JP2008199319A - Imaging apparatus, and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To raise correctness in information to be added to image data. <P>SOLUTION: An imaging apparatus 100 capable of adding at least one of a self apparatus state and an apparatus peripheral environment state as state information to the photographed image data includes a CCD 102 for performing imaging; an image storage unit 101b for storing the image data imaged by the CCD 102; an electronic compass unit 111 for intermittently acquiring azimuth information; and a control unit 112a for calculating the optimization information, based on the plurality of kinds of azimuth information, before/after imaging timing when the CCD 102 has executed imaging. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and a method for controlling the imaging apparatus, and more particularly to optimization of azimuth information added to a captured image.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electronic image capturing apparatus such as a digital camera, a technique for recording position information and azimuth information at the time of image capturing together with image data has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1). By adding position information and azimuth information to the captured image, for example, when notifying others of the location of a building, the information can be transmitted more clearly. In addition, the present invention can be used in various applications, for example, when verifying captured images of surveillance cameras installed at a plurality of positions or when verifying captured images by military reconnaissance.
JP 2006-33712 A

However, there is a problem with the consistency between the captured image and the added azimuth and position information. For example, when information is transmitted to the CPU at a frequency of once per second from the compass unit for detecting the direction or the GPS unit for detecting the position information in the digital camera, that is, updating the direction information or the position information. Consider the case where the frequency is 1 (times / second). In such a case, imaging is performed while the position or orientation information is updated, and if the position or orientation information before imaging is different from the position or orientation information after imaging, which information is correct as information at the time of imaging. It is highly possible that both information is inaccurate.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described actual situation, and in an imaging device that can be added to image data obtained by imaging at least one of status information of the device itself and status information of the surrounding environment of the device. An object of the present invention is to improve the accuracy of state information added to image data.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is an imaging device capable of adding at least one of status information of the device itself and status information of the surrounding environment of the device to image data obtained by imaging. An imaging unit that performs imaging, an image storage unit that stores image data captured by the imaging unit, a state information acquisition unit that intermittently acquires the state information, and the imaging unit that performs imaging And an optimization information calculation unit that calculates optimization information that optimizes the state information that is added to the image data and recorded based on a plurality of state information before and after the imaging timing.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the imaging apparatus according to the first aspect, the state information acquisition unit includes, as the state information, azimuth information that the imaging unit faces a subject and position information of the imaging device. It is characterized by acquiring at least one.

The invention according to claim 3 is the imaging device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a display unit that displays the state information, and when the change amount of the position information is a predetermined threshold value or more, A warning is displayed on the display unit.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the imaging apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the optimization information calculation unit is configured such that the standard deviation of the plurality of state information is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value. In addition, warning information is added in addition to the optimization information.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the imaging device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the optimization information calculation unit calculates an average value of the plurality of state information as the optimization information. It is characterized by that.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the imaging apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the optimization information calculating unit includes the immediately preceding state information acquired by the state information acquiring unit immediately before the imaging timing. The optimization information is calculated based on the status information acquired by the status information acquisition unit immediately after the imaging timing.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the imaging apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the optimization information calculation unit is configured to calculate a change amount between the immediately preceding state information and the immediately following state information, and an acquisition timing of the immediately preceding state information. The optimization information is calculated based on a time interval from the immediately preceding state information acquisition timing and a time interval from the immediately preceding state information acquisition timing to the imaging timing.
The invention according to claim 8 is the imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the optimization information calculation unit applies a fitting method based on a least square method to the plurality of state information. Thus, the fitting value at the imaging timing is calculated as the optimization information.

