JP2014062931A - Photographing device, control method, control program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the occurrence of the situation in which an object in the vicinity of a photographing device is not captured in a panoramic image, while suppressing the number of photographing times as much as possible.SOLUTION: A photographing device (1) photographs the surroundings thereof while rotating around a rotation shaft sequentially by a predetermined angle, and includes a distance measuring sensor (14). When the photographing device (1) detects an object that is likely to enter a dead angle area generated in the vicinity of the photographing device (1), rotates by an angle smaller than the predetermined angle to photograph the object.

Description

  The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus, a control method, a control program, and a recording medium that capture a plurality of section images to be connected as panoramic images.

  Wide-field images (panoramic images) have high visual effects and can be used for various purposes. The panorama image is generated by, for example, rotating the camera to change the orientation of the camera, shooting a plurality of images, and connecting the plurality of images.

  On the other hand, what is currently widely used as a self-propelled robot has a disk-like shape with a low body height in order to achieve stable self-propelledness, and can freely rotate at any angle in addition to horizontal movement It can be carried out. Therefore, it is conceivable to mount a photographing device on this self-propelled robot and use it for panoramic photographing as a self-propelled photographing device.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a self-propelled cleaner provided with an electronic camera in the form of a web cam, for example.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a panoramic shooting method in which a plurality of image data obtained by a plurality of shootings are cut out and combined to generate a panoramic image. In this panoramic photographing method, when the user takes a picture while rotating with the photographing device, the cumulative rotation angle after the first photographing is measured. And even if the rotation angle necessary for generating the all-round panoramic image data has not been reached, it is possible to generate the all-round panoramic image by changing the cutout range of the finally shot image, This prevents failures in all-round panorama shooting.

JP 2012-45383 A (published March 8, 2012) JP 2011-234121 A (published November 17, 2011)

  However, the self-propelled cleaner of Patent Document 1 includes an electronic camera in order to acquire a command regarding cleaning corresponding to an obstacle or a sign ahead in the traveling direction during cleaning. Therefore, Patent Document 1 does not describe a method for performing panoramic photographing by rotating a self-propelled cleaner.

  The panorama shooting method disclosed in Patent Document 2 is a method in which a user holds a digital camera and panorama shooting is performed by rotating the digital camera while rotating the body on the spot. Therefore, Patent Document 2 describes a panoramic photographing method using a self-propelled photographing apparatus that can freely adjust the rotation angle for each photographing and can control the cumulative angle of rotation from the beginning of photographing. Absent.

  Further, the camera is not installed on the rotation axis, that is, the camera is installed at a predetermined distance from the rotation axis, and panorama shooting is performed with an imaging device that rotates on the circumference with the predetermined distance as a radius. As a result, an area that cannot be photographed (a blind spot area) is generated near the camera. As a result, there is a problem that an object entering this blind spot area is not reflected in the panoramic image.

  In order to reduce the blind spot area as much as possible, a measure for sufficiently narrowing the rotation angle at which the photographing apparatus rotates each time photographing can be considered. However, as the number of times of shooting increases, the time required for shooting increases, and image data used for generating a panorama image increases, resulting in an increase in the amount of data processing.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the number of shootings for obtaining a section image used for generating a panoramic image as much as possible and to display nearby objects in the panoramic image. An object of the present invention is to realize a photographing apparatus, a control method, a control program, and a recording medium that can prevent the occurrence of an unintentional situation.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, an imaging apparatus according to the present invention is an imaging apparatus that captures a plurality of section images to be connected as a panoramic image while rotating around one rotation axis. An image capturing unit that captures the image, a rotation unit that rotates the image capturing unit around a rotation axis about a predetermined distance and a rotation angle corresponding to the section image, and a continuous rotation unit. An object detection unit that detects an object in a blind spot area that is not captured in the two section images, which is generated between the two shooting areas captured in the section image, and the object detection unit detects an object in the blind spot area When the rotation unit is rotated at least one rotation angle between the rotation angles corresponding to the two section images capturing the two shooting areas adjacent to the blind spot area, the section image is displayed on the shooting unit. Shoot It is characterized in that it comprises a rotation angle setting means for.

  Also, the control method of the image capturing apparatus according to the present invention is a control method for capturing a plurality of section images for connecting as panoramic images while rotating around one rotation axis, and capturing the section images. A rotation unit that rotates a rotation angle corresponding to the section image on a circumference centered on the rotation axis and having a radius of a predetermined distance, and two continuous section images. An object detection unit that detects an object in a blind spot area that is not captured in the two section images generated between the two shooting areas, and the object detection unit detects an object in the blind spot area The rotation unit is rotated to at least one rotation angle between rotation angles corresponding to the two section images for capturing the two photographing areas adjacent to the blind spot area, and the section image is photographed by the photographing unit. The Is characterized by comprising a rotation angle setting step that, a.

  According to the above configuration and method, the imaging device captures a section image around the rotation axis by the rotating unit every time each section image is captured when capturing a plurality of section images to be connected as panoramic images. When the image is rotated in the direction for acquisition (rotation angle) and rotated in the direction in which the image is to be captured, the section image is acquired by the imaging unit. At this time, the object detection unit detects an object in a blind spot area that is not captured in two consecutive section images, which occurs when the imaging unit moves on a circle having a radius of a predetermined distance from the rotation axis. Then, when an object is detected in the blind spot area, shooting is performed by rotating the rotation unit to at least one rotation angle between the rotation angles corresponding to the two section images of the two shooting areas adjacent to the blind spot area. .

  As a result, it is possible to photograph at the direction of at least one rotation angle between two adjacent photographing regions. Therefore, it is possible to photograph an object in the blind spot area between the two adjacent photographing areas and display it in the panoramic image.

  Therefore, only when there is an object in the blind spot area, it is possible to finely set the rotation angle and perform shooting in the middle direction. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the number of shootings as much as possible and to prevent an object in the blind spot area from falling out of the panoramic image.

  Furthermore, the imaging apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that the object detection unit includes a distance measuring sensor that measures a distance from a circumference around which the imaging unit rotates to an object.

  With the above-described configuration, an object that enters a blind spot region that is generated as the imaging apparatus rotates is detected by the distance measuring sensor measuring the distance between the imaging apparatus and the object.

