JP2011188054A - Image photographing device capable of using position information, image photographing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image photographing device capable of offering guidance for photographing a landmark effectively even if information on a photographing site is not known in advance. <P>SOLUTION: The image photographing device includes a current position acquisition means, an information storage means, an extraction means, and a display means. The current position acquisition means acquires a current position. The information storage means holds position information on a landmark and information on a photographing point of the landmark. The extraction means retrieves a landmark near the acquired current position from the information storage means, and extracts information on a photographing point related with the retrieved landmark. The display means displays information on the photographing point. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image photographing apparatus and a program for providing guidance regarding a current position to a photographer.

  As an image shooting device that uses the position information to provide shooting assistance to the photographer, the current position information is compared with the scheduled shooting point, and the next shooting point to be shot is searched for guidance. The structure to display is known (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 2005-86236 A

  However, in the conventional image capturing apparatus described in Patent Document 1 described above, it is necessary to input points scheduled to be captured in advance, and it is effective to capture where in the first visited place such as a travel destination. There is a problem that it doesn't make sense if you don't know.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image photographing apparatus that provides guidance for effectively photographing landmarks even when information on photographing locations is not known in advance. To do.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a current position acquisition unit that acquires a current position, an information storage unit that stores information about landmark position information and a shooting point of a landmark, and a land near the acquired current position. The mark is searched from the information storage means, and an extraction means for extracting information relating to the shooting spot associated with the searched landmark and a display means for displaying information relating to the shooting spot are provided.

  According to the present invention, even when the photographer does not know the information of the photographing point in advance, the landmark can be photographed effectively.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital camera according to a first embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the landmark information hold | maintained at the database part 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the digital camera according to the first embodiment. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the digital camera according to the first embodiment. The figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 230

[Embodiment 1]
[1. Overview of digital camera)
As this embodiment, a digital camera as an image photographing device will be described. This digital camera holds a plurality of sets of landmark position information together with recommended shooting point information of the landmark. Landmark information in the vicinity of the current position acquired by the GPS module is extracted, and recommended photographing point information corresponding to the photographing time zone is guided to the photographer for these landmarks.

[2. (Configuration of digital camera)
The electrical configuration of the digital camera 100 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the digital camera 100. The digital camera 100 captures a subject image formed by an optical system 110 including one or a plurality of lenses with a CCD image sensor 150. The image data generated by the CCD image sensor 150 is subjected to various processes by the image processing unit 170 and stored in the recording medium 210. Further, the controller unit 190 displays a recommended shooting point on the display unit 230 from the information on the current position obtained from the GPS module 300 and the landmark information held in the database unit 320. Hereinafter, the configuration of the digital camera 100 will be described in detail.

  The optical system 110 includes a zoom lens and a focus lens. The subject image can be enlarged or reduced by moving the zoom lens along the optical axis. Further, the focus of the subject image can be adjusted by moving the focus lens along the optical axis.

  The lens driving unit 120 drives various lenses included in the optical system 110. For example, a zoom motor that drives a zoom lens, and a focus motor that drives a focus lens correspond to this.

  The diaphragm 130 adjusts the amount of light to be transmitted by adjusting the size of the opening in accordance with the setting of the photographer or automatically.

  The shutter 140 is a means for blocking the light transmitted through the CCD image sensor 150.

  The CCD image sensor 150 captures a subject image formed by the optical system 110 and generates analog image data. The CCD image sensor 150 performs various operations such as exposure, transfer, and electronic shutter.

  The A / D converter 160 converts the analog image data generated by the CCD image sensor 150 into digital image data.

  The image processing unit 170 performs processing on the image data generated by the CCD image sensor 150 to generate image data to be displayed on the display unit 230 and image data to be stored in the recording medium 210. For example, the image processing unit 170 performs various processes such as gamma correction, white balance correction, and flaw correction on the image data generated by the CCD image sensor 150. The image processing unit 170 performs an encoding process on the image data generated by the CCD image sensor 150. At this time, if the image data is a still image, an encoding format based on the JPEG standard or the like is used. If the image data is a moving image, an encoding format that conforms to the MPEG standard is used. The image processing unit 170 performs a decoding process on the encoded image data. The image processing unit 170 can be realized by a DSP or a microcomputer.

  The controller unit 190 is a control means for controlling the whole. The controller unit 190 performs an OSD superimposition process on image data. The image data on which the OSD is superimposed is displayed on the display unit 230. The OSD is used to display a menu screen for performing various settings of the digital camera, icons indicating information on the currently displayed image data, and the like.

  The buffer 180 functions as a work memory for the image processing unit 170 and the controller unit 190. The buffer 180 can be realized by, for example, a DRAM or a ferroelectric memory.

