JP2007164534A - Electronic equipment and imaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging device configured to achieve position measurement by a GPS, reduced in cost, and improved in position detection accuracy and retrieval speed. <P>SOLUTION: This electronic equipment has: a reception part 11 acquiring latitude/longitude information of a present position on the basis of the GPS; a position information DB 14 storing a place name table comprising place name information and latitude/longitude information corresponding thereto; an MPU 12 searching the position information DB 14, extracting the latitude/longitude information according with or approximate to the latitude/longitude information acquired by the reception part 11, and acquiring the place name information corresponding to the extracted latitude/longitude information; a display control part 22 displaying a video signal and the place name information on a display part 23; and a recording control part 18 recording the video signal and the place name information in an information medium 15. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention can search a place name of a current position based on latitude and longitude information acquired by a global positioning system (GPS), and can record the searched position information on an information medium together with a captured image. Regarding equipment. Further, the present invention relates to an imaging device in which an electronic device is equipped with a shooting function.

  In recent years, imaging devices such as digital still cameras and digital video cameras are rapidly spreading, and various functions that can improve usability are installed. In particular, a configuration has been proposed in which a GPS antenna is mounted on an imaging device, and positional information of a shooting location is recorded on an information medium together with a shot image. Hereinafter, an imaging apparatus which is an example of an electronic device based on the same technical idea as that of Patent Document 1 will be described.

  FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional imaging apparatus. In FIG. 18, the receiving unit 102 receives position information transmitted from the GPS satellite 200 via the GPS antenna 101. The received position information is composed of latitude and longitude information.

  A microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as MPU) 103 searches information in the map database 106 and extracts position information that matches the position information received by the receiving unit 102. In this configuration, the location information extracted by the MPU 103 is a town / village name.

  The imaging unit 107 includes a lens, an imaging element, and the like, and converts an incident optical image into an electrical signal by the imaging element via the lens. The signal processing unit 108 generates an image signal based on the electrical signal output from the imaging unit 107, performs image signal processing such as noise removal and white balance, and then performs image compression processing.

  The recording control unit 104 records the position information output from the MPU 103 and the image signal output from the signal processing unit 108 on the information medium 105. The information medium 105 is often composed of a memory card on which a semiconductor memory is mounted.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the imaging apparatus will be described.

  In FIG. 18, when the power of the imaging apparatus 100 is turned on, the receiving unit 102 acquires position information from the GPS satellite 200 via the antenna 101. The position information acquired by the receiving unit 102 is output to the MPU 103. The MPU 103 searches the position information stored in the map database 106 and extracts position information that matches the position information input from the receiving unit 102. In this configuration, the location information extracted by the MPU 103 is a town / village name such as “town A”.

  Next, when a shutter button (not shown) is operated, the imaging unit 107 photoelectrically converts the incident optical image and outputs an electrical signal. The signal processing unit 108 generates an image signal based on the electrical signal output from the imaging unit 107, and performs signal processing such as noise removal and image quality adjustment. The image signal subjected to signal processing is subjected to compression processing in a compression format such as JPEG, for example. The compressed image signal is output to the recording control unit 104.

  The recording control unit 104 causes the information medium 105 to record the image signal output from the signal processing unit 108 and the position information output from the MPU 103.

  As a result, when the shutter button is operated to capture a still image, the current position information composed of the town and village names can be recorded on the information medium 105.

  Next, the position search method will be described.

  FIG. 19A is a schematic diagram for explaining a conventional position search method, and shows map data stored in the map database 106 in a matrix. FIG. 19B is a diagram schematically showing the data structure of town names and representative points. Each square in FIG. 19A indicates a small area such as a town or village, and a black dot in each square indicates a representative point in each small area. Each representative point in FIG. 19B stores the latitude and longitude information of the representative point.

The MPU 103 in FIG. 18 searches the map database 106 based on the position information output from the receiving unit 102. The map database 106 stores map data of all over Japan and is searched based on latitude and longitude data output from the receiving unit 102. Here, when the current position is the position indicated by the current position point 62 in the map data 61 shown in FIG. 19A, the closest representative point is the representative point 63a. Since the representative point 63a is a representative point of E town as shown in FIG. 19B, the position information extracted by the MPU 103 is “E town”.
JP-A-4-354485

  However, in the above configuration, since map data for Japan is stored in the map database 106, it is necessary to install a large-capacity memory in order to store the map database 106, resulting in an increase in cost. There is. In addition, it is conceivable to install a disc-shaped medium containing map data, which is commonly used in car navigation systems, etc., in this device, but digital still cameras and digital video cameras are becoming smaller in size. It is not realistic.

