JP2014127940A - Image processing apparatus and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reproduce a moving image enabling easy grasp of contents, if static images obtained temporally before and after are mutually greatly different.SOLUTION: If the resemblance of images temporally adjacent with each other is lower than a threshold (step S7; No) and producing non-resemblance, and if images having resemblance higher than the threshold do not continue for several frames after the image captured after (step S9; No), the image captured after is copied and inserted between the temporally adjacent images (step S10). Thus, by the repetition of processing from the step S6 and on completion of the decision of resemblance for all images, a moving image file, including an image in an image file subordinate to the group and the image copied and inserted in the step S10, is generated and preserved in a storage unit 14 (step S12).

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and a program for generating a moving image file.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for generating a moving image file by regarding a plurality of still images taken at regular time intervals as one frame is known.

  For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses such a technique. Such a file generation technique is often used to efficiently check a large amount of still images obtained by photographing such as a surveillance camera.

  By the way, in recent years, the opportunity to use such interval shooting in usage scenes other than fixed point shooting is increasing. For example, it is a case where a camera is attached to a moving object such as a person and a change in a landscape photographed from the viewpoint of the moving object is enjoyed.

JP 2010-016599 A

  However, in still images taken in intervals under such circumstances, completely different landscapes are recorded one after another depending on the photographing interval, the moving state of the moving body, or the photographing state such as the moving speed. Therefore, when a movie file is generated from a plurality of still images shot in such a situation and played back, a scene that is frequently displayed is generated, and even when played back, it is difficult to grasp the shot contents. There is a problem that an unusual case comes out.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and in the case of continuously reproducing still images moving back and forth in time, even if these still images are greatly different from each other, The purpose is to facilitate understanding of the contents.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention provides a first determination means for determining a degree of similarity between temporally adjacent images based on a predetermined threshold in a plurality of images taken at a predetermined time interval. When the first determination means determines that the degree of similarity is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold value, a replicating means for replicating the earlier or later image among the images, and the replicating means There is provided an image processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that interposes the generated images between the images and controls to reproduce a moving image using the plurality of images as frames