  Therefore, all objects that are present around the photographing apparatus and are to be photographed by the photographing apparatus can be detected as detection targets.

Furthermore, in the photographing apparatus according to the present invention, the object detection unit is configured such that the distance L to the object measured by the distance measuring sensor is expressed by the following formula:
Lmax = r {sin (a / 2) / sin ((a-P) / 2) -1}
Difference P (°) of rotation angle corresponding to two consecutive section images, angle of view a (°) of section image, distance r from rotation axis to rotation circumference of camera,
When the distance is equal to or less than the distance Lmax defined by (1), the object is determined to be an object in the blind spot area.

  Here, in the case of capturing a plurality of section images to be connected as panoramic images using an imaging device, when the distance between the object and the imaging device is equal to or less than Lmax defined by the above equation, the object is There is a possibility of entering into a blind spot area that is not photographed in two consecutive section images.

  Therefore, with the above configuration, it is possible to determine whether or not the object enters the blind spot region by comparing the distance measured by the distance measuring sensor with the distance Lmax.

  Therefore, only when an object that can enter the blind spot area is detected, the imaging apparatus can set the rotation angle finely. Therefore, the number of shootings can be reduced as much as possible, and the object in the blind spot area can be panoramic. Shooting can be performed so as not to fall out of the image.

  Furthermore, in the photographing apparatus according to the present invention, the distance measuring sensor may be mounted such that the center direction of the measurement range substantially coincides with the center direction of the angle of view of the photographing unit.

  Furthermore, in the imaging device according to the present invention, the object detection unit is configured such that the rotation unit rotates the imaging unit from a rotation angle corresponding to a certain section image to a rotation angle corresponding to an adjacent section image. The distance measurement sensor measures the distance while rotating together with the imaging unit, detects an object in the blind spot area, and the rotation angle setting means detects the object in the blind spot area when the object detection unit detects an object in the blind spot area. The rotation unit is rotated to a central rotation angle between the two rotation angles, and the section image is captured by the imaging unit.

  With the above configuration, when the distance measuring sensor is mounted so that the center direction of the measurement range is substantially coincident with the center direction of the angle of view of the imaging unit, the imaging unit of the imaging device rotates. Thus, the distance measuring sensor can measure the distance to an object existing in the blind spot area and detect an object in the blind spot area when crossing a blind spot area between the two adjacent imaging areas. .

  Therefore, an object that may enter a blind spot area between the two adjacent imaging areas can be detected without leaking while the imaging apparatus rotates.

  Therefore, it is possible to reliably photograph an object that may enter the blind spot area.

  Furthermore, in the photographing apparatus according to the present invention, the distance measuring sensor is configured such that the center direction of the measurement range is half the rotation angle difference corresponding to the two continuous section images from the center direction of the field angle of the photographing unit. However, it may be mounted on the downstream side of the rotation.

  Further, in the photographing apparatus according to the present invention, the object detection unit starts rotation of the rotation unit from a rotation angle corresponding to a certain section image of the photographing unit to a rotation angle corresponding to an adjacent section image. Before, the distance measurement sensor measures a distance and detects an object in the blind spot area, and the rotation angle setting means detects the two rotations when the object detection unit detects an object in the blind spot area. The rotation unit is rotated to a rotation angle at the center of the angle, and the section image is captured by the imaging unit.

  With the above-described configuration, the distance measuring sensor further rotates the center direction of the measurement range by a half of the difference in rotation angle corresponding to two consecutive section images from the center direction of the angle of view of the photographing unit. The distance measuring sensor when the image capturing unit of the image capturing apparatus faces the image capturing direction of the first image capturing area of the two adjacent image capturing areas. Can measure the distance to an object present in the blind spot area and detect an object in the blind spot area.

  Therefore, the imaging apparatus can detect an object that may enter a blind spot area between the two adjacent imaging areas before starting to rotate.

  Therefore, it is possible to reliably photograph an object that may enter the blind spot area.

  The photographing apparatus may be realized by a computer, and in this case, a control program for the photographing apparatus that causes the computer to realize the photographing apparatus by operating the computer as the above-described means, and recorded the same. Computer-readable recording media are also within the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, the photographing apparatus according to the present invention corresponds to the section image on the circumference having the photographing unit for photographing the section image and the photographing unit with the rotation axis as the center and the predetermined distance as the radius. A rotation unit that rotates to a rotation angle; and an object detection unit that detects an object in a blind spot area that is not captured in the two section images and that is generated between the two capturing areas captured in the two consecutive section images. When the object detection unit detects an object in the blind spot area, the object detection unit detects at least one rotation angle between the rotation angles corresponding to the two section images capturing the two shooting areas adjacent to the blind spot area. A rotation angle setting unit that rotates the rotation unit and causes the imaging unit to capture the section image.

  Also, the control method of the photographing apparatus according to the present invention corresponds to the above-described section image on the circumference of the photographing unit that photographs the section image and the above-described photographing unit with the rotation axis as the center and a predetermined distance as the radius. A rotation unit that rotates to a rotation angle; and an object detection unit that detects an object in a blind spot area that is not captured in the two section images and that is generated between the two capturing areas captured in the two consecutive section images. And when the object detection unit detects an object in the blind spot area, at least one rotation between rotation angles corresponding to the two section images capturing the two shooting areas adjacent to the blind spot area A rotation angle setting step of rotating the rotation unit to an angle and causing the imaging unit to capture the section image.

  Therefore, only when there is an object in the blind spot area, it is possible to finely set the rotation angle and perform shooting in the middle direction. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the number of shootings as much as possible and to prevent an object in the blind spot area from falling out of the panoramic image.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention and is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of a photographing apparatus. FIG. 2 is a perspective view for explaining an example of positions of a camera and a distance measuring sensor mounted on the photographing apparatus, and (b) is a perspective view illustrating an outer shape of the photographing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the example of the positional relationship of the camera mounted in 1 and the ranging sensor. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating the principle of operation based on one structural example of the imaging device shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of operations performed by the imaging apparatus having the configuration example illustrated in FIG. 3. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which illustrates the outline of the panoramic imaging which the imaging device shown in FIG. 1 performs. It is explanatory drawing which illustrates the outline of the panoramic imaging which the imaging device shown in FIG. 1 performs. It is the schematic for demonstrating the process which the imaging | photography apparatus shown in FIG. 1 synthesize | combines several image | photographed area | region images to one strip | belt-shaped panoramic image. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating the principle of operation based on the other structural example of the imaging device shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the operation | movement which the imaging device of the structural example shown in FIG. 8 performs. It is the schematic for demonstrating the process which trims the area image performed when synthesize | combining the several area image image | photographed with the imaging device shown in FIG. 1 to one strip | belt-shaped panoramic image. It is the schematic for demonstrating the process which connects the area image performed when synthesize | combining the several area image image | photographed with the imaging device shown in FIG. 1 to one strip | belt-shaped panoramic image. It is the schematic for demonstrating the process which trims the area image performed when synthesize | combining the several area image image | photographed with the imaging device shown in FIG. 1 to one strip | belt-shaped panoramic image.

