JP2012037556A - Imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging apparatus configured such that in a case where an animal other than a human being is recognized as a subject, AF control can be appropriately performed without detecting the eyes of the animal.SOLUTION: The imaging apparatus includes: a pet detecting step (Step 11-2) in which the face of a pet animal is recognized from image data output from imaging means composed of a focus lens and imager and from the entire image area of the image data information about an area corresponding to the recognized face portion of pet animal is output; an AF area limiting step (step 11-3) in which when the information about the area corresponding to the face portion of the pet animal in the entire image area of the image data is output in the pet detecting step (YES in Step 11-2), an limited area of this area is set as an AF area; and an AF processing step (Step 11-4) in which automatic focusing control is performed such that the focus lens is driven so that the image data is focused in the AF area set in the AF area limiting step.

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus having an automatic focusing (AF) function and a face recognition processing function.

  Recent digital cameras are equipped with a function of recognizing a specific subject from an image such as human face recognition or pet recognition (also referred to as pet detection). In many cases, this recognition function automatically focuses on a recognized subject by performing autofocus (automatic focusing; hereinafter referred to as “AF”) after recognition. Yes.

  When performing such AF after recognition, an AF area is set in accordance with the recognized subject so that the recognized subject is accurately focused.

  For example, since it is basically necessary to focus on the eyes of human subjects for which human face recognition is applied, the position of the eyes in the face is detected and the position of the eyes is set as the AF area. There is a method of photographing an image that is in focus by performing AF (see Patent Document 1).

  In the case of pet photography to which pet recognition is applied, the positions of eyes and nose are greatly separated in pet animals (animals other than those raised as pets; hereinafter simply referred to as pets). Therefore, it is more important to focus on the eyes than in the case of human face recognition.

  However, in order to detect the subject's eyes, an eye template must be created. However, when an animal other than a person is photographed, it is difficult to create the template. That is, in the case of a human face, the eye pattern and the position in the face do not change so much depending on the person, so this is not a problem, but in the case of the face of an animal other than a person, it depends on the type and type of the animal. Since the position of the eye pattern and the face changes greatly, there is a problem that it takes a lot of work to create a template to cope with it, and the detection accuracy of the eye position in an animal that is not the target of the created template is lowered. There was a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems in the prior art, and provides an imaging apparatus capable of appropriately performing AF control without detecting eyes when an animal other than a human is recognized in a subject. The purpose is to do.

The present invention provided to solve the above problems is as follows. In addition, the site | part and code | symbol etc. which respond | correspond in the form for implementing this invention in a parenthesis are shown.
[1] An imaging unit that has a focusing lens (focus lens 7-2a) and an imaging device (CCD 101), forms an object image on a light receiving portion of the imaging device through the focusing lens, and outputs image data; , Recognizing the face of an animal other than a person from the image data output from the imaging means, and out of the entire image area of the image data corresponding to the face portion of the animal other than the recognized person (face area) Face area detection means (pet detection means 104-3-3, FIG. 7) for outputting information, and information on areas corresponding to the face parts of animals other than humans in the entire image area of the image data by the face area detection means Is output, AF area limiting means for setting a limited part of the area as an AF area (AF area setting control means 104-3-2 in the first embodiment, FIG. 2 in the second embodiment). 12, Steps 13-4 to 13-9 in FIG. 13, and automatic focusing for driving the focusing lens so that the image data is in focus in the AF area set by the AF area limiting means. An image pickup apparatus (digital camera C, FIGS. 1 to 5, FIGS. 10 to 13), comprising: an automatic focus control unit (automatic focus control unit 104-3-1) that performs control.
[2] The AF area limiting means limits an area corresponding to the face part so as to exclude a part that is closer to the imaging device than the eyes from parts constituting the face of an animal other than the human. The imaging apparatus according to [1], characterized in that (Example 1, FIGS. 10 and 11).
[3] When the AF area limiting means outputs information on an area corresponding to a face portion of an animal other than a person in the entire image area of the image data by the face area detecting means, the area is divided into a plurality of divided areas. An area dividing means (FIG. 12A, step 13-4 in FIG. 13) for dividing the image into two and an automatic focusing process are performed for each of the plurality of divided areas (FIG. 12B, step 13-5 in FIG. 13). ), And AF area selection means (FIG. 12C, Steps 13-6 to 13-9 in FIG. 13) using the predetermined divided area as the AF area based on the result, [1 ] (Example 2, FIG. 12, FIG. 13).
[4] In the above [3], the AF area selection unit sets a divided area farthest in focus among the plurality of divided areas subjected to the automatic focusing process as the AF area. Imaging device (FIG. 12).
[5] The AF area selection unit determines whether or not there are a plurality of divided areas having the same in-focus position from the divided area side farthest in focus among the plurality of divided areas subjected to the automatic focusing process. Then, among the plurality of divided areas, the divided area farthest in focus is set as the AF area, the imaging apparatus according to [3] (FIG. 13).
[6] The automatic focusing control means performs automatic focusing control using a result of the focusing position in the predetermined divided area obtained by the automatic focusing process performed by the AF area selecting means. The imaging apparatus according to any one of [3] to [5], which is characterized in that

