JP2011135502A - Image display program, image display device and digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily find out an intended image from a large number of images. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of images are divided into a plurality of groups according to a first condition. It is determined whether each of the groups are classified into a display group or a hidden group. Images 20a-20f of the display group are displayed on a display device 11, while hiding images 22a, 22b of the hidden group. The presence of images of the hidden group is displayed on the display device 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image display program, an image display device, and a digital camera.

  2. Description of the Related Art An image display device is known in which, when an image recorded on a recording medium is reproduced, a number of images are classified according to the shooting date interval, and representative images of each group are displayed as thumbnails.

JP 2003-299028 A

  However, in the above-described conventional image display device, for example, when a lot of images are photographed during a trip, a pet is photographed at home after returning home, and the photograph is not taken for a while after that, However, it is classified in the image of travel, and it is difficult to find out.

(1) The invention of claim 1 is a grouping procedure for dividing a plurality of images into a plurality of groups according to the first condition, and each group is set as a display group or a non-display group according to the second condition. A display determination procedure for determining whether or not a display group image is displayed on the display device, and a display procedure for displaying the presence of the non-display group image on the display device without displaying the non-display group image. This is an image display program to be executed.
(2) In the image display program according to claim 1, in the image display program according to claim 1, in the display procedure, the images of the display groups are arranged and displayed in order of photographing date and time, A mark indicating the presence of the image of the non-display group is displayed at a position corresponding to the shooting date and time of the image of the non-display group.
(3) According to the invention of claim 3, in the image display program according to claim 2, when a mark displayed on the display device is designated by the operation member in the display procedure, the image of the non-display group corresponding to the mark Is displayed on the display device.
(4) In the image display program according to claim 3, in the image display program according to claim 3, when a mark different from the mark is specified by the operation member in the display procedure, the non-display group being displayed on the display device is displayed. The image is deleted, and the image of the non-display group corresponding to the newly designated mark is displayed on the display device.
(5) In the image display program according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the first condition includes a shooting date and time, a shooting location, and a shooting event.
(6) In the image display program according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the second condition includes the number of images belonging to the group and the type of subject.
(7) The invention according to claim 7 is a storage device that stores an image, a display device that displays an image, an operation member for operating image display, and the storage device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. An image display device comprising a computer that executes an image display program.
(8) The invention according to claim 8 is a digital camera including the image display device according to claim 7.

  According to the present invention, an intended image can be easily searched from many images.

The figure which shows the structure of the digital camera of one embodiment The flowchart which shows the image display program of one embodiment Figure showing an example of image display The figure which shows the modification which displays the image contained in a group display image as a thumbnail The figure which shows the change operation of the selection frame of the group display image and the unit image Figure showing another display example of the image The figure which shows the other example of a display of an image

  An embodiment in which an image display program and an image display apparatus of the present invention are mounted on a digital camera will be described. The image display program and the image display device of the present invention are not limited to the digital camera of the embodiment, and can be applied to all kinds of digital cameras such as a single-lens reflex camera and a video camera, and display images other than the camera. It can be applied to any device that does. The image display program of the present invention may be recorded on a recording medium and provided to the user, or the user may download the program via the Internet and execute it on the user's personal computer.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital camera according to an embodiment. In FIG. 1, illustration and description of camera devices, circuits, and devices that are not directly related to the present invention are omitted. The photographing lens 1 includes a focusing lens, a zooming lens, a diaphragm, a lens position detector, and the like (not shown), and forms a subject image on the imaging surface of the image sensor 2. The image pickup device 2 is composed of a CCD image sensor, a CMOS image sensor, or the like, and photoelectrically converts an object image formed on the image pickup surface by the photographing lens 1 and outputs an analog image signal. The signal processing circuit 3 performs clamp processing, CDS processing (correlated double sampling), AGC processing (automatic gain adjustment), and the like on the analog image signal of the image sensor 2. The A / D converter 4 converts the analog image signal processed by the signal processing circuit 3 into a digital image signal.