(Schematic configuration of the imaging device)
The photographing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention performs photographing of a plurality of section images for connection as a panoramic image while rotating around one rotational axis.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which the photographing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a self-propelled home appliance robot provided with a photographing unit (camera) 12 will be described, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an outline of a main configuration of the photographing apparatus 1.

  In FIG. 1, a motor for self-running, an operation input unit, various sensors, and the like are omitted, and only a main part as the imaging device 1 is illustrated. However, this is merely for the purpose of simplifying the configuration of the photographing apparatus 1, and is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG.

  The photographing apparatus 1 includes at least an image storage unit 11, a photographing unit 12, a photographing unit control unit 13, a distance measuring sensor 14, a distance determination unit 15, a rotation angle setting unit (rotation angle setting unit) 16, a cumulative angle calculation unit 17, A cumulative angle storage unit 18, an end determination unit 19, a rotation motor (rotation unit) 20, and a rotation motor control unit 21 are provided.

  The image storage unit 11 stores the section image captured by the imaging unit 12. Here, the section image is an image acquired by photographing, and the panoramic image is generated by connecting a plurality of section images photographed while rotating in order of rotation angles.

  The imaging unit 12 captures a plurality of section images to be connected as a panoramic image according to the imaging instruction of the imaging unit control unit 13 while rotating around one rotation axis by the rotation of the rotary motor 20. The photographing unit 12 is a camera such as a digital camera or a digital video camera, and outputs the acquired image to the image storage unit 11.

  The photographing unit control unit 13 sends information indicating that photographing by the photographing unit 12 has been performed to the rotation angle setting unit 16.

  When the rotation angle setting unit 16 obtains information indicating that the photographing by the photographing unit 12 has been performed from the photographing unit control unit 13, the rotation angle setting unit 16 causes the rotation motor control unit 21 to correspond to two consecutive section images. An angle corresponding to the difference is set as the rotation instruction angle and sent to the rotary motor control unit 21. When the rotation angle setting unit 16 acquires information indicating that the set angle has been rotated from the rotation motor control unit 21, the rotation angle setting unit 16 sends a shooting instruction to the shooting unit control unit 13.

  The distance measuring sensor 14 is a sensor that measures the distance to an object around the photographing apparatus 1 when the photographing apparatus 1 rotates, and the measurement result is sent to the distance determination unit 15 through AC / DC conversion or the like. . The distance measuring sensor 14 only needs to be able to measure the distance to the object, and an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, or the like can be used. However, the distance is not limited to this, and the distance may be measured by a CCD camera and image analysis.

  The distance determination unit 15 acquires the distance to the surrounding object measured by the distance measuring sensor 14 and determines whether the object is nearer to the photographing apparatus 1 than a predetermined distance. Here, the predetermined distance is set to the distance from the photographing apparatus 1 to the position farthest from the blind spot region 30 at the time of panoramic photographing. This distance includes the distance (r) that the image capturing unit 12 provided in the image capturing device 1 is away from the rotation axis of the image capturing device 1, the angle of view that can be captured (a °), and the angle (P) °) and determined by. An object closer to the imaging device 1 than the predetermined distance may be included in the blind spot area 30 that is not captured as a plurality of section images to be connected as a panoramic image. The blind spot area 30 and the predetermined distance used for the determination will be described later with reference to FIGS.

  The rotation angle setting unit 16 is a rotation angle corresponding to two section images for capturing two imaging regions adjacent to the blind spot region 30 when the distance measuring sensor 14 and the distance determination unit 15 detect an object in the blind spot region 30. At least one rotation instruction angle smaller than the difference is set.

  The cumulative angle calculation unit 17 acquires the rotation instruction angle set by the rotation angle setting unit 16 and calculates the cumulative angle that the imaging device 1 has rotated after the first imaging. The calculation may be performed either when the instruction is sent or when the rotation report is received.

  The cumulative angle storage unit 18 stores a cumulative angle of rotation calculated from the cumulative angle calculation unit 17 until the current time after the first photographing is performed.

  The rotation motor control unit 21 controls the rotation of the rotation motor 20 so that the photographing apparatus 1 rotates the rotation instruction angle set by the rotation angle setting unit 16.

  The rotation motor 20 is used when the photographing apparatus 1 rotates around one rotation axis. In the present embodiment, the rotation motor 20 rotates the photographing apparatus 1, but it is sufficient that the photographing unit 12 and the distance measuring sensor 14 can be rotated, and it is not essential to rotate the photographing apparatus 1.

  The end determination unit 19 determines whether to continue the rotation or to end based on the accumulated angle stored in the angle storage unit 19. For example, when the accumulated angle is equal to or greater than a predetermined end angle (360 ° in the case of panoramic shooting around the entire circumference), the rotation angle setting unit 16 receives an end instruction from the end determination unit 19 and notifies the end of shooting from the shooting unit control unit 13. When (rotation start instruction) is received, the end of shooting is sent to the shooting unit control unit 13, and the shooting operation ends. At this time, the rotation angle setting unit 16 may send the end of rotation to the rotary motor control unit 21.

(Example structure of a self-propelled photographing device)
An outline of a structure example of the photographing apparatus 1 is shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, the photographing apparatus 1 has a flat cylindrical shape and can travel freely. Further, the photographing apparatus 1 can rotate in the horizontal plane with the z axis in FIG. 2A as the only rotation center, for example.