  According to the imaging apparatus of the present invention, when an animal other than a human is recognized as a subject, an area corresponding to the face portion of the animal is focused so that the eye is focused on the shape of the recognized animal face. Of these, a limited part of the area is set as an AF area to be subjected to AF control, so that the subject can be properly focused.

It is a top view which shows the structure of the digital camera which is an imaging device which concerns on this invention. It is a front view which shows the structure of the digital camera which is an imaging device which concerns on this invention. It is a rear view which shows the structure of the digital camera which is an imaging device which concerns on this invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration of a digital camera that is an imaging apparatus according to the present invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of CPU block among the system structures of FIG. 5 is a flowchart regarding operations in a shooting mode and a playback mode in the digital camera of FIG. 4. It is a figure which shows the example of a detection of a pet's face area. It is a figure which shows the example of the normal AF area | region in a whole image area | region. It is a figure which shows the example of a pet image which focused on the nose. It is a figure which shows the setting example 1 of AF area | region in a pet's face area. 6 is a flowchart illustrating AF control example 1 in the digital camera of FIG. 4. It is a figure which shows the example 2 of setting of AF area | region in a pet's face area. 6 is a flowchart showing AF control example 2 in the digital camera of FIG. 4.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the imaging apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 3 are external views showing a digital camera as an imaging apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a plan view of the digital camera, FIG. 2 is a front view of the digital camera, and FIG. 3 is a digital camera. The rear view of is shown. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration inside the digital camera.

In FIG. 1, C is a digital camera as an imaging device.
As shown in FIG. 1, a sub liquid crystal display 1 (hereinafter referred to as “LCD”), a release shutter SW1, and a mode dial SW2 are provided above the digital camera C. As shown in FIG. In addition, an SD card (memory card) / battery loading chamber lid 2 is provided on the side of the digital camera C. On the front side of the digital camera C, a strobe light emitting unit 3, an optical viewfinder 4, and a distance measuring device are provided. A unit 5, a remote control light receiving unit 6, and a lens barrel unit 7 including a photographing lens are provided.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, on the back side of the digital camera C, an optical finder 4, an AF LED 8, a strobe LED 9, an LCD monitor 10, a wide-angle zoom switch (ZOOM SW (WIDE)) SW3, a telephoto zoom switch ( ZOOM SW (TELE)) SW4, self-timer setting / release switch (self-timer / deletion SW) SW5, menu switch (MENU SW) SW6, up / strobe setting switch (up / strobe SW) SW7, right-movement switch (right SW) SW8, display switch SW9, down movement / macro setting switch (down / macro SW) SW10, left movement / image confirmation switch (left / image confirmation SW) SW11, OK switch SW12, quick access switch SW13, power switch SW14 Is provided.

  In FIG. 4, reference numeral 104 denotes a digital still camera processor (hereinafter referred to as “processor”). The processor 104 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and each unit of the digital camera C is controlled by the processor 104.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the processor 104 includes a CCD1 signal processing block 104-1, a CCD2 signal processing block 104-2, a CPU block 104-3, a local SRAM 104-4, a USB block 104-5, a serial block 104-6, A JPEG codec block 104-7 that performs JPEG compression / decompression, a resize block 104-8 that enlarges / reduces the size of image data, a TV signal display block 104-9 that is a video signal output block, and a memory card controller block 104-10 These blocks 104-1 to 104-10 are connected to each other via a bus line.

