JP2013005061A - Image generation device and display control device, method of controlling the same, and imaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To generate a general-purpose stereo image by which an equivalent stereoscopic effect can be perceived, in display devices having various sizes.SOLUTION: A stereo image consisting of left-eye and right-eye images having a binocular parallax is acquired, and a parallax amount between the left-eye and right-eye images is detected for a subject included in the acquired stereo image. The parallax amount is corrected using correction parameters preliminarily defined for respective physical sizes of a plurality of display regions for displaying the stereo image to generate a plurality of corrected stereo images corresponding to the respective physical sizes of the plurality of display regions. Further, information about the physical size of the display region corresponding to the correction parameter used for generating the corrected stereo image, and information indicating that the corrected stereo image is generated from the same stereo image, are included and recorded in each of the plurality of generated corrected stereo images.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for correcting a parallax amount of a binocular stereoscopic image having binocular parallax.

  Some display devices such as a television receiver can present a stereoscopically visible image to the user. In recent years, some imaging devices such as digital cameras are capable of taking two types of images (stereo images) for the left eye and for the right eye. Display on a display device such as a digital camera or a digital photo frame. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an imaging apparatus that has two types of optical systems and can independently capture images for the left eye and the right eye.

  Note that in viewing a stereo image, the stereoscopic effect in the depth direction perceived by the user varies depending on the physical size of the display area of the display device. Specifically, since the recommended viewing distance changes according to the size of the display area, the convergence angle formed by the user's eyes when browsing changes. For example, the distance between the display screen of the small LCD used for a mobile phone or the like and the user's eyeball is assumed to be shorter than the distance when the home television receiver is browsed. For this reason, it approaches a so-called crossing state where the angle of convergence is larger.

  That is, in order to obtain an effect of perceiving the same stereoscopic effect in display devices of various sizes, a horizontal parallax amount (hereinafter referred to as a parallax amount), which is a “deviation” between stereo images, is different for each display device. There is a need. For example, Patent Document 2 discloses a stereoscopic image correction device that changes the amount of parallax according to the size of the display area of the display device so that the user can perceive the same stereoscopic effect as the input stereo image. .

JP-A-01-202985 JP 2010-045584 A

  However, since the stereoscopic image correction apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 corrects the parallax amount of the stereo image after the display device that is to display the stereo image is determined, an intentional parallax amount is set for the stereo image. Even if it is, it will change without permission on the display device.

  Further, such a correction itself cannot be naturally performed in a display device that does not have a mechanism for adaptively correcting the amount of parallax. That is, there has been no recording of stereo images that can be displayed for general use on various display devices having different display area sizes. Further, in the display device including the stereoscopic image correction device disclosed in Patent Document 2, processing for correcting the parallax amount of the stereo image is required when the input stereo image is displayed, and thus the processing resources of the display device may be compressed. There is.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to generate a general-purpose stereo image capable of perceiving an equivalent stereoscopic effect on display devices of various sizes.

In order to achieve the above object, an image generation apparatus of the present invention comprises the following arrangement.
An image generation apparatus that generates a corrected stereo image in which a parallax amount is corrected with respect to a stereo image including left-eye and right-eye images having binocular parallax, and includes an acquisition unit that acquires a stereo image, and an acquisition unit For a subject included in the acquired stereo image, a detection unit that detects a parallax amount between the left-eye image and the right-eye image, and a parallax amount of the subject included in the stereo image detected by the detection unit A correction unit that generates a plurality of corrected stereo images by correcting using a plurality of correction parameters corresponding to cases where the display areas of different sizes are displayed, and a plurality of corrected stereo images generated by the correction unit Recording means for recording information on the size of the display area corresponding to the correction parameter used to generate the corrected stereo image. It is characterized in.

  With such a configuration, according to the present invention, it is possible to generate a general-purpose stereo image capable of perceiving an equivalent stereoscopic effect on display devices of various sizes.