  The recording unit 200 is detachable from the recording medium 210. The recording unit 200 can be mechanically and electrically connected to the recording medium 210. The recording medium 210 includes a flash memory, a ferroelectric memory, and the like, and can store data such as an image file generated by the image processing unit 170.

  The internal memory 220 holds a control program for controlling the entire digital camera 100 and various settings when the power is turned off. The internal memory 220 is composed of a flash memory or a ferroelectric memory.

  The display unit 230 can display image data (through image) generated by the CCD image sensor 150 and image data read from the recording medium 210. The through image means an image that is not finally recorded on the recording medium 210.

  The operation unit 240 is a generic term for user interfaces that accept operations from a photographer. For example, a cross key, a determination button, a touch panel, a shutter button, a power button, and the like that accept an operation from a photographer are examples.

  The GPS module 300 outputs information related to the position of the digital camera 100 on the earth using a global positioning system (GPS). The GPS module 300 receives and outputs a signal from a GPS satellite according to an instruction from the controller unit 190. This signal includes information for calculating the current position of the digital camera 100, such as the time of a clock built in the satellite and the orbit information of the satellite. Based on this signal, the controller unit 190 calculates the current position of the digital camera 100 as latitude and longitude.

  The clock unit 310 holds the current time. The controller unit 190 sets the current time input by the photographer operating the operation unit 240 in the clock unit 310. The clock unit 310 has a backup battery so that the time can be maintained even when the digital camera 100 is turned off. The controller unit 190 performs processing based on the current time information obtained from the clock unit 310.

  The database unit 320 stores landmark information and recommended shooting point information corresponding to the landmark information. It also holds map information at a plurality of scales in accordance with the distribution status of landmarks. It also holds the correspondence between address and location information (latitude and longitude). The landmark information and recommended shooting point information will be described later. The database unit 320 includes a flash memory, a ferroelectric memory, a hard disk drive, and the like.

  The controller unit 190 is an example of a control unit and an extraction unit of the present invention. The display unit 230 is an example of a display unit. The GPS module 300 is an example of a current position acquisition unit. The database unit 320 is an example of an information storage unit.

[3. (Landmark information)
In general, a landmark means a symbolic monument, architecture, or space that symbolizes a building, country, or region that serves as a landmark on the earth. Landmarks include characteristic nature, buildings, and events that serve as landmarks in large areas. In an electronic map used in a navigation device, a portable information terminal, a digital camera, or the like, an icon indicating a landmark may be displayed on a map screen, and detailed information regarding the landmark may be guided.

  In the present embodiment, the landmark information is information associated with the landmark name, landmark position information, and recommended shooting point information around the landmark. The recommended shooting point information is information related to shooting points suitable for shooting the associated landmark. Further, the recommended shooting point information includes time zone information that allows effective shooting, position information of the shooting point, direction information with respect to the landmark, and a reference composition image. There may be a plurality of recommended shooting point information for one landmark, but there may be no one. The database unit 320 holds a plurality of landmark information.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of landmark information held in the database unit 320. The landmark name is the name of the landmark. The landmark name can be displayed on the display unit 230 when the landmark is displayed on the map or when information on the landmark nearest to the current position is displayed. The position information represents the position of the landmark on the earth in latitude and longitude. The recommended shooting point information includes a time zone in which effective shooting can be performed, position information, and direction information, and a plurality of landmarks having IDs of 1 and 5 (hereinafter referred to as ID1 and ID5). In some cases, there may be no recommended shooting point like ID4 when there is only one such as ID2 or ID3. The time zone is one of two types, “daytime” and “night view”. Further, the direction information indicates the direction of the landmark viewed from the recommended shooting point, and is expressed as an angle that increases counterclockwise, for example, with true north as 0 °.

[4. (Operation of digital camera)
In the normal shooting mode, the digital camera 100 switches the operation mode by operating the operation unit 240 by the photographer, starts the recommended shooting point operation, and recommends the shooting point. The operation at this time will be described below.

  FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are flowcharts showing an outline of the recommended operation of the photographing point. First, the controller unit 190 accepts input of position information of a planned shooting point through the operation unit 240 (S301). The photographer inputs the position information of the planned shooting point through the operation unit 240 in accordance with the guidance displayed on the display unit 230. The position information of the planned shooting point may be input by any method such as input of an address, designation on a map, and input of a landmark name. When the scheduled shooting point is not input, the controller unit 190 drives the GPS module 300 to detect the GPS signal in order to set the current position of the photographer as the scheduled shooting point (S302). When a GPS signal is detected, the controller unit 190 acquires position information of the current location from the GPS module 300 and sets it as a planned shooting point (S303). If the GPS signal cannot be detected, the controller unit 190 displays “GPS cannot be detected” on the display unit 230 (S304), ends the recommended operation for the shooting location, and switches the operation mode to the normal shooting mode. . When the position information of the planned shooting point can be acquired from the designation by the photographer or from the current position information, the controller unit 190 refers to the database unit 320 as necessary to change the planned shooting position to the latitude / longitude format. And stored in the internal memory 220 (S305). For example, when a photographer inputs a landmark name or address as position information, the controller unit 190 refers to the database unit 320 and calculates position information corresponding to these as latitude and longitude.

  Next, the controller unit 190 receives an input of the scheduled shooting time through the operation unit 240 (S306). The photographer inputs the scheduled shooting time through the operation unit 240 in accordance with the guidance displayed on the display unit 230. When the scheduled shooting time is not input, in order to set the current time as the scheduled shooting time, the controller unit 190 acquires the current time information from the clock unit 310 and sets it as the scheduled shooting time (S307). The controller unit 190 holds the scheduled shooting time in the internal memory 220 (S308).

  The controller unit 190 uses the landmark information held in the database unit 320 based on the position information of the scheduled shooting point held in the internal memory 220 to detect landmarks existing within the radius Xm of the scheduled shooting point. Search is performed (S309). The controller unit 190 determines whether or not there is a landmark within the radius Xm of the planned shooting point (S310). If there is a landmark, the map information held in the database unit 320 is used, The map image within the radius Xm of the planned shooting point, the shooting target point, the icon indicating the landmark, and the landmark name are displayed on the display unit 230 (S311).

  FIG. 5A is an example of a display output from the controller unit 190 to the display unit 230 in step S311. As shown in the drawing, a scaled map including the radius Xm is displayed in the window 501 set in the display unit 230 with the planned shooting point 511 as the center. An icon (Δ mark) indicating the scheduled shooting point is displayed at the scheduled shooting point 511. Further, landmarks 512 and 513 are displayed on the map. A landmark name is displayed in the vicinity of the landmark. Thus, when there are a plurality of landmarks within the radius Xm, all are displayed.

  If there is no landmark within the radius Xm, the controller unit 190 displays “no landmark in the surrounding Xm” on the display unit 230 (S312), and ends the recommended shooting point operation. Return to shooting mode.

  Next, the controller unit 190 determines the number of landmarks displayed on the display unit 230 (S313). When there is one landmark displayed on the display unit 230, the controller unit 190 considers that the landmark has been selected. On the other hand, when there are a plurality of landmarks displayed on the display unit 230, the controller unit 190 causes the photographer to select one landmark using the operation unit 240 (S314). When the photographer operates the operation unit 240 to select one landmark, the controller unit 190 removes other landmarks from the display unit 240.

  Thereafter, the controller unit 190 determines whether or not the scheduled shooting time held in the internal memory 220 is daytime (S401). Whether the day is in the day is determined by comparing the annual sunrise and sunset information stored in the internal memory 220 with the scheduled shooting time. If the scheduled shooting time is daytime, the controller unit 190 extracts information on recommended shooting points during the day from the information on the landmark in the database unit 320 (S402). If the scheduled shooting time is not during the day, the recommended shooting point information for the night view is similarly extracted (S403). The controller unit 190 determines whether there is a recommended shooting point for daytime or night view (S404). If there is no recommended shooting point, the controller unit 190 causes the display unit 230 to display “Recommended shooting point information exists”. Display "(S406), the recommended shooting point operation is terminated, and the normal shooting mode is restored. If there is a recommended shooting point, the controller unit 190 displays the recommended shooting point on the display unit 230 (S405). The controller unit 190 changes the scale and center position of the map according to the planned shooting location, the selected landmark, and the distribution status of the recommended shooting location, and redisplays them on the display unit 230 (S407).

  FIG. 5B is an example of a display output from the controller unit 190 to the display unit 230 in step S407. As shown in the figure, the controller unit 190 displays the recommended shooting point 514 based on the position and the shooting direction of the recommended shooting point included in the recommended shooting point information. An arrow 515 indicates the shooting direction from each recommended shooting point to the landmark. Here, the controller unit 190 accepts an operation of selecting a recommended shooting point for the photographer through the operation unit 240 (S408). When the photographer selects one or more recommended shooting points from the operation unit 240, the recommended shooting is acquired from the database unit 320 by the controller unit 190 over a specific location on the map. A reference composition image at the point is displayed (S409).