  In the following description, the imaging device 1 performs imaging a plurality of times while rotating clockwise around the rotation axis z, and executes imaging of a plurality of section images for connection as panoramic images. And The rotation direction of the photographing apparatus 1 is not limited to the clockwise direction.

  In FIG. 2A, since the photographing unit 12 is installed on the outer peripheral portion of the photographing apparatus 1, the photographing unit 12 is separated from the rotation axis z around which the photographing apparatus 1 rotates by the approximate radius of the photographing apparatus 1.

  In FIG. 2A, the following two sensors are shown as the distance measuring sensor 14, but the photographing apparatus 1 may be provided with at least one of them. That is, the distance measuring sensor 14 may be installed in a place where the center direction of the measurement range substantially coincides with the center direction of the angle of view of the photographing unit 12, like the distance measuring sensor 14a. Further, like the distance measuring sensor 14b, the center direction of the measurement range is rotated in the right direction by a half of the difference between the rotation angles corresponding to two consecutive section images from the center direction of the field angle of the photographing unit 12. It may be installed at a location shifted to the downstream side. When the rotation direction of the photographing apparatus 1 is counterclockwise, the distance measuring sensor is opposite to the distance measuring sensor 14b with respect to the center direction of the field angle of the photographing unit 12, that is, the distance measuring sensor 14b. Is installed at a position shifted to the downstream side in the left rotation by the same angle.

  FIG. 2B is a plan view of the photographing apparatus 1 as viewed from above, and schematically shows the photographing unit 12 with a black triangle and the distance measuring sensor 14 with a white triangle. In FIG. 2B, the distance measuring sensor 14a whose upper direction is the measurement range is referred to as a front distance measuring sensor 14a. On the other hand, the distance measuring sensor 14b at the position shifted to the downstream side in the rotation in the right direction is referred to as the right distance measuring sensor 14b.

  Note that when the photographing apparatus 1 is looked down from the z-axis direction, the photographing unit 12 and the front distance measuring sensor 14a appear to overlap each other, but in FIG. 2B, the photographing unit 12 is shown for easy understanding. And the front distance measuring sensor 14a are schematically shown side by side.

  The photographing unit 12 and the right distance measuring sensor 14b are different in direction by an angle θ ° around the z axis. Therefore, when the photographing apparatus 1 rotates in the right direction, the right distance measuring sensor 14b rotates before the photographing unit 12, and measures the distance from the photographing apparatus 1 to surrounding objects on the downstream side in the rotation direction. .

[Example 1]
(Detection of objects in the blind spot area by the front ranging sensor)
With reference to FIG. 3, the blind spot region 30 generated between the regions captured in the two adjacent section images when the photographing apparatus 1 rotates by P ° to the right and performs surrounding photographing will be described. A method for detecting an object existing in the blind spot area 30 by using the front distance measuring sensor 14a provided in the photographing apparatus 1 will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a view of the photographing apparatus 1 as viewed from above, and illustrates a case where the first image is taken and then the second image is taken by rotating P ° to the right. The same applies when the rotation is in the left direction. Further, although the blind spot area 30 is generated between the adjacent shooting ranges, FIG. 3 will be described by taking the blind spot area 30 between the first shooting and the second shooting as an example.

  In FIG. 3, the photographing device 1 includes a photographing unit 12 (black triangle) and a front distance measuring sensor 14 a (white triangle), and the photographing unit 12 can photograph the angle at which the photographing device 1 rotates for each photographing. The angle of view is shown as “shooting range”. In FIG. 3, the photographing unit 12 and the front ranging sensor 14a are also drawn at the positions of the photographing unit 12 and the front ranging sensor 14a when the second picture is taken. This does not indicate that the photographing unit 12 and the front distance measuring sensor 14a are provided at a position corresponding to the second photographing.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when the imaging unit 12 moves on a circumference having a radius of a predetermined distance from the rotation axis, a blind spot area 30 that is an area that does not fall within the angle of view is captured in two consecutive section images. It occurs in the vicinity of the device 1. As a result, in photographing by P ° rotation of the photographing unit 12, when an object exists in the blind spot area 30, there is a possibility that the object is not captured in the section image acquired by the photographing unit 12.

  The location of the blind spot area spreads in a direction corresponding to an angle ((P / 2) °) that is half of the angle P ° at which the photographing apparatus 1 rotates, that is, the central rotation angle of the two rotation angles. With respect to this blind spot area 30, the distance from the photographing apparatus 1 to the farthest point is Lmax, the difference between the rotation angles corresponding to two consecutive section images is P °, the field angle of the section images is a °, and the angle from the rotation axis. If the distance to the rotation circumference of the imaging unit 12 is r, Lmax is obtained by Expression (1).

Lmax = r {sin (a / 2) / sin ((a−P) / 2) −1} (1)
The photographing apparatus 1 rotates while measuring the distance L between the photographing apparatus 1 and a surrounding object by the front distance measuring sensor 14a, and when the distance L is equal to or less than Lmax determined by the above equation (1), the object Is likely to exist in the blind spot area 30.

(Flow of shooting)
4 is mounted so that the center direction of the measurement range of the distance measuring sensor 14 included in the photographing apparatus 1 is substantially coincident with the center direction of the angle of view of the photographing unit 12 as shown in FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an outline of an operation flow of the photographing apparatus 1 in a case where the front ranging sensor 14a is provided).

  First, the photographing apparatus 1 points the photographing unit 12 in a predetermined direction (front) (step 101; hereinafter, simply referred to as S101), and performs photographing in the first facing direction (S102).

  The image photographed by the photographing unit 12 is stored in the image storage unit 11 (S103).

  Next, when the photographing unit control unit 13 notifies the rotation angle setting unit 16 of the end of photographing, the rotation angle setting unit 16 obtains the determination result from the end determination unit 19 and instructs the rotation motor control unit 21 to rotate based on the determination result. Or whether to notify the photographing unit control unit 13 of the end of photographing. Specifically, immediately after the first image is taken, since the rotation operation has not yet been performed, the accumulated rotation angle stored in the accumulated rotation angle storage unit 18 is 0 °. Therefore, the end determination unit 19 determines to continue shooting because the cumulative rotation angle is not 360 ° or more (NO in S104). As a result, the rotation angle setting unit 16 acquires the determination result from the end determination unit 19 and instructs the rotation motor control unit 21 to rotate based on the determination result.

