JP2011040898A - Imaging reproducing device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate a person admiring a panoramic image to understand a direction in which an object reflected in the panoramic image is located when the object is photographed. <P>SOLUTION: An imaging reproducing device includes: an optical lens unit 11 and a CCD 12 for photographing a panoramic image in the direction of 360 degrees along a predetermined photographing face; an azimuth sensor 24 for detecting an azimuth of a panoramic image to be photographed; a memory card 26 for associating image data of a panoramic image obtained by photographing with information indicating the azimuth detected by the azimuth sensor 24 to record them; and a control unit 19 for making a compression/decompression processing part 16 create a panoramic image which is developed from the image data recorded in the memory card 26 with the direction of 180 degrees from a direction to be reference along the photographing face as a break on the basis of the information indicating the associated and recorded direction to display the created panoramic image in a display unit 18. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image capturing / reproducing apparatus and a program for capturing a panoramic image and reproducing and displaying the captured panorama.

  Conventionally, a digital camera has been proposed in which a plurality of subjects located in different directions as viewed from a digital camera are individually photographed, and information indicating the direction in which the subject is located is added to each of the photographed images and recorded. (Patent Document 1).

  In the digital camera described in this patent document, a panoramic image is generated by connecting overlapping portions of a plurality of captured images and synthesizing the images. When an image is reproduced, an image area in the panorama image corresponding to the direction in which the digital camera is currently facing is automatically displayed on the screen.

  Therefore, with the digital camera described in the above-mentioned patent document, the viewer of the panoramic image can understand in which direction each subject appearing in the panoramic image is located when viewed from the digital camera.

JP 2005-026856 A

  However, in the technique described in the above-mentioned patent document, a viewer of a panoramic image understands in which direction each subject in the panoramic image displayed on the screen of the digital camera is located at the time of shooting. First, you must know the direction the digital camera is facing at that time.

  Therefore, in the technology described in the above patent document, for example, when a panoramic image viewer creates a panoramic image in an environment where the direction cannot be grasped, the direction in which the digital camera is currently facing cannot be grasped. There is a problem that it is impossible to understand in which direction each subject in the displayed panoramic image is located at the time of shooting.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the purpose of the present invention is to enable a person viewing a panoramic image to easily understand the direction in which the subject in the panoramic image was located at the time of shooting. An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging reproduction apparatus and a program that can be used.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, an imaging unit that captures a 360 ° panoramic image along a predetermined imaging plane and a direction in which one component surface of the imaging reproduction apparatus housing in which the imaging unit is disposed are opposed to each other are detected. Detecting means, recording means for recording image data of a panoramic image obtained by photographing with the imaging means in association with information indicating the direction detected by the detecting means, display means for displaying an image, and the recording means Display control means for displaying a panoramic image on the display means so that a predetermined reference direction is the center of the image based on information indicating the direction recorded in association with the image data recorded in It is characterized by comprising.

  According to the present invention, a person who views a panoramic image can easily understand the direction in which the subject in the panoramic image is located at the time of shooting.

1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a digital panoramic camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of an operation in a shooting mode of the digital panoramic camera according to the embodiment. The figure which illustrates the specific content of the image data obtained by imaging | photography concerning the embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of an operation in a playback mode of the digital panoramic camera according to the embodiment. The figure explaining the processing content at the time of the compression / decompression processing part which concerns on the same embodiment obtaining the image data of a rectangular image. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a rectangular panoramic image displayed on the display unit in the playback mode according to the embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a digital panoramic camera will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a circuit configuration of a digital panoramic camera 10 according to the present embodiment. In the figure, a light image of a subject is formed on an imaging surface of a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) 12 which is a solid-state imaging device by an optical lens unit 11 protruding upward from the upper surface of the camera housing.

  The optical lens unit 11 uses, for example, an axially symmetric free-form surface lens, and can shoot an image with a horizontal field angle of 360 ° and a vertical field angle of about 45 ° if the shooting surface is a horizontal plane.

  The detailed technical contents of the axisymmetric free-form surface lens are described, for example, on the website “http://www.olympus.co.jp/jp/news/2007b/nr070706zenhouij.cfm (July 2009 The detailed description is omitted as it is well known as introduced in “31st confirmation”.

  The lens optical system used in the optical lens unit 11 of the present embodiment is not limited to the above-described axially symmetric free-form surface lens, but also uses a spherical mirror, a free-form surface prism, or a circumferential fisheye lens. It does not limit the structure, such as what was used.

