JP2013132005A - Imaging apparatus, imaging method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly photograph a subject that moves irregularly.SOLUTION: A subject is detected from a taken image and authenticated to determine whether the subject matches a registered person. The age of the subject is discriminated from registered information and the adjustment method of consecutive imaging intervals is changed depending on the age, that is, gently narrowing the consecutive imaging intervals in accordance with increase in moving quantity if the authenticated person is ten years old or older; if younger than two years old, increasing the ratio of narrowing the consecutive imaging intervals to be larger than that in the case of ten years old or older; and if two years old or older and younger than ten years old, increasing most the ratio of narrowing the consecutive imaging intervals.

Description

  In particular, the present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, an imaging method, and a program suitable for imaging a subject that may move irregularly.

  There is a continuous shooting function of a camera as a function for properly capturing a moving subject within an angle of view. In the past, it was common for the photographer to point the lens at the subject and shoot continuously at the set continuous shooting interval, but nowadays, an area with movement is detected from the screen, and shooting is performed according to the amount of movement. A technique for changing the continuous shooting interval has also been proposed. This eliminates the need for the user to perform troublesome settings, and allows the subject to be easily shot continuously.

  With regard to these shooting settings, when a person is imaged, face recognition and face part movement information are automatically acquired, and the shutter speed or continuous shooting interval is determined based on that information. A technique for performing imaging processing has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This method detects desired motion information by calculating the difference between two consecutive image data in the face area in an imaging system that can store multiple images in the image memory. To do. Then, based on this detection value, the shutter speed and the continuous shooting interval at the time of shooting are determined, and a still image is captured.

JP 2007-49449 A

  However, in the specification of detecting the amount of motion by comparing two images in the face area after detecting the face, the motion is detected after the operation is started, so the initial motion cannot be captured. In addition, although it is easy to predict the motion of an adult who can transmit an instruction or a subject that is easily predicted, there are cases where the subject cannot be photographed as intended for a subject that moves irregularly. In particular, an infant may miss a photo opportunity because it may quickly perform unexpected actions.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to enable appropriate photographing with respect to a subject that moves irregularly.

  An imaging apparatus according to the present invention includes an imaging unit that images a subject to generate image data, a subject detection unit that detects the subject from image data generated by the imaging unit, and a subject detected by the subject detection unit In contrast, authentication means for performing authentication with reference to pre-stored registration information, motion detection means for detecting the amount of movement of the subject detected by the subject detection means, and motion detected by the motion detection means A change unit that changes a continuous shooting interval at the time of shooting when the user instructs continuous shooting according to the amount, and the detected subject is selected from a plurality of categories based on an authentication result of the authentication unit. Classifying means for classifying into any one of the above, and adjusting means for adjusting the change amount of the continuous shooting interval by the changing means according to the category classified by the classifying means. Characterized in that it.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to capture a photo opportunity even for a subject that moves irregularly, and to perform appropriate photographing.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the imaging device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence which determines the continuous shooting interval at the time of imaging | photography in embodiment. It is a figure explaining the difference in the movement by the age of a to-be-photographed object. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the position variation for every category in an embodiment, and a continuous shooting interval. It is a figure which shows an example of the personal information registered into the registration dictionary in embodiment.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the imaging apparatus and the flow of processing in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Configuration of imaging device)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.
In FIG. 1, the operation unit 101 includes switches, buttons, and the like that allow an operator to input various instructions to the imaging apparatus 100. The operation unit 101 includes a shutter switch and a touch sensor that enables an operation by touching a display device.

  The control unit 102 controls the operation of each unit illustrated in FIG. 1, and controls each unit in response to an instruction from the operation unit 101. The sensor unit 103 receives light incident through the lens 108a and the exposure mechanism 109a, and outputs a charge corresponding to the light amount. Note that the AF processing unit 108b can control the position of the lens 108a and the AE processing unit 109b can control the exposure amount of the exposure mechanism 109a by the control from the control unit 102. Further, the EF processing unit 110 can control the flash of the flash unit 111 by the control from the control unit 102 as necessary. The A / D conversion unit 104 performs sampling, gain adjustment, A / D conversion, and the like on the analog image signal output from the sensor unit 103, and outputs the digital image signal.

  The image processing unit 105 performs various types of image processing on the digital image signal output from the A / D conversion unit 104, and outputs a processed digital image signal. For example, the digital image signal output from the A / D conversion unit 104 is converted into a YUV image signal and output.