The invention according to claim 9 is the imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising an acceleration detection unit that detects acceleration, wherein the optimization information calculation unit includes the plurality of state information and the state information. The optimization information is calculated based on acceleration information detected by the acceleration detection unit at each timing when the plurality of state information is detected.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imaging device control method capable of adding at least one of status information of the device itself and status information of the surrounding environment of the device to image data obtained by imaging. Before and after the imaging timing executed by the unit, the status information at the imaging timing is calculated based on the plurality of status information intermittently acquired by the status information acquisition unit, and the calculated status information is stored in the image storage unit It is characterized by being added to image data.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to improve the accuracy of the status information added to the image data imaged by the imaging device.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
The present invention optimizes additional information based on information before and after imaging in an imaging apparatus capable of additionally recording information on the state of the imaging apparatus such as the position and orientation in addition to the image data or the state relating to the environment in which the imaging apparatus is placed. It is to become.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the overall configuration of the imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, an imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes an imaging lens 101 including a zoom lens 101 a, a focus lens 101 b, and an imaging mechanism 101 c, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) 102, a digital data generation unit 103, and the like. An image processing unit 104, a card slot 105, a USB communication unit 106, a liquid crystal display unit 107, an operation unit 108, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiving unit 109, a control program 110a, an image storage unit 110b, and A nonvolatile memory unit 110 having a work area 110c, an electronic compass unit 111, a CPU 112, an imaging control unit 114 including a zoom control unit 114a, a focus control unit 114b, and an imaging mechanism control unit 114c are provided.

  The imaging lens 101 forms an image of the subject on the CCD 102. The zoom lens 101 a changes the magnification of the subject image formed on the CCD 102. The focus lens 101b focuses the light focused on the CCD 102 on the subject. The imaging mechanism 101c includes a diaphragm unit that adjusts the amount of light incident on the CCD 102, a shutter, an optical filter, and the like. The shutter speed is adjusted by changing the opening / closing time of the shutter included in the imaging mechanism. The CCD 102 receives the light imaged by the imaging lens 101 and converts the optical information into an analog electrical signal. The CCD 102 inputs an analog electrical signal generated based on the optical information received from the imaging lens 101 to the digital data generation unit 103. The digital data generating unit 103 performs correlated double sampling on the analog electrical signal input from the CCD 102 and removes noise, a CDS (Correlation Double Sampling) circuit, an AGC (Automatic Gain Control) circuit that performs gain adjustment, and an analog electrical signal A / D (Analog / Digital) conversion circuit for converting the signal into a digital signal.

  The image processing unit 104 performs various types of image processing on the digital image data generated by the digital data generation unit 103. For example, the image processing unit 104 converts the image data acquired from the digital data generation unit 103 into a YUV (Y: luminance information, U: blue component color difference information, V: red component color difference information) format, an image in the YUV format. The data is compressed or decompressed using a compression method such as JPEG. The image processing unit 104 executes image processing in the work area 110c of the nonvolatile memory unit 110, and stores the generated image data in the image storage unit 110b. The image data generated by the image processing unit 104 and stored in the image storage unit 110b is photographed by the control unit that controls the apparatus so as to conform to the Exif (Exchangeable Image File Format) which is a file format of the digital camera. Additional information such as time conditions is added. At this time, direction information which is the gist of the present embodiment is also added. Thereafter, the information is appropriately recorded on a portable storage medium inserted in the card slot 105 in accordance with a user instruction or a setting of the imaging apparatus 100. The card slot 105 is a slot into which a portable storage medium such as a compact flash (registered trademark) card, smart media (registered trademark), SD card (registered trademark), or memory stick (registered trademark) is inserted.

The USB communication unit 106 communicates with a host device such as a computer via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) line.
The liquid crystal display unit 107 is used as a visual display unit for displaying a monitoring image (through image) for determining a subject or a composition at the time of imaging, checking a captured image, changing settings of the imaging apparatus 100, and the like.
The operation unit 108 includes a switch, a slide bar, a dial, and the like for the user to operate the imaging apparatus 100. Specifically, the operation unit 108 includes a power SW for switching on / off of the power, a mode SW for switching a shooting mode or a moving image mode, a release SW for pressing a shutter, and the like. An operation on the operation unit 108 is transmitted to a control unit that controls the operation of the entire imaging apparatus 100. The CPU 112 configures a control unit (hereinafter referred to as a control unit 112a) that controls the overall operation of the imaging apparatus 100 in conjunction with the control program 110a stored in the nonvolatile memory unit 110 and other drive circuits.