  Outside the processor 104, an SDRAM 103, a RAM 107, a ROM 108 storing a control program P and parameters, and a built-in memory 120 for storing image data of a photographed image are provided, and these are also provided via a bus line. 104 is connected.

  The SDRAM 103 stores RAW-RGB image data (image data subjected to white balance correction and γ correction) converted from image data of a photographed image, YUV image data (image converted into luminance data and color difference data). Data), JPEG image data (image data compressed with JPEG).

  When the power switch SW14 is turned on, the control program P stored in the ROM 108 is loaded into the memory of the processor 104 and executed, and each part of the digital camera C is controlled by this control program P.

When the control program P is executed, the memory of the RAM 107 is used as a working memory for the control program P. Therefore, control data and parameters of the control program P are written to and read from the RAM 107 as needed. Is called.
All processes described later are executed mainly by the processor 104 by executing the control program P.

  The lens barrel unit 7 includes a zoom optical system 7-1 including a zoom lens 7-1a, and a focus lens 7-2a that forms an image of a subject on a light receiving unit of a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) 101 that is an image sensor. The focus optical system 7-2, a diaphragm unit 7-3 having a diaphragm 7-3a, and a mechanical shutter unit 7-4 having a mechanical shutter 7-4a.

  The zoom optical system 7-1, the focus optical system 7-2, the aperture unit 7-3, and the mechanical shutter unit 7-4 are respectively a zoom motor 7-1b, a focus motor 7-2b, an aperture motor 7-3b, and a mechanical shutter motor. It is driven by 7-4b.

  The motors 7-1b to 7-4b are driven by a motor driver 7-5, and the motor driver 7-5 is controlled by a CPU block 104-3 of the processor 104.

  The subject image formed on the light receiving portion of the CCD 101 by the optical systems 7-1 and 7-2 of the lens barrel unit 7 is converted into an image signal by the CCD 101, and this image signal is output to the F / E-IC 102. .

  The F / E-IC 102 is a CDS 102-1 that performs correlated double sampling, an AGC 102-2 that automatically adjusts the gain, and an analog image signal that is output from the AGC 102-2 to an A / D 102- 3.

  The F / E-IC 102 performs predetermined processing such as noise reduction processing and gain adjustment processing on the analog image signal output from the CCD 101, further converts the analog image signal into a digital image signal, and the CCD 1 of the processor 104. It outputs to the signal processing block 104-1.

  Timing processing such as sampling of an image signal by the F / E-IC 102 is performed by the TG 102-4 based on the VD / HD signal fed back from the CCD1 signal processing block 104-1 of the processor 104.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the CPU block 104-3 of the processor 104 includes an automatic focusing control unit 104-3-1, an AF area setting control unit 104-3-2, a pet detection unit 104-3-3, and an in-focus state. Position determining means 104-3-4.

  Among these, the automatic focusing control means 104-3-1 is a predetermined area (AF) specified from the entire image area of the image data obtained based on the information of the subject image formed on the light receiving portion of the CCD 101. In the region, automatic focusing control for driving the focus optical system 7-2 (focus lens 7-2a) is performed so that the image data is in a focused state.

  The pet detection unit 104-3-3 detects an animal other than a human such as a pet from the entire image area of image data obtained based on information on a subject image formed on the light receiving unit of the CCD 101, and It is a face area detecting means for recognizing the face of an animal and outputting information of an area (face area) corresponding to a face part of an animal other than the recognized person in the entire image area of the image data.

  When the area information corresponding to the face portion of the animal other than the person in the entire image area of the image data is output by the pet detection unit 104-3-3, the AF area setting control unit 104-3-2 AF region limiting means for setting a limited partial region as an AF region (AF area).

  The focus position determination unit 104-3-4 determines a focus position to be used in the shooting mode from among focus position candidates for each of the plurality of specific areas obtained by the automatic focus control unit 104-3-1. Is.

  The CPU block 104-3 is connected to the sound recording circuit 115-1, the sound reproducing circuit 116-1, the strobe circuit 114 that emits light from the strobe light emitting unit 3, the distance measuring unit 5 that measures the distance to the subject, and the sub CPU 109. These circuits are controlled by the CPU block 104-3.