  The subject detection unit 106 detects the face of a person from the digital image signal output from the image processing unit 105 and also acquires information on the position and size. The subject authentication unit 115 calculates the similarity by comparing the face detected by the subject detection unit 106 with a face registered in a registration dictionary stored in advance in a ROM (not shown) or the like. Determine whether the subject. This registered dictionary includes personal information such as age, sex, and blood relationship in addition to the facial feature data. FIG. 5 shows an example of personal information registered in the registration dictionary. When the subject classification determination unit 116 determines that the subject has been registered by the subject authentication unit 115, the subject classification determination unit 116 performs motion pattern classification based on the age. The continuous shooting interval determination unit 117 for shooting adjusts the continuous shooting interval based on the classification divided by the subject classification determination unit 116.

  The display unit 107 is configured by a liquid crystal screen or the like, and displays a subject frame based on the area obtained by the subject detection unit 106. The format conversion unit 112 converts the format of the digital image signal (image data) output from the image processing unit 105 into a format such as JPEG, and outputs the converted format to the image recording unit 113. The image recording unit 113 records the format-converted image data output from the format conversion unit 112 in a memory (not shown), an external memory inserted in the imaging apparatus 100, or the like. The external connection unit 114 is an interface for connecting to an external device.

  Next, an operation when imaging is performed by the imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described.

(Process flow)
First, when a power switch included in the operation unit 101 is turned on by an operation of the operator, the control unit 102 detects this and supplies power to each unit constituting the imaging apparatus 100. When power is supplied to each unit constituting the imaging apparatus 100, the shutter is opened, and light enters the sensor unit 103 via the lens 108a and the exposure mechanism 109a. Then, the sensor unit 103 reads out the electric charge accumulated by the incident light and outputs it as an analog image signal to the A / D conversion unit 104.

  The A / D conversion unit 104 performs sampling, gain adjustment, A / D conversion, and the like on the analog image signal output from the sensor unit 103, and outputs the digital image signal. The image processing unit 105 performs various types of image processing on the digital image signal output from the A / D conversion unit 104, and outputs a processed digital image signal.

  Next, the subject detection unit 106 acquires face information (position and size information) in the image in the digital image signal obtained from the image processing unit 105. The acquired face information is sent to the subject authentication unit 115. The subject authentication unit 115 generates face feature amount data based on the input face information, and compares the face feature amount data with a face registered in a registration dictionary stored in advance in the imaging apparatus 100 to calculate a similarity. In the registration dictionary, a plurality of face feature amount data and personal information (age, sex, name, etc.) associated with each personal ID are registered. Then, as a result of authentication, when the calculated similarity is equal to or higher than the threshold and a person with the highest score appears, the subject is determined to be registered.

  When it is determined that the subject is registered, the subject classification determination unit 116 classifies the subject based on the age, and the continuous shooting interval determination unit 117 at the time of shooting corresponds to the motion pattern of each age at the time of shooting. Determine the continuous shooting interval. The procedure for determining the continuous shooting interval at the time of shooting will be described later. Thereafter, the detected subject information is sent to the display unit 107, and the information is displayed on the LCD screen of the display unit 107. Further, the obtained subject information is transmitted to the AF processing unit 108b and the AE processing unit 109b via the control unit 102, and the lens 108a and the exposure mechanism 109a are controlled in order to execute an imaging process optimal for the subject. . Then, the control unit 102 performs control so that the above processing is repeated until the signal SW1 is input from the shutter switch (notification that the shutter switch is half-pressed).

  On the other hand, when the signal SW1 is input from the shutter switch, the control unit 102 controls the AF processing unit 108b and the AE processing unit 109b according to the image and subject information at this time point to perform AF and AE processing. Then, the optimum focus and exposure setting conditions for shooting are set. Then, the control unit 102 returns to the process before inputting the signal SW1 until the signal SW2 is input from the shutter switch (notification of the full press of the shutter switch), and controls to repeat the above process.

  When the signal SW2 is input from the shutter switch to the control unit 102 and the main shooting is started, continuous shooting is executed at the continuous shooting interval obtained by the shooting continuous shooting interval determination unit 117. First, light from the outside world enters the sensor unit 103 through the lens 108a and the exposure mechanism 109a, and charges corresponding to the amount of the incident light accumulate in the photoelectric conversion elements that form the sensor unit 103. Then, the sensor unit 103 reads out the electric charge accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element and outputs it to the A / D conversion unit 104 as an analog image signal. The A / D conversion unit 104 performs sampling, gain adjustment, A / D conversion, and the like on the analog image signal output from the sensor unit 103, and outputs the digital image signal.