The GPS receiving unit 109 has a function of receiving a signal from a GPS satellite, and includes an antenna unit and a receiver. A GPS satellite transmits radio waves including time data from an atomic clock to the ground. Multiple GPS satellites orbit around the earth, and it is possible to specify longitude and latitude at locations where 3 GPS satellites can be captured on the earth, and longitude and latitude at locations where 4 satellites can be captured. In addition, the altitude can be specified. The electronic compass unit 111 includes a geomagnetic sensor that detects the earth's geomagnetism, and specifies the direction in which the imaging lens 101 of the imaging device 100 is facing depending on the state of the geomagnetism. For example, in order to specify the north direction, it is examined which of the horizontal directions the geomagnetism is facing. In other words, the GPS receiving unit 109 and the electronic compass unit 111 acquire state information such as which direction the lens of the imaging apparatus 100 is facing and environmental conditions such as longitude and latitude of the place where the imaging apparatus 100 is located, and altitude. Functions as an acquisition unit.
In the imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the GPS reception unit 109 and the electronic compass unit 111 generate state information when capturing an image, and position and orientation information to be added to the image data stored in the image storage unit 110b. It is characterized by optimization.

Hereinafter, the optimization operation will be described by taking the case of optimizing the direction information as an example.
FIG. 2A is a diagram showing transmission of azimuth information from the electronic compass unit 111 to the control unit 112a in the nonvolatile memory unit 110 in time series.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the direction information (L _n ) is intermittently transmitted from the electronic compass unit 111 to the control unit 112a in the nonvolatile memory unit 110 at a predetermined interval T (sec). The control unit 112a holds a predetermined number of azimuth information (L _n ) received from the electronic compass unit 111 together with time information (T _n ) at the time of reception. The azimuth information (L _n ) received by the control unit 112a is displayed superimposed on the through image of the liquid crystal display unit 107. FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating a display example of the orientation information (L _n ) in the through image. As shown in FIG. 3A, the azimuth information (L _n ) in the through image is as follows. As shown in FIG. 4, at one turn of 360 °, north is 0 °, east is 90 °, south is 180 °, and west is In addition to being shown as 270 °, 360 degrees per revolution is divided into 16 equal parts, and the east, west, south, and north are shown as combinations of alphabets “E”, “W”, “S”, and “N” every 22.5 °.

FIG. 3A shows a state where 171.6 ° is input as the azimuth information (L _n ), which is displayed as “171.6 ° S”. FIG. 3B shows an example in which 168.1 ° is input as the azimuth information (L _n ), which is displayed as “168.1 ° SSE”.
In such a control system, FIG. 2B shows a case where the release SW is pressed at a predetermined timing T _s and imaging is executed. Here, T _s is the timing between T _i and T _{i + 1} . In such a case, the control unit 112a, T _i by using the orientation information L _{i + 1} and T _s in azimuth information L _i and T _{i + 1} in the optimized orientation information L by the following equation (1) _{Find s} . That is, the control unit 112a functions as an optimization information calculation unit.

That is, the change rate of the direction information (L _n ) per unit time from the direction information acquisition timing T _i immediately before the release SW is pressed to the direction information acquisition timing T _{i + 1} immediately after the release SW is pressed is obtained. , Azimuth information L _s is obtained by adding the azimuth variation in the time interval from T _i to T _s to the azimuth information at T _i . It employs, in a graph, for example the horizontal axis indicates time and the vertical axis is the orientation information (L _n), from L _i bear L _{i + 1} by a straight line, the value straight line passing at timing T _s as L _s Is synonymous with Thereby, even when it is impossible to directly detect the azimuth information at the moment of imaging, the azimuth information immediately before and after the moment of imaging (L _n , L _{n + 1} ) is used. The azimuth information at the moment of imaging can be calculated.
The above formula (1), when the orientation information (L _n, L n _{+ 1)} is changed across 0 ° (or 360 °), it is impossible to directly apply. In such a case, L _s can be obtained by appropriately adding 360 ° to the azimuth information (L _n ) or subtracting 360 ° and applying Equation (1). The control unit 112a additionally records the optimized azimuth information L _s as additional information on the image data stored in the image storage unit 110b. FIG. 5 shows an example of additional information added to the image data. As shown in FIG. 5, the additional information added to the image data includes exposure time, ISO sensitivity, presence / absence of flash, position information, direction information, and the like.