  The image processing circuit 5 performs filter processing, colorization processing, color conversion processing, contour compensation, gamma correction, white balance adjustment, and the like on the digital image signal to generate image data. The timing generator 6 performs various processes such as charge accumulation, reading of accumulated signals, A / D conversion, image processing, and the like with respect to the image sensor driving circuit 7, the signal processing circuit 3, the A / D converter 4, and the image processing circuit 5. Control timing. The compression / decompression circuit 8 compresses image data at a predetermined ratio of the JPEG system and decompresses the compressed image data. The buffer memory 9 is a buffer for temporarily storing image data. The driving device 10 is a device that drives the lens and the diaphragm of the photographing lens 1. The monitor 11 displays a menu image in addition to the through image and the reproduced image.

  The operation device 12 is various operation members for a user to operate the camera, such as a mode selector, a release half-press and full-press switch, a menu switch, a command dial switch, and a direction key switch. The controller 13 includes a CPU 13a and a memory 13b such as a ROM or RAM for storing control programs and various setting data, and performs camera imaging processing, image processing, recording processing, focus detection / adjustment control, photometry processing, sequence control, and the like. Then, an image display program to be described later is executed to perform image display processing. The slot 14 includes a connector for connecting various detachable recording media such as the memory card 15.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an image display program according to an embodiment stored in the memory 13 b of the controller 13. The CPU 13a of the controller 13 starts executing the image display program of the embodiment when the mode selector of the controller device 12 is set to the reproduction mode.

  In step 1, the image group recorded on the memory card 15 is read and stored in the memory 13b. In step 2, conditions for dividing the image group into a plurality of groups are set. The grouping conditions include shooting date and time, shooting location, shooting event, shooting location and date, shooting event and date. These grouping conditions are displayed on the monitor 11 as a menu screen, and the conditions selected by the user using the operation device 12 are set as the grouping conditions. In subsequent step 3, the image group stored in the memory 13b is grouped according to the grouping condition. The grouping conditions are not limited to the conditions of this embodiment.

  In the case of grouping by shooting date and time, grouping is basically performed by shooting date based on shooting date and time data stored together with image data in each image file. When an image group is shot over a predetermined number of days, for example, 15 days or more, the grouping is performed again for each week of shooting, or the grouping is performed for each month of shooting. In addition, the grouping unit of the shooting date and time may be automatically changed. The user may be able to arbitrarily set the grouping unit for shooting date and time.

  Further, in the case of grouping by shooting location, for example, 1 km squares based on the GPS location data of the shooting location stored together with the image data in each image file and the map data stored in the memory 13b. Group by range. However, when the image group is captured over a wide range, the captured region (for example, Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Hokuriku, etc. in Japan) and even the country (for example, Japan, the United States) , Canada, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland,...) May be automatically changed so that the grouping range of the shooting locations is changed. The user may arbitrarily set the grouping range of the shooting locations.

  Further, in the case of grouping by shooting event, the type of event shown in the image is determined, and grouping is performed for each event type. In this specification, “event” refers to various events and events that are captured by a digital camera, such as an athletic meet, a birthday party, and an entrance ceremony. Some events are developed hierarchically, and for example, there are various events such as competition and ball placement in athletic meet events. An event can be identified by performing recognition processing of the motion of a main subject such as the main character shown in the video, extraction of clothing features such as the main character, or recognition processing.

  In step 4, a display condition for determining whether the group image is a display group image to be displayed on the monitor 11 or a non-display group image not to be displayed on the monitor 11 is set. The display condition of the group image is based on the number of images belonging to the group and the type of subject in the image. For example, there are a group in which the number of images is large, a group in which the number of images is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, or a group including an image in which a specific person is captured. These display conditions are displayed on the monitor 11 as a menu screen, and the conditions selected by the user using the operation device 12 are set as display conditions. The group image display conditions are not limited to the conditions of this embodiment.

  In step 5, a group image to be displayed is selected from the group images according to display conditions, and a representative image is selected from the display group images. As the representative image of each display group, a predetermined number of images taken every hour of shooting time may be selected, or an image showing a person or an image showing a specific person may be selected. Extraction of an image showing a person is performed by a known face recognition method, and an image showing a specific person is performed by a known pattern matching method. In subsequent step 6, the representative images of the group selected as the display group are displayed as thumbnails on the monitor 11.

  FIG. 3 is a rear view of the digital camera according to the embodiment. FIG. 3A is a diagram for selecting, as a display group, images in the top six groups having the largest number of images from among grouped images grouped by shooting date. An example in which six representative images of each group are displayed as thumbnails on the monitor 11 is shown. In the figure, six sets of display group images 20a to 20f are arranged in order from the display group image 20a with the earliest shooting date from the top row to the bottom row of the display screen, and each row contains six representative images of each group. Are arranged in order from the earliest shooting time. The shooting date is superimposed and displayed on the top (left end) image of each display group image 20a to 20f.