The figure which showed the function structure of PC concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention Diagram for explaining the principle of binocular stereopsis The figure which showed the relationship between the correction parameter of the parallax amount which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and the number of inches of a display area The figure which showed the example of correction | amendment of the parallax amount which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which showed the data structure of the correction | amendment stereo image which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. Flow chart of parallax amount correction processing according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The figure which showed the function structure of the liquid crystal monitor which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. The flowchart of the display control processing which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which showed the function structure of the digital camera which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. Flowchart of stereo shooting processing according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The figure which showed the data structure of the correction | amendment stereo image which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, one embodiment described below describes an example in which the present invention is applied to a PC capable of generating a plurality of sets of stereo images in which the parallax amount is changed for one set of stereo images as an example of an image generation apparatus. To do. However, the present invention can be applied to any device capable of generating a plurality of sets of stereo images with different amounts of parallax for one set of stereo images.

(PC configuration)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a PC 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The control unit 101 is, for example, a CPU, and controls the operation of each block included in the PC 100. The control unit 101 controls the operation of each block included in the PC 100 by reading out a program for correcting a parallax amount, which will be described later, stored in the ROM 102, for example, and developing the program in the RAM 103 and executing it.

  The ROM 102 is a rewritable nonvolatile memory, and stores information such as parameters necessary for the operation of each block included in the PC 100, for example, in addition to the parallax amount correction processing program. In this embodiment, the ROM 102 stores a correction parameter for correcting the parallax amount of the stereo image corresponding to the size of the display device.

  The RAM 103 is a volatile memory, and is used not only as a development area for the parallax amount correction processing program, but also as a storage area for intermediate data output in the operation of each block included in the PC 100, for example. In the present embodiment, the RAM 103 stores a stereo image (two images for the left eye and the right eye) that are input to the PC 100 from the image input unit 104, which will be described later, and whose parallax amount is to be corrected. And

  In the present embodiment, description will be made assuming that processing is realized in each block included in the digital camera 100 as hardware. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and processing of each block is the same processing as that of each block. It may be realized by a program that performs.

  The image input unit 104 is an interface for receiving an image input included in the PC 100. In the present embodiment, the image input unit 104 receives an input of a stereo image whose parallax amount is to be corrected. The image input unit 104 outputs the input stereo image to the RAM 103 for storage. In the present embodiment, the input stereo image is described as being stored in the RAM 103. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be recorded in the recording medium 107, for example. The acquisition of the stereo image whose parallax amount is to be corrected is not limited to the input via the image input unit 104, and for example, a stereo image recorded from the recording medium 107 may be read.

  In the present embodiment, a set of stereo images is described as a target for correcting the amount of parallax. However, the correction target may be video data formed by frames of continuous stereo images. Easy to understand. In this case, the PC 100 may perform a parallax amount correction process for correcting the parallax amount of the stereo image for each frame.

  The parallax detection unit 105 detects the amount of parallax for each of the subjects included in the input stereo image. Here, the parallax amount of the stereo image corrected in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Definition of parallax)
FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the principle of allowing a user to perceive depth information of an image using a stereo image. The figure shows the positional relationship between the display surface 201 of the display device on which the stereo image is presented and the left eye 203 and the right eye 204 of the user 202, and the perceived position of the stereoscopic objects 205, 206, and 207 by viewing the stereo image. Show.

  As shown in the figure, when the user 202 directs his / her line of sight toward the center of the display surface 201, the user's gaze point is present at the center of the visual field, that is, at the three-dimensional object 206 present at the center of the display surface 201. At this time, the angle formed by the vectors of the line-of-sight directions of the left eye 203 and the right eye 204 toward the three-dimensional object 206 is the convergence angle, and the user can perceive the distance in the depth direction to the three-dimensional object 206 by the convergence angle. it can.

  In addition, the solid object 206 that is the center of the visual field exists in the center of the image captured by each eye, although there is a difference in the appearance due to the difference in the viewing direction between the left eye 203 and the right eye 204. There is no misalignment. The user is positioned at the center of the field of view, with reference to the distance perceived from the convergence angle for an object that does not have a position shift (horizontal parallax) among the images formed on the retinas of the left and right eyes. Perceives the distance to the object that exists.