  When the axially symmetric free-form surface lens is used for the optical lens unit 11, assuming that the entire imaging surface of the CCD 12 is square, a substantially circular shape, more specifically, a central small circle is missing on the imaging surface. A ring-shaped image is formed. Therefore, no image is formed on the small circle portion at the center of the imaging surface of the CCD 12 and the four corner portions located outside the arc, and the image signals of those portions are not actually used.

  In the monitor state, also referred to as through image display or live view image display, the CCD 12 is periodically driven at a predetermined frame rate to acquire an image signal.

  The analog processing unit 13 executes correlation square sampling, automatic gain adjustment, and A / D conversion processing on the image signal of the analog value acquired by imaging with the CCD 12, and outputs it to the process circuit 14.

  The process circuit 14 performs color process processing including pixel interpolation processing and γ correction processing on the digitized signal, and then temporarily stores it in the image buffer 15 via the system bus SB. Hereinafter, the image signal held in the image buffer 15 is referred to as “image data”.

  The image data held in the image buffer 15 is read out by the compression / decompression processing unit 16 via the system bus SB, transformed into long rectangular image data suitable for display, and then displayed via the system bus SB. To send.

The display processing unit 17 drives the display unit 18 based on the received display image data, and as a result, displays an image captured by the CCD 12 at that time as a through image.
The display unit 18 is disposed on the rear side of the casing of the digital panoramic camera 10 and is composed of a color liquid crystal panel and its drive circuit. As described above, for example, when the optical lens unit 11 can capture an image having a horizontal field angle of 360 ° and a vertical field angle of about 45 °, the display unit 18 corresponds to the shooting field angle, for example, a vertical 1 X It has a screen capable of displaying a horizontally long rectangular image having an aspect ratio of about 8 horizontally.

  The process circuit 14, the image buffer 15, and the compression / decompression processing unit 16 constitute a data processor IP specialized for processing image data, generally called an image processing engine or the like.

The control unit 19 performs overall control of the above circuit. The control unit 19 includes a CPU and is directly connected to the main memory 20 and the program memory 21. The main memory 20 is composed of SDRAM (synchronous DRAM) and functions as a work memory. The program memory 21 is configured by an electrically rewritable nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory, for example, and fixedly stores an operation program, data including control in a shooting mode and a playback mode, which will be described later.
The control unit 19 reads out necessary programs, data, and the like from the program memory 21 and executes the control operation of the entire digital panoramic camera 10 while temporarily expanding and storing it in the main memory 20 as appropriate.

  Further, the control unit 19 executes various control operations in response to key operation signals directly input from the key input unit 22. In addition to the process circuit 14, the image buffer 15, the compression / decompression processing unit 16, and the display processing unit 17, the control unit 19 further includes a CCD driving unit 23, an orientation sensor 24, a triaxial acceleration sensor 25, The memory card unit 26 is also connected.

  The key input unit 22 includes operation keys such as a power key, a shutter key, a shooting mode key, a playback mode key, a menu key, cursor (“↑”, “→”, “↓”, “←”) keys, and a set key.

  The CCD drive unit 23 scans the CCD 12 according to the photographing conditions set at that time.

  The compression / decompression processing unit 16 converts the image data held in the image buffer 15 into data such as orthogonal transform or entropy encoding in accordance with a predetermined data file format at the time of image capturing accompanying the shutter key operation of the key input unit 22. Create an image data file that has undergone compression processing to greatly reduce the amount of data. The created image data file is recorded in the memory card unit 26 via the system bus SB.

  The compression / decompression processing unit 16 receives the image data read from the memory card unit 26 in the playback mode via the system bus SB, and decompresses the original size image by decompression processing in the reverse order of recording. Data is obtained and stored in the image buffer 15 via the system bus SB.

  Further, when the image data held in the image buffer 15 is a circular panoramic image, a deformation process is added so as to obtain a rectangular image suitable for display. By causing the display processing unit 17 to read out the image data held in the image buffer 15 in this way, display for reproduction is executed on the display unit 18.

  The memory card unit 26 is detachably attached to the digital panoramic camera 10 and is a memory for recording image data and the like serving as a recording medium of the digital panoramic camera 10, and can be electrically rewritten in blocks. A flash memory that is a non-volatile memory and a driving circuit thereof are provided.

