JP2010009192A - Information display system and portable information terminal using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information display system for simplifying and displaying the information of homogenous objects existing on a photographic screen in a dense state to enable a user to accurately recognize the information, and a portable information terminal adopting the information display system. <P>SOLUTION: The photographic image of a photographing means 1 is displayed on the screen of a display means 2, and an observer designates an object from the screen. An extraction means 3 recognizes the image of the object, and applies it to an object location detection means 4 and a retrieval means 6. A homogeneous information detection means 8 detects homogenous information from among information retrieved from a database 7 by the retrieval means 6. A density level detection means 9 detects the density level of the objects of the homogenous information on the screen. A homogeneous information display configuration control means 10 determines the simplified display configurations of the information for the objects in a dense state from the detection result. An information display control means 5 displays it at the location obtained from the object location detection means 4 or at its neighboring position. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  In the present invention, when an observer designates an object displayed on the screen while observing the screen of the display means, information on the designated object can be displayed on the observing screen. The present invention relates to such an information display system and a portable information terminal employing the information display system.

  Recently, many portable information terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs have built-in photographing devices equipped with an image sensor such as a CCD or can be attached as necessary. On the other hand, since a single digital camera equipped with an information communication system is realized, it can be said that such a camera is also a kind of portable information terminal. In addition, the photographing devices of these portable information terminals are provided with storage means in the main body in order to record imaging information photographed by the photographing device, and storage means separately for recording the imaging information. In any case, the image captured by the image sensor can be observed in real time on the screen of a display means (for example, a display device such as a liquid crystal). Yes.

  By the way, when using such a portable information terminal and observing an image displayed on the display means, the observer can learn about a specific object (for example, a building or a plant or animal) in the image. In some cases, it may be tempting to know information (for example, a name). However, in Patent Document 1 below, as a response to such a request, position information acquisition means for detecting the current position, and the direction in which the object exists are provided. Based on the direction information acquisition means to be detected, the object database storing a plurality of position information, the current position detected by the position information acquisition means and the direction detected by the direction information acquisition means There is disclosed a target specifying device that has a control unit that searches a database and specifies a target object, and displays information specified by the control unit on a display unit. . Furthermore, Patent Document 1 also describes that an object database is an external database and is connected to a portable information terminal via a communication line.

JP 2001-216309 A

  As described above, the object specifying device described in Patent Document 1 is a method for acquiring an object obtained from a position (current location) where a captured image is observed in real time by a display unit, and an azimuth or angle from the position. The object is identified from the position by searching the database, and information about the identified object is displayed on the display means. However, in Patent Document 1, there is a description about displaying information about one selected object on the display means, but information about displaying information about a plurality of objects on the display means at the same time. There is no description. However, the demand for such display is very large.

  By the way, in a predetermined area on the screen of the display means, a plurality of objects of the same category are displayed in a dense state, but objects of different categories are rarely displayed in a dense state. is there. Although it is an extreme example, five elephants can be displayed densely, but a total of five elephants, horses, horses, horses, cows can be displayed densely. Absent. Therefore, when a plurality of objects of the same category are displayed in a dense state on the display means, information about the plurality of objects is displayed on the display means at the same time in order to meet the above requirements. If this is done, the same information will be displayed in a close-up state or displayed in an overlapping manner, making it extremely difficult for an observer to view. It will also be impossible to distinguish.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, the purpose of which is to acquire information about a plurality of objects displayed on the display means by the imaging means from the database, When displaying such information on the display means, when a plurality of objects of the same category are displayed in a dense state on the display means, the information for those objects is displayed in a simplified manner. An object of the present invention is to provide an information display system capable of accurately recognizing information on an object in a crowded state, and a portable information terminal employing the information display system.

  In order to achieve the above object, an information display system according to the present invention individually extracts characteristics of a plurality of objects designated from display means for displaying an image picked up by a photographing means and images of the display means. Extraction means, search means for searching individual information of the plurality of objects from a database based on an extraction result of the extraction means, and information of the same type among the information of the plurality of objects searched by the search means Homogenous information detecting means for detecting the presence of the same, when the homogenous information is detected by the homogenous information detecting means, the density detecting means for detecting the density of the objects on the screen, and the object of the homogeneous information When the density detection means detects that an object exceeds a predetermined density, the same-type information display mode control for determining the display mode of the same-type information on the display means according to the density. And means is characterized by having an information display control means for displaying the information of the determined manner on the display unit in the same type information display mode control means.