Next, the operation of the imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the imaging apparatus 100. The electronic compass unit 111 periodically transmits azimuth information (L _n , L _{n + 1} , L _{n + 2} ...) To the control unit 112a (S611, S612, S613). After the control unit 112a receives azimuth information L _n (S611), the release SW of the operation unit 108 is pressed, a signal indicating that the release SW is pressed to the control unit 112a from the operation unit 108 is transmitted Then (S631), the control unit 112a transmits an imaging command to the imaging control unit 114 (S621). When receiving the imaging command from the control unit 112a, the imaging control unit 114 drives the shutter included in the imaging mechanism 101c of the imaging lens 101 as described in FIG. 1 (S641). The imaging lens 101 forms an image of the subject on the CCD 102 as described in FIG. 1 under the control of the imaging control unit 114 (S651). An image data generation system (hereinafter simply referred to as image data generation systems 102 to 104) including the CCD 102, the digital data generation unit 103, and the image processing unit 104 photoelectrically converts optical information imaged on the CCD 102 by the imaging lens 101. Then, image data is generated (S661). Control unit 112a stores the image data by the image data generation system 102 to 104 is generated in the image storage unit 110b (S622), in the direction information L _n received from the electronic compass 111 and the orientation information L _{n + 1} The direction information L _s optimized based on the generated information is generated (S623).

As described above, in the imaging apparatus 100 capable of adding azimuth information to the captured image of the present embodiment, by calculating the azimuth information of the imaging timing based on the azimuth information immediately before and after the imaging timing, the image It is possible to improve the accuracy of the orientation information added to the data.
In the above description, the example in which the azimuth information is optimized has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to the optimization of the position information supplied from the GPS receiving unit 109. Furthermore, the image data includes information on the state of the imaging device 100 and the state of the surrounding environment where the imaging device 100 is placed, such as temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure at the time of imaging, water pressure, radiation or radioactivity intensity, and ultraviolet intensity if underwater. May be added to and recorded, and can be used as a method for optimizing the information.

Further, in the above description, an example in which Ls is obtained by the calculation shown as Expression (1) has been described. For example, an intermediate point between L _i and L _{i + 1} , that is, an average value is simply adopted as L _s. May be. Furthermore, the optimization information L _s may be calculated based on an average value of three or more pieces of state information, not limited to the two pieces of state information of L _i and L _{i + 1} . In the above description, the moment when the release SW is pressed is described as T _s , but the moment when the shutter included in the imaging mechanism 101c is opened may be T _s . Furthermore, it is preferable to consider the moment when the shutter is closed in addition to the moment when the shutter is opened. For example, the period for closing the shutter is opened, if it contains timing of acquiring azimuth information _{(L n) (T n)} , to its (T _n) may be T _s, time before the shutter is opened L _s may be calculated from three pieces of information: T _i , timing T _{i + 1} included in the shutter opening / closing engine, and timing T _{i + 2} after the shutter is closed.

Next, another method for obtaining the optimized orientation information L _s will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a graph in which the azimuth information (L _n ) is plotted with the horizontal axis as time (T _n : T _i , T _{i + 1} ,...). A dotted curve F is a fitting curve for a plot of (L _n ) using the least square method. When the optimized azimuth information L _s is obtained, it can be obtained by referring to the fitting value at the photographing time T _s . Thereby, when the orientation of the imaging apparatus 100 is changed according to a predetermined rule, the direction information L _s optimized more appropriately can be obtained. In other words, by optimizing the azimuth information at the time of imaging using not only the two azimuth information immediately before and after the imaging, but also by using a plurality of azimuth information, the orientation information is optimized in consideration of the orientation change before and after the imaging. Can be made.