The azimuth sensor 24 is constituted by, for example, a geomagnetic sensor, and information indicating the azimuth facing one constituent surface, for example, the front surface of the digital panoramic camera 10 at that time, from the north (magnetic north). It is detected and output as an electrical signal representing the displacement.
That is, when shooting a panoramic image using the optical lens unit 11 protruding upward from the upper surface of the camera housing as described above, if the shooting surface is a substantially horizontal plane, which direction in the panoramic image obtained by shooting is Information for indicating which direction corresponds to is detected and acquired by the direction sensor 24.

  The triaxial acceleration sensor 25 detects accelerations in the three axial directions orthogonal to each other, and can also detect the direction of gravitational acceleration. As a result, the attitude of the housing of the digital panoramic camera 10 at that time is indicated. Detect and output information.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.
The operation shown below is executed when the control unit 19 reads out the operation program and data stored in the program memory 21 and develops and stores them in the main memory 20 in the shooting mode and the reproduction mode. is there.

  For example, when the digital panorama camera 10 is upgraded, the operation program and fixed data stored in the program memory 21 are stored in the program memory 21 when the digital panorama camera 10 is shipped from the factory. This includes a program in which a new operation program, data, and the like have been downloaded and stored by connecting the panoramic camera 10 to a personal computer.

First, the operation in the shooting mode for shooting an image will be described.
FIG. 2 is executed when the power is turned on by operating the power key of the key input unit 22 or when the power is turned on by directly pressing and holding the shooting mode key after the power is turned off. At the beginning of processing, the control unit 19 causes the CCD drive unit 23 to periodically drive the CCD 12 at a predetermined frame rate, for example, 30 [frame / second].

  The image signal acquired by the CCD 12 is digitized by the analog processing unit 13 and then taken into the process circuit 14. The process circuit 14 performs color process processing on the captured image signal and then temporarily holds it in the image buffer 15 via the system bus SB.

  At this time, the image data of the panoramic image held in the image buffer 15 has a ring-shaped configuration that is largely distorted toward the center as described above.

  The compression / decompression processing unit 16 reads out the image data held in the image buffer 15 and displays a predetermined direction in the image, that is, a direction in which the front of the housing of the digital panoramic camera 10 faces at that time. A direction that is 180 ° opposite to the center direction, that is, a direction on the rear side of the housing of the digital panoramic camera 10 is expanded as a break and subjected to deformation and extension processing to form a horizontally long rectangle, The image data of the processed rectangular image is again stored in the image buffer 15.

  By displaying a panoramic image on the display unit 18 based on the image data in the image buffer 15, a through image display is realized, and the panorama being photographed at that time is realized for the user of the digital panoramic camera 10. The contents of the image are presented (step S101).

  Along with the through display of the panoramic image, it is determined whether or not the shutter key of the key input unit 22 has been operated (step S102). If not, the process returns to step S101.

  In this way, the processes in steps S101 and S102 are repeatedly executed to wait for the shutter key to be operated while performing through display of the panoramic image.

  When the shutter key is operated, the control unit 19 determines that in step S102, sets the shutter speed again, drives the CCD 12 by the CCD drive unit 23, and executes panoramic image shooting (step S103). ).

  At the same time, the control unit 19 uses the azimuth sensor 24 and the three-axis acceleration sensor 25 to display information indicating one constitutive surface of the digital panoramic camera 10 housing when the shutter key is operated, for example, the azimuth facing the front surface, Information indicating the posture is detected and acquired (step S104).

  When capturing a panoramic image, the compression / decompression processing unit 16 deforms or expands the image data stored in the image buffer 15 so as to obtain a rectangular image as in the through display operation. Instead of processing, an image data file in which the data amount is greatly reduced is created by performing data compression processing such as orthogonal transformation and entropy encoding according to a predetermined data file format.

The control unit 19 records the created panorama image data file in the memory card unit 26 in association with the information indicating the azimuth and the information indicating the orientation acquired in step S104 (step S105).
FIG. 3 visually represents the original image of the image data file recorded in the memory card unit 26. As shown in FIG. 3, the image data of the panoramic image obtained by imaging with the optical lens unit 11 and the CCD 12 is greatly distorted toward the center as described above, and has a ring-shaped configuration in which the image area is compressed. Have.