  In the information display system of the present invention, a plurality of pieces of the same information may be individually displayed on the display unit via the information control unit according to the search result of the search unit, and the information may be displayed on the display unit. When it is difficult to see, it has a simplification designation means for simplifying the information, and the homogeneous information detection means, when an object is designated by the simplification designation means, The presence of the same kind of information may be detected from the information of a plurality of objects, and the information may be given to the density detection means.

  In the information display system of the present invention, the information determined by the homogeneous information display mode control means and displayed on the display means by the information display control means is general simplified information about the object in a crowded state. Actually, when there are dissimilar objects even in the same category among dense objects, specific simple information specification that can specify the specific type display And when the specific simple information designating means designates, the homogeneous information display mode control means determines a display mode of the homogeneous information corresponding thereto, and the information display control means Information on the determined display mode may be displayed on the display means.

  The information display system of the present invention has detailed information designation means and detailed information display means, and when the detailed information designation means designates a specific object, information displayed on the object More detailed information may be displayed on the detailed information display means by the information control means. In that case, the display means may also serve as the information display means.

  Further, the information display system as described above is preferably employed in a portable information terminal. In that case, if the portable information terminal is provided with communication means, and the information on the object extracted by the extraction means is searched from an external database using the communication means, the function is more excellent. Portable information terminals can be obtained.

  An information display system of the present invention and a portable information terminal using the same acquire information about a plurality of objects from a database from photographed images displayed on the display means, and display the information simultaneously. When multiple objects of the same category are displayed in a dense state on the display means, the number of pieces of the same information for the objects is reduced, or information for each object is displayed. Since the overall information is simplified by reducing the amount or the like, it is possible to accurately recognize the relationship between the objects in the dense state and the information about them.

  The embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail by two examples. In each of these examples, the information display system of the present invention is applied to a portable information terminal. The simple information used in the description of the embodiment refers to relatively simple information that can identify the object with a relatively small amount of information, such as the name of the object, and includes detailed information and Refers to information with a relatively large amount of information such as explanatory diagrams and explanatory texts about the object, but in the case of simple information, for example, in addition to rough simple information such as a bear, a bear In fact, even if they are in the same category, there is also concrete simple information such as the moon bear. 1 to 6 are used for explaining the first embodiment and FIGS. 7 and 8 are used for explaining the second embodiment. The portable information terminal shown in FIG. The configuration is also used in the description of the second embodiment.

  First, the information display system employed in the portable information terminal of this embodiment will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1. First, the description will be made along the route indicated by the solid line arrow in FIG. To do. The photographing unit 1 shown in FIG. 1 has an image sensor such as a CCD, and the photographed image is displayed on the screen of the display unit 2 in real time. When the observer wants to observe the object displayed on the screen of the display means 2 and obtains information on a specific object or objects, the extraction means 3 extracts various features of the object. Is done.

  There are various methods for extracting a specific object by the extraction means 3. For example, in the case of a building, information on a tower, a building, etc., and in the case of a landscape, information on a mountain, a river, etc. In addition, in the case of animals, in addition to rough information on beasts, birds, etc., the specific object-specific information such as shape and color of the object is entered using a keyboard to limit the extraction target. May be. Further, the screen of the display unit 2 may be used as a touch panel so that a specific object is touched, or image recognition may be performed by designating with a cursor, or the characteristics of the object are input by voice. You may do it. Further, a plurality of them may be used. Note that the extraction means 3 of the present invention does not need to be able to extract objects in all fields, and for example, it can be extracted only for animals.

  The object position detection means 4 detects where the object extracted by the extraction means 3 is on the screen, and gives the position information to the information display control means 5.

  The search means 6 searches the database 7 for information relating to the object extracted by the extraction means 3, and gives the information obtained by the search to the similar information detection means 8. When the information display system of the present invention is applied to a portable information terminal, the search means 6 and the database 7 are not necessarily provided in the portable information terminal, and the portable information terminal is provided with a communication means. The means 6 and the database 7 are provided outside, and the search means 6 searches the information in the database 7 through the communication means, and the obtained information is provided to the similar information detection means 8 through the communication means. Even if the portable information terminal includes the search means 6 and the database 7, information that cannot be obtained from the database 7 may be obtained from an external database via the communication means.

  The same kind information detecting means 8 detects whether or not there is the same kind of information in the information searched by the searching means 6. And when the same kind of information is not detected, that is, when there is one specific object, or when there are a plurality of specific objects, there is no object of the same kind, information about those objects is It is given to the information display control means 5. Further, the information display control means 5 is superposed on a position near the object on the screen of the display means 2 or on the object by the information and the position information obtained by the object position detection means 4 described above. Thus, simple information about the object is displayed. On the other hand, when there are a plurality of specific objects and the same kind of information is detected, the information is given to the density detection means 9.