  The audio signal captured by the microphone 115-3 is amplified by the microphone amplifier 115-2, converted into a digital signal by the audio recording circuit 115-1, and recorded on a memory card or the like according to the control command of the CPU block 104-3. .

  The audio reproduction circuit 116-1 converts appropriate audio data recorded in the ROM 108 or the like into an audio signal according to the control command of the CPU block 104-3, amplifies it by the audio amplifier 116-2, and outputs it from the speaker 116-3. Let

  The sub CPU 109 is connected to the sub LCD 1, the remote control light receiving unit 6, the AF LED 8, the strobe LED 9, the operation key unit including the switches SW 1 to SW 13, and the buzzer 113 via the LCD driver 111. Controlled by. The sub CPU 109 monitors the input state of signals to the remote control light receiving unit 6 and the input state to the operation key unit.

  The USB block 104-5 of the processor 104 is connected to the USB connector 122, and the serial block 104-6 of the processor 104 is connected to the RS-232C connector via a serial driver circuit (not shown). Data communication is performed between the digital camera C and an external device connected to the digital camera C by the block 104-5 or the serial block.

  Connected to the TV signal display block 104-9 of the processor 104 are an LCD driver 117 for driving the LCD monitor 10 and a video amplifier 118 for amplifying a video signal (TV signal) and impedance matching. The LCD driver 117 and the video amplifier 118 are connected to a video jack 119 for connecting to an external monitor device such as the LCD monitor 10 and a TV, respectively.

The TV signal display block 104-9 converts the image data into a video signal and outputs the video signal to an external monitor device connected to the LCD monitor 10 or the video jack 119.
The LCD monitor 10 is used for monitoring a subject being photographed, displaying a photographed image, and displaying an image recorded on a memory card or the built-in memory 120.

  A memory card slot 121 is connected to the memory card controller block 104-10, and image data is exchanged between the additional memory card inserted into the memory card slot 121 and the digital camera.

Next, an outline of the operation of the digital camera C of the present embodiment will be described.
The operation mode of the digital camera C includes a shooting mode used when shooting and a playback mode used when playing back the shot image. The shooting mode further includes an automatic focusing control unit 104-3. -1, AF area setting control means 104-3-2, AF position functioning means 104-3-4, etc., function AF mode. Further, in the AF mode, the face of a person in the subject is further recognized, and AF processing (AE processing is also performed as necessary) is performed in an image area around the face (hereinafter referred to as a face area). A face recognition mode, a pet recognition mode for recognizing a pet's face in the subject and performing AF processing (AE processing if necessary) on a part of the image area of the face; In the normal area), there is a normal mode in which AF processing is performed.

  During operation in the shooting mode, operation modes such as a self-timer mode for shooting using a self-timer and a remote control mode for remotely operating the digital camera C using a remote controller are prepared.

When the mode dial SW2 is set to the shooting mode with the power switch SW14 of the digital camera C turned on, the digital camera C enters the shooting mode, and when the mode dial SW2 is set to the playback mode, the digital camera C Enter playback mode.
These processes will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, when the power switch SW14 of the digital camera C is turned on, the operation mode is determined. That is, in step 5-1, it is determined whether the switch of the mode dial SW2 is the shooting mode or the playback mode. If the mode is the shooting mode, the process proceeds to step 5-2. Proceed to

  In step 5-2, the motor driver 7-5 is controlled by the processor 104 to move the lens barrel constituting the lens barrel unit 7 to a position where photographing is possible, and further, the CCD 101, the F / E-IC 102, the LCD monitor 10 are moved. The power is turned on to each circuit required for photographing.

  Information on the subject image formed on the light receiving portion of the CCD 101 by the optical systems 7-1 and 7-2 is converted into RGB analog signals by the CCD 101 as needed. The RGB analog signals are converted into the CDS circuit 102-1 and the AGC 102-. 2 performs predetermined processing such as noise reduction processing and gain adjustment processing, and the A / D converter 102-3 converts the RGB analog signal into an RGB digital signal, which is output to the CCD1 signal processing block of the processor 104. The

  Further, this RGB digital signal is converted into RAW-RGB image data, YUV image data, and JPEG image data by the CCD 1 signal processing block, and written into the frame memory of the SDRAM 103 by a memory controller (not shown).