  In step 7, the display group image displayed on the monitor 11 in order to notify the user that there is a group image that has not been selected as not satisfying the display conditions in steps 4 to 5, that is, a non-display group image. A predetermined mark is displayed in a gap between 20a to 20f, and in this embodiment, thick line marks 21a to 21d as shown in FIG. 3A are displayed in a predetermined color (for example, red). Marks 21a to 21d indicating that a non-display group image exists are displayed at positions corresponding to the shooting date of each non-display group image.

  For example, in the display example shown in FIG. 3A, the shooting date of the non-display group image of the mark 21a is later than the shooting date of the display group image 20a in the first row, and the display group image 20b in the second row. It is earlier than the shooting date. Similarly, the other marks 21b to 21d are displayed at positions corresponding to their shooting dates. In FIG. 3A, the mark indicating the existence of the non-display group is not displayed in the gap between the display group image 20b in the second row and the display group image 20c in the third row. This means that there is no non-display group image captured between the shooting date of the display group image 20b in the second row and the shooting date of the display group image 20c in the third row. Note that the mark for notifying that a non-display group image exists is not limited to the shape and color of the embodiment, and may be various shapes and colors.

  In step 8 of FIG. 2, it is determined whether any image in the display group image has been selected. If selected, the process proceeds to step 9, and if not, the process proceeds to step 10. When the user operates the up and down buttons of the direction key 12a of the operation device 12 to set the cursor on the monitor screen on any one of the display group images 20a to 20f and presses the direction key 12a, In step 9, the selected representative image is enlarged and displayed on the monitor screen, and after a predetermined time, the process returns to step 6 to display the representative image of the display group images 20a to 20f as shown in FIG. Marks 21a to 21d indicating the presence of the display group image are displayed. In the above description, the process returns to step 6 after a predetermined time. However, when the operation device 12 (for example, the return button 12b) is operated, the process may return to step 6 to perform the above process.

  In a state where the representative images of the display group images 20a to 20f are displayed as thumbnails, the user operates the up and down buttons of the direction key 12a to set the cursor on the monitor screen on any of the display group images 20a to 20f. Thereafter, when the left and right buttons of the direction key 12a are operated, the representative images of the display group images 20a to 20f are replaced with images other than the representative images of the display group. That is, when the left button of the direction key 12a is operated, a new image with an earlier shooting time is displayed on the left end, and when the right button is operated, a new image with a later shooting time is displayed on the right end.

  At this time, when there are many images included in the display group image designated by the user, the above method of displaying a new image at the left end or the right end according to the operation of the left and right buttons of the direction key 12a finds a desired image. Takes time. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the user sets the selection frame 20g on the display group image 20c by operating the up and down buttons of the direction key 12a and operates the OK button 12c at the center of the direction key 12a, As shown in 4 (b), all images included in the display group image 20c may be displayed as thumbnails on the monitor 11. Further, on the thumbnail display image shown in FIG. 4B, when the user sets the selection frame 22c for any image by the direction key 12a and operates the OK button 12c, the image is enlarged and displayed on the monitor 11. To do.

  As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, when the user operates the T (telephoto) side of the zoom button (not shown) of the operation device 12, the selection frame 20g is displayed in FIG. When the group unit shown in FIG. 5B is switched to the image unit shown in FIG. 5B and the W (wide angle) side of the zoom button of the operation device 12 is operated in this state, the selection frame 20g is changed from the image unit shown in FIG. Switching to the group unit shown in FIG. The selection frame 20g moves in the direction of the operated button among the up / down / left / right buttons of the direction key 12a. When the user sets the selection frame 20g to any image and operates the OK button 12c, the image is enlarged and displayed on the monitor 11.

  On the other hand, if no image in the display group images 20a to 20f is selected in step 8, it is determined in step 10 whether any one of the marks 21a to 21d of the non-display group image is selected. If any mark is selected, the process proceeds to step 11, and if none is selected, the process proceeds to step 16. When the user operates the direction key 12a to set the cursor to any of the marks 21a to 21d of the non-display group image and presses the direction key 12a to select it, the selection is made in step 11. The representative image of the non-display group image is selected. The representative image selection method is the same as the representative image selection method for the display group image performed in step 5. In the subsequent step 12, the representative image of the non-display group image is displayed as a thumbnail on the monitor screen.

