JP2007267063A - Imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging apparatus capable of performing panorama photographing at various angles of view. <P>SOLUTION: When a horizontal angle of view for performing photographing is selected by the selection of a panorama mode, an MPU 41 outputs the panorama mode to a zoom lens 1. At the zoom lens 1, a focal length setting table 11 is referred to from an inputted panorama mode for setting the focal length of the zoom lens. The MPU 41 acquires an azimuth angle to be captured when the panorama mode is set from an electronic compass data comparison table 42, and determines whether the azimuth angle coincides with that detected by an electronic compass 5. A digital camera is rotated, and the MPU 42 records an image captured by an image pickup device 3 on an image recording device 43 when the azimuth angles coincide by the determination of the MPU 41. The azimuth angles to be captured are arranged at the interval of the horizontal angle of view, and are captured continuously, thus obtaining a panorama image having an accurate seam. The selection of the panorama mode achieves the panorama photographing at various angles of view from a wide angle to a telephotography. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus that performs panoramic shooting.

  Conventionally, as an image pickup apparatus capable of panoramic photography, a film camera dedicated to panoramic photography employing a slit shutter system or the like, or a simple panoramic camera that obtains a landscape image by masking the top and bottom of one frame of 35 mm film are known. Yes.

Also known is a digital camera that is equipped with a geomagnetic sensor to detect the direction of the camera so that the user can take a picture when the camera is directed in a certain direction, thereby enabling 360 degree panoramic photography. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2005-184533 A

However, with a digital camera equipped with the geomagnetic sensor, the user only needs to take multiple shots at a fixed angle of view according to the detection result of the geomagnetic sensor. There was a problem that panoramic photography could not be performed.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an image pickup apparatus capable of panoramic shooting at various angles of view.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. The invention according to claim 1 is a lens having a variable focal length, an image pickup device for picking up an optical image formed by the lens, and an azimuth angle. Azimuth angle detecting means for detecting, horizontal angle of view selecting means for selecting a horizontal angle of view for photographing, focal length setting means for setting the focal length of the lens so as to be the selected horizontal angle of view, An azimuth angle storage means for storing a plurality of azimuth angles arranged at intervals of the horizontal angle of view with respect to the horizontal angle of view as azimuth angles to be photographed when the horizontal angle of view is selected; and Control means for controlling the imaging device to perform imaging when the detected azimuth angle matches the azimuth angle stored in the azimuth angle storage means with respect to the selected horizontal field angle. This is a featured image pickup apparatus.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the focal length setting means stores a focal length setting table that stores a plurality of correspondence relationships between the horizontal field angle and the focal length of the lens. The focal length of the lens is obtained and set by referring to the focal length setting table from the selected horizontal field angle.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the azimuth angle storage means sets the horizontal angle of view as an azimuth angle to be photographed when the horizontal angle of view is selected. It is characterized by memorizing azimuth angles over 360 degrees at all intervals.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, the image storage means for storing an image captured by the image sensor, and the image sensor The apparatus further comprises recording means for assigning an identifier at the time of shooting and recording the image storage means, and reading means for reading an image from the image storage means based on the identifier.

  According to the present invention, imaging is performed when the azimuth angle detected by the azimuth angle detection means and the azimuth angle stored by the azimuth angle storage means match, and the interval between the azimuth angles for imaging is a horizontal angle of view. It is possible to take a panoramic image with an accurate seam. Furthermore, by setting the focal length of the lens so that the horizontal angle of view selected by the horizontal angle of view selection means is obtained, panoramic shooting at various angles of view from wide angle to telephoto becomes possible. Therefore, panoramic shooting can be performed at an appropriate enlargement ratio according to the shooting target.

  In addition, by storing a plurality of correspondence relationships between the horizontal angle of view and the focal length of the lens in advance, it is not necessary to perform complicated calculations for obtaining the focal length of the lens from the horizontal angle of view, and the focal length of the lens can be easily obtained. Can be obtained.