  In addition, when the measured position information is an intermediate point between a plurality of representative points, there is a problem that it may be erroneously detected as an adjacent town and village. For example, in FIG. 19, when the current position point 62 that has been positioned is located at the same distance from the representative point 63 d and the representative point 63 e, the actual position point 62 is “F town” although it is actually located in the E town. There is a possibility of false detection.

  In view of the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic apparatus and an imaging apparatus that can reduce the cost and improve the position detection accuracy and the search speed in a configuration capable of positioning by GPS.

  In order to solve the above problems, an electronic device of the present invention receives a signal radio wave from a GPS satellite, decodes the received signal to acquire latitude and longitude information of the current position, place name information, A database in which a place name table composed of latitude / longitude information corresponding to the place name information is stored, and the latitude / longitude information that matches or approximates the latitude / longitude information that is searched in the database and acquired by the GPS receiver. And a search unit that acquires the place name information corresponding to the extracted latitude and longitude information, and the search unit obtains the latitude acquired by the GPS receiving unit when acquiring the place name information from the database. Latitude / longitude information including latitude information that matches or approximates the information is extracted, and the longitude acquired by the GPS receiver from the extracted latitude / longitude information And extracts the latitude and longitude information includes longitude information that matches or approximates a distribution.

  In order to solve the above problems, an imaging apparatus of the present invention includes an imaging unit that captures an incident optical image, a signal processing unit that generates a video signal based on the optical image captured by the imaging unit, An imaging apparatus comprising: a display unit capable of displaying a video signal output from the signal processing unit; and an information medium capable of recording a video signal output from the signal processing unit, wherein a signal radio wave from a GPS satellite A place name table that includes a GPS receiver that decodes the received signal to obtain latitude and longitude information of the current position, place name information, and latitude and longitude information corresponding to the place name information is stored. Before searching the database and the database, extracting the latitude / longitude information that matches or approximates the latitude / longitude information acquired by the GPS receiver, and corresponding to the extracted latitude / longitude information A search unit for acquiring place name information, a video signal output from the signal processing unit, a display control unit for displaying the place name information acquired by the search unit on the display unit, and an output from the signal processing unit A recording control unit for recording the video signal and the place name information acquired by the search unit onto the information medium, and the search unit is acquired by the GPS receiving unit when acquiring the place name information from the database. Latitude / longitude information including latitude information that matches or approximates the latitude information is extracted, and longitude information that matches or approximates the longitude information acquired by the GPS receiver is extracted from the extracted latitude / longitude information. The included latitude and longitude information is extracted.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the map data is not stored in the database, but the place name data composed of administrative division names and the like are stored. Therefore, a small-capacity memory can be installed, and the cost is reduced. be able to.

  Moreover, the accuracy of the place name information with respect to the measured current position can be improved.

  Also, when searching in the database, after searching for one of the latitude information and longitude information, searching for the other information, the search time can be shortened. Can do.

  In the electronic apparatus and the imaging apparatus of the present invention, when the place name information is acquired from the database, the search unit extracts latitude / longitude information including longitude information that matches or approximates the longitude information acquired by the GPS reception unit. And it is good also as a structure which extracts the latitude longitude information containing the latitude information which corresponds or approximates to the latitude information acquired by the said GPS receiving part from the extracted said latitude longitude information.

  In the imaging apparatus of the present invention, the place name information may be constituted by an administrative division name.

  The place name table stored in the database may be composed of landmark names and latitude / longitude information corresponding to the landmark names.

  The place name table stored in the database may be sorted by latitude information or longitude information.

(Embodiment 1)
1. 1. Description of Configuration and Basic Operation FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an imaging apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, in which a position detection device is mounted. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of a digital still camera which is an example of an imaging apparatus.

  In FIG. 1, a receiving unit 11 receives position information transmitted from a GPS satellite 10 via a GPS antenna 13. The received position information is composed of latitude and longitude information, for example.

  In FIG. 1, a position information database (hereinafter referred to as position information DB) 14 stores, for example, latitude / longitude information of representative points arbitrarily set in map data in Japan and place name information corresponding to the latitude / longitude information. Has been. In other words, the location information DB 14 does not store map data for all of Japan as in the past, but stores the latitude and longitude information of representative points, and has a configuration with much less data than the conventional configuration. It has become. The place name information stored in the position information DB 14 is information on administrative divisions such as cities and wards, for example, and one or more representative points correspond to one place name information. Note that the place name information stored in the position information DB 14 is information at the prefecture or city level in the case of Japan as in this description, but may be foreign administrative division information. For example, in the case of the United States, it is information on states, special districts, prefectures and cities, and in the case of China, it is information on first-class administrative divisions (provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities), prefectures and provinces. In this way, by storing information all over the world, the present apparatus can be used overseas.