Furthermore, another method for obtaining L _s will be described with reference to FIGS. Some types of imaging devices have an acceleration sensor for purposes such as camera shake correction. Therefore, in the case of an imaging apparatus having an acceleration sensor, as shown in FIG. 2C, the control unit 112a obtains the direction information (L _n ) from the electronic compass 111 and at the same time obtains the acceleration information (A _n ). Can be acquired. A method of further optimizing the value of L _{s obtained} by fitting using this acceleration information (A _n ) will be described. FIG. 8A shows a case where fitting is performed based on the plot of the orientation information (L _n ) and L _s is obtained from the fitting curves F ₁ as in the case of FIG. In this case, L _s is obtained as a value lower than L _i (small angle).

On the other hand, FIG. 8 shows a case where fitting is performed based on (b) plot of azimuth information (L _n ) and acceleration information (A _n ). The acceleration information (A _n ) has a meaning as the curvature of the fitting curve F ₂ at the respective timings T _i and T _{i + 1} , that is, the degree of curve bending. The fitting curve F ₂ generated in consideration of this curvature is a curve different from the fitting curve F ₁ shown in FIG. 8A, and L _s obtained from F ₂ is a value higher than L _i (large angle). It becomes. As described above, by performing the fitting in consideration of the acceleration applied to the imaging apparatus 100 at the timing at which the orientation information is acquired, the optimized orientation information L _s can be obtained more accurately. This aspect is particularly effective when, for example, the imaging apparatus 100 rotates or vibrates at a cycle shorter than the acquisition timing period T of the orientation information (L _n ).

In the present embodiment, a predetermined threshold is provided for the amount of change in the azimuth information (L _n ) acquired periodically, and the amount of change in the azimuth information (L _n , L _{n + 1} ) acquired continuously is a predetermined amount. A mode when it is more than a threshold is explained. In addition, about the structure which attaches | subjects the code | symbol similar to Example 1, the same or equivalent part as Example 1 is shown, and description is abbreviate | omitted.
First, the gist of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4, for example, when the azimuth information L _i is an angle belonging to “NE” and the next azimuth information L _{i + 1} is an angle belonging to “SW”, the expression (1) of the first embodiment is When L _s is calculated by fitting, L _s is an angle belonging to “SE”. Further, it is recognized as a case of crossing 0 °, and when calculating by adding or subtracting 360 ° to L _i or L _{i + 1} , L _s is an angle belonging to “NW”. However, in practice, it is difficult to determine whether the SE side or the NW side, and the accuracy of the obtained L _s remains questionable. Therefore, the imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment monitors the amount of change in the orientation information (L _n , L _{n + 1} ) acquired continuously, and is obtained when the amount of change is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. It has a function of notifying the user that the accuracy of L _s is improved or that there remains a question about its accuracy.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a through image in the normal operation of the imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. The display example of FIG. 9 is an example in the case where the difference between the azimuth information L _n received immediately before and the azimuth information L _n-1 received further before is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. The predetermined threshold will be described later in detail. As shown in FIG. 9, the content of the immediately preceding azimuth information L _n is displayed as “172.5S” in the upper left of the through image. In addition, a warning icon 200 indicating that the difference between L _n−1 and L _n is greater than or _equal to a predetermined threshold is displayed. As a result, the user can recognize that the orientation of the imaging apparatus 100 has moved greatly and the accuracy of the orientation information being displayed (in this case, “172.5S”) is low. The display of the warning icon 200 disappears if, for example, the difference between the next received direction information L _{n + 1} and L _n is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold, and the difference between L _{n + 1} and L _n is predetermined. If it is equal to or greater than the threshold value, it is continuously displayed.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the operations of the imaging device 100 and the control unit 112a according to the present embodiment. When receiving the azimuth information L _n (S101), the control unit 112a obtains a difference from the azimuth information L _n−1 received before and confirms whether the difference is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold (S102). When the difference between the orientation information L _n−1 and L _n is greater than or _equal to a predetermined threshold (S102), the control unit 112a displays a warning icon 200 as shown in FIG. 9 in the through image of the liquid crystal display unit 107. (S103). On the other hand, when the difference between the azimuth information L _n−1 and L _n is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold (S102), the control unit 112a hides the warning icon 200 in the through image (S104).