  The congestion level detection means 9 determines whether or not a plurality of objects of the same kind of information are in a dense state on the screen of the display means 2 and how much the density is in the dense state. To detect. In this case, the information on the degree of congestion may be obtained from the display unit 2, but it is preferable that the information is automatically obtained from the object position detection unit 4. Then, when it is determined that the plurality of objects of the same type of information are not in a dense state according to the detection result of the congestion degree detection means 9, the information is given to the information display control means 5, thereby The information display control means 5 is superposed on the vicinity of a plurality of objects on the screen of the display means 2 or on the object by the information and the position information obtained by the object position detection means 4 described above. Thus, the same kind of simple information about the objects is individually displayed. On the other hand, when it is determined that a plurality of objects of the same kind of information are in a dense state, the information on the degree of congestion is given to the same kind information display mode control means 10.

  The homogeneous information display mode control means 10 determines in what manner the simple information is to be displayed according to the density of the object of the homogeneous information detected by the density detection means 9. For example, when there are 10 or more snakes in a predetermined area on the screen of the display means 2 in accordance with a predetermined determination criterion, the number of character information “snake” is thinned out to obtain two characters “snake”. If the information is displayed and there are less than 10 animals, it is decided to display the character information of one “snake”, or if there are more than 10 mixed butterflies and monkeys, "Is displayed, but if there are less than 10 characters, it is determined that only the character information of" Monster butterfly "and" Monkey butterfly "are displayed one by one. Information about the determined mode is given to the information display control means 5.

  Thereafter, the information display control means 5 is in a dense state on the screen of the display means 2 by the information obtained from the homogeneous information display mode control means 10 and the position information obtained by the object position detection means 4 described above. The simple information of the mode determined by the homogeneous information display mode control means 10 is displayed in the vicinity of the plurality of targets or on the target. Therefore, even if the same type of objects are densely displayed on the screen of the display means 2, simple information about these objects is displayed by thinning out or changing the information according to the degree of congestion. Since it is displayed, the observer can accurately recognize simple information about the same type of objects in a dense state.

  In the description so far, only the simple information is displayed in the vicinity of the target object or displayed superimposed on the target object. However, for which target object the simple information is displayed. In order to clarify whether the object is an object, the same number of specified marks as the target information may be displayed in the vicinity of the target object or overlaid on the target object. preferable.

  Incidentally, the information display system of the present embodiment includes two additional systems in addition to such a configuration. Therefore, these systems will be described in order with reference to a path indicated by a dashed arrow and a path indicated by a one-dot chain arrow in FIG.

  First, as described above, when the simplified information for the same type of objects in the dense state is displayed on the screen of the display means 2 as the simplified category-level simplified information, the observer You may want to know more specific information at a lower level. For example, when one character information of a category level of “snake” is displayed for three snakes in a dense state, it is specifically desired to know what name the snake is.

  In addition, information on the same type of objects in a dense state is displayed on the screen of the display means 2 as simple information at the category level, but in reality, there are a plurality of types at different lower levels. If it is possible to visually confirm that the objects are included, it may be desired to know specific specific simple information about them. For example, one character information of the category level “snake” is displayed for three snakes in a dense state, but there are clearly two types of snakes in them, so these snakes This is when you want to know what a snake is and what a snake is.

  In those cases, the observer designates the object in the dense state on which the simple category level simple information is displayed by the specific simple information designation unit 11 while viewing the screen of the display unit 2. This designation may be performed using a keyboard, or may be performed using a touch panel or a cursor. Then, the feature of the designated object is extracted by the extraction unit 3, while the position information is given to the information display control unit 5 by the object position detection unit 4.

  On the other hand, the information retrieved from the database 7 by the retrieval means 6 based on the extraction result of the extraction means 3 is the object in the dense state via the same kind information detection means 8 and the congestion degree detection means 9 as described above. Only the information of the object is given to the homogeneous information display mode control means 10. Of course, in this case, it is also given to the similar information display mode control means 10 that the information is retrieved by the designation of the specific simple information designation means 11. Therefore, the homogeneous information display mode control unit 10 determines one or a plurality of display modes based on the information, and gives the information to the information display control unit 5.

  On the one hand, the information display control means 5 is based on the position information given by the object position detection means 4 and the information given directly from the same kind information detection means 8 and the categories displayed on the objects of those information. The simple level information is displayed in place of the specific simple information at the lower level. On the other hand, from the position information given by the object position detection means 4 and the display form information given by the same kind information display form control means 10, the category-level simple displayed on the object in the dense state is displayed. Information is displayed instead of the display mode of specific simple information at a lower level.