  The microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as MPU) 12 (search unit) searches the information in the position information DB 14 based on the latitude / longitude information input from the reception unit 11 and matches the latitude / longitude information input from the reception unit 13. Alternatively, approximate latitude and longitude information is extracted, and place name information corresponding to the extracted latitude and longitude information is acquired. The acquired place name information is stored in the memory 17. A detailed search method will be described later.

  The imaging unit 16 includes a lens, an imaging device, and the like, and converts an incident optical image into an electrical signal by the imaging device via the lens and outputs the electrical signal. Note that the image pickup device in the image pickup unit 16 is configured by, for example, a CCD image sensor, a CMOS sensor, or the like.

  The video signal processing unit 21 generates a video signal based on the electrical signal output from the imaging unit 16, performs video signal processing such as noise removal and white balance, and then performs image compression processing.

  The recording control unit 18 records the place name information output from the MPU 12 and the video signal output from the video signal processing unit 21 on the information medium 105. The information medium 105 is often constituted by a memory card on which a semiconductor memory is mounted, a disk-shaped medium such as an optical disk or a magnetic disk, and the like.

  The display control unit 22 controls the display unit 23 to display the place name information output from the MPU 12 and the video signal output from the video signal processing unit 21. The information to be displayed on the display unit 23 may be both the place name information and the video signal, or may be either one, and the display content can be arbitrarily set by the user. When both the place name information and the video signal are displayed simultaneously, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, there is a method in which the place name information is superimposed and displayed on the video signal by an OSD (On Screen Display) function.

  The operation unit 20 includes operation buttons and operation levers that can be arbitrarily operated by the user. For example, the cursor key 28, the determination button 29, the release button 30, and the like in FIG.

  The control unit 19 controls the reception unit 11, the MPU 12, the imaging unit 16, and the like based on the operation content in the operation unit 20. Note that the control target of the control unit 19 is not limited to the above.

  Further, the GPS antenna 13 and the receiving unit 11 are built in the form of a GPS module 24 inside a camera 25 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the GPS module 24 is arranged so as to be positioned in the vicinity of the upper part in the camera 25 when the camera 25 is in the upright posture, so that the reception sensitivity can be increased.

  2A is a perspective view of the camera 25 as viewed from the lens side, and FIG. 2B is a perspective view of the camera 25 as viewed from the back side. As shown in FIG. 2A, on the front side of the camera 25, a lens unit 26 on which an optical image that is reflected light from a subject is incident, a strobe light emitting unit, and the like are arranged. Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, on the back side of the camera 25, a display unit 27 capable of displaying an image being taken (through image), an image read from an information medium, and the like, and a user vertically and horizontally An operable cursor key 28, a determination button 29 capable of determining various settings, and the like are arranged. A release button 30 is disposed on the upper surface of the camera 25.

  The operation will be described below.

  In FIG. 1, when the operation unit 20 is operated and the power of the camera 1 is turned on, each unit is activated under the control of the control unit 19. Note that GPS positioning may be performed when the power is turned on.

  Next, when the release button (release button 30 in FIG. 2) in the operation unit 20 is operated, the control unit 19 controls the imaging unit 16 to capture the incident optical image. A signal imaged and output by the imaging unit 16 is input to the video signal processing unit 21 and converted into a video signal, and is subjected to image compression processing and the like.

  On the other hand, at the time of release operation, the control unit 19 controls the receiving unit 11 to perform positioning processing by GPS. That is, the latitude / longitude information of the current position is acquired from the GPS satellite 10 via the GPS antenna 13. The latitude / longitude information acquired by the receiving unit 11 is output to the MPU 12. The MPU 12 temporarily stores the latitude / longitude information input from the receiving unit 11 in the memory 17 and searches the position information DB 14 for latitude / longitude information that matches or approximates the latitude / longitude information. After the search, the place name information corresponding to the latitude / longitude information extracted from the position information DB 14 is temporarily stored in the memory 17. Note that the place name information extracted from the position information DB 14 in the MPU 12 is information composed of administrative divisions at the city level, which is a larger area than the town and village levels as in the prior art.