  Then, the rotation motor control unit 21 controls the operation of the rotation motor 20 based on the rotation instruction angle (P °) acquired from the rotation angle setting unit 16 to rotate the photographing apparatus 1. At this time, the front distance measuring sensor 14a measures the distance to surrounding objects while rotating until the rotation instruction angle is reached by the rotary motor 20 (S105).

  Next, the distance measured by the front distance measuring sensor 14a is compared with a predetermined distance Lmax in the distance determination unit 15, and when an object determined to be a distance equal to or less than Lmax in the distance determination unit 15 is detected (S106, or In S107, the rotation angle setting unit 16 sets the rotation instruction angle to the half rotation instruction angle (P / 2) ° of the initial half, and notifies the rotation motor control unit 21 again. Thereby, when an object is detected, the rotary motor 20 stops when it has rotated (P / 2) ° (S109; rotation angle setting step).

  Specifically, if the detection of the object is not rotating to (P / 2) ° (YES in S106), the rotary motor 20 corresponds to the instructed rotation instruction angle (P / 2) °. When the rotation angle is reached, the operation stops (S109). On the other hand, if the detection of the object has already rotated beyond (P / 2) ° (YES in S107), the rotary motor 20 corresponds to the instructed rotation instruction angle (P / 2) °. When the rotation angle is reversed, the rotation is reversed and the rotation is stopped by (P / 2) ° (S109).

  On the other hand, when the object is not detected during the rotation to the rotation instruction angle P ° (both NO in S106 and S107), the rotation angle setting unit 16 follows the initial rotation instruction angle P °, and P Stops when the rotation has been made (S108; rotation angle setting step).

  Subsequently, when the rotation motor 20 finishes rotating at the rotation instruction angle and stops, the rotation motor control unit 21 notifies the rotation angle setting unit 16 of the end of rotation. Then, the rotation angle setting unit 16 that has received the notification of the end of rotation sends out a shooting instruction to the shooting unit control unit 13, and shooting is performed (S102).

  The rotation setting unit 16 that has received the notification of the end of rotation sends the rotated rotation angle (P ° or (P / 2 °)) to the cumulative angle calculation unit 17. The accumulated angle calculation unit 17 adds the acquired rotation angle to the accumulated angle, calculates the accumulated rotation angle from the first direction, and stores the calculation result in the accumulated angle storage unit 18.

  Then, the above steps are repeated, and when the cumulative rotation angle stored in the cumulative rotation angle storage unit 18 acquired by the end determination unit 19 becomes 360 ° or more (YES in S104), the end determination unit 19 sets the rotation angle. The setting unit 16 is notified of the end of shooting.

  As described above, the imaging device 1 rotates while detecting an object existing near a predetermined distance by the front distance measuring sensor 14a, and when an object is detected in the vicinity, the next section image is displayed. The rotation instruction angle up to the corresponding rotation angle is changed from P ° to (P / 2) °. As a result, an object that may enter the blind spot region 30 generated by the rotation of the imaging unit 12 that is not on the rotation axis z is detected, and the rotation angle of the imaging apparatus 1 is controlled so that the object is imaged. By shooting while taking, it is possible to obtain a plurality of section images for generating a panoramic image without omission.

(Panorama image generation)
A method for generating a panoramic image from a plurality of section images taken by the photographing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  Here, various settings are introduced and described. However, these are merely settings for simply explaining a panoramic image generation method using the photographing apparatus 1, and are not limited to these settings. Absent.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic view exemplifying a state in which a single imaging device 1 is present in a certain space 100. The imaging device 1 includes one imaging unit 12 and one front distance sensor 14a. It is the posture which turned to the present (P1) direction.

  Assuming that there is a television 50 in the direction of (P1) in FIG. 5 and distinguishing the images in each direction from the direction (P1) to the direction (P8), here, for convenience, different devices or The symbol is arranged.

  In the photographing apparatus 1, for example, the angle of view of the photographing unit 12 is 55 °. This assumption is only selected for the following explanation, and does not particularly limit the angle of view of the photographing unit 12 of the photographing apparatus 1.

  The photographing apparatus 1 performs photographing in each direction by rotating 45 degrees around one rotation axis so as to divide one round in the horizontal direction into eight equal parts. As a result, eight images are acquired by repeating eight times of shooting and rotation (S102 in FIG. 4). The captured eight section images are stored in the image storage unit 11 (S103 in FIG. 4).

  In this case, as described with reference to FIG. 3, for example, a blind spot area 30 is generated between two imaging directions (P1) and (P2) as shown in FIG. Here, the operation of the imaging apparatus 1 will be described assuming that the potted plant 40 exists in the blind spot area 30.

  FIG. 6 shows eight images taken by rotating 45 ° sequentially from the section image P1. The section image P1 is a television 50, the section image P2 is a circle, and the section image P3 is a section image P3. Is a triangle, the section image P4 is a hexagon, the section image P5 is an air conditioner 60 and a charger 70, the section image P6 is a cross, the section image P7 is a pentagon, and the section image P8 is an air cleaner 80. It shows how it is reflected in each image. Here, since the potted plant 40 shown in FIG. 5 is in the blind spot area 30, it is not shown in the eight images taken by rotating by 45 °.

  However, the imaging device 1 includes, for example, a front distance sensor 14a and a distance determination unit 15 (object detection unit). The front distance measuring sensor 14a performs distance measurement while rotating from (P1) to (P2) (S105 in FIG. 4), and the distance determination unit 16 is in the vicinity of the photographing apparatus 1 and is included in the blind spot area 30. The potted plant 40 is detected by determining that the potential potted plant 40 is closer to the photographing apparatus 1 than the above-mentioned predetermined distance (YES in S106 or S107 in FIG. 4).

  When the potted plant 40 is detected, the rotation angle setting unit 16 sets the rotation instruction angle to an angle that is half the angle difference between (P1) and (P2). The rotation motor control unit 21 controls and rotates the rotation motor 20 according to the rotation instruction angle set by the rotation angle setting unit 16 (S108 or S109 in FIG. 4), and the photographing unit 12 is in the middle of (P1) and (P2). The section image P1.5 is photographed at the rotation angle of (S102 in FIG. 4). In this way, the potted plant 40 is photographed in the section image P1.5.