  Therefore, on the screen of the display means 2, it becomes possible to recognize both simple information about objects that are not in a dense state and simple information about objects that are in a dense state at a more specific level. It is also possible to recognize what objects and the aggregates of the objects in the same category that are in a dense state on the screen of the display means 2 are concretely.

  Next, the object displayed on the screen of the display means 2 cannot be satisfied only by the simple information as described above, and the detailed information about the object can be known. A description will be given along the path indicated by the one-dot chain line arrow in FIG. In the present invention, detailed information may be displayed on the screen of the display means 2 described above. However, since detailed information generally has a large amount of information, it is not appropriate to display it on the screen of the display means 2 in the case of a portable information terminal. Therefore, in the case of the present embodiment, it is not displayed on the screen of the display means 2 but is displayed on the screen of the detailed information display means 13 prepared separately.

  If the observer wants to know a detailed explanation about a specific object while looking at the screen of the display means 2, the observer designates the object by the detailed information designating means 12. This designation may be performed using a keyboard or using a touch panel or a cursor. When the feature of the designated object is extracted by the extraction unit 3, the position information of the object is given to the information display control unit 5 by the object position detection unit 4.

  On the other hand, the search means 6 searches the database 7 for detailed information about the object based on the extraction result of the extraction means 3 and gives it to the information display control means 5. Then, the information display control unit 5 causes the detailed information display unit 13 to display the detailed information. At this time, it is a problem for the observer if the detailed information displayed on the detailed information display means 13 is clear about which object among the objects displayed on the display means 2. There is no. However, in a normal case, when there are a plurality of objects, it is required to clarify the correspondence. Therefore, in the case of the present embodiment, the information display control means 5 uses the position information detected by the object position detection means 4 at the position near the object on the screen of the display means 2 or the object. Detailed information designation marks are displayed on top of each other.

  Next, an example of a portable information terminal adopting the information display system as described above and a method for using the portable information terminal will be described. First, the configuration of the portable information terminal according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The portable information terminal 21 has a first main body portion and a second main body portion that can be folded by a hinge, and has a communication function with the outside. The first body portion that is substantially upright in FIG. 2 is provided with the camera 21a as the photographing means 1 on the outer surface side, and the display means 2 as described above on the inner surface side. A first display unit 21b is provided.

  On the other hand, various operations as the portable information terminal 21 including the operation of the second display portion 21c as the detailed information display means 13 and the information display system of the present invention are provided on the inner surface side of the second main body portion. In order to do this, an operation unit 21d having a plurality of keys is provided. In the first main body and the second main body, the extraction means 3, the object position detection means 4, the information display control means 5, the search means 6, the database 7, the homogeneous information detection means 8, the congestion degree Various electronic components constituting the detection means 9, the same kind information display mode control means 10 and the like are incorporated.

  The camera 21a includes an image pickup device such as a CCD, and can capture an image of a desired field of view by operating the operation unit 21d and display the image on the first display unit 21b in real time. In addition, the imaging information can be stored in a built-in storage device as a still image or a moving image.

  In addition, the first display unit 21b is a touch panel, and the observer touches the desired object with the finger 22 from the image displayed on the first display unit 21b, so that the object is displayed. Information can be known. Therefore, it can be said that the touch panel in this case is an operation unit of the extraction unit 3 described above. However, the present invention touches a specific animal among a plurality of animals displayed on the first display unit 21b after inputting that the object to be specified is, for example, an animal using the operation unit 21d. Regardless of whether the first display unit 21b is a touch panel, characteristic information on the screen may be input only by the operation unit 21d.

  In the case of the portable information terminal 21, information about the designated object is displayed on the first display unit 21b when the information is simple information, and displayed on the second display unit 21c when the information is detailed information. However, as described above, depending on the amount of detailed information, the detailed information may be displayed on the first display unit 21b. That is, the second display unit 21c can also be used as the first display unit 21b.

  Then, the usage aspect of the portable information terminal 21 of a present Example is demonstrated. As shown in FIG. 2, in the field of view captured by the camera 21a, there are several tall trees, several shrubs, two elephants on a distant hill, and a pond. There is one river horse, one snake at the base of the tree on the right side, and two butterflies playing near the shrub on the near side. The scene is displayed on the first display 21b in real time. ing. FIG. 3 shows a screen of the first display unit 21b displaying the scene. At this time, nothing is displayed on the second display portion 21c. The snake is actually much smaller and has most of its body in contact with the ground, but is drawn for convenience.