  Further, by storing the azimuths of the entire 360 degrees range at intervals of the horizontal angle of view by the azimuth angle storage means, panoramic shooting of the entire 360 degrees range is possible. Furthermore, an identifier is assigned to the captured image and recorded in the image storage means, and the image is read out from the image storage means based on the identifier after the photographing is completed, so that it can be displayed as a panoramic image in the order of photographing. it can.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a table showing the contents stored in the focal length setting table 11, and FIG. 3 is a table showing the contents stored in the electronic compass data comparison table 42.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a zoom lens unit having a zoom lens for photographing, and the focal length can be changed. Reference numeral 11 denotes a focal length setting table that stores focal lengths that can be set in the zoom lens.

  In the present embodiment, there are eight modes for panoramic photography. As shown in FIG. 2, in the panoramic mode 1, the focal length of the zoom lens unit 1 is 18 mm and the horizontal angle of view is 90 degrees, and a wide range is photographed. In the panorama mode 8, the zoom lens unit 1 has a focal length of 206.9 mm and a horizontal angle of view of 10 degrees.

  Returning to FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a shutter unit that opens and closes a shutter based on an instruction from the MPU 41. Reference numeral 3 denotes an imaging device that converts an optical image received on the imaging surface into an electrical signal, and a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) imaging device, a CMOS (Complementary MOS) imaging device, or the like is used. In the present embodiment, a 35 mm full-size image sensor capable of capturing a rectangular image having a length of 24 mm and a width of 36 mm is used.

  Reference numeral 4 denotes a control board on which a digital camera control circuit is mounted. Reference numeral 41 denotes an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) (control means) that controls each part of the digital camera. Reference numeral 42 denotes an electronic compass data storage table (azimuth angle storage means) that stores angles at which shooting should be performed according to the setting of the panorama mode, and stores the contents shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 3, in the panorama mode 1, when the direction of the digital camera is 45 degrees, 135 degrees, 225 degrees, and 315 degrees from the direction at the start of photographing, a total of four photographs are taken. On the other hand, when the panorama mode 8 is set, the digital camera performs shooting 36 times every 10 degrees from 5 to 355 degrees from the direction at the start of shooting. The MPU 41 calculates the direction of the digital camera from the azimuth angle data output from the electronic compass 5 and performs shooting when it matches the azimuth angle data in the electronic compass data storage table 42.

  Returning to FIG. 1, reference numeral 43 denotes an image storage device (image storage unit) that stores an image captured by the image sensor 4. Reference numeral 44 denotes a data bus that connects the MPU 41 and the image storage device 43. Reference numeral 5 denotes an electronic compass (azimuth angle detecting means) that detects geomagnetism and outputs azimuth angle data.

  Next, the operation of the above-described embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the relationship between the number of shootings S and the focal length a in each panorama mode shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In the present embodiment, in order to perform 360 degree panoramic shooting, the angle range to be shot is divided and shot multiple times. Here, when the number of divisions is n, a range of 360 / n degrees is shot in one shot. For example, when n = 4, it is necessary to photograph a range of 90 degrees per time, and when n = 36, it is necessary to photograph a range of 10 degrees per time.

The range of angles that can be captured at one time is represented by the range of the captured image in the horizontal direction, that is, the horizontal angle of view. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the horizontal angle of view and the focal length, and the relationship between the focal length a and the horizontal angle of view θ can be obtained by equation (1).
a (mm) = 1 ÷ {tan (θ / 2) ÷ 18 (mm)} (1)

  FIG. 5 is a table showing the focal length a obtained from the number n of divisions and the horizontal angle of view θ based on the equation (1). For example, when shooting with the division number n = 4 and the horizontal field angle θ = 90 degrees, the focal length of the zoom lens unit 1 is set to 18 mm, and when shooting with the division number 36 and the horizontal field angle 10 degrees, the zoom is performed. What is necessary is just to set the focal distance of the lens part 1 to 206.9 mm.

  FIG. 2 shows the eight types of focal lengths shown in FIG. 5 assigned as panoramic modes 1 to 8, which are stored in the focal length setting table 11. In FIG. 2, the number of times of photographing S is equal to the number of divisions n.

  Although it is possible to obtain the focal length a from the horizontal angle of view θ at which the MPU 41 performs photographing using the equation (1), since complicated processing is required for tan calculation or the like, in this embodiment, the focal length a is calculated in advance. The result calculated using the equation (1) is held in the focal length setting table 11 so that the focal length a can be easily obtained.