  In FIG. 7, a panoramic image generated using the section images P1 to P8 and the section image P1.5 will be described.

  When the angle of view of the imaging unit 12 is wider than the rotation angle for each shooting, overlapping regions exist at both ends (left and right ends) in the rotation direction of each section image. Therefore, when generating a panoramic image, it is desirable to trim the overlapping portions and connect them.

  In general, when using a camera with an angle of view α ° to shoot a circle (360 °) equally divided into n images (width w pixels), the angle X ° corresponding to the left and right overlapping portions is as follows: It is obtained by the mathematical formula (2).

X = (α-360 / n) / 2 (2)
Therefore, the trimming amount x is obtained by x = w × X / α.

  Since the eight images in FIG. 7 are taken using the photographing unit 12 having the angle of view of 55 ° of the photographing apparatus 1, the eight images are rotated by 45 ° at the left and right ends, respectively. There are overlapping image areas corresponding to adjacent images and an angle of view of 5 °. In order to generate a correct panoramic image, as shown in FIG. 7, the above-described overlapping image areas are present at both the left and right ends of the section image P1 to the section image P8, and it is necessary to trim this part. .

  Further, in the section images P1, P1.5, and P2 that are photographed with the difference in rotation angle being 22.5 ° instead of 45 °, the angle X ° corresponding to the left and right overlapping portions is large. It is possible to easily cope with the trimming process described.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when the panoramic image is generated by sequentially connecting the section images captured by the photographing apparatus 1, the overlapping image areas at the left and right ends of each section image are trimmed by the amount calculated as described above. (After the broken line in the figure), these images are connected to generate a panoramic image without overlap.

  In FIG. 7, images obtained by performing left and right trimming on the section images P1 to P8 are referred to as section images P1t to P8t, and a panorama image generated by connecting them is shown at the bottom. Yes. In this manner, a panoramic image including the potted plant 40 existing in the blind spot area 30 can be generated.

[Example 2]
(Detection of objects in the blind spot area by the right distance sensor)
FIG. 8 illustrates a blind spot region 30 that is generated between regions photographed in two adjacent section images when the photographing apparatus 1 rotates around P ° to the right and performs surrounding photographing. And the method for detecting the object which exists in this blind spot area | region 30 using the right ranging sensor 14b is demonstrated.

  FIG. 8 is a view of the photographing apparatus 1 as viewed from above, and illustrates a case where the second image is taken after the first image is taken and rotated P ° to the right. The rotation may be in the left direction, and does not mean that the rotation of the photographing apparatus 1 is limited to the right direction. Further, although the blind spot area 30 is generated between the adjacent shooting ranges, FIG. 3 will be described by taking the blind spot area 30 between the first shooting and the second shooting as an example.

  In FIG. 8, the photographing apparatus 1 includes a photographing unit 12 (black triangle) and a right distance measuring sensor 14 b (white triangle), and the photographing unit 12 can photograph the angle at which the photographing apparatus 1 rotates for each photographing. The angle of view is shown as “shooting range”. In FIG. 8, the photographing unit 12 is also drawn at the position of the photographing unit 12 when the second photographing is performed. However, this is merely a representation on drawing and corresponds to the second photographing. It does not indicate that the photographing unit 12 is provided at the location.

  The right distance measuring sensor 14b is arranged such that the center direction of the measurement range is downstream of the rotation by a half of the rotation angle difference corresponding to two consecutive section images from the center direction of the field angle of the photographing unit 12. It is installed. That is, the right distance measuring sensor 14b has a measurement range in the direction of (P / 2) °, which is a half angle of the rotation angle P ° from the first image pickup to the second image pickup.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when the imaging unit 12 moves on a circle having a radius of a predetermined distance from the rotation axis by rotating about one rotation axis, the angle of view is displayed on two consecutive section images. A blind spot area 30, which is an area that does not enter, is generated in the vicinity of the imaging apparatus 1. That is, in photographing by P ° rotation of the photographing unit 12, when an object exists in the blind spot area 30, the object may not be reflected in the section image acquired by the photographing unit 12.

  The location of the blind spot area 30 extends in a direction corresponding to an angle ((P / 2) °) that is half of the angle P ° at which the photographing apparatus 1 rotates at one time. Regarding the spread of the blind spot area 30, the distance from the photographing device 1 to the farthest point is Lmax, the rotation angle difference P ° corresponding to two consecutive section images, the field angle of the section images is a °, and from the rotation axis. When the distance to the rotation circumference of the imaging unit 12 is r, Lmax is obtained by the above-described equation (1).

  The right distance measuring sensor 14b differs from the front distance measuring sensor 14a in FIG. 3 in a direction that substantially coincides with the spread of the blind spot area 30 adjacent to the right of the imaging area being imaged at the time of the first imaging. The measurement range is suitable. Therefore, when the distance L with the surrounding object is measured by the right distance measuring sensor 14b during the photographing or before the rotation is started after the photographing, and the distance L is equal to or less than Lmax obtained by the above formula (1), It is determined that there is a possibility that the object exists in the blind spot area 30. As a result, when rotation is started after shooting, the rotation angle setting unit 16 can notify the rotation instruction in a state where the rotation instruction angle is determined to be P ° or (P / 2) °. .

(Flow of shooting)
9 shows that the center direction of the measurement range of the distance measuring sensor 14 included in the photographing apparatus 1 is rotated corresponding to two consecutive section images from the center direction of the field angle of the photographing unit 12, as shown in FIG. Flowchart for explaining an outline of the flow of operation of the photographing apparatus 1 when mounted so as to be downstream of the rotation by the half of the angle difference (that is, provided with the right distance measuring sensor 14b). It is.

  First, the photographing apparatus 1 points the photographing unit 12 in a predetermined direction (front) (S201), and performs photographing in the first facing direction (S202).

  The image photographed by the photographing unit 12 is stored in the image storage unit 11 (S203).

  At this time, the right distance measuring sensor 14b measures the distance to the surrounding object (S203a).