The imaging apparatus 100 repeats such a through image display operation (S101 to S104) until the release SW is pressed. When the release SW is pressed in the imaging apparatus 100 (S105), the imaging apparatus 100 performs the image data generation process described in the first embodiment and stores the image data in the image storage unit 110b (S106). The control unit 112a obtains a difference between the azimuth information L _{i + 1} immediately after orientation information immediately before the release SW is pressed L _i and the release SW is pressed, and compares the difference with a predetermined threshold value (S107). As a result of the comparison, if the difference between L _i and L _{i + 1} is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the control unit 112a changes the orientation information before and after the imaging timing in addition to the optimized orientation information L _s. Warning information indicating that the amount is large is additionally recorded in the image data (S108), and the process ends. On the other hand, if the difference between L _i and L _{i + 1} is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold value, the optimized azimuth information L _s is additionally recorded in the image data (S109), and the process is terminated. As a result, the azimuth information added to the image data is taken with the imaging device 100 being largely rotated or moved, and the reliability of the added azimuth information is questionable. It becomes possible to recognize.

Next, a predetermined threshold value to be compared with the amount of change in continuous azimuth information (L _n , L _{n + 1} ) will be described. As described above, the gist of the present case is such that, for example, the continuous azimuth information (L _n , L _{n + 1} ) changes from an angle belonging to the N area shown in FIG. 4 to an angle belonging to the S area. In this case, a warning is displayed because it cannot be determined from which side of the E side or the W side the rotation has occurred. Therefore, the predetermined threshold can be set to 180 °. Further, the angle required to move from one azimuth range shown in FIG. 4 to the opposite azimuth range, that is, 157.5 ° (22.5 ° × 6) may be used. Furthermore, for example, even when the angle moves from the angle belonging to the area N in FIG. 4 to the angle belonging to the SSE area, the rotation does not always rotate from the E side, so the predetermined threshold is set to 135 ° (22 .5 ° × 5).

It can also be determined by whether the change angle of the continuous orientation information (L _n , L _{n + 1} ) is an obtuse angle or an acute angle, that is, 90 ° or more. Further, as a further aspect of determining whether the angle is obtuse or acute, for example, an angle of moving from N area to E area shown in FIG. 4, that is, 67.5 ° (22.5 ° × 3) is set as a predetermined threshold value. You can also Furthermore, an angle for moving from one azimuth area shown in FIG. 4 to an adjacent azimuth area, that is, 22.5 ° may be set as the predetermined threshold value. The significance of these predetermined threshold modes differs depending on the acquisition interval T of the orientation information (L _n ) shown in FIG. Therefore, it is preferable to use them appropriately according to the function and configuration of each imaging apparatus 100.
As described above, in the imaging apparatus according to the present embodiment, when azimuth information is additionally recorded in image data, it is detected that the amount of change in azimuth at the imaging timing is large, and is recorded in addition to the image data. It is possible to warn the user that the reliability of the azimuth information is not high.

If the acceleration information (A _n ) can be acquired as in the example of FIG. 2C, the rotation direction can be predicted using the acceleration information A _i at the time of acquiring the azimuth information L _i . For example, in the example of FIG. 4, when continuous azimuth information L _i and L _{i + 1} move from an area belonging to “N” to an area belonging to “S”, whichever side is normally E or “W” It is not possible to determine whether the user has moved from However, if the acceleration acceleration information A _i is directed to the "E" position at the timing T _i azimuth information L _i, after the timing T _i, until the timing T _{i + 1,} the imaging apparatus 100 is "E" It can be predicted that it has rotated to the side. As a result, even when the change angle of the continuous azimuth information (L _n , L _{n + 1} ) is close to 180 ° and the rotation direction cannot be determined, the optimized azimuth information L _s can be obtained. Become. Even in such a case, it is possible to allow the user to more appropriately recognize the apparatus state by performing the warning information display and additional recording together.