  Next, creation of the electronic compass data comparison table shown in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram when the panorama mode 4 is selected, that is, when the horizontal angle of view is 45 degrees and the number of photographing times S = 8. In FIG. 6, the range of 0 to 45 degrees is captured in the first shooting, and the range of 45 to 90 degrees is captured in the second shooting. Thereafter, a total of 8 shots are taken every 45 degrees. Here, the direction of 0 degrees refers to the direction in which the digital camera is facing at the start of shooting.

  In order to shoot a range of 0 to 45 degrees in the first shooting, shooting may be performed when the digital camera is facing an intermediate angle between 0 and 45 degrees. That is, in the first shooting, shooting is performed in the direction of 22.5 degrees. Similarly, the second shooting is performed at 67.5 degrees, which is an intermediate angle between 45 degrees and 90 degrees. Thereafter, photographing is performed at angles of 112.5 degrees, 157.5 degrees, 202.5 degrees, 247.5 degrees, 292.5 degrees, and 337.5 degrees every 45 degrees that is the horizontal angle of view.

  In other words, in the panorama mode 4, it is necessary to take a total of eight times every 45 degrees from 22.5 degrees to 337.5 degrees, and these eight angles are stored in the electronic compass comparison table 42. The table shown in FIG. 3 stores the angles to be photographed for the panoramic modes 1 to 8 in the same manner.

  Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7, processing when performing panoramic shooting will be described in detail. In FIG. 7, the MPU 41 inputs a panorama mode setting by a user operation (step S701). The horizontal angle of view for shooting is selected by the setting of the panorama mode (horizontal angle of view selection means).

  When the panorama mode is set, the MPU 41 outputs a panorama mode signal to the focal length setting table 11 (step S702), and notifies the panorama mode for shooting. Thereafter, the focal length of the zoom lens unit 1 is set to a value corresponding to the panoramic mode input from the MPU 41 (focal length setting means). For example, in the case of the panorama mode 4, the focal length is set to 43.5 mm from the table of FIG.

  Subsequently, the MPU 41 accesses the electronic compass data comparison table 42 and selects the panorama mode set in step S401 (step S703). In step S707 described later, the MPU 41 sets an angle corresponding to the panorama mode selected here as a comparison target.

  When the processing up to step S703 is completed, panoramic shooting is started, and the user sets the digital camera on a tripod and rotates it in the horizontal direction (step S704). Note that the processing after step S704 is performed while the digital camera is rotating.

  When panoramic shooting is started, the MPU 1 sets the shooting counter SC to 0 (step S705), and acquires azimuth data from the electronic compass 5 (step S706). The MPU 41 sets the azimuth angle data acquired in step S706 to 0 degrees.

  Thereafter, the MPU 41 compares the azimuth obtained in step S706 with the angle stored in the electronic compass comparison table 42 (step S707). In the case of the panorama mode 4, it is compared with 22.5 degrees that is the angle at which the first shooting is performed.

  If they do not match in the comparison in step S707 (step S707: No), the process returns to step S706 again to acquire azimuth angle data from the electronic compass 5. On the other hand, if they match in the comparison in step S707 (step S707: Yes), the MPU 41 outputs a shutter signal to the shutter unit 2 to open / close the shutter (step S708). In the case of the panorama mode 4, when the digital camera rotates 22.5 degrees from the start of photographing, it is determined to be coincident in step S707, and the shutter is opened and closed.

  When the shutter opening / closing ends and the first image is captured by the image sensor 3, the MPU 41 increments the photographing counter (step S709). Thereafter, the MPU 41 stores the image captured from the image sensor 3 in the image storage device 43 (recording unit). The MPU 41 sets the value of the photographing counter SC as an index ID (identifier) for an image stored in the image storage device 43.

  Subsequently, the MPU 41 determines whether or not the shooting counter SC matches the number of shooting times S defined by the panorama mode (step S711). If the prescribed number of times of photographing is not reached, the photographing counter SC and the number of times of photographing S do not coincide with each other (step S711: No), and the process returns to step S706 again to perform processing.