  For example, the position where the three-dimensional object 205 existing on the side farther than the three-dimensional object 206 is drawn in each of the left-eye image and the right-eye image is a straight line connecting the object and each of the left eye 203 and the right eye 204. The intersection points 205L and R of the display surface 201 become. Similarly, the positions at which the three-dimensional object 207 present on the side closer to the three-dimensional object 206 is drawn in the left-eye and right-eye images are 207L and R, respectively. That is, the user 202 perceives the depth information of each of the three-dimensional object 205 and the three-dimensional object 207 based on the distance between 205L and 205R, which is the amount of image displacement, and the distance between 207L and 207R. Note that whether or not an object having horizontal parallax is far away from the reference object is whether or not the right and left gaze directions are shifted when trying to gaze at the object, that is, the direction in which the convergence angle increases. Perceived by whether or not to move to.

  Note that the number of pixels and the pixel pitch in the display area of the display device are various. For this reason, the amount of horizontal parallax, which is the positional deviation of the image in the horizontal direction, perceived by humans, is d [px], the pixel number of the positional deviation of the object between the left-eye and right-eye images, and the pixel pitch is p. [inch / px], recommended viewing distance is D [inch], and viewing angle is θFOV [rad].

It is represented by

  In the present embodiment, in order to simplify the description, it is assumed that the number of pixels in the display area of a display device having a physically different size is the same. Furthermore, when the recommended viewing distance is set so that the pixel pitch increases in proportion to the physical size of the display device and the display area looks the same size, the pixel pitch p is set to the recommended viewing distance D. The divided value is a constant. That is, terms other than the number of misaligned pixels d in Equation 1 can be considered as constants. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the number of pixel positions of the object between the left-eye image and the right-eye image on the surface where the point of sight exists, that is, the stereo image presentation surface, is defined as “parallax amount”. It shall be described in

  In addition, the parallax correction unit 106 uses the correction parameter to set the parallax detection unit 105 so that the input stereo image has a parallax amount suitable for the physical size of the display area of the display device that displays the stereo image. The amount of parallax detected in step 1 is corrected to generate a corrected stereo image. The parallax amount correction parameter is a parameter set in advance according to the physical size (number of inches) of the display area and the number of pixels (resolution) of the display area as shown in FIG. 3, for example, the ROM 102 or described later. Assume that it is stored in the recording medium 107. In the present embodiment, in order to describe a display device having the same number of pixels in the display area, the parallax amount correction parameter will be described below as a coefficient for multiplying the parallax amount that differs for each number of inches in the display area.

  Note that the smaller the number of inches in the display area, the shorter the recommended viewing distance. Therefore, the corrected stereo image necessary to express the amount of pull-in or pop-out (stereoscopic effect) in the depth direction equivalent to the stereo image before correction. The amount of parallax at increases. That is, the coefficient, which is a parallax correction parameter, tends to increase as the number of inches in the display area decreases. For example, when the input stereo images are a left-eye image as shown in FIG. 4A and a right-eye image as shown in FIG. 4B, the display area is displayed on a display device having a small number of inches. As shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D, the corrected stereo image increases the amount of parallax due to the correction.

  Further, the parallax amount correction parameter is not a fixed value, and may be different depending on the positional relationship in the depth direction. In other words, the parallax function may be a parameter function that corrects the parallax amount so that the object that is popping out protrudes more, and the object that is pulled in is more drawn. The information on the positional relationship in the depth direction is, for example, for a stereo image captured by a binocular camera, information on the focal length that is the distance to the center of the visual field that is a gazing point, and the parallax detected by the parallax detection unit 105. The amount can be calculated for each subject in the image.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the parallax amount correction parameter is described as a coefficient to be multiplied by the parallax amount, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, the present invention only needs to be able to generate a stereo image in which the amount of parallax is corrected so that a user can perceive a positional relationship in the depth direction suitable for each display device, and the parallax correction unit 106 does not use correction parameters. It may be.

  For example, because the resolution and range in the depth direction that can be expressed differ depending on the number of pixels and the pixel pitch in the display area, and the recommended viewing distance, it is possible to express the positional relationship in the pull-in direction and pop-out direction of the input stereo image. It may be mapped to a range. That is, among the subjects included in the input stereo image, the object perceived at the position farthest away from the user has the maximum drawing amount that can be expressed, and the object perceived at the closest position can be expressed. You may correct | amend so that it may have the largest pop-out amount. In addition, when the correction | amendment which gives a parallax to the object without the parallax which exists in the visual field center is not performed, the mapping of the positional relationship of the object to a drawing-in direction and a popping-out direction is each performed separately.