  Assume that an observer is interested in animals in this display state and wants to obtain information about all of them. In this case, the designation method includes a method of operating an “animal” designation key in the operation unit 21d, an input using a keyboard, a touch on the display screen of the first display unit 21b, and a click on the cursor. Or a method of inputting voice.

  When specified in this way, information about all animals is extracted by the extraction means 3 and the information is given to the object position detection means 4 and the search means 6. Therefore, on the other hand, the above-described object position detection means 4 detects the positions of the six objects and gives the information to the information display control means 5.

  On the other hand, the above-described search means 6 extracts information about the six objects from the database 7 and gives the information to the above-mentioned similar information detection means 8. The same kind information detection means 8 detects the same kind information when it exists in the obtained information. In the case of this embodiment, since there are two “elephants” and two “butterflies”, information on “elephant” and “butterfly” will be detected. Given to means 9.

  Then, the information of “Kawama” and “snake” that has not been detected by the homogeneous information detection means 8 is given to the information display control means 5 described above. Therefore, the information display control means 5 uses the position information about the “Kawama” and “snake” obtained by the object position detection means 4 and the “Kawama” and “snake” obtained via the same kind information detection means 8. With the simple information about “”, the “X” mark indicating that the object is specified at the position near the “Kawama” and “snake” images on the first display unit 21b, and the category level simple Character information of general names “Kaba” and “Snake” is displayed as information.

  On the other hand, the density detection means 9 detects the density of “elephant” and “butterfly”. In the case of the present embodiment, when there are two or more objects of the same kind of information in a predetermined area, the density detection means 9 is set in advance to detect it. Therefore, both “elephant” and “butterfly” meet the criteria and are detected, and the information is given to the homogeneous information display mode control means 10.

  Here, if two “elephants” are present on the screen of the first display unit 21b at a large distance from each other, they will not be detected by the density detection means 9, so two All of the information on the “elephant” is given to the information display control means 5, and thereafter, the image of each “elephant” on the first display portion 21b is similar to the case of “Kawama” and “snake”. In the vicinity of, the designation mark “×” and the character information of the general name “Elephant” are displayed as the category level simple information.

  On the other hand, the display mode control means 10 uses the information on the degree of congestion regarding the “elephant” and the “butterfly” obtained from the density detection means 9 and the simple information to the “elephant” and the “butterfly” in the dense state. Thus, it is determined how to display the simple information. For example, if more than 30 “elephants” are present in a crowded state, displaying character information “Elephant”, which is simple information at the category level, for each of them will cause the character information to be dense. Since it becomes difficult to recognize because it becomes or overlaps, it is possible to display only three, or in the same way, two in the case of 5 to 29 heads, one in the case of 4 heads or less Decide to display only one. In the present embodiment, therefore, there are two “elephant” and two “butterflies”. Therefore, according to the above example, the character information “zou” and “cho” are both used. Are displayed one by one.

  Then, the information display control means 5 includes the position information about the “elephant” and the “butterfly” in the dense state obtained from the object position detection means 4, and the simplified information obtained from the same kind information display mode control means 10. Depending on the display mode, a designation mark of “x” mark indicating that each object is designated at a position close to the images of “elephant” and “butterfly” in a dense state on the first display unit 21b, and a category level As the simple information, the character information of the general names “Elephant” and “Cho” are displayed one by one. FIG. 4 shows a state in which four pieces of simple category-level information are displayed for a total of six objects “elephant”, “Kawama”, “snake”, and “butterfly” in this way. Is.

  However, the observer is not satisfied with such information alone, what kind of snake is one snake displayed as “snake”, and two elephants displayed as “Elephant”. I want to know what kind of elephant is, and the two butterflies labeled "Chou" are different in size and color, but I want to know what kind of butterfly they are Sometimes. In some cases, simply by looking at the screen shown in FIG. 3, the elephant is known to be “Elephant” from the beginning and what kind of elephant the elephant is.

  Therefore, in such a case, a desired animal is designated by the specific simple information designation means 11 described above. As an example of the specific simple information specifying means 11, for example, a key for specifying specific simple information is provided in the operation unit 21d, and after operating the key, an image of a desired animal is provided. There are a method of touching with a finger 22 and a method of clicking with a cursor. In addition, when designating by looking at the screen shown in FIG. 4, there is a method of clicking a designation mark “×” of a desired animal.