  Next, when the photographing unit control unit 13 notifies the rotation angle setting unit 16 of the end of photographing, the rotation angle setting unit 16 obtains the determination result from the end determination unit 19 and instructs the rotation motor control unit 21 to rotate based on the determination result. Or whether to notify the photographing unit control unit 13 of the end of photographing. Specifically, immediately after the first image is taken, since the rotation operation has not yet been performed, the accumulated rotation angle stored in the accumulated rotation angle storage unit 18 is 0 °. Therefore, the end determination unit 19 decides to continue shooting because the cumulative rotation angle is not 360 ° or more (NO in S204). As a result, the rotation angle setting unit 16 acquires the determination result from the end determination unit 19 and instructs the rotation motor control unit 21 to rotate based on the determination result.

  Then, the rotation motor control unit 21 controls the operation of the rotation motor 20 based on the rotation instruction angle (P ° or (P / 2 °)) acquired from the rotation angle setting unit 16, and the photographing apparatus 1 starts to rotate. (S205). Here, the rotation instruction angle instructed by the rotation angle setting unit 16 is determined based on the result of distance measurement (S203a) performed by the right distance measurement sensor 14b until the start of rotation. Specifically, the distance measured by the right distance measuring sensor 14b is compared with a predetermined distance Lmax by the distance determination unit 15, and an object determined to be a distance equal to or less than Lmax by the distance determination unit 15 is detected (S206). YES), the rotation angle setting unit 16 changes the setting of the rotation instruction angle to the rotation instruction angle (P / 2) ° which is half of the initial value, and notifies the rotation motor control unit 21 of the change. Thus, when an object is detected, the rotary motor 20 stops when it has rotated (P / 2) ° (S208; rotation angle setting step).

  On the other hand, when the object is not detected (NO in S206), the rotation angle setting unit 16 notifies the rotation motor control unit 21 with the initial setting of the rotation instruction angle P °. Thereby, the rotary motor 20 stops when it has rotated P ° (S20; rotation angle setting step 7).

  Subsequently, when the rotation motor 20 finishes rotating at the rotation instruction angle and stops, the rotation motor control unit 21 notifies the rotation angle setting unit 16 of the end of rotation. Then, the rotation angle setting unit 16 that has received the notification of the end of rotation sends out a photographing instruction to the photographing unit control unit 13, and photographing is thereby performed (S202).

  The rotation setting unit 16 that has received the notification of the end of rotation sends the rotated rotation angle (P ° or (P / 2) °) to the cumulative angle calculation unit 17. The accumulated angle calculation unit 17 adds the acquired rotation angle to the accumulated angle, calculates the accumulated rotation angle from the first direction, and stores the calculation result in the accumulated angle storage unit 18.

  Then, the above steps are repeated, and when the cumulative rotation angle stored in the cumulative rotation angle storage unit 18 acquired by the end determination unit 19 becomes 360 ° or more (YES in S204), the end determination unit 19 sets the rotation angle. The setting unit 16 is notified of the end of shooting.

  As described above, when the imaging device 1 detects an object existing near a predetermined distance before the rotation is started by the right distance measuring sensor 14b and detects an object in the vicinity, The rotation instruction angle up to the rotation angle corresponding to the section image is changed from P ° to (P / 2) °. As a result, an object that may enter the blind spot region 30 generated by the rotation of the imaging unit 12 that is not on the rotation axis z is detected, and the rotation angle of the imaging apparatus 1 is controlled so that the object is imaged. By shooting while taking, it is possible to obtain a plurality of section images for generating a panoramic image without omission.

(Trimming of section image)
As described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 9, the imaging device 1 captures a plurality of section images to be connected as a panoramic image while rotating around one rotation axis. Although already described briefly in FIG. 7, since adjacent regions include overlapping regions, a high-quality panoramic image cannot be generated even if they are connected as they are. Therefore, a high-quality panoramic image can be generated by trimming the overlapping portion.

  Hereinafter, a trimming method applied to each section image will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In FIG. 10, an example of the trimming method is shown taking the section image P3 as an example. When the left and right widths corresponding to the angle of view of 55 ° are 640 pixels (pixels), for example, there are image regions that overlap with the adjacent section images by about 58.2 pixels on the left and right. A panorama image can be generated by trimming the overlaps and then joining them together.

  Further, when the photographing unit 12 is mounted at a position close to the floor (when a camera is installed at a low position), for example, as shown in FIG. The boundary 90 between the wall and the wall is included in common.

  If these section images are simply joined together, a significant step is generated at the boundary 90 between the floor and the wall, which greatly impairs the continuity of the panoramic image. Therefore, by using the boundary 90 between the floor and the wall as a reference and connecting the section images so that the positions of the boundaries are aligned, continuity in the generated panoramic image can be ensured as shown in FIG. .

  If there is a window with different dates among the plurality of section images continuously photographed by the rotation of the photographing apparatus 1, an image may be whitened due to overexposure due to extreme backlighting. Alternatively, there may be an image that is dark and blurred due to the presence of an obstacle in the immediate vicinity of the photographing unit 12. Such a section image may be handled as a section image that cannot be used to generate a panoramic image. Such a section image can be detected by, for example, comparing the average exposure level with adjacent section images and determining whether the difference is larger than a predetermined value.

  When a section image that cannot be used for panorama image generation is included, the panorama image of the section image adjacent to the section image that cannot be used for panorama image generation in order to generate a panorama image with a widest possible angle region. Panorama image generation may be performed without performing trimming on the side of the section image that cannot be used for generation.

  In other words, when both adjacent section images of a section image cannot be used for generating a panorama image, a panorama image is generated without trimming both ends of the section image. If any one of the section images adjacent to a section image cannot be used for panorama image generation, the section image is not trimmed on the unusable section image side, and a panorama image is generated.

  This will be described below with reference to FIG.

  For example, if the section image P5 is an image that cannot be used as a panoramic image, the section image P4 and the section image P6 are trimmed in the usual manner on the end portions on the section image P5 side, respectively, and the section image P4t and the section image P6t are trimmed. Are generated and joined together, the width indicated by the width A in FIG. However, if a panoramic image is generated using the section image P4s and the section image P6s in which the end portions on the section image P5 side of the section image P4 and the section image P6 are not trimmed, respectively, as shown in FIG. It is possible to suppress the loss of the B width narrower than the width.

  As described above, in the panoramic image generated using the section image captured by the imaging device 1, it is desirable to apply a generation method that makes the missing region as narrow as possible.