  FIG. 3B shows an example in which representative images of non-display group images designated by the user are displayed as thumbnails. Here, a case where two sets of non-display group images 22a and 22b exist between the display group image 20a in the first row and the display group image 20b in the second row shown in FIG. These non-display group images 22a and 22b are arranged vertically in the order of the photographing date, and an example in which six representative images of each non-display group are displayed as thumbnails horizontally (in the row direction) is shown. As described above, when a plurality of sets of non-display group images exist under the marks 21a to 21d indicating the presence of non-display group images, thumbnail images of representative images of all sets of non-display groups are displayed.

  The display method of the non-display group image is not limited to the above method. For example, two sets of non-display group images 22a and 22b are developed under the display group image 20a in the first row shown in FIG. The display group images 20b to 20d in the second to fourth lines shown in FIG. 3A are displayed below, that is, the selected non-display group images 22a and 22b are displayed. And 20b may be expanded and displayed.

  In a state where the representative images of the non-display group images 22a and 22b are displayed as thumbnails, the user operates the up and down buttons of the direction key 12a to move the cursor on the monitor screen to any of the non-display group images 22a and 22b. After the setting, when the left and right buttons of the direction key 12a are operated, the representative images of the non-display group images 22a and 22b are replaced with images other than the representative images of the non-display group. That is, when the left button of the direction key 12a is operated, a new image with an earlier shooting time is displayed on the left end, and when the right button is operated, a new image with a later shooting time is displayed on the right end.

  As described above, when there are many images included in the non-display group image designated by the user, a desired image is displayed in the above method in which a new image is displayed at the left end or the right end according to the operation of the left and right buttons of the direction key 12a. When the user sets the selection frame 20g on the non-display group image by operating the up and down buttons of the direction key 12a and operates the OK button 12c at the center of the direction key 12a, the non-display group image All images included in the image may be displayed as thumbnails on the monitor 11. Further, on the thumbnail display image, when the user sets the selection frame 20g for any image with the direction key 12a and operates the OK button 12c, the image is enlarged and displayed on the monitor 11.

  In step 13 after displaying the non-display group images 22a and 22b, it is determined whether any of the non-display group images 22a and 22b has been selected. If selected, the process proceeds to step 14, and so on. Otherwise, go to step 15. When the user operates the up and down buttons of the direction key 12a of the operation device 12 to set the cursor on the monitor screen on any of the non-display group images 22a and 22b and presses the direction key 12a, In step 14, the selected image is enlarged and displayed on the monitor screen, and after a predetermined time, the process returns to step 6 to display the representative images of the display group images 20a to 20f as shown in FIG. Marks 21a to 21d indicating the presence of group images are displayed. In the above description, the process returns to step 6 after a predetermined time. However, when the operation device 12 (for example, the return button 12b) is operated, the process may return to step 6 to perform the above process. Alternatively, instead of returning to step 6, the process may return to step 12 to display thumbnail images of representative images of non-display group images designated by the user as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, if the operation for selecting any image in the non-display group is not performed after displaying the non-display group images 22a and 22b, it is checked in step 15 whether or not the return button 12b has been operated. When the intended image does not exist in the displayed non-display group images 22a and 22b, the state before the non-display group images 22a and 22b are displayed by operating the return button 12b, that is, FIG. It is possible to return to the representative image display of the display group images 20a to 20f and the mark display of the non-display group image. When the user operates the return button 12b, the process returns to step 6 to display the representative image of the display group images 20a to 20f shown in FIG. 3A and display the marks 21a to 21d of the non-display group images.

  If there is no operation of the return button 12b in step 15, or if there is no display group image selection operation in step 8, and there is no non-display group mark selection operation in step 10, the operation proceeds to step 16 to end the playback mode. Confirming whether or not the power switch of the camera has been turned off. If an operation for terminating the image display is performed, the display process is terminated. If there is no such operation, the process returns to step 8. The above processing is repeated.