  Further, when the display area inch number is specified with the focal distance of the binocular camera that has captured the input stereo image as the recommended viewing distance, and the stereo image is displayed in the display area having the inch number, the original (retina Corrections may be made to reproduce the parallax above.

  In this way, the parallax correction unit 106 generates a corrected stereo image in which the parallax amount is corrected for a plurality of display devices, and outputs the stereo image group. The output corrected stereo image group is associated with information indicating that it is a stereo image generated from the same stereo image, and is recorded on the recording medium 107 described later. Note that the plurality of corrected stereo images generated by the parallax correction unit 106 include information on the number of inches and the number of pixels of the display area suitable for each display.

  The recording medium 107 is a detachable recording device such as a memory card or HDD, for example, and is a stereo image received by the image input unit 104 or a correction corresponding to each of a plurality of display devices generated by the parallax correction unit 106. A stereo image is recorded. The data structure of the stereo image may be a structure conforming to the multi-picture format (MPF) established by, for example, the Camera Video Industry Association standard.

  The corrected stereo image corresponding to each of the plurality of display devices generated by the parallax correction unit 106 includes, for example, association information and the like in the header information for each display device as illustrated in FIG. It may be a different file. Alternatively, the association information may be recorded as a separate file. Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 5B, a corrected stereo image corresponding to a plurality of display devices may have a data structure included in one image file.

(Parallax correction processing)
A specific process of the parallax amount correction process of the PC 100 according to the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The processing corresponding to the flowchart can be realized by the control unit 101 reading, for example, a corresponding processing program stored in the ROM 102, developing the program in the RAM 103, and executing the program. This parallax amount correction processing will be described as being started when, for example, a binocular camera (not shown) is connected to the PC 100 and the transfer of a stereo image starts. In the present embodiment, corrected stereo images corresponding to three types of display devices are generated by the processing.

  In step S <b> 601, the control unit 101 stores a stereo image (input stereo image) received from the binocular camera via the image input unit 104 in the RAM 103, and then causes the parallax detection unit 105 to store each stereo image included in the stereo image. The amount of parallax is detected.

  In step S <b> 602, the control unit 101 reads the input stereo image stored in the RAM 103 and transmits the input stereo image to the parallax correction unit 106, and reads the parallax amount correction parameter for the first display device from the ROM 102 to read the parallax correction unit 106. Transmit to. The parallax correction unit 106 corrects the parallax amount of the input stereo image using the input parallax correction parameter for the first display device, and outputs a corrected stereo image suitable for the first display device.

  In step S <b> 603, the control unit 101 uses the corrected stereo image suitable for the first display device output from the parallax correction unit 106 as the header information with the information about the first display device (the number of inches and the number of pixels in the display area). Including the data on the recording medium 107.

  Such processes of S602 and S603 are executed for the second display device and the third display device in S604 and S605, S606 and S607, and the control unit 101 moves the process to S608.

  In step S608, the control unit 101 assigns information indicating that the image is generated from the input stereo image to the header as related information for the three types of corrected stereo images recorded on the recording medium 107 in steps S603, S605, and S607. Note that the information indicating that it has been generated from the input stereo image may be information that can determine that a plurality of corrected stereo images generated in the parallax amount correction processing are generated for the same content, The input stereo image may not be specified.

  As described above, this parallax amount correction processing can generate a corrected stereo image in which an equivalent stereoscopic effect can be perceived in each of a plurality of sizes of display devices. In addition, in order to include information indicating that the plurality of corrected stereo images are generated for the same content, the display control device included in the display device selects a stereo image having a parallax amount suitable for the display device. Can be displayed.

(Display of corrected stereo image)
Here, a process performed on the display device side when displaying the corrected stereo image corresponding to the plurality of display devices generated by the above-described parallax amount correction processing will be described below.