(Additional notes)
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  Finally, each block of the photographing apparatus 1, in particular, the distance determination unit 15, the rotation angle setting unit 16, the cumulative angle storage unit 18, and the end determination unit 19 is implemented by hardware using a logic circuit formed on an integrated circuit (IC chip). Alternatively, it may be realized by software, or may be realized by software using a CPU (Central Processing Unit).

  In the latter case, the photographing apparatus 1 includes a CPU that executes instructions of a program that realizes each function, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores the program, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that expands the program, the program, and various types of programs. A storage device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing data is provided. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium in which a program code (execution format program, intermediate code program, source program) of a control program of the photographing apparatus 1 which is software for realizing the above-described functions is recorded so as to be readable by a computer. This can also be achieved by supplying to the photographing apparatus 1 and reading and executing the program code recorded on the recording medium by the computer (or CPU or MPU).

  Examples of the recording medium include non-transitory tangible medium, such as magnetic tape and cassette tape, magnetic disk such as floppy (registered trademark) disk / hard disk, and CD-ROM / MO. Discs including optical discs such as / MD / DVD / CD-R, cards such as IC cards (including memory cards) / optical cards, semiconductor memories such as mask ROM / EPROM / EEPROM (registered trademark) / flash ROM Alternatively, logic circuits such as PLD (Programmable Logic Device) and FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) can be used.

  Further, the photographing apparatus 1 may be configured to be connectable to a communication network, and the program code may be supplied via the communication network. The communication network is not particularly limited as long as it can transmit the program code. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN, ISDN, VAN, CATV communication network, virtual private network, telephone line network, mobile communication network, satellite communication network, and the like can be used. The transmission medium constituting the communication network may be any medium that can transmit the program code, and is not limited to a specific configuration or type. For example, even with wired lines such as IEEE 1394, USB, power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) line, infrared rays such as IrDA and remote control, Bluetooth (registered trademark), IEEE 802.11 wireless, HDR ( It can also be used by radio such as High Data Rate (NFC), Near Field Communication (NFC), Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), mobile phone network, satellite line, and digital terrestrial network. The present invention can also be realized in the form of a computer data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program code is embodied by electronic transmission.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for the control of a photographing apparatus that acquires a plurality of images for generating a panoramic image by photographing a plurality of times while rotating and a panoramic photographing method.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image pick-up device 11 Image memory | storage part 12 Image pick-up part 13 Image pick-up part control part 14 Distance sensor (object detection part)
15 Distance determination unit (object detection unit)
16 Rotation angle setting part (Rotation angle setting means)
17 Cumulative Angle Calculation Unit 18 Cumulative Angle Storage Unit 19 End Determination Unit 20 Rotating Motor (Rotating Unit)
21 Rotating motor control unit 30 Blind spot area a Angle of view of section image (viewing angle that can be photographed by photographing unit)
L Distance to the object measured by the distance measuring sensor P Difference in rotation angle corresponding to two adjacent section images r Predetermined distance (radius)
z Rotation axis P1-P8 Section image S108, S109, S207, S208 Rotation angle setting step

Claims (10)

An imaging device that captures a plurality of section images for connection as a panoramic image while rotating around one rotation axis,
A photographing unit for photographing the section image;
A rotating unit that rotates the photographing unit around a rotation axis about a predetermined distance and a rotation angle corresponding to the section image;
An object detection unit that detects an object in a blind spot area that is not captured in the two section images that occurs between the two capturing areas captured in the two consecutive section images;
When the object detection unit detects an object in the blind spot area, the rotation is performed to at least one rotation angle between the rotation angles corresponding to the two section images capturing the two shooting areas adjacent to the blind spot area. A rotation angle setting unit that rotates the image capturing unit and causes the image capturing unit to capture the section image.   The imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the object detection unit includes a distance measuring sensor that measures a distance from a circumference around which the imaging unit rotates to an object. In the object detection unit, the distance L to the object measured by the distance measuring sensor is expressed by the following formula:
Lmax = r {sin (a / 2) / sin ((a-P) / 2) -1}
Difference P between rotation angles corresponding to two consecutive section images, angle of view a of the section images, distance r from the rotation axis to the rotation circumference of the photographing unit,
The imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the object is determined to be an object in the blind spot area when the distance Lmax is equal to or less than the distance Lmax defined by.   4. The photographing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the distance measuring sensor is mounted so that a center direction of a measurement range substantially coincides with a center direction of an angle of view of the photographing unit. In the object detection unit, the ranging sensor rotates together with the imaging unit while the rotation unit rotates the imaging unit from a rotation angle corresponding to a certain section image to a rotation angle corresponding to an adjacent section image. Ranging while detecting the object in the blind spot area,
When the object detection unit detects an object in the blind spot area, the rotation angle setting unit rotates the rotation unit to a central rotation angle of the two rotation angles, and causes the imaging unit to capture the section image. The imaging apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:   The distance measuring sensor is arranged such that the center direction of the measurement range is downstream of the rotation by a half of the rotation angle difference corresponding to the two continuous section images from the center direction of the field angle of the photographing unit. The photographing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the photographing apparatus is mounted. The object detection unit is configured to measure the distance before the rotation unit starts rotating from the rotation angle corresponding to a certain section image of the photographing unit to the rotation angle corresponding to the adjacent section image. Then, the object in the blind spot area is detected,
When the object detection unit detects an object in the blind spot area, the rotation angle setting unit rotates the rotation unit to a central rotation angle of the two rotation angles, and causes the imaging unit to capture the section image. The imaging device according to claim 6. A control method for capturing a plurality of section images for connection as a panoramic image while rotating around one rotation axis,
A photographing unit for photographing the section image;
A rotating unit that rotates the photographing unit around a rotation axis about a predetermined distance and a rotation angle corresponding to the section image;
An object detection unit that detects an object in a blind spot area that is not captured in the two section images that occurs between the two capturing areas captured in the two consecutive section images;
When the object detection unit detects an object in the blind spot area, the rotation is performed to at least one rotation angle between the rotation angles corresponding to the two section images capturing the two shooting areas adjacent to the blind spot area. And a rotation angle setting step of causing the photographing unit to photograph the section image.   A control program for operating at least one of the photographing apparatuses according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the control program causes a computer to function as each of the means.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the control program according to claim 9 is recorded.

Images