  In addition, when searching the position information DB 14, the accuracy can be improved by performing the search in two steps. That is, first, a plurality of latitude / longitude information approximate to the latitude / longitude information acquired by GPS is acquired from the position information DB 14. Next, latitude / longitude information that is closest to the latitude / longitude information acquired from the GPS is extracted from the plurality of latitude / longitude information acquired from the position information DB 14.

  Next, when the captured video signal is recorded on the information medium 15, the recording control unit 18 outputs the video signal output from the video signal processing unit 21 and the place name information output from the MPU 12 to the information medium 15. Control to record. The place name information is written in the setting information in the image file of the video signal.

  When the captured video signal is displayed on the display unit 23, the display control unit 22 signals the video signal output from the video signal processing unit 21 so that the place name information output from the MPU 12 is superimposed on the video signal. It is processed and displayed on the display unit 23. An example of the display state is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a state where the place name information is displayed together with the video signal. As shown in information 2 in FIG. 3, information on the shooting location such as “location: city A” can be displayed together with the shooting date and time.

  Next, the operation during shooting will be described in more detail.

  FIG. 4 shows an operation flow at the time of shooting. 5 to 9 schematically show examples of messages displayed on the display unit.

  In FIG. 4, when the user operates the release button in the operation unit 20 of the camera (step S11), the control unit 19 controls the imaging unit 16 to perform an imaging operation and accesses the MPU 12 in memory. Control.

  The imaging unit 16 converts the incident optical image into an electrical signal and outputs the electrical signal to the video signal processing unit 21. The video signal processing unit 21 generates a video signal based on the input electrical signal.

  On the other hand, the MPU 12 accesses the memory 17 (step S12), and checks whether the place name information is stored in the memory 17 (step S13). If the place name information is stored in the memory 17, the place name information is read from the memory 17 (step S14). The read place name information is displayed on the display unit 23 through the display control unit 22 together with the video signal output from the video signal processing unit 21 (step S15). The display state at this time is shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a message 41 is displayed so as to be superimposed on the video signal (captured video) displayed on the display unit 23. In this example, since the place name information read from the memory 17 is “A city”, the message 41 displays a confirmation message “Are you sure about A city?”. The user operates the cursor button 28 and the decision button 29 (see FIG. 2) on the message 41 displayed as shown in FIG. 5, and selects either “OK” or “NG”. (Step S16). When “OK” is selected in FIG. 5, the captured video signal and place name information are recorded on the information medium 15 via the recording control unit 18 (step S17).

  On the other hand, if the place name information is not stored in the memory 17 (step S13), or the user selects “NG” in response to the message 41 shown in FIG. 5 (step S16), the information is re-displayed as shown in FIG. A message 42 that prompts positioning is displayed (step S19). The user operates the cursor button 28 and the determination button 29 (see FIG. 2) on the message 42 displayed as shown in FIG. 6, and selects either “OK” or “NG”. (Step S20).

  When “OK” is selected in FIG. 6, the control unit 19 (see FIG. 1) controls the receiving unit 11 to acquire latitude / longitude information from the GPS satellite 10 (step S <b> 21). During GPS positioning, for example, a message 43 as shown in FIG. Furthermore, by displaying the mark 44 displayed on the display unit 23 blinking during GPS positioning, it is possible to accurately notify the user that positioning is in progress.

  When the GPS positioning is completed, the location information DB 14 is accessed based on the acquired latitude / longitude information to acquire the place name information (step S22). The acquired place name information is stored in the memory 17.

  Next, the acquired place name information is recorded on the information medium 15 together with the video signal (step S17). When the place name information is acquired, the video signal and the place name information may be recorded on the information medium 15 without displaying a message, but the positioning result may be displayed as shown in FIG. Also, a message as shown in FIG. 5 may be displayed to prompt the user to make a determination again. Further, when the reception sensitivity is poor and the latitude / longitude information cannot be acquired from the GPS satellite 10, a message as shown in FIG. 9 may be displayed.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S20 that the user does not need positioning, the positioning operation is not performed and only the video signal is recorded on the information medium 15 (step S23).

  After the above shooting operation, if the camera is turned off, the process is terminated, but if shooting is continued, the process returns to step S11 (step S18).

2. Location search method
2-1. Search operation (1)
Next, the position search operation in the MPU 12 will be described.

  The information stored in the position information DB 14 in FIG. 1 is configured as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B. FIG. 10A is a schematic diagram for explaining the position search method according to the first embodiment, and schematically shows a state in which map information is divided into a matrix. FIG. 10B is a diagram schematically showing the data structure of place name information (city name) and representative point data, and the data shown in FIG. 10B is stored in the position information DB 14. Each representative point data in FIG. 10B stores latitude and longitude information corresponding to the representative point. In addition, city name is stored in the place name information in FIG. 10B.