(Configuration of LCD monitor)
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a liquid crystal monitor 700 as an example of the display device of the present embodiment. In this embodiment, the liquid crystal monitor 700 displays a liquid crystal shutter glass that alternately displays a left eye image and a right eye image and opens and closes the corresponding liquid crystal shutter in synchronization with the switching. A method that enables stereoscopic viewing when the user wears and browses is used. However, the embodiment of the present invention can be any display device that presents an input stereo image of the binocular parallax system in a state in which the user can view stereoscopically, for example, a system in which the user wears circularly polarized glasses. It will be readily understood that an image presentation scheme may be used.

  The display control unit 701 is, for example, a CPU, and is a block that performs display control of an image displayed on the display unit 705 of the liquid crystal monitor 700. The display control unit 701 controls the operation of each block included in the liquid crystal monitor 700 by, for example, reading a display control processing program stored in the monitor ROM 702, developing the program in the monitor RAM 703, and executing the program.

  The monitor ROM 702 is a non-volatile memory, and in addition to the display control process program, the display area of the liquid crystal monitor 700, such as the number of inches of the display unit 705, the aspect ratio, and the refresh rate, is necessary for the liquid crystal monitor 700. The parameter is memorized. Note that the parameter may be stored as EDID. The monitor RAM 703 is a volatile memory and is used not only as a program development area for display control processing but also as a storage area for storing intermediate data output in the operation of each block provided in the liquid crystal monitor 700.

  The display image input unit 704 is an interface for receiving an image input included in the liquid crystal monitor 700. In the present embodiment, the display image input unit 704 receives an input of a stereo image to be corrected for the parallax amount. The display image input unit 704 outputs the input stereo image to the monitor RAM 703 and stores it. The display unit 705 is a stereo image display area having a liquid crystal panel. In this embodiment, left-eye and right-eye images are alternately displayed.

(Display control processing)
A specific process of the display control process of the liquid crystal monitor 700 of the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The processing corresponding to the flowchart can be realized by causing the display control unit 701 to read out a corresponding processing program stored in, for example, the monitor ROM 702, and develop and execute it on the monitor RAM 703. This parallax amount correction process will be described as being started when a plurality of corrected stereo images related to the same content generated by the above-described parallax amount correction process are input from the PC 100, for example. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the input corrected stereo image group includes corrected stereo images generated for the same content so as to correspond to three types of display devices. In addition, each of the corrected stereo images is assumed to correspond to 30, 50, and 100 inches in the display area.

  In step S <b> 801, the display control unit 701 checks header information of a plurality of corrected stereo images that are input via the display image input unit 704 and that correspond to different display devices, and each corrected stereo image corresponds. Get information about the size of the display area.

  In step S <b> 802, the display control unit 701 determines whether a corrected stereo image generated for the size of the display area of the liquid crystal monitor 700 exists in the plurality of input corrected stereo images acquired in step S <b> 801. Specifically, the display control unit 701 acquires information on the number of inches in the display area of the liquid crystal monitor 700 stored in the monitor ROM 702, and the corrected stereo image generated for the number of inches is inputted with a plurality of corrections. It is determined whether or not it is included in the stereo image. If the display control unit 701 determines that there is a corrected stereo image generated for the size of the display area of the liquid crystal monitor 700 in the plurality of input corrected stereo images, the display control unit 701 moves the process to S803 and determines that it does not exist Moves the process to S804.

  In step S <b> 803, the display control unit 701 selects a corrected stereo image generated for the number of inches in the display area of the liquid crystal monitor 700 from among the plurality of input corrected stereo images as a stereo image to be displayed.

  In step S <b> 804, the display control unit 701 selects a corrected stereo image generated for the number of inches closest to the number of inches of the display area of the liquid crystal monitor 700 from among the plurality of input corrected stereo images as a display target stereo image. To do. That is, in this step, the display control unit 701 displays, as display targets, a stereo image in which the parallax amount is appropriately corrected for the display area of the liquid crystal monitor 700 and a corrected stereo image in which the parallax amount of the object in the image is closest. select. For example, when the number of inches in the display area of the liquid crystal monitor 700 is 60 inches, none of the three types of corrected stereo images input corresponds to 60 inches. For this reason, the display control unit 701 selects a corrected stereo image with the parallax amount corrected corresponding to 50 inches, which is the closest to the number of inches, as a display target.