  In the image display example shown in FIG. 3 described above, the top six groups of images having the largest number of images are selected from the group images grouped by shooting date, and the six representative images of each group are displayed as thumbnails. Although the displayed example is shown, the image display method is not limited to the above display example. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a group image with a predetermined number or more of group images grouped by shooting date is selected as a display group image, and three representative images of each group are displayed as thumbnails. In addition, a mark indicating the presence of a non-display group image may be displayed between the display group images. That is, this display method does not display a group of images with a small number of images. The predetermined number for determining display or non-display is preset and stored in the memory 13b, but can be changed to any number by the user.

  In FIG. 6, the display group image 23a in the first row is an image group with the earliest shooting date, and the shooting date is in the order of the display group image 23b in the second row and the display group image 23c in the third row. Become slow. When a non-display group image exists between the display group image 23a on the first row and the display group image 23b on the second row, the mark 24 is displayed. Instead of the mark 24 of the non-display group image, as shown in FIG. 7, an image 25 in which the vertical direction of the representative image of the non-display group is compressed is displayed to indicate the presence of the non-display group image. Good.

  When the image display program of the present invention is recorded on a recording medium and provided to the user, or downloaded by the user via the Internet and executed on the user's personal computer, the image display program is stored in the storage device of the personal computer. In addition to displaying images, images acquired via the Internet can be displayed.

  In the above-described embodiments and their modifications, all combinations of the embodiments and the modifications are possible.

  According to the above-described embodiment and its modifications, the following operational effects can be achieved. First, a plurality of images are divided into a plurality of groups according to the grouping condition, and each group is determined as a display group or a non-display group according to the display / non-display condition, and the display group image is monitored. In addition, the image of the non-display group is displayed on the monitor without displaying the image of the non-display group, so that the image of the group with a small number of images is included in the image of the group with a large number of images. An image to be reproduced can be easily found from many images without being classified.

  Next, according to one embodiment and its modification, display group images are arranged and displayed in order of shooting date and time, and correspond to shooting dates and times of non-display group images in the display group image arrangement. Since the mark indicating the presence of the image of the non-display group is displayed at the position to be displayed, the intended non-display is based on the relationship between the shooting date / time of the display group image and the shooting date / time of the non-display group image. It is possible to easily find out where the group image exists in the display group image arrangement, and it is possible to easily find the image to be reproduced.

  Further, according to one embodiment and its modification, when a mark displayed on the monitor is designated by the operating device, an image of a non-display group corresponding to the mark is displayed on the monitor. When the image is not in the display group, the image of the non-display group that is likely to include the intended image can be easily and quickly displayed on the monitor, and the intended image can be easily found out of the images.

  Further, according to one embodiment and its modification, when a mark different from the mark initially specified by the operating device is specified, the image of the non-display group being displayed on the monitor is erased and newly added. Since the image of the non-display group corresponding to the designated mark is displayed on the monitor, the image of the non-display group can be easily switched, and the intended image can be easily found.

11; Monitor, 12; Operating device, 13; Controller, 13a; CPU, 13b; Memory

Claims (8)

A grouping procedure for dividing a plurality of images into a plurality of groups according to a first condition;
A display determination procedure for determining whether each of the groups is a display group or a non-display group according to a second condition;
Displaying the image of the display group on a display device, and causing the microcomputer to execute a display procedure for displaying the presence of the image of the non-display group on the display device without displaying the image of the non-display group. A featured image display program. The image display program according to claim 1,
In the display procedure, the images of the display group are arranged and displayed in order of shooting date and time, and the non-display is arranged at a position corresponding to the shooting date and time of the image of the non-display group in the arrangement of images of the display group. An image display program for displaying a mark indicating the presence of an image of a group. The image display program according to claim 2,
In the display procedure, when the mark displayed on the display device is designated by an operation member, an image of the non-display group corresponding to the mark is displayed on the display device. In the image display program according to claim 3,
In the display procedure, when the mark different from the mark is designated by the operation member, the image of the non-display group being displayed on the display device is erased, and the image corresponding to the newly designated mark is deleted. An image display program for displaying an image of a non-display group on the display device. In the image display program as described in any one of Claims 1-4,
The image display program according to claim 1, wherein the first condition includes a shooting date, a shooting location, and a shooting event. In the image display program as described in any one of Claims 1-5,
The image display program characterized in that the second condition includes the number of images belonging to the group and the type of subject. A storage device for storing images;
A display device for displaying an image;
An operation member for operating image display;
An image display apparatus comprising: a computer that executes the image display program according to claim 1.   A digital camera comprising the image display device according to claim 7.

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