  Further, in FIG. 10A, the minimum grid divided by the thin line indicates a small area. Moreover, the largest grid divided | segmented by the thick line has shown large areas 31a, 31b, ... corresponded to administrative divisions, such as a city ward, for example. In the present embodiment, one large area is constituted by nine small areas. The large area 31a is not limited to the administrative division of the city, but may be an area corresponding to the administrative division of the prefecture. The black dots in the small areas indicate representative points 34 in each small area, and at least one representative point is set in each small area.

  The operation will be described below.

  The MPU 12 in FIG. 1 searches the representative point data in the position information DB 14 based on the latitude / longitude information input from the receiving unit 11, and has the representative point having latitude / longitude information that matches or approximates the input latitude / longitude information. Extract data.

  Specifically, the difference between the input latitude / longitude information and the latitude / longitude information of the representative point data stored in the place name table 32 shown in FIG. 10B is calculated, and at least the representative point data having the smallest difference value is calculated. Extract one. For example, as shown in FIG. 10A, when the current position 33 is plotted, the extracted representative point is the representative point 34a having the smallest difference value (that is, the closest approximation to the current position 33). The representative point 34a in FIG. 10A corresponds to the representative point data A5 in FIG. 10B.

  Note that it is not necessary to specify the closest representative point (one) based on the current position information, and a plurality of neighboring representative points may be extracted. For example, when the current position to be plotted is located in the vicinity of the boundary between A city and B city adjacent to A city, first, a plurality of representative points close to the current position are extracted, and the place name information corresponding to each extracted representative point (A city, B city) is acquired. Next, the number of acquired place name information is counted for each place name information, and the most place name information is used as a search result. By searching in this way, the search accuracy can be improved when the current position is located at the boundary of the city. That is, the error in the small area (units of towns and villages) is rounded in the large area (units of municipalities), so that erroneous detection is eliminated.

  Place name data (for example, “A city”) including the representative point 34a extracted by the search operation and latitude / longitude information input from the receiving unit 11 are stored in the information medium 15 together with the video signal. Also, the place name information and the video signal can be displayed on the display unit 23.

  According to the above position search method, since the current position is extracted in large administrative divisions (for example, city units) based on the latitude and longitude information acquired by the receiving unit 11 via the GPS antenna, a simple configuration is provided. Thus, it is possible to obtain a place name with high accuracy. In general, if it is used for civilian purposes, it is sufficiently useful to acquire a place name at the city level.

  In addition, since the place name is acquired based on the latitude and longitude information acquired by GPS, the representative information of the world and the corresponding place names (for example, administrative names such as state names, prefecture names, city names, etc.) are stored in the position information DB 14. By storing the (partition name), it can be used worldwide.

2-2. Search operation (2)
Next, another example of the position search operation in the MPU 12 will be described. The basic operation of the position search operation described in this section operates based on the flow shown in FIG. The flow shown in FIG. 11 is different from the basic operation flow shown in FIG.

  FIG. 11 shows an operation flow at the time of shooting, which is different from the flow of FIG. 4 described above. 11 differs from the flowchart of FIG. 4 in the processing contents of GPS positioning (step 21 in FIG. 4) and position information extraction (step 22 in FIG. 4). Specifically, GPS positioning and position information extraction processing are performed according to the flow shown in FIG.

  The operation will be described below. In the following description of the operation, the description will focus on an operation different from the search operation (1) shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 11, when the place name information is not stored in the memory 17 (N judgment in step S13) or the place name information stored in the memory 17 is changed (N judgment in step S16), It is prompted to determine whether or not to perform positioning (step S20). When an input for requesting GPS positioning is made by the user, the process proceeds to the flow of FIG.

  In FIG. 12, first, the receiving unit 12 acquires latitude / longitude information from the GPS satellite 10 via the GPS antenna 11 (step S31). Next, it is confirmed whether or not positioning has been performed (step S32). If the latitude / longitude information cannot be acquired due to a bad reception state or the like, the processing is terminated. Is started (step S33).

  Next, the MPU 12 searches the position information DB 14 to detect a representative point having latitude information that matches or approximates the latitude information input from the receiving unit 11 (step S34). Since the search is performed based only on the latitude information, there are a plurality of detected representative points.