  And when the animal designated in that way is one like a snake, on the other hand, based on the information extracted by the extracting means 3, the object position detecting means 4 obtains the position information as information. On the other hand, the information extracted from the database 7 by the search means 6 is supplied to the information display control means 5 without being detected by the homogeneous information detection means 8. Therefore, when a snake is designated in the state of FIG. 3, the information display control means 5 displays a designation mark “×” at a position near the snake, and as specific simple information, for example, “Nishiki Snake”. Display character information. When the snake is designated in the state of FIG. 4, the information display control means 5 replaces the character information of the category level “snake” displayed near the snake with more specific simple information. , The character information “Nishiki Snake” is displayed.

  Further, when the designated animal is like two elephants in a dense state, on the other hand, based on the information extracted by the extracting means 3, the object position detecting means 4 displays the position information as information. On the other hand, the information extracted from the database 7 by the search means 6 is supplied to the same kind information display mode control means 10 via the same kind information detection means 8 and the congestion degree detection means 9. Therefore, the same-type information display mode control means 10 determines that only one piece of specific simple information is displayed because the given information is two and the same information.

  As a result, when two elephants are designated in the state of FIG. 3, the information display control means 5 displays one designation mark “×” at a position near the elephants, and a specific simple As information, for example, only one piece of character information “Indian elephant” is displayed. When the elephant is designated in the state of FIG. 4, the information display control means 5 replaces the character information of the category level “Elephant” displayed near the elephant with more specific simple information. , Character information “Indian elephant” is displayed.

  Furthermore, also in the case of two butterflies where the designated animal is in a dense state, the information extracted by the extraction means 3 is processed in the same manner as in the case of the above elephant. However, in the case of butterflies, the two butterflies have the same simple information at the category level, but the specific simple information is different. For this reason, the same-type information display mode control means 10 decides to display both pieces of specific simple information one by one because the given two pieces of information are different specific simple information.

  However, unlike this embodiment, when two types of butterflies are densely packed, and the ratio thereof is 1: 9, for example, one type is specifically simplified. One piece of information is displayed, and for the other type, two pieces of specific simple information are displayed. As a result, even if the position of the butterfly changes rapidly, it is possible to recognize to which of the specific simple information the display position of the specific simple information is not moved each time. .

  Thus, when the display mode is determined by the homogeneous information display mode control means 10, when two butterflies are designated in the state of FIG. 3, the information display control means 5 In addition to displaying the designation mark “×” one by one, for example, character information “Agechochou” and “Monrochocho” are individually displayed as specific simple information. When the butterfly is designated in the state of FIG. 4, the information display control means 5 replaces the designation information “×” and “Cho” with the category level character information one by one. "Is displayed on the other hand, and the text information" Papilio butterfly "is displayed on one side, and the text information" Month white butterfly "is displayed on the other side. FIG. 5 shows a state in which specific simple information only about the butterfly is displayed on the screen of the first display unit 21b from the state of FIG.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, when the simple information is simply displayed on the first display unit 21 b, it is not satisfactory, and detailed information about the object is desired, or FIG. A case where only detailed information about a desired animal is to be known in this state will be described. In the case of the present embodiment, the detailed information is displayed on the second display portion 11c shown in FIG.

  First, when it is desired to know detailed information about a specific object, a desired object is designated by the detailed information designating means 12 described above. The designation in this case is performed in accordance with the case where the specific simple information is designated. When the feature of the designated object is extracted by the extraction unit 3, the position information of the object is given to the information display control unit 5 by the object position detection unit 4.

  On the other hand, the search means 6 searches the database 7 for detailed information about the target object based on the extraction result of the extraction means 3, but in this case, the detailed information corresponding to the number and density of the same target object is retrieved. Since there is no need to change the display mode, the information extracted from the database 7 is given to the information display means 5. And the information display control means 5 displays the detailed information of the designated target object on the 2nd display part 21c.

  In this case, the detailed information displayed on the second display unit 21c may be different according to the designation stage. That is, when a butterfly is designated in the display state of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a detailed explanation of the rough concept of a butterfly is displayed, and when a swallowtail butterfly is designated in the display state of FIG. You may make it display the specific detailed information of. FIG. 6 shows an example in which a swallowtail butterfly is designated in the display state of FIG. 5 and an enlarged view of the swallowtail butterfly is displayed on the second display unit 21c. .

  However, in some cases, it is better to clarify which object displayed on the first display unit 21b is the detailed information displayed on the second display unit 21c. As an example of such a case, for example, when an elephant is designated on the screens of FIGS. 3 to 4, the information display control means 5 additionally displays a designation mark “◯” at a position near the elephant. To do. In addition, when the swallowtail butterfly is designated on the screen of FIG. 5, a designation mark “O” may be additionally displayed in the vicinity of the swallowtail butterfly, and “O” is displayed instead of the designation mark “X”. You may make it do.