  Of these image data, YUV image data is read from the frame memory of the SDRAM 103 as needed, converted into a video signal by the video signal output block 104-9, and output to an external monitor device such as the LCD monitor 10 or TV. The

  As described above, in the shooting standby state, the image data of the subject image is taken into the frame memory of the SDRAM 103 as needed and the subject image is outputted to the external monitor device such as the LCD monitor 10 or TV as monitoring processing.

  In step 5-3, it is determined whether or not the setting of the mode dial SW2 has been changed. If the setting has been changed, the process returns to step 5-1, and if the setting has not been changed, step 5 is performed. The process proceeds to -4.

  In step 5-4, the state of the release shutter SW1 is determined. When the release shutter SW1 is not pressed, the process returns to step 5-2. When the release shutter SW1 is pressed, the frame of the SDRAM 103 is at this time. A process of recording the image data of the subject captured in the memory in the built-in memory 120 or the memory card is executed, and then the process returns to step 5-2. The process of step 5-4 is referred to as a photographing process.

As described above, when the digital camera C is operating in the photographing mode, the processing of step 5-2 to step 5-4 is repeated. The state in which this repeated processing is performed is referred to as a finder mode. In the digital camera C of this embodiment, these processes are repeated at a period of about 1/30 seconds.
In the finder mode, the monitoring process is repeatedly performed at a period of about 1/30 seconds, and accordingly, the display on the LCD monitor 10 and the external monitor device is updated.

  In step 5-5, the image data recorded in the built-in memory 120 or the memory card is output to an external monitor device such as the LCD monitor 10 or TV, and the process proceeds to step 5-6.

  In step 5-6, it is determined whether or not the setting of the mode dial SW2 has been changed. If the setting has been changed, the process returns to step 5-1, and if the setting has not been changed, the process returns to step 5. Return to the process of -5.

  Next, as a main function provided in the digital camera C of the present invention, a pet focus function using the AE function, the AF function, and the pet recognition function will be described.

  In general, the AE (Auto Exposure) function is a function (automatic exposure function) that automatically determines the exposure amount of the light receiving unit of the image sensor by changing the combination of the aperture value and the shutter speed in an imaging apparatus such as a camera. The AF (Auto Focus) function is a function for automatically focusing the photographing lens (automatic focusing function).

  The pet recognition function corresponds to the face portion when the pet detection unit 104-3-3 detects a pet face image from the entire image area of the subject image captured by the image sensor (CCD 101). This is a function for outputting area information of the face area to be played.

  In many cases, the detection is performed by template matching. For example, a template stored in the ROM 108 is compared with an image captured from the image sensor (CCD 101), and if there is an image or feature similar to the template in the image, it is detected (detected).

  In many cases, a template is created from a group of image data to be detected called learning data, and is image data itself or a characteristic obtained from image data. In the present invention, the luminance feature obtained from the image data is used as a template. The templates are divided into a plurality of categories, and in the present invention, categories are provided for each type of animal such as a dog or a cat. Learning data is prepared for each category, and a template for each category is created based on the learning data.

  The pet focus function is to perform exposure and focus on the face of the pet by performing AE processing and AF processing on the face area recognized by the pet recognition function when the subject includes a pet. This is a function to match, and works in the pet recognition mode.

  In the digital camera C of the present invention, the pet recognition mode can be selected by the menu switch SW6. The operation mode is registered in advance in the quick access SW 13 and can be easily selected by operating the quick access SW 13.

  In the digital camera C of the present invention, when the pet recognition mode is selected as the AF mode, the pet recognition is performed at any time in the finder mode.

  When operating in the pet recognition mode, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, the face of the pet included in the subject and the surrounding image area are targeted areas (hereinafter, this area is referred to as a face area). The brightness data of this face area is used for AE processing and AF processing.

Next, the AF function of the digital camera C of the present invention will be described.
When the image captured by the CCD 101 is in focus, the contour portion of the subject image is clear, and the AF evaluation value at the contour portion of the image is large.

  During the focus detection operation in the hill-climbing AF control, the AF evaluation value at each moving position of the focus lens 7-2a is calculated while moving the focus lens 7-2a in the optical axis direction of the photographing lens, and the AF evaluation value is maximized. The position of the focus lens 7-2a (the position where the AF evaluation value is maximized) is detected. This is called AF processing.

