JP2012054902A - Method of reducing image blur - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of reducing blur generated in the whole photographed image when photographing is performed while panning or tilting an imaging device in one direction.SOLUTION: When an imaging device is panned or tilted in one direction, an optical camera shake correction device operates so as to cancel the motion of a photographing device. A program is described so that, when the operation of the optical camera shake correction device becomes a certain amount, a position is made go back rapidly to the vicinity of the initial position in an opposite direction to restart a cancel operation. The optical camera shake correction device repeats this operation to intermittently produce a state equivalent to a state that the photographing is performed while holding the imaging device still. By putting only images photographed at that time together, blur generation caused by panning, tilting and camera shakes can be alleviated.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for reducing image blur that occurs when an imaging apparatus is moved greatly.

  When an imaging device such as a video camera is photographed while panning or tilting in one direction, the reproduced image appears to move in the opposite direction. At that time, image blurring (blurring) occurs on the entire photographed screen, causing discomfort to those who are watching it. For this reason, it has been a basic technique of camera work to perform panning of the imaging device at a low speed so as not to blur the reproduced image as much as possible. Besides that, there was no effective measure to solve this problem.

  Blur caused by camera shake (unintentional hand vibration when shooting with the imaging device main body held by hand) could be corrected by a conventional optical camera shake correction device if the amplitude of camera shake was small. . However, when the imaging device pans or tilts greatly in one direction, it is impossible to reduce the blur generated on the screen by such a device. Also, no matter how high-performance the camera shake correction device is, it is a device based on the principle that the image on the image sensor is stopped by canceling the movement of the image pickup device. It can be said that the intention to tilt and shoot a wide range of the outside world is a device that always operates in a contradictory manner, and with the camera shake correction device alone, the suppression of blur caused by intentional panning or tilting is the principle. It was impossible from above.

JP2010-147857 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-152802 JP 05-066448 Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 09-80539

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is that blurring occurs in the entire captured image when the imager moves the imaging apparatus greatly in one direction to capture an image.

  According to the method of the present invention, when the photographer is shooting the outside world while moving the image pickup device in a certain direction, the device having the optical image stabilization function is moved in the direction to cancel the movement of the image pickup device main body (here, The most important thing is to repeat the two-phase operation frequently, which is called the slow phase), and once it moves to a certain point, it quickly returns to the specified position (here, this zone is called the rapid phase). Features.

  Since the image in the rapid phase is highly blurred throughout the image, they are separated so as not to be displayed as a video during the reproduction of the moving image, and the moving image is composed of data of only the slow phase. Since a slow phase image has no blur due to the movement of the imaging device in principle, a moving image without a blur is inevitably displayed.

  In order to prevent the rapid phase image from being displayed, the most reliable method is to temporarily stop the operation of the individual imaging element in the rapid phase and not to perform the imaging itself as in the first embodiment. Further, as in the second embodiment, a method of separating a rapid phase signal from an output signal of an individual image sensor and displaying only a slow phase output can be selected.

  These are signal processing that can be easily realized by existing technology, and no special technical development is required to implement the present invention.

  Optical image stabilization methods include moving the image sensor (image sensor shift method), moving the lens system (lens shift method), and moving the lens and image sensor together (lens unit swing method). Although implemented, the method of the present invention can be used for any optical image stabilization method.

  The blank section of the signal that occurs after the removal of the fast-phase image signal is filled with the immediately preceding or immediately following slow-phase image signal, so that the moving image is between the original image and the image from which the rapid-phase image signal has been removed. It is possible to correct the occurrence of an error in the reproduction time.

  In the method of the present invention, it is only necessary to always operate an apparatus having an optical image stabilization function, and it is not necessary to stop the operation of the apparatus during panning and tilting. Of course, it is not necessary to distinguish whether the shaking of the imaging device is camera shake or the intentional panning or tilting of the photographer, and a complicated control device for that purpose is also unnecessary.

  Since the method of the present invention does not cancel the large movement of the image pickup apparatus at the time of photographing, camera shake such as a large vertical movement of the image pickup apparatus is displayed as a shake of the screen. However, since the swaying image is composed of an image without blur, a person who views the image does not feel uncomfortable as in the case of a conventional image in which a lot of blur occurs.

  According to the present invention, not only camera shake but also blur generated in the entire image when panning or tilting the imaging apparatus is removed from the reproduced image with high accuracy. As a result, the quality of each frame of the video is almost equal to that of the still image. The effect of removing the blur is maintained as long as the moving speed of the imaging apparatus does not exceed the performance limit of the apparatus having the optical image stabilization function. It is also possible to take out an arbitrary frame of a reproduced moving image and use it as a high-quality still photo.

It is a block diagram which shows the basic composition of the apparatus of Example 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the basic composition of the apparatus of Example 2 of this invention.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention, where 1 to 5 are the same as FIG. These devices and circuits are incorporated in a single casing together with a power supply circuit and used as an imaging device such as a video camera. The subject of the present invention is a method for driving an apparatus having an optical camera shake correction function and a method for processing an output signal of a solid-state imaging device, and a circuit for controlling the drive can be created within the scope of existing technology. Therefore, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The method of the present invention can be applied to any image pickup apparatus regardless of whether it is for business use or consumer use, and enables a clear image without blur to be taken even when the image pickup apparatus is moved greatly. With a surveillance camera, high-quality images can be obtained even if the main body is rotated at a high speed, so a wide range of surveillance can be performed with a single camera. When applied to robot vision (computer vision), it is not necessary for the robot to stop the movement of the imaging device in order to collect image data, and the robot can always collect high-quality image data during operation.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image pick-up device incorporating optical camera-shake correction device 2 Circuit for performing signal processing to fill in a blank section of signal 3 Drive signal generation device for solid-state image sensor 4 Control signal generation device for camera shake correction device 5 Sensor that detects (speed, direction, angular velocity, etc.) 6 A circuit that separates the fast-phase and slow-phase signals

Claims (1)

While the photographer moves the image pickup device in one direction and shoots the outside world, the device with the optical image stabilization function is operated so as to cancel the movement of the image pickup device. If the image pickup device returns to a predetermined position rapidly and then immediately repeats the control of canceling the motion canceling operation of the image pickup device, the state equivalent to the operation of the image pickup device is stopped intermittently. An imaging method characterized by removing a blur caused by the movement of an imaging device by creating a moving image in which only clear images taken during the creation are connected.

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