  In step S805, the display control unit 701 expands the left-eye and right-eye images included in the stereo image selected as the display target in the monitor RAM 703, and displays the images according to the refresh rate of the display unit 705. The data are alternately transmitted to the display unit 705 and displayed.

  By doing in this way, the stereo image corresponding to the display device can be easily selected and displayed without performing the stereo image correction processing as the processing on the display device side. In other words, since it is possible to output a stereo image that can correspond to the size of various display areas, the display device can appropriately correct by selecting an image to be presented according to the size of the display area. Stereo images can be presented.

  In the above-described embodiment, the stereo image to be displayed is selected on the basis of the size of the entire display area of the display device. However, the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, and an area for displaying a stereo image is displayed. The selection may be made according to the size of. That is, if the stereo image is not the entire display area but a part of the display area, the stereo image to be displayed may be selected according to the size of the part of the display area. For example, when the size of the display area of the display device is 50 inches but a partial area for displaying a stereo image corresponds to 30 inches, a corrected stereo image corresponding to 30 inches among a plurality of corrected stereo images. It shall be selected as a display target.

(Summary)
As described above, the image generation apparatus according to the present embodiment can generate a general-purpose stereo image that can perceive an equivalent stereoscopic effect on display apparatuses of various sizes. Specifically, the image generation device acquires a stereo image composed of left-eye and right-eye images having binocular parallax, and subjects the left-eye and right-eye for the subject included in the acquired stereo image. The amount of parallax between images is detected. Then, the parallax amount is corrected using a predetermined correction parameter for each of the physical sizes of the plurality of display areas for displaying the stereo image, and each of the physical sizes of the plurality of display areas is corrected. A plurality of corresponding corrected stereo images are generated. Further, each of the plurality of corrected stereo images generated is generated from information on the physical size of the display area corresponding to the correction parameter used to generate the corrected stereo image and the same stereo image. Record including the information shown.

  By doing in this way, it is possible to easily select and display a stereo image in which the parallax amount is appropriately corrected without executing a correction process of the parallax amount of the stereo image in the display device. .

  In the present embodiment, the description has been made assuming that the parallax amount of the stereo image is corrected according to the size of the display area of the display device, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, different display devices can affect the perception of the positional relationship of stereo images in the depth direction, such as crosstalk, refresh rate, or image transfer speed when switching between left-eye and right-eye images. The parallax amount may be corrected according to the element.

(Embodiment 2)
In the above-described embodiment, a description has been given on the assumption that a plurality of corrected stereo images in which the amount of parallax has been corrected is generated and recorded from image data that has already been generated as a stereo image. In the present embodiment, an imaging apparatus capable of generating and recording stereo images corresponding to the sizes of a plurality of display areas when generating image data will be described. In other words, the imaging apparatus according to the present embodiment can generate a stereo image that can be used for a plurality of display devices by performing one shooting.

(Configuration of digital camera)
Here, a digital camera 900 as an example of an imaging apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the digital camera 900.

  The camera control unit 901 is a CPU, for example, and controls the operation of each block included in the digital camera 900. The camera control unit 901 controls the operation of each block included in the digital camera 900 by, for example, reading a stereo shooting processing program, which will be described later, stored in the camera ROM 902, developing the program in the camera RAM 903, and executing the program.

  The camera ROM 902 is a rewritable nonvolatile memory, for example, and is a storage area for storing not only a stereo shooting processing program but also information such as parameters necessary for the operation of each block included in the digital camera 900. In the present embodiment, the camera ROM 902 stores a parallax amount correction parameter for a stereo image corresponding to the size of the display device, which is stored in the ROM 102 of the first embodiment.

  The camera RAM 903 is a volatile memory, and not only as a program development area for stereo shooting processing, but also as a storage area for temporarily storing intermediate data output in the operation of each block included in the digital camera 900. Used.