In this way, the information indicating the azimuth that the front surface of the digital panoramic camera 10 faces when the image is captured and the posture of the same case are added to the image data.
Specifically, the information indicating the azimuth is relative to a direction serving as a reference of the image itself, for example, a component surface of the casing of the digital panoramic camera 10 indicated by an arrow B in the figure, for example, a direction in which the front faces the direction. For example, angle information indicating a deviation difference “−120 °” from the direction indicated by the direction of “N (north)” is associated as information indicating the direction with respect to the image data.

  Note that a point O in FIG. 3 is the center position on the imaging plane, and the position of the axis is orthogonal to the imaging plane of the optical lens unit 11 in the three-dimensional space and passes through the imaging position of the digital panoramic camera 10. Indicates.

  Similarly, in the process of step S105, the orientation in the three-dimensional space is deviated from the reference direction of the image itself, for example, the direction indicated by arrow B in the figure, with the reference of the posture, for example, the vertical direction indicated by the gravitational acceleration. The angle information indicating the position difference is associated as information indicating the posture with respect to the image data.

  As described above, the control unit 19 completes the processing relating to the series of image recording accompanying the shutter key operation, and returns to the processing from step S101 to prepare for the next photographing again.

Next, the operation in the reproduction mode in which the image data recorded in the memory card unit 26 is read and displayed will be described.
FIG. 4 shows the processing executed by the control unit 19 when the playback mode key of the key input unit 22 is operated when the power is turned on or when the power is turned on by directly pressing and holding the playback mode key after the power is turned off. Indicates.

  At the beginning of the setting of the playback mode, the control unit 19 refers to the shooting date and time from the shooting data recorded in association with each data file among the image data files recorded in the memory card unit 26, and the contents of the most date and time Is selected as the latest image (step S301).

  The shooting data recorded in association with the image data file includes the image size, shutter speed, aperture value, white balance value, etc. and thumbnail images created from the main image, in addition to the shooting date and time information. The point is defined by, for example, the Exif (Exchangeable image file format) standard.

  Next, the control unit 19 determines whether the image data is a panoramic image from the image size of the selected image (step S304).

  If it is determined that the image data is not panoramic image data, the control unit 19 assumes that the selected image data represents a rectangular image, causes the compression / decompression processing unit 16 to read the image data as it is, and the image buffer. 15 is expanded and held (step S303).

  When determining that the image data selected in step S302 is a panoramic image, the control unit 19 determines whether or not information indicating the azimuth and orientation is recorded in association with the image data ( Step S304).

  If it is determined that the azimuth and orientation information is not recorded in association with each other, the control unit 19 determines that the image data need not take into account the azimuth at the time of shooting. Therefore, the control unit 19 reads out the image data from the memory card unit 26, and the compression / decompression processing unit 16 does not consider the direction of the image and the like. 3 is deformed and expanded on the image buffer 15 to form a horizontally long rectangle with the direction opposite to 180 ° as a break from the center direction so that the point O in FIG. The image data of the processed rectangular image is newly held in the image buffer 15 (step S306).

  When it is determined in step S304 that information indicating the orientation and orientation is recorded in association with the image data, the control unit 19 reads the image data from the memory card unit 26, and the compression / decompression processing unit 16 causes the image buffer 15 to read the image data. It is deformed and expanded so that it expands to become a horizontally long rectangle.

  At this time, the control unit 19 determines the south direction on the opposite side of 180 ° from the direction in which the north direction in the image is the center of the horizontal direction so that the point O in FIG. As a break, a process of deforming and expanding into a rectangular shape is performed, and the image data of the processed rectangular image is newly held in the image buffer 15 (step S305).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining processing contents when the compression / decompression processing unit 16 obtains image data of a rectangular image at this time. In the same figure, as in the image shown in FIG. 3, a panoramic image in which the left side is slightly north is recorded.

  For example, if the upward direction in the figure is the front of the digital panoramic camera 10 housing at the time of shooting, the user who took a picture with the digital panoramic camera 10 at that time sets the direction slightly toward the east from the southeast as the front at the time of shooting. This means that shooting is performed by operating the shutter key while holding the digital panoramic camera 10.

  Under the control of the control unit 19, the compression / decompression processing unit 16 controls the image data based on the information indicating the azimuth recorded in association with the arrows OD and OD with the south direction indicated by the broken line OL in the figure as a break. As shown in Fig. 5, the image is cut out and deformed and expanded so as to be expanded on the image buffer 15 into a horizontally long rectangle.