  Next, the image processing unit 105 performs various types of image processing on the digital image signal output from the A / D conversion unit 104, and outputs a processed digital image signal. Then, the format conversion unit 112 converts the format of the digital image signal (image data) output from the image processing unit 105 into a format such as JPEG, and outputs it to the image recording unit 113. The image recording unit 113 records the format-converted image data in a predetermined memory.

Next, a procedure for determining the continuous shooting interval at the time of shooting described above will be described.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure for determining a continuous shooting interval at the time of shooting in the present embodiment. 2 is performed under the control of the control unit 102.
First, an initial exposure value is set by the control unit 102, and an analog image signal is acquired as a live image by the sensor unit 103 via the lens 108a and the exposure mechanism 109a (step S201). Then, the analog image signal is converted into a digital image signal by the A / D conversion unit 104, and predetermined image processing is performed on the digital image signal by the image processing unit 105 (step S202).

  Next, the subject detection unit 106 performs face detection from the digital image signal and acquires face information (step S203). Then, face authentication is performed using the face coordinates and face size obtained as face information by the subject authentication unit 115 (step S204). The face authentication in the present embodiment is performed using a registration dictionary composed of a plurality of face feature amount data associated with each personal ID as registration information. As shown in FIG. 5, this registration dictionary also holds personal information such as name, date of birth, and category (classification by age) in association with the personal ID. The name and date of birth are information entered by the user at the time of registration. In the present embodiment, when the imaging apparatus 100 is switched to the registration mode, new registration, additional registration, deletion of personal data, and the like can be performed in the registration dictionary.

  When performing face authentication, the face image data consisting of the face area in the digital image signal is converted into feature data, and compared with the feature data of each individual registered in the registration dictionary, and the similarity for each individual is calculated. To do. Then, it is determined that the person with the highest similarity that is equal to or higher than the threshold set in the calculated similarity is the corresponding person.

  Next, when the person is authenticated, the subject classification determination unit 116 calculates the age of the authenticated person from the date of birth and the date of photographing, and performs classification according to the age (step S205). In this embodiment, it classify | categorizes into three categories, 10 years old or more, 2 years old-less than 10 years old, and less than 2 years old.

  When the authenticated person is 10 years old or older, as shown in FIG. 3A, the motion is stable, so that the motion can be predicted. Therefore, when the position fluctuation increases, the continuous shooting interval is gradually reduced.

  In addition, when the authenticated person is 2 years old or older and younger than 10 years old, as shown in FIG. 3B, it is often difficult to predict the movement because the person suddenly runs or stops. Therefore, the initial setting value of the continuous shooting interval is made narrower than the case of 10 years old or older, and even with a slight movement, the continuous shooting interval is narrowed to make it easier to reach the limit of the number of frames taken per second.

  Further, when the authenticated person is less than 2 years old, as shown in FIG. 3C, there is no quick operation, but the operation is unstable. Therefore, even if the position variation is smaller than that in the case of 10 years old or older, the continuous shooting interval is narrowed to easily reach the limit of the number of frames taken per second.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 2, the subject classification determination unit 116 determines whether or not the authenticated person is under 2 years old (step S206). If the result of this determination is that the authenticated person is less than 2 years old, it is set as a parameter for the continuous shooting interval for those under 2 years old (step S207). On the other hand, if the authenticated person is 2 years old or older, it is determined whether the person is 2 years old or older and younger than 10 years old (step S208). As a result of this determination, if the authenticated person is 2 years old or older and younger than 10 years old, it is set as a continuous shooting interval parameter for 2 years old or older and younger than 10 years old (step S209). On the other hand, if the authenticated person is 10 years old or older, it is set as a parameter for the continuous shooting interval for 10 years old or older (step S210).

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the position variation for each category and the continuous shooting interval (shutter speed).
In FIG. 4, a solid line 401 indicates the relationship between positional variation and the continuous shooting interval when the authenticated person is 10 years old or older, and a thick line 402 indicates a position when the authenticated person is 2 years old or older and younger than 10 years old. The relationship between fluctuation and continuous shooting interval is shown. A dotted line 403 indicates the relationship between the position variation and the continuous shooting interval when the authenticated person is under 2 years old. In steps S207, S209, and S210 described above, one of these is set. By dividing into three categories in this way, movement patterns can be classified, and the continuous shooting interval at the time of shooting according to each movement can be changed.