  Next, the latitude / longitude information of the detected representative point data is read into the memory 17 to create a data table. Next, in the created data table, longitude information that matches or approximates the longitude information input from the receiving unit 11 is detected. Thereby, one representative point is extracted. Next, the place name information corresponding to the detected representative point is read and stored in the memory 17 (step S37).

  With the above flow, the place name of the current position acquired by GPS can be acquired. After step S37, the process proceeds to step S17 in FIG. Since the subsequent processing is the same as the above-described search operation (1), the description thereof is omitted.

  Next, the operation will be described with a specific example.

  FIG. 13A is a schematic diagram for explaining a search state for map data and a plot state of the current position, and FIG. 13B is a schematic diagram showing a data structure in the position information DB 14. First, as shown in step S34 of FIG. 12, it is assumed that a representative point of a small area (for example, in units of towns and villages) hatched in gray in FIG. At this time, as shown in FIG. 13B, representative points A4 to A6, B4 to B6,... In each city data (A city data 32a and B city data 32b in the drawing) are selected.

  Next, a predetermined representative point can be identified by searching again for the selected representative point based on the longitude. In the example of FIG. 13A, the representative point of the longitude closest to the longitude of the current position 33 is the representative point 34b of city A (representative point A5 in FIG. 13B). As a result, it is specified that the large area including the current position 33 is the A city 31a.

  As described above, when the place name is acquired from the position information DB 14 based on the latitude / longitude information of the current position acquired from the GPS, the search is first performed using the latitude information in the position information DB 14 and then the search is performed based on the longitude information. Since it is configured to perform the search, it is possible to reduce the amount of information to be searched at the time of searching for longitude, thereby reducing the search time. That is, when searching with latitude information, all information in the position information DB 14 is searched. When searching with longitude information, the information extracted by latitude information search is searched. Therefore, the amount of information to be searched is small.

  In the above description, an example is shown in which the search is performed using the latitude and then the search using the longitude. However, the search may be performed using the latitude after searching the longitude first.

  Further, a timeout function may be added to the GPS positioning in the flow shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 14, step S38 may be added to the flow of FIG. In step S38, the positioning time of GPS positioning is managed, and if the positioning is not completed even after a predetermined time has elapsed due to poor reception sensitivity, the positioning processing is stopped. By adding such a flow, the positioning process for a long time is not performed, and the power consumption is reduced.

2-3. Landmark Search Next, a configuration capable of recording landmark information together with a video signal at the time of shooting will be described.

  In this configuration, the landmark information is stored in the position information DB 14 in FIG. 1, and the landmark information corresponding to the shooting location can be stored in the information medium together with the video signal at the time of shooting. In addition, although a landmark is various facilities, such as an amusement park and a zoo, the kind of facility is not restricted to these.

  FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram for explaining the landmark search operation, and shows a state in which the map data is divided into a matrix. In FIG. 15, a small area 52 (shaded hatched portion) is one of areas obtained by dividing map data in a matrix, and at least one representative point 53 is set in each small area 52. In FIG. 15, the representative points 53 are represented by representative points C1, C2,... Cn. The landmark 51 is located so as to straddle a plurality of small areas 52 in this example. The landmark area 54 is an area including the landmark 51 and the surrounding small area 52. When the current position measured by the GPS is located in the landmark area 54, the current position is the land area. It is determined to be a mark.

  FIG. 16 is a landmark table stored in the position information DB 14. As shown in FIG. 16, the landmark table stores representative point data C2 to Cn corresponding to a landmark area 51 (see FIG. 15) of a predetermined landmark (“ABC land” in this example). . In addition, latitude and longitude information corresponding to each representative point data C2 to Cn is stored.

  The operation will be described below. In the following description, the shooting operation and the GPS positioning operation are the same as described above, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  First, as described above, the current position is measured by GPS, and representative points that match or approximate are searched from the position information DB 14. If the retrieved representative point exists in the ABC land position information DB shown in FIG. 16, it is determined that the current position is the ABC land. On the other hand, if the retrieved representative point does not exist in the ABC land position information DB shown in FIG. 16, it is determined that the current position is not the ABC land.

  For example, in FIG. 15, when the representative point that approximates the measured current position is, for example, the representative point C104 (within the landmark 51), the representative point C104 in the ABC land position information DB as shown in FIG. Therefore, the MPU 12 (see FIG. 1) determines that “the current position is the ABC land”. Based on the determination, the MPU 12 acquires the landmark information from the position information DB 14, and displays the landmark information 45 together with the video signal on the display unit as shown in FIG. FIG. 17 shows a state in which the landmark information 45 is superimposed on the video signal.