  More specifically, the two pixels adjacent at the innermost peripheral position along the broken line OL are the upper left and upper right pixels of the rectangular image, and the two pixels adjacent at the outermost peripheral position along the broken line OL are The pixel at the lower left and upper right corners of the rectangular image, the pixel at the innermost peripheral position in the north (N) direction that is 180 ° away from the broken line OL is the pixel at the upper center of the horizontal direction of the rectangular image, and the north (N) direction A rectangular image is obtained by performing an address conversion (address mapping) process on all the pixels of the original image so that the pixel at the outermost peripheral position is the pixel at the lower end of the center in the horizontal direction of the rectangular image.

  Of course, since the inner circular side of the original circular image is spatially compressed and the number of pixels is reduced, the resolution of the rectangular image after the address conversion is lowered toward the upper side of the rectangle. Therefore, the control unit 19 can acquire a rectangular image by causing the compression / decompression processing unit 16 to perform a decompression process by pixel interpolation so that the decompression rate increases as it is positioned above the rectangular image. Can be retained.

  A technique for converting the address of this type of panoramic image from an original circular image to a rectangular image for display is known as is apparent from, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-028606. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-028606, a fisheye lens is used in the optical system, and a central image having a high resolution is not used. A circular peripheral image in which the resolution of the subject is greatly reduced due to large distortion. Since the rectangular image is generated using only the image, the expansion processing such as pixel interpolation as in the present embodiment is not performed.

  After the processing in step S305 or the processing in steps S306 and S307, the control unit 19 displays a rectangular image on the control unit 19 based on the image data held in the image buffer 15 (step S307), and displays other images. It waits for a switching operation for selection to be performed by the cursor key of the key input unit 22 (step S308).

  FIG. 6 illustrates a case where a panoramic image is developed centering on the north direction and displayed by the control unit 19 by the processing in step S305. In the figure, a panoramic image having a horizontal angle of view of 360 ° with the reference azimuth N as the center in the horizontal direction is displayed using almost the entire center of the screen of the display unit 18.

  In addition, in the same figure, characters indicating “W (west)”, “N (north)”, and “E (east)” indicating the azimuth at the time of photographing and a scale indicating the azimuth angle are displayed together on the lower end side of the screen. This makes it possible to uniquely understand that the center of the left and right sides of the screen is just north.

  It should be noted that the switching operation for selecting another image by the cursor key operation of the key input unit 22 in the process of repeatedly executing the processing of steps S307 and S308 and waiting for the next image selection while displaying the image. Is determined, the control unit 19 determines that in step S308, selects the next image data to be recorded on the memory card unit 26 according to the operation content (step S309), and then selects the selected image data. In order to execute the corresponding display, the processing from step S302 is executed.

  As described above in detail, according to the present embodiment, a panoramic image is reproduced so that a certain direction is always the center of the image regardless of the direction in which the front surface of the digital panoramic camera 10 faces at the time of shooting. It will be displayed. Therefore, a person who appreciates the panoramic image can easily understand the direction in which the subject shown in the displayed panoramic image was located at the time of shooting.

In the above embodiment, the panoramic image centered on “north” is displayed as one reference direction in the playback mode based on the information indicating the direction obtained by the direction sensor 24. Is not limited to this.
For example, in this embodiment, the azimuth sensor 24 and the three-axis acceleration sensor 25 are provided, and information indicating the posture at the time of photographing is recorded together with information indicating the azimuth. Thus, for example, when the user holds the digital panorama camera 10 rotated 90 ° and the optical lens unit 11 captures a panoramic image on the imaging plane along the vertical plane, there are two horizontal directions during reproduction. A rectangular panoramic image may be displayed so that one of the two is centered.
By doing so, even if the displayed panoramic image is viewed, there is no sense of unnaturalness, and the content of the displayed image can be easily understood.

  On the other hand, as described in the above-described embodiment, by executing reproduction display of a panoramic image based on the orientation, it is likely that shooting is performed with a horizontal plane as a shooting plane in actual panoramic image shooting. In this case, it is possible to display a panoramic image in a form that makes it easier for the user to understand the reference.