  Moreover, in order to display the detailed information about two objects at the same time on the second display unit 21c so that the contents of both can be compared, for example, the following can be performed. That is, if you want to compare the swallowtail butterfly and the white butterfly in order on the screen in FIG. In addition, the designation mark of the white butterfly is changed from “x” to “2”, and the detailed information of each is displayed side by side on the left and right sides of the second display portion 21c together with these new designation marks.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the specific simple information specifying unit 11 and the detailed information specifying unit 12 are used has been described. However, the present invention does not necessarily include these units.

  Next, the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, and the above FIG. 2 is also used in the description of the present embodiment. In FIG. 7, the same reference numerals are given to substantially the same components as those described in FIG. Therefore, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  In Example 1 above, when objects in the same category are in a dense state, information about the objects is not displayed individually for those objects, but in a dense state. A case has been described in which automatic detection is performed and the amount of information is changed to a mode corresponding to the degree of congestion and displayed on the display means.

  In contrast, in this embodiment, when objects of the same category are in a dense state, information about the objects is displayed individually for those objects. If the display cannot be recognized or is difficult to recognize, it can be displayed on the display means in a manner with a small amount of information corresponding to the degree of congestion according to the intention of the observer. It is a thing.

  FIG. 7 shows an information display system in such a case in a block diagram similar to FIG. As can be seen from FIG. 7, in the case of the present embodiment, there are no specific simple information specifying means 11, detailed information specifying means 12, and detailed information display means 13 provided as additional means in the first embodiment. Instead, only the simplification designation means 14 is provided. Therefore, in the following, usage modes of the present embodiment will be described.

  The camera 21a shown in FIG. 2 as the photographing unit 1 displays the photographed image on the first display unit 21b shown as the display unit 2 in real time. And in a present Example, the case where the dozens of bees which are in a dense state are projected on the 1st display part 21b is assumed. However, even if such a dense bee image covers the entire screen of the first display unit 21b or is limited to a part of the area, the description will be substantial. There is no change. However, the latter case will be described with a greater awareness.

  The observer wants to observe such a crowded bee on the screen and want to know what animals they are, so specify the bees on the image to get that information . As a designation method in this case, it is assumed that the “animal” designation key in the operation unit 21d is operated. If so specified, the image information about all the bees is extracted by the extraction means 3 and given to the object position detection means 4 and the search means 6.

  Therefore, on the other hand, the object position detection means 4 detects the positions of all the bees based on the extracted information, and gives the position information to the information display control means 5. On the other hand, the search means 6 extracts information on the number of bees corresponding to the number of bees from the database 7 and gives the information to the information display control means 5. Thereby, the information display control means 5 displays the character information “Hachi” which is the designation mark “×” and the category level simple information for each bee on the screen of the first display unit 21b. FIG. 8A shows the screen of the bee in the dense state displayed on the first display unit 21b as described above.

  As can be seen from this display state, even though “Hachi” is very simple text information, it is virtually impossible to read the text information because small bees are in a dense state. It has become. In the present embodiment, in such a case, the observer can reduce the character information by designating the bees with the simplification designation means 14. As the designation method, for example, a key for designating simplification is provided in the operation unit 21d, and after operating the key, an image of a desired animal (bee) in a crowded state is used. There is a method of touching with a finger 22 or clicking with a cursor.

  When so designated, information about all the bees extracted by the extraction means 3 is given to the object position detection means 4 and the search means 6. Therefore, on the other hand, the object position detection means 4 detects the position of each bee in a dense state from the extracted information, and gives the position information to the information display control means 5.

  On the other hand, the search means 6 extracts information about the number of bees corresponding to the number of bees from the database 7 and provides the information to the same-type information detection means 8. And the same kind information detection means 8 detects that those information are the same kind information. In that case, depending on the designation method by the simplification designation means 14, even if information about other objects is slightly mixed, such information is detected by the similar information detection means 8. Instead, only information about the bees is given to the density detection means 9. Then, the density detection means 9 detects that the bees are small and are present innumerably so as to overlap within a predetermined area, and gives the information to the similar information display mode control means 10.

  The homogeneous information display mode control means 10 obtains information from the density detection means 9 to obtain the size of the individual (bee), the size and density of the crowded area, characters and pictures as simple information to be displayed, The display mode of the simple information is determined in consideration of the size and color of the simple display.

  Then, the information display control means 5 uses, for example, the position information about the dense bees obtained from the object position detection means 4 and the simple information display form obtained from the same kind information display form control means 10, for example, A designation mark “×” indicating that the object is designated and character information “Hachi” as simple information at the category level are displayed one by one on the screen of the first display unit 21b. FIG. 8B shows a state in which the designation mark “X” and the character information “Hachi” are displayed so as to be superimposed on the images of a plurality of bees in the dense state on the first display unit 21b. It is a thing.