  Further, in FIG. 15, when the representative point that approximates the measured current position is, for example, the representative point C2 (outside the landmark 51 but inside the landmark area 54), as shown in FIG. Since the representative point data of the representative point C2 exists in the position information DB of the ABC land, the MPU 12 (see FIG. 1) determines that “the current position is the ABC land”. Based on the determination, the MPU 12 acquires the landmark information from the position information DB 14, and displays the landmark information 45 together with the video signal on the display unit as shown in FIG.

  As described above, if the measured current position is in the landmark 51 or in the vicinity of the landmark 51 (in the landmark area 54), the ride mark information can be displayed, and the landmark information can be displayed together with the video signal. It can also be recorded on an information medium.

  On the other hand, in FIG. 15, when the representative point that approximates the measured current position is, for example, the representative point C1 (outside the landmark area 54), as shown in FIG. Since there is no representative point data of the representative point C1, the MPU 12 (see FIG. 1) does not acquire landmark information. Therefore, neither landmark information is displayed nor recorded.

  In the display example shown in FIG. 17, “Near ABC Land” is displayed in the landmark information 45, but “ABC Land” is displayed when the current position is within the landmark (for example, the representative point C104). When the current position is in the vicinity of the landmark (for example, the representative point C2), “Near ABC Land” may be displayed.

  Moreover, you may display the information of administrative division name with landmark information. Moreover, it is good also as a structure which can selectively display any one of landmark information and a city.

  The landmark information stored in the position information DB 14 may be configured so that the user can arbitrarily update the data. As an update method, for example, there is a method of obtaining new landmark information from the Internet and updating the position information DB 14.

3. Summary As described above, according to the present embodiment, the position information of the current position acquired by GPS can be displayed together with the captured video on the display unit or recorded on the information medium.

  In addition, since a relatively large administrative division name (such as a city name) is acquired from the position information DB 14 based on the position information of the current position acquired by GPS, the city level information is stored in the position information DB 14. It is only necessary to store the data, and the data amount can be greatly reduced as compared with the conventional configuration in which all the map data is stored. Therefore, since the memory for storing the position information DB 14 may have a small capacity, the cost can be reduced.

  Further, when searching in the position information DB 14, a search is performed on one of the latitude information and the longitude information, and then a search is performed on the other information. Accuracy can be improved.

  The search can be efficiently performed by sorting the representative point data in the position information DB 14 in advance by latitude or longitude.

  In addition to displaying the position information acquired with the video signal on the display unit or storing it in the information medium, the position information (such as the place name and landmark name) is displayed on the video when printing the image with a printer. It is also possible to print with overlapping. In addition, it is possible to easily classify videos according to place names on a personal computer.

  In addition, in the electronic device or the imaging apparatus of the present embodiment, the receiving unit 11 may be configured to perform GPS positioning when the device is turned on. That is, by performing GPS positioning and acquiring position information after the device is turned on until the first release operation is performed, the GPS positioning can be hot-started at the time of release. Therefore, positioning time can be shortened compared with cold start.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described configuration, and the following configuration may be used.

  A digital camera place name search method and place name acquisition apparatus according to the present invention includes a GPS receiving unit, a search unit, a place name table, a minimum value detection unit, a storage medium, and an image pickup unit, and the place name table includes: It consists of a plurality of representative points set for each town and village and a plurality of city names corresponding to the representative points. The representative points are composed of latitude and longitude information, and the GPS receiver receives GPS latitude and longitude information from the GPS satellite. GPS latitude / longitude information is stored in the search means, and GPS latitude / longitude information output from the search means is input to the minimum value detection means and the place name table, and a plurality of latitude / longitude are input from the place name table. Candidates and candidate place names are input to the minimum value detecting means, and the minimum value detecting means compares the GPS latitude / longitude information with the plurality of latitude / longitude candidates, and the difference is minimized. Latitude and longitude is selected, place name and the latitude and longitude information selected, together with the image information from the imaging unit, a place name search method and place name acquisition device stored in the storage medium.

  In addition, after selecting a plurality of representative points whose numerical difference from the latitude or longitude of the representative point on the place name table is smaller than the predetermined value for GPS latitude or GPS longitude information, the representative point with the smallest numerical difference of longitude or latitude is selected. The present invention provides a place name retrieval method and place name acquisition apparatus for a digital camera that specifies place names in units of cities.