  On the other hand, when the prescribed number of times of photographing has been reached, the photographing counter SC and the number of times of photographing S coincide with each other (step S711: Yes), and the panoramic photographing process ends. In the case of the panorama mode 4, when the processing of step S706 to step S711 is executed 8 times, SC = 8, which matches the prescribed shooting count S = 8, and the panorama shooting procedure is terminated.

  Images captured in the flowchart of FIG. 7 and stored in the image storage device 43 are read by the MPU 41 in the order of index ID numbers (reading means). A panorama image of 360 degrees is obtained by displaying the images read out here in the order of the index ID (see FIG. 8). In this embodiment, since imaging is performed based on azimuth data detected by the electronic compass, panoramic images displayed side by side have accurate seams between adjacent images.

  Since this embodiment is a digital camera-based panoramic camera, the cost of the camera itself is lower than that of a film camera-based panoramic camera. Furthermore, the photographing cost is lower compared to a panoramic camera that uses a 35 mm film in landscape orientation and can shoot only about 20 images with a 36-film film.

  Further, by changing the focal length of the zoom lens, it is possible to cope with panoramic shooting from wide angle to telephoto, and panoramic shooting can be performed with an appropriate enlargement ratio according to the shooting target.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was explained in full detail, the concrete structure is not restricted to this embodiment, The design change etc. of the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention are included. For example, although the focal length setting table 11 is provided in the zoom lens unit 1 in the present embodiment, it may be provided on the control board 4 and referenced from the MPU 41. Further, in this embodiment, 360-degree panoramic shooting is performed over the entire range, but the present invention can be applied to panoramic shooting within an arbitrary angle range such as 180-degree panoramic shooting.

  The present invention is suitable for use in a digital camera or the like that performs panoramic photography.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the digital camera which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a table | surface which shows the content memorize | stored in the focal distance setting table 11 of FIG. It is a table | surface which shows the content memorize | stored in the electronic compass data comparison table 42 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the relationship between a horizontal angle of view and a focal distance. FIG. 4 is a table showing the relationship between the number of divisions n, the horizontal angle of view θ, and the focal length a. It is a schematic diagram which shows the method of calculating | requiring the azimuth angle which should be image | photographed when the panorama mode 4 is selected. 3 is a flowchart illustrating processing when panoramic shooting is performed with the digital camera of FIG. 1. It is an image figure at the time of arranging and displaying the image image | photographed with the flowchart of FIG. 7 as a panoramic image.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Zoom lens part, 2 ... Shutter unit, 3 ... Imaging device, 4 ... Control board, 5 ... Electronic compass (azimuth angle detection means), 11 ... Focal length setting table, 41 ... MPU (control means), 42 ... Electronics Compass data comparison table (azimuth angle storage means), 43 ... image storage device (image storage means), 44 ... data bus

Claims (4)

A variable focal length lens;
An image sensor for imaging a light image formed by the lens;
Azimuth angle detecting means for detecting the azimuth angle;
A horizontal angle of view selection means for selecting a horizontal angle of view for shooting;
A focal length setting means for setting a focal length of the lens so as to be the selected horizontal angle of view;
Azimuth angle storage means for storing a plurality of azimuth angles arranged at intervals of the horizontal angle of view as azimuth angles to be photographed when selecting the horizontal angle of view with respect to the horizontal angle of view;
Control means for controlling to take an image with the image sensor when the azimuth angle detected by the azimuth angle detection means matches the azimuth angle stored in the azimuth angle storage means with respect to the selected horizontal angle of view. An image pickup apparatus comprising:   The focal length setting means holds a focal length setting table that stores a plurality of correspondences between the horizontal angle of view and the focal length of the lens, and refers to the focal length setting table from the selected horizontal angle of view. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the focal length of the lens is obtained and set.   3. The azimuth angle storage means stores azimuth angles over 360 degrees in all directions at intervals of the horizontal angle of view as azimuth angles to be photographed when the horizontal angle of view is selected. An image pickup apparatus according to claim 1. Image storage means for storing an image captured by the image sensor;
A recording unit that assigns an identifier and records it in the image storage unit when shooting with the imaging device;
The image capturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a reading unit that reads out an image from the image storage unit based on the identifier.

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