Although not shown in the above embodiment, from the information indicating the posture at the time of shooting obtained by the triaxial acceleration sensor 25, the shooting plane of the shot panoramic image is within a predetermined angle range from the horizontal plane, for example, within ± 30 °, that is, the elevation angle. Alternatively, only when the depression angle is taken within 30 °, display processing based on information indicating the direction at the time of reproduction may be performed.
Thus, by displaying the orientation only when necessary in consideration of the posture at the time of shooting, it is possible to provide reproduction and display of a panoramic image based on the orientation as sufficiently meaningful for the viewer.

In the above-described embodiment, the panoramic image is reproduced and displayed with an orientation that is uniformly based on “north”. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the user arbitrarily inputs a reference orientation as a key. It may be possible to input at the unit 22.
The control unit 19 that has received this key input causes the panoramic image to be reproduced and displayed so that the input azimuth is at the center in the horizontal direction. It is possible to easily display an image or the like indicating the user's preference according to the user's preference.

  The above embodiment describes the case where the present invention is applied to a dedicated digital panoramic camera. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a mobile phone terminal having a camera function, a surveillance camera, a personal computer, The present invention can be similarly applied to various camera devices such as a web camera that connects and photographs the environment around the personal computer, or an operation program for a computer that already has a camera mechanism capable of panoramic photography.

  Further, in this embodiment, a case has been described in which a single circular image is obtained by using a special lens optical system that is not general, and a rectangular panoramic image is developed and displayed from the image. The present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be similarly applied even when a single panoramic image is acquired by combining a plurality of images taken from different directions.

  In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, the functions executed in the above-described embodiments may be combined as appropriate as possible. The above-described embodiment includes various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by an appropriate combination of a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment, if the effect is obtained, a configuration from which the constituent requirements are deleted can be extracted as an invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Digital panoramic camera, 11 ... Optical lens unit, 12 ... CCD, 13 ... Analog processing part, 14 ... Process circuit, 15 ... Image buffer, 16 ... Compression / decompression processing part, 17 ... Display processing part, 18 ... Display part, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 19 ... Control part, 20 ... Main memory, 21 ... Program memory, 22 ... Key input part, 23 ... CCD drive part, 24 ... Direction sensor, 25 ... 3-axis acceleration sensor, 26 ... Memory card part, IP ... Data processor, SB: System bus.

Claims (6)

Imaging means for capturing a 360 ° panoramic image along a predetermined imaging surface;
Detecting means for detecting a direction in which one constituent surface of the imaging / reproducing apparatus housing provided with the imaging means faces;
Recording means for recording image data of a panoramic image obtained by photographing with the imaging means in association with information indicating a direction detected by the detection means;
Display means for displaying an image;
A display for displaying a panoramic image on the display means such that a predetermined reference direction is the center of the image based on information indicating the direction recorded in association with the image data recorded by the recording means. An imaging reproduction apparatus comprising: a control unit. Based on the information indicating the direction recorded in association with the image data recorded by the recording means, the direction of 180 ° from the reference direction is developed along the photographing surface as a break, and the horizontal center Further comprising image creating means for creating a rectangular panoramic image in which the reference direction is located,
2. The imaging / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control means causes the display means to display the panoramic image reproduced by the image creating means. The detecting means detects a direction in which one component surface of the imaging / reproducing device casing faces,
The image reproducing device according to claim 1, wherein the image creating means creates a panoramic image based on one direction.   4. The imaging / reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising setting means for arbitrarily setting an orientation that is used as a reference by the image generating means. The detection means detects the azimuth facing one component surface of the imaging / reproducing apparatus and the attitude of the apparatus,
The recording means records the image data of the panoramic image in association with information indicating the azimuth and posture detected by the detection means,
The image creating means creates a panoramic image based on one azimuth only when information indicating a posture recorded in association with image data is within a predetermined range from a horizontal plane. Item 4. The imaging reproduction apparatus according to Item 3. An imaging unit that captures a 360 ° panoramic image along a predetermined imaging plane, a detection unit that detects a direction in which one component surface of the imaging reproduction apparatus housing in which the imaging unit is disposed is opposed, and the imaging unit A program executed by a computer built in an imaging reproduction apparatus having a recording unit that records image data of a panoramic image obtained by shooting in association with information indicating the direction detected by the detection unit, and a display unit that displays an image The panoramic image is generated so that the predetermined reference direction becomes the center of the image based on the information indicating the direction recorded in association with the image data recorded by the recording unit in the computer. A computer-readable program that functions as display control means to be displayed on the display unit.

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