  Also, taking into consideration that there are a plurality of positions where the AF evaluation value becomes a maximum, if there are a plurality of positions, the magnitude of the AF evaluation value at the maximum and the degree of decrease or increase of the surrounding AF evaluation values And the AF process is executed with the most reliable position as the in-focus position. When the positions where the plurality of AF evaluation values are maximum are highly reliable, the local maximum position at a short distance is set as the in-focus position.

  The AF evaluation value data is stored in the memory in the processor 104 as image feature data as needed, and this feature data is used for AF processing.

  The AF evaluation value can be calculated for a specific area in the captured image based on the digital RGB signal.

  FIG. 8 shows the display state of the LCD in the finder mode, and the center frame in the LCD display (overall image area (overall image area)) shown in FIG. In the digital camera C of the present invention, a portion of 40% in the horizontal direction and 30% in the vertical direction in the LCD display area shown in FIG. 8 is a normal AF area.

  When the digital camera C operates in the pet recognition mode and the pet's face can be recognized in the subject, the AF area is set based on the face area as shown in FIG.

  In the digital camera C of the present invention, when the release shutter SW1 is pressed, the AE evaluation value indicating the exposure state and the focus of the screen are based on the RGB digital signal captured by the CCD1 signal processing block 104-1 of the processor 104. An AF evaluation value indicating the degree is calculated.

  By the way, when shooting a pet, unlike the case of shooting a person, the nose of the face protrudes forward due to the structure of the face, so when performing AF, as shown in FIG. More often, the nose will be in focus. Therefore, in the present invention, in order to solve this problem, processing for limiting the target area to be subjected to AF processing during AF control is performed.

  Hereinafter, an example of AF control when a pet is recognized in the digital camera C of the present invention will be described. Here, the description will be made on the assumption that the pet recognition mode is selected from the AF modes as the photographing mode and the dog is photographed as a pet.

Example 1
A method for limiting the area during AF control after pet recognition will be described.
First, when pet recognition is performed, as described above, a face area is displayed as a detection area on the LCD monitor 10 in accordance with the position of the pet's face (FIG. 7). When the release button (release shutter SW1) is pressed thereafter, AF control is started. Usually, a face area as shown in FIG. 7 is used as the AF area at that time. However, if AF control is performed using this face area as it is, the entire face of the pet is used as the area, and thus the problem of focusing on the nose as described above is likely to occur.

  Therefore, the AF area setting control unit 104-3-2 performs processing for setting a limited part of the face area as an AF area, as shown in FIG. The face area is limited so that the eyes are in focus according to the shape of the pet's face. Other than the eyes (here, the nose) comes to the front (camera side) and the eyes are in focus. It is good to limit so that what inhibits it may be excluded. In this embodiment, an area corresponding to an area ratio of 40% above the face area is set as an AF area.

  By limiting the AF area in this way, AF processing can be performed in the area corresponding to the position of the eyes of the pet's face (the area excluding the nose portion in front of the eyes). Will fit.

FIG. 11 shows a specific processing flow of the AF control of this embodiment.
First, pet recognition is started by setting the pet recognition mode. Thereafter, when the release button (release shutter SW1) is pressed, AF control is started (step 11-1).
At that time, the pet detection unit 104-3-3 first determines whether a pet is detected in the image data based on the CCD 101 (step 11-2).
When a pet is not detected (No in Step 11-2), AF processing is performed in a normal AF area (FIG. 8) (Step 11-4).
When a pet is detected (YES in step S11-2), the AF area setting control unit 104-3-2 sets a limited area within the detected pet's face area as an AF area (step 11-3). ). Next, the automatic focusing control means 104-3-1 performs AF processing on the limited AF area (step 11-4), and controls the motor driver 7-5 so that the focusing position is obtained. Then, the focus optical system 7-2 (focus lens 7-2a) is driven.

  By performing the above processing, it is possible to avoid focusing on the nose when the pet is photographed, and it is possible to photograph an image that is properly focused on the eyes.