  The imaging units 905a and b are imaging elements such as CCDs and CMOS sensors corresponding to the left eye and the right eye, respectively, and photoelectrically convert the optical image formed on the imaging element by the image input units 104a and 104b. Then, an analog image signal is acquired. The imaging units 905a and 905b generate and output digital image data corresponding to the captured image by applying A / D conversion processing to the obtained analog image signal.

  The distance measuring unit 906 is a block including a pair of CCD line sensors arranged in the horizontal direction, for example, and a plurality of object images divided based on the principle of triangulation using the analog image signal output of each line sensor. The distance information to the subject in the area is calculated. The lens driving unit 907 drives the position of the focusing lens included in the imaging optical system 904 so as to focus on the subject based on the distance information to the subject obtained from the distance measuring unit 906.

  The image processing unit 908 is a block that applies predetermined image processing such as correction processing and encoding processing to the left-eye and right-eye image data output from the imaging units 905a and 905b. Also, the image processing unit 908 performs a block for performing parallax amount detection and correction processing performed by the parallax detection unit 105 and the parallax correction unit 106 according to the first embodiment on the input image data for the left eye and right eye. Also works.

  The camera display unit 909 is a display device included in the digital camera 900 such as a small LCD, for example, and displays a captured stereo image or one of the left eye and right eye images. In the present embodiment, the camera display unit 909 is a display device that displays a stereoscopic image having binocular parallax so as to be stereoscopically viewed. Then, the stereo image data generated in the stereo shooting process described later includes, as thumbnail images, a stereo image with a small number of pixels that has been corrected to have a parallax amount suitable for at least the display area of the camera display unit 909. It is.

  The camera recording medium I / F 910 records stereo image data corresponding to a plurality of display devices generated in the stereo shooting process on the camera recording medium 911 or reads out image data recorded on the camera recording medium 911. Interface. The camera recording medium 911 is a recording device that is detachably connected to a digital camera 900 such as a memory card or an HDD, and data is read and written by the camera recording medium 911.

  The external output unit 912 is an interface for connecting the digital camera 900 to an external display device or recording device such as USB or line output. For example, the stereo image generated in the stereo shooting process of the present embodiment may be output to an external display device via the external output unit 912 and displayed.

(Stereo shooting process)
A specific process of the stereo shooting process of the digital camera 900 of the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The processing corresponding to the flowchart can be realized by the camera control unit 901 reading out a corresponding processing program stored in the camera ROM 902, for example, developing it in the camera RAM 903, and executing it. Note that the main stereo shooting process is performed when the camera control unit 901 detects a main shooting instruction input by the user operating a release button (not shown) after the imaging optical system 904 is focused on the subject. It will be described as being started.

  In step S <b> 1001, the camera control unit 901 acquires left-eye and right-eye images captured by the main imaging from the imaging units 905 a and 905 b and stores them in the camera RAM 903. Specifically, the camera control unit 901 instructs the imaging units 905a and b to capture a recording image in response to an instruction for actual shooting, and acquires left-eye and right-eye images, respectively. At this time, the distance from the digital camera 900 to the reference plane where the parallax amount is 0 in the stereo image is the distance to the focal point when the stereo image is captured.

  In step S <b> 1002, the camera control unit 901 adjusts the parallax amount correction parameter for each of the predetermined number of inches in the display area according to the angle of view when the stereo image is captured. For example, a subject existing at a position far away from the digital camera 900 has almost no binocular parallax when the user views it from the shooting position. However, when a stereo image is shot on the telephoto side, the amount of parallax for the subject increases, and in this embodiment, binocular parallax in the stereo image is equivalent to when the user actually sees the subject from the shooting position. Adjust the correction parameters so that That is, the correction parameter adjusted in this way may be a coefficient for reducing the amount of parallax even when the display area is a small number of inches.

  Note that, for example, when viewing a stereo image taken with a telephoto, if it is desired to give the user the effect of viewing near a distant subject, the parallax amount correction parameter in this step need not be adjusted.

  In step S1003, the camera control unit 901 causes the image processing unit 908 to execute a parallax amount correction process using the corrected correction parameter. Note that the parallax amount correction processing executed in this step performs the same processing as that in the first embodiment, and thus description thereof is omitted.

