threshold;
The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:   The imaging interval control unit controls the imaging interval to be shortened until the next determination after that when the image determined by the importance level determination unit has a high importance level. Item 2. The imaging device according to Item 1. Imaging means for continuously photographing a subject at predetermined intervals;
A selection means capable of selecting an icon corresponding to a specific object or scene from the object or scene as the subject;
An object / scene detection unit for detecting a specific object or scene corresponding to the icon selected by the selection unit from the images captured by the imaging unit;
Importance determining means for determining the importance of the object or scene detected by the object / scene detector;
An imaging interval control unit that changes an imaging interval of the imaging unit that continuously captures images at a predetermined interval based on the importance level of the object or scene determined by the importance level determination unit;
An image pickup apparatus having an interval shooting function.   The imaging interval control unit controls the imaging interval to be shortened until the next determination after that when the image determined by the importance determination unit has high importance. 6. An image pickup apparatus having the interval shooting function according to 6.

Images