  FIG. 5C is an example of a display that the controller unit 190 outputs to the display unit 230 in step S409. A window 502 in which a reference composition image is displayed is superimposed on a window 501 in which a scheduled shooting point 511, a landmark 512, and a recommended shooting point 514 being selected are displayed. If the recommended shooting location is not selected, the display on the display unit 230 remains as it is. In this state, when the digital camera 100 enters preparation for shooting (S410), the controller unit 190 reduces the window 501 displaying the map and the window 502 displaying the reference composition image, and displays the through image. Along with 503, it is displayed on the display unit 230 (S411). Here, shooting preparation means a half-press operation of the shutter.

  FIG. 5D is an example of a display that the controller unit 190 outputs to the display unit 230 in step S411. It is possible to confirm at once the window 501 displaying the planned shooting point 511, the landmark 512, the recommended shooting point 514 being selected, the window 502 displaying the reference composition image, and the window 503 displaying the through image. It is possible. Thereafter, it is possible to repeatedly perform the same shooting operation as that in the normal shooting mode while the display on the display unit 230 maintains the state in step S411 (S412 and S413). When the photographer selects the end of the function from the menu by the operation of the operation unit 240, the controller unit 190 ends the recommended shooting point operation and returns to the normal shooting mode.

[5. (Summary)
As described above, the digital camera 100 according to the first embodiment includes the current position acquisition unit 300 that acquires the current position, the information storage unit 320 that holds the position information of the landmark and the information on the shooting point of the landmark, The information storage means searches the acquired landmark near the current position and extracts information relating to the shooting point associated with the searched landmark, and a display means 230 that displays information relating to the shooting point. .

  By adopting such a configuration, even when the photographer does not know the information of the shooting point in advance, the recommended shooting point information can be displayed together with the landmark to guide the photographer. Can be effectively taken.

  In addition, the digital camera 100 according to the first embodiment includes the scheduled shooting time setting unit 190 that sets the scheduled shooting time, and the extraction unit 190 extracts information on the shooting point based on the scheduled shooting time.

  By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to display information on recommended shooting points according to the scheduled shooting time set by the photographer in advance and guide the photographer, so that the landmark can be shot effectively. be able to.

[6. Other Embodiments]
The first embodiment of the present invention has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to these. Therefore, other embodiments of the present invention will be described collectively in this section.

  In the first embodiment, the GPS module 300 outputs information for calculating the current position of the digital camera 100, and the controller unit 190 calculates the current position of the digital camera 100 as latitude and longitude based on this signal. However, the GPS module may calculate and output the latitude and longitude.

  In the first embodiment, the CCD image sensor 150 is exemplified as the imaging unit, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be composed of a CMOS image sensor or an NMOS image sensor.

  In the first embodiment, the image processing unit 170 and the controller unit 190 may be configured by one semiconductor chip or may be configured by separate semiconductor chips. In addition, the sharing of the processing contents of the image processing unit 170 and the controller unit 190 in the first embodiment is an example, and the processing content in the image processing unit 170 may be executed by the controller unit 190, or conversely, the controller The processing content in the unit 190 may be executed by the image processing unit 170.

  The present invention can effectively shoot a landmark even when the photographer does not know the information of the shooting point in advance, so that a digital still camera, a digital video camera, etc. that can acquire information on the current position It can also be applied to other electronic devices.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Digital camera 110 Optical system 120 Lens drive part 130 Aperture 140 Shutter 150 CCD image sensor 160 A / D converter 170 Image processing part 180 Buffer 190 Controller part 200 Recording part 210 Recording medium 220 Internal memory 230 Display part 240 Operation part 300 GPS module 310 Clock section 320 Database section

Claims (5)

An image capturing device capable of using position information,
Current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position;
Information storage means for holding the position information of the landmark and information about the shooting point of the landmark;
An extraction means for retrieving the landmarks in the vicinity of the acquired current position from the information storage means, and extracting information relating to a shooting point associated with the retrieved landmarks;
Display means for displaying information about the shooting location;
An image photographing apparatus comprising: A scheduled shooting time setting means for setting the scheduled shooting time;
The image capturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the extraction unit extracts information relating to a shooting location based on the scheduled shooting time. An image capturing method in which position information is available,
A current position acquisition step for acquiring the current position;
From the information storage means that holds the landmark position information and information relating to the landmark shooting point, the acquired landmarks in the vicinity of the current position are searched, and information relating to the shooting point associated with the searched landmarks is obtained. An extraction step to extract;
A display step for displaying information relating to the shooting location;
An image capturing method comprising: The image photographing method according to claim 3, wherein in the extracting step, information relating to a photographing point is extracted based on a set photographing scheduled time. A program for causing a computer to execute the image photographing method according to claim 3.

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