  However, in the stereo shooting process of the present embodiment, when a corrected stereo image is recorded, a stereo image as a thumbnail image is recorded in a data structure as shown in FIG. Note that a stereo image as a thumbnail image is assumed to be viewed on a display device having a small display area or a small area of the display area. The stereo image is corrected to be enlarged.

  By doing in this way, when a stereo image is imaged by the imaging device, stereo images corresponding to a plurality of display devices can be generated and recorded. For this reason, when the recorded corrected stereo image is reproduced, it is possible to select and reproduce the corrected stereo image appropriately adjusted for each display control device.

  In the present embodiment, a stereo image is captured by an imaging apparatus having a binocular camera. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a parallax after a stereo image is generated from one type of image. An amount correction process may be performed.

  Further, a method for acquiring a display target stereo image from an image file composed of a plurality of stereo images is based on, for example, acquiring the entire image file by broadcast waves, communication, or the like and then acquiring the acquired display area information. You may choose. Further, for example, only a stereo image to be displayed may be acquired from an image file recorded on a recording medium such as an HDD or a DVD.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

Claims (11)

An image generating device that generates a corrected stereo image in which a parallax amount is corrected for a stereo image composed of left-eye and right-eye images having binocular parallax,
Obtaining means for obtaining the stereo image;
Detecting means for detecting the amount of parallax between the left-eye and right-eye images for the subject included in the stereo image acquired by the acquiring means;
Correcting the amount of parallax of the subject included in the stereo image detected by the detection means using a plurality of correction parameters corresponding to cases where the sizes of the display areas for displaying the stereo image are different from each other; Correction means for generating a corrected stereo image;
Recording means for recording information on the size of the display area corresponding to the correction parameter used to generate the corrected stereo image together with the plurality of corrected stereo images generated by the correcting means;
An image generation apparatus comprising:   The image generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correction unit performs correction such that the amount of parallax of a subject included in the stereo image increases as the size of the display area decreases.   The image generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit records the plurality of corrected stereo images as one image file.   An imaging apparatus comprising the image generation apparatus according to claim 1. A display control device for reproducing and displaying a stereo image,
Acquisition means for acquiring the size of a display area for displaying a stereo image;
A selection unit that selects a stereo image corresponding to the size of the display area acquired by the acquisition unit among a plurality of stereo images as a stereo image to be displayed;
Reproduction means for reproducing the display-target stereo image selected by the selection means and displaying the stereo image on the display area;
A display control apparatus comprising: Input means for inputting a plurality of stereo images, each corresponding to a different display area size,
The display control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the selection unit selects the display target stereo image from a plurality of stereo images input by the input unit. Read means for reading information from a recording medium on which a plurality of stereo images are recorded, each corresponding to a different display area size,
The display control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the readout unit reads out the display target stereo image selected by the selection unit.   The display control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the plurality of stereo images are configured as one image file. A control method of an image generation apparatus that generates a corrected stereo image in which a parallax amount is corrected for a stereo image composed of left-eye and right-eye images having binocular parallax,
An acquisition step of acquiring the stereo image;
A detecting step for detecting a parallax amount between the left-eye image and the right-eye image for a subject included in the stereo image acquired in the acquiring step;
A correction unit corrects the parallax amount of the subject included in the stereo image detected in the detection step using a plurality of correction parameters corresponding to cases where the display areas for displaying the stereo image are different from each other. A correction step for generating a plurality of corrected stereo images;
A recording step for recording information on a size of a display area corresponding to a correction parameter used for generating the corrected stereo image together with the plurality of corrected stereo images generated in the correcting step;
A control method for an image generation apparatus. A control method of a display control device for reproducing and displaying a stereo image,
An obtaining step in which the obtaining means obtains the size of a display area for displaying a stereo image;
A selection step of selecting a stereo image corresponding to the size of the display area acquired by the acquisition unit among the corrected stereo images as a stereo image to be displayed;
A reproduction step of reproducing the display-target stereo image selected in the selection step and displaying the stereo image on the display area;
A display control apparatus control method comprising:   The program for functioning a computer as each means of the image generation apparatus of any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3.