  Next, the amount of movement of the face is detected by the shooting continuous shooting interval determination unit 117 (step S211). In the present embodiment, the amount of facial motion is calculated from the positional fluctuation of the facial coordinates of two consecutive QVGA images. Then, the shooting continuous shooting interval determination unit 117 determines the shooting continuous shooting interval corresponding to the position change from the obtained face movement amount (position change) according to the relationship shown in FIG. 4 (step S212). . When the user gives an instruction for continuous shooting from the operation unit 101, continuous shooting is performed at the continuous shooting interval determined immediately before.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, even if a subject moves irregularly, the amount of change in the continuous shooting interval is adjusted at the time of performing face authentication, so that it is swayed by a sudden movement. It is possible to capture a photo opportunity without any problems.

  In this embodiment, the parameter of the continuous shooting interval is determined according to the age of the subject. However, if the ambient light is darker than an arbitrary brightness, the continuous shooting is stopped and switched to the single flash shooting. May be set. In this case, when the luminance is detected by the image processing unit 105 and it is determined that the ambient light is darker than an arbitrary brightness, the control unit 102 changes the continuous shooting setting to the flash shooting setting, and instructs the main shooting. Depending on the situation, take a single flash.

(Other embodiments)
As mentioned above, although preferable embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to these embodiment, The design of the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention, etc. are included. 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.

102 control unit 103 sensor unit 106 subject detection unit 115 subject authentication unit 116 subject classification determination unit 117 continuous shooting interval determination unit during shooting

Claims (12)

Imaging means for imaging a subject and generating image data;
Subject detection means for detecting the subject from image data generated by the imaging means;
Authentication means for authenticating the subject detected by the subject detection means with reference to pre-stored registration information;
Movement detection means for detecting the amount of movement of the subject detected by the subject detection means;
Change means for changing a continuous shooting interval at the time of shooting when continuous shooting is instructed by the user according to the amount of movement detected by the movement detecting means;
Classification means for classifying the detected subject into any of a plurality of categories based on the authentication result of the authentication means;
An image pickup apparatus comprising: an adjusting unit that adjusts a change amount of a continuous shooting interval by the changing unit according to the category classified by the classifying unit.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the classifying unit classifies based on an age of the subject authenticated by the authentication unit.   The authentication unit compares the subject detected by the subject detection unit with the registration information, and authenticates the subject as a registered subject when the similarity exceeds a threshold value. 2. The imaging device according to 2.   The adjustment unit according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the adjustment unit adjusts the continuous shooting interval to be narrowed for a subject whose movement is difficult to predict and which is quicker based on the registration information. Imaging device.   5. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the changing unit narrows the continuous shooting interval as the difference in the position or size of the subject in two consecutive images increases.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the changing unit changes the continuous shooting interval using motion information immediately before a user instructs continuous shooting.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit configured to control the shutter speed to be increased as the amount of motion detected by the motion detection unit increases.   The image pickup apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the control unit performs control such that a subject whose movement is difficult to predict based on the registration information is increased in shutter speed.   9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a switching unit that switches to single-shot flash shooting instead of continuous shooting when ambient light related to the image data generated by the imaging unit is darker than an arbitrary brightness. The imaging device according to any one of the above.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the subject detection unit detects a face of the subject. An imaging method of an imaging apparatus including an imaging unit that images a subject and generates image data,
A subject detection step of detecting the subject from image data generated by the imaging means;
An authentication step of authenticating the subject detected in the subject detection step with reference to registration information stored in advance;
A motion detection step of detecting the amount of motion of the subject detected in the subject detection step;
In accordance with the amount of motion detected in the motion detection step, a change step of changing a continuous shooting interval at the time of shooting when continuous shooting is instructed by the user,
A classification step of classifying the detected subject into one of a plurality of categories based on the authentication result of the authentication step;
And an adjusting step of adjusting a change amount of a continuous shooting interval in the changing step according to the category classified in the classification step. A program for controlling an image pickup apparatus including an image pickup unit that picks up an image of a subject and generates image data,
A subject detection step of detecting the subject from image data generated by the imaging means;
An authentication step of authenticating the subject detected in the subject detection step with reference to registration information stored in advance;
A motion detection step of detecting the amount of motion of the subject detected in the subject detection step;
In accordance with the amount of motion detected in the motion detection step, a change step of changing a continuous shooting interval at the time of shooting when continuous shooting is instructed by the user,
A classification step of classifying the detected subject into one of a plurality of categories based on the authentication result of the authentication step;
A program that causes a computer to execute an adjustment step of adjusting a change amount of a continuous shooting interval in the change step according to the category classified in the classification step.

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