(Example 2)
A method for performing area selection during AF control after pet recognition will be described.
In this embodiment, when the pet's face is the subject, the face area is divided into a plurality of areas in order to focus accurately on the pet's eyes, and AF processing is performed for each of the plurality of divided areas. After the end, a process is performed in which the divided area having the farthest focus position (focus position) is the AF area.

An example of the processing will be described with reference to FIG.
First, when pet recognition is performed, as described above, a face area is displayed as a detection area on the LCD monitor 10 in accordance with the position of the pet's face (FIG. 7).

In this embodiment, the face area is divided. For example, the face area is divided into nine areas of 3 vertical divisions and 3 horizontal divisions (FIG. 12A). Thereafter, when the release button (release shutter SW1) is pressed, AF processing is performed in each of the divided areas (divided areas). Then, the in-focus position is determined in each divided area by the AF process (FIG. 12B). These are focus position candidates at the time of shooting. In FIG. 12B, there are two types of divided areas (denoted as “far” in the drawing) and relatively divided areas (denoted as “near” in the drawing) whose focusing position is relatively far from the digital camera C. being classified.
Since many pets have their eyes in the farthest position in the face, the most distant divided area of each divided area is set as the AF area (FIG. 12 (c)), and automatic focusing is performed. The control means 104-3-1 performs automatic focusing control using the focusing position of the divided area.
As a result, it is possible to avoid focusing on the nose when the pet is photographed, and it is possible to photograph an image that is properly focused on the eyes.

In this embodiment, for the purpose of improving the focus accuracy, among the nine divided areas, the divided area having the same in-focus position is the AF area which is the farthest in-focus area among the divided areas having the same in-focus position. It is good to do. That is, when there is only one divided area that is the farthest focusing position, the divided area is not set as the AF area, and is the second farthest focusing position. If there are two or more, the AF area is set. If two or more divided areas having the same in-focus position are not found until the end, the face area (FIG. 7) that is not divided is set as the AF area.
By performing this process, it is possible to focus accurately even when the pet is inclined and only one eye is on the far side.

FIG. 13 shows a specific processing flow of the AF control of this embodiment.
First, pet recognition is started by setting the pet recognition mode. Thereafter, when the release button (release shutter SW1) is pressed, AF control is started (step 13-1).
At that time, the pet detection unit 104-3-3 first determines whether a pet is detected in the image data based on the CCD 101 (step 13-2).
If no pet is detected (NO in step 13-2), AF processing is performed in the normal AF area (FIG. 8) (step 13-3).

  If a pet is detected (YES in step S13-2), the detected pet face area is divided (step 13-4), and AF processing is performed for each of the divided divided areas (step 13-). 5).

Among the divided areas, a divided area that is the farthest in-focus position as a result of the AF processing is searched, and it is determined whether there are two or more divided areas (step 13-6).
If there are two or more divided areas (YES in step S13-6), the divided area is set as an AF area, and the in-focus position determining unit 104-3-4 performs AF processing in step 13-5 in the AF area. The position of the focus lens 7-2a obtained in the above is determined as the in-focus position (step 13-7).

If there are not two or more divided areas (NO in step S13-6), the next (second) divided area that is the far-in-focus position is searched, and whether or not there are two or more divided areas. Is determined (step 13-8).
If there are two or more divided areas (YES in step S13-8), the divided area is set as an AF area, and the in-focus position determining unit 104-3-4 performs AF processing in step 13-5 in the AF area. The position of the focus lens 7-2a obtained in the above is determined as the focus position (step 13-9).

  If there are not two or more divided areas (NO in step S13-8), the next divided area that becomes the far-in-focus position is searched to determine whether there are two or more divided areas. (Step 13-8).

  Thereafter, the processes of Steps 13-8 and 13-9 are performed until there are no in-focus position candidate divided areas. If there are no two or more divided areas with the same in-focus position, the face is not divided. AF processing is performed in the area, and the focus position determination unit 104-3-4 sets the result as the focus position (step 13-10).

  Then, the automatic focusing control means 104-3-1 controls the motor driver 7-5 so that the focusing position determined by the focusing position determination means 104-3-4 is reached, and the focus optical system 7-2. (Focus lens 7-2a) is driven.

  By performing the above processing, it is possible to avoid focusing on the nose when the pet is photographed, and it is possible to photograph an image that is properly focused on the eyes.