  As described above, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8B, the designation mark “×” and the character information “Hachi” are placed one by one on the images of a plurality of bees in a dense state. If the image area of a bee that is displayed but is in a dense state is large, it may be increased within a range that is not difficult to see. In addition, as in the case of the first embodiment, in particular, in the case of displaying a plurality of objects in a dense state, such as in this embodiment, the entire screen of the objects in the dense state is displayed. It is better to change the color of the simple information in consideration of the color situation and contrast. By doing so, the recognition degree of the observer is improved. FIG. 8C shows one method for achieving this by hatching the predetermined area in FIG. 8B. In this way, it is not misunderstood even if other objects are mixed together in a densely packed bee, and “Hachi”, which is one character information, displays many bees. It becomes easy to recognize.

  As described above, in the above description, the embodiment of the present invention has been described in two examples. However, the present invention can be implemented separately as in the above embodiments, but both are implemented together. It is also possible to do. Needless to say, the specific simple information specifying means 11, the detailed information specifying means 12, and the detailed information display means 13 of the first embodiment may be optionally added to the second embodiment.

1 is a block diagram for explaining a system configuration of Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary of the portable information terminal of Example 1. FIG. It is the figure which showed the display state in the 1st display part of the portable information terminal shown by FIG. It is a figure which shows the state by which the simple information with respect to several target object was displayed in the display state of FIG. It is a figure which shows the state by which the simple information of the type with respect to a butterfly was displayed in the display state of FIG. It is a figure which shows the state by which the detailed description information of the swallowtail butterfly shown by FIG. 5 was displayed on the 2nd display part of the portable information terminal shown by FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram for explaining a system configuration of a second embodiment. FIG. 8A is a diagram showing an example of a screen of display means for easy understanding of the description of the second embodiment, and FIG. 8A shows an initial information display state for a dense object. FIG. 8B and FIG. 8C show states in which display information is easy to see.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image | photographing means 2 Display means 3 Extraction means 4 Object position detection means 5 Information display control means 6 Search means 7 Database 8 Homogeneous information detection means 9 Congestion degree detection means 10 Homogeneous information display mode control means 11 Specific simple information designation means 12 Detailed information designation means 13 Detailed information display means 14 Simplification designation means 21 Portable information terminal 21a Camera 21b First display part 21c Second display part 21d Operation part 22 Finger

Claims (7)

Display means for displaying an image captured by the imaging means;
Extraction means for individually extracting features of a plurality of objects designated from the image of the display means;
Search means for searching individual information of the plurality of objects from a database based on an extraction result of the extraction means;
Homogeneous information detection means for detecting the presence of homogeneous information from the information of the plurality of objects searched by the retrieval means;
Density detection means for detecting the density of the objects on the screen when the homogeneous information is detected by the homogeneous information detection means;
Same-type information display for determining the display mode of the same-type information on the display means according to the density when the density-detecting means detects that the object of the same-type information exceeds a predetermined density Aspect control means;
Information display control means for causing the display means to display information of the mode determined by the homogeneous information display mode control means;
An information display system comprising:   Even if a plurality of pieces of the same information are displayed on the display means via the information control means according to the search result of the search means, when the information is difficult to see, the information is simplified. And when the object is specified by the simplification specifying means, the same kind information detecting means is similar to the information of the plurality of objects searched by the search means. 2. The information display system according to claim 1, wherein the presence of information is detected and the information is given to the density detection means.   The information determined by the homogeneous information display mode control means and displayed on the display means by the information display control means is schematic simplified information about the object in the dense state, and is actually dense. When there are different types of objects in the same category even if they are in the same category, there is a specific simple information specifying means that can specify the specific type display. When specified by the simple information specifying means, the homogeneous information display mode control means determines the display mode of the homogeneous information corresponding to the same information display mode control means, and the information display control means displays the information of the determined display mode as the display 2. The information display system according to claim 1, wherein the information is displayed on a means.   When there is a detailed information specifying means and a detailed information display means, and the detailed information specifying means specifies a specific object, information more detailed than the information displayed for the object is the information control means. 4. The information display system according to claim 1, wherein the information is displayed on the detailed information display means.   The information display system according to claim 4, wherein the display unit also serves as the information display unit.   6. A portable information terminal, wherein the information display system according to claim 1 is employed.   The portable information terminal includes a communication unit, and uses the communication unit to search information on the object extracted by the extraction unit from an external database. 6. The portable information terminal according to 6.

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