When the acceleration information (A _n ) can be acquired, the azimuth information L _{i at the} timing T _i is an angle belonging to the azimuth area “N” shown in FIG. 4, and the acceleration information A _i is _directed to the “E” side. If the azimuth information at T _i is an angle belonging to the azimuth areas “SW” to “NNW” shown in FIG. 4, for example, between timings T _i and T _{i + 1} , It is difficult to determine whether the rotation has passed through the “E” side or the “W” side. Therefore, in such a case, warning information may be displayed and additionally recorded.
In the above description, an example in which the presence / absence of a warning is determined based on the amount of change in continuous azimuth information (L _n , L _{n + 1} ) has been described, but not limited to two pieces of continuous information, You may judge based on the above several azimuth | direction information. In this case, the presence / absence of a warning may be determined by comparing the total value of the change amounts of the plurality of azimuth information with a threshold value. Whether or not there is a warning may be determined by checking whether or not.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the imaging device which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the information supply timing from the electronic compass part of the imaging device which concerns on a present Example to a control part. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the liquid crystal display part of the imaging device which concerns on a present Example. It is a figure which shows the azimuth | direction display of the imaging device which concerns on a present Example. It is a figure which shows the additional information added to the image data which concerns on a present Example. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the imaging device which concerns on a present Example. It is a figure which shows the optimization method based on the other Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the optimization method which concerns on another Example. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the liquid crystal display part of the imaging device which concerns on another Example. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the imaging device which concerns on another Example.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Imaging device, 101 Imaging lens, 101a Zoom lens, 101b Focus lens, 101c Imaging mechanism 101, 102 CCD, 103 Digital data generation part, 104 Image processing part, 105 Card slot, 106 USB communication part, 107 Liquid crystal display part, 108 Operation unit, 109 GPS reception unit, 110 nonvolatile memory unit, 110a control program, 110b image storage unit, 110c work area, 111 electronic compass unit, 112 CPU, 114 imaging control unit, 114a zoom control unit, 114b focus control unit, 114c Imaging mechanism control unit 114c

Claims (10)

An imaging device capable of adding at least one of the status information of the device itself and the status information of the surrounding environment of the device to the captured image data,
An imaging unit that performs imaging;
An image storage unit for storing image data captured by the imaging unit;
A state information acquisition unit that intermittently acquires the state information;
An optimization information calculation unit that calculates optimization information that optimizes the state information that is added to and recorded on the image data based on a plurality of state information before and after the imaging timing at which the imaging unit has performed imaging. An imaging apparatus characterized by that.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the state information acquisition unit acquires at least one of azimuth information in which the imaging unit faces a subject and position information of the imaging device as the state information. A display unit for displaying the state information;
The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the amount of change in the position information is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, a warning is displayed on the display unit.   The optimization information calculation unit adds warning information in addition to the optimization information when a standard deviation of the plurality of state information is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value. The imaging apparatus according to item 1.   5. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optimization information calculation unit calculates an average value of the plurality of state information as the optimization information.   The optimization information calculation unit calculates optimization information based on immediately preceding state information acquired by the state information acquisition unit immediately before imaging timing and immediately after state information acquired by the state information acquisition unit immediately after imaging timing. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image pickup apparatus is an image pickup apparatus.   The optimization information calculation unit includes a change amount between the immediately preceding state information and the immediately following state information, a time interval from an acquisition timing of the immediately preceding state information to an acquisition timing of the immediately following state information, and an acquisition timing of the immediately preceding state information. The imaging apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the optimization information is calculated based on a time interval from the imaging timing to the imaging timing.   The optimization information calculation unit calculates a fitting value at the imaging timing as the optimization information by applying a least square method fitting method to the plurality of state information. 4. The imaging device according to any one of 4 above. An acceleration detection unit for detecting acceleration;
The optimization information calculation unit calculates the optimization information based on acceleration information detected by the acceleration detection unit at each timing when the plurality of state information and the plurality of state information are detected. The imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8. A control method for an imaging apparatus capable of adding at least one of the status information of the apparatus itself and the status information of the surrounding environment of the apparatus to captured image data,
Before and after the imaging timing executed by the imaging unit, the status information at the imaging timing is calculated based on a plurality of status information intermittently acquired by the status information acquisition unit, and the calculated status information is stored in the image storage unit A method for controlling an imaging apparatus, wherein the image data is added to image data to be processed.

Images