Although the present invention has been described with the embodiments shown in the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown in the drawings, and other embodiments, additions, modifications, deletions, etc. Can be changed within the range that can be conceived, and any embodiment is included in the scope of the present invention as long as the effects and advantages of the present invention are exhibited.
For example, the description here is based on the premise that the subject is a pet animal, but the subject is not limited to pets, but covers animals other than humans including horses, cows, and pigs.

1 Sub LCD
2 SD card / battery cover 3 Strobe light emitting unit 4 Optical viewfinder 5 Distance measuring unit 6 Remote control light receiving unit 7 Lens barrel unit 7-1 Zoom optical system 7-1a Zoom lens 7-1b Zoom motor 7-2 Focus optical system 7-2a Focus lens 7-2b Focus motor 7-3 Aperture unit 7-3a Aperture 7-3b Aperture motor 7-4 Mechanical shutter unit 7-4a Mechanical shutter 7-4b Mechanical shutter motor 7-5 Motor driver 8 AF auxiliary light LED unit 9 Strobe LED
10 LCD monitor 101 CCD
102 F / E-IC
102-1 CDS
102-2 AGC
102-3 A / D (ADC)
102-4 TG
103 SDRAM
104 Digital Camera Processor 104-1 CCD1 Signal Processing Block 104-2 CCD2 Signal Processing Block 104-3 CPU Block 104-3-1 Automatic Focus Control Unit 104-3-2 AF Area Setting Control Unit 104-3-3 Pet Detection Means 104-3-4 In-focus position determination means 104-4 Local SRAM
104-5 USB block 104-6 Serial block 104-7 JPEG CODEC block 104-8 Resize block 104-9 TV signal display block 104-10 Memory card controller block 107 RAM
108 ROM
109 SUB-CPU
111, 117 LCD driver 113 Buzzer 114 Strobe circuit 115-1 Audio recording circuit 115-2 Microphone amplifier 115-3 Microphone 116-1 Audio reproduction circuit 116-2 Audio amplifier 116-3 Speaker 118 Video amplifier 119 Video jack 120 Built-in memory 121 Memory card slot 122 USB connector C Digital camera P Control program SW1 Release shutter SW2 Mode dial SW3 Zoom switch (WIDE)
SW4 Zoom switch (TELE)
SW5 Self-timer / delete switch SW6 Menu switch SW7 Move up / strobe setting switch SW8 Move right switch SW9 Display switch SW10 Move down / macro switch SW11 Move left / image confirmation switch SW12 OK switch SW13 Quick access switch SW14 Power switch

JP 2010-092066 A

Claims (6)

An imaging unit that has a focusing lens and an imaging element, forms an image of a subject on the light receiving unit of the imaging element through the focusing lens, and outputs image data;
A face that recognizes the face of an animal other than a person from the image data output from the imaging means, and outputs information of a region corresponding to the face portion of the recognized animal other than the human in the entire image area of the image data Area detection means;
When information on a region corresponding to a face part of an animal other than a person in the entire image region of the image data is output by the face region detecting means, a limited part of the region is set as an AF region. Area limiting means;
Automatic focusing control means for performing automatic focusing control for driving the focusing lens so that the image data is in a focused state in the AF area set by the AF area limiting means;
An imaging apparatus comprising:   The AF area limiting means limits an area corresponding to the face part so as to exclude a part of the face of an animal other than the person that is closer to the imaging device than the eyes. The imaging device according to claim 1.   The AF area limiting means divides the area into a plurality of divided areas when the face area detecting means outputs information of an area corresponding to a face portion of an animal other than a human in the entire image area of the image data. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an area dividing unit; and an AF area selecting unit that performs an automatic focusing process for each of the plurality of divided areas and sets a predetermined divided area as the AF area based on the result. Imaging device.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the AF area selection unit sets a divided area farthest in focus among the plurality of divided areas subjected to the automatic focusing process as the AF area.   The AF area selection means determines whether or not there are a plurality of divided areas having the same in-focus position from the divided area side farthest in focus among the plurality of divided areas subjected to the automatic focusing process. The imaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein among the divided areas, a divided area farthest in focus is set as the AF area.   The automatic focus control means performs automatic focus control using a result of a focus position in the predetermined divided area obtained by an automatic focus process performed by the AF area selection means. The imaging device according to claim 3.