  Further, a plurality of city candidates are temporarily selected from representative points whose numerical difference between the latitude and longitude on the place name table is smaller than a predetermined value with respect to GPS latitude or GPS longitude information, and one of the city candidates is selected. Representing the latitude and longitude of a city by the latitude and longitude of the representative point, and selecting the city name with the smallest difference between the longitude or latitude of the city and the GPS longitude or latitude Device.

  The present invention is useful for a position search method and a position search apparatus that can perform position search using GPS. Examples of electronic devices on which the position detection device is mounted include a car navigation system, a mobile phone, a PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), and an imaging device such as a camera.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an imaging apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an external configuration of the imaging device according to Embodiment 1. Schematic diagram showing a display state in the first embodiment Flowchart for explaining the operation at the time of shooting in the first embodiment Schematic diagram showing a display state in the first embodiment Schematic diagram showing a display state in the first embodiment Schematic diagram showing a display state in the first embodiment Schematic diagram showing a display state in the first embodiment Schematic diagram showing a display state in the first embodiment Schematic diagram showing the configuration of the place name table in the first embodiment Schematic diagram showing the configuration of the place name table in the first embodiment Flowchart for explaining the operation at the time of shooting in the first embodiment Flowchart for explaining the positioning operation in the first embodiment Schematic diagram showing the configuration of the place name table in the first embodiment Schematic diagram showing the configuration of the place name table in the first embodiment Flowchart for explaining the positioning operation in the first embodiment Schematic diagram for explaining landmark search in the first embodiment Schematic diagram for explaining landmark search in the first embodiment Schematic diagram showing a display state in the first embodiment Block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional imaging device The schematic diagram which shows the structure of the place name table in the conventional imaging device The schematic diagram which shows the structure of the place name table in the conventional imaging device

Explanation of symbols

11 Receiver 12 MPU
14 position information database 15 information medium 16 imaging unit 18 recording control unit 21 video signal processing unit 22 display control unit 23 display unit

Claims (7)

A GPS receiver that receives signal radio waves from a GPS satellite, decodes the received signal, and acquires latitude and longitude information of the current position;
A database in which a place name table composed of place name information and latitude / longitude information corresponding to the place name information is stored;
A search unit that searches the database, extracts the latitude / longitude information that matches or approximates the latitude / longitude information acquired by the GPS reception unit, and acquires the place name information corresponding to the extracted latitude / longitude information; With
When the search unit obtains place name information from the database,
Latitude / longitude information including latitude information that matches or approximates the latitude information acquired by the GPS receiver is extracted,
An electronic apparatus characterized by extracting latitude / longitude information including longitude information that matches or approximates the longitude information acquired by the GPS receiver from the extracted latitude / longitude information. When the search unit obtains place name information from the database,
Latitude / longitude information including longitude information that matches or approximates the longitude information acquired by the GPS receiver is extracted,
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein latitude / longitude information including latitude information that matches or approximates the latitude information acquired by the GPS receiver is extracted from the extracted latitude / longitude information. An imaging unit that captures an incident optical image, a signal processing unit that generates a video signal based on the optical image captured by the imaging unit, and a display unit that can display a video signal output from the signal processing unit And an information medium capable of recording a video signal output from the signal processing unit,
A GPS receiver that receives signal radio waves from a GPS satellite, decodes the received signal, and acquires latitude and longitude information of the current position;
A database in which a place name table composed of place name information and latitude / longitude information corresponding to the place name information is stored;
A search unit that searches the database, extracts the latitude / longitude information that matches or approximates the latitude / longitude information acquired by the GPS reception unit, and acquires the place name information corresponding to the extracted latitude / longitude information; ,
A display control unit for displaying the video signal output from the signal processing unit and the place name information acquired by the search unit on the display unit;
A recording control unit for recording the video signal output from the signal processing unit and the place name information acquired by the search unit on the information medium;
When the search unit obtains place name information from the database,
Latitude / longitude information including latitude information that matches or approximates the latitude information acquired by the GPS receiver is extracted,
An latitude and longitude information that includes longitude information that matches or approximates the longitude information acquired by the GPS receiver is extracted from the extracted latitude and longitude information. When the search unit obtains place name information from the database,
Latitude / longitude information including longitude information that matches or approximates the longitude information acquired by the GPS receiver is extracted,
The imaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein latitude / longitude information including latitude information that matches or approximates the latitude information acquired by the GPS receiver is extracted from the extracted latitude / longitude information.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the place name information is an administrative division name.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the place name table stored in the database includes a landmark name and latitude / longitude information corresponding to the landmark name. The imaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the place name table stored in the database is sorted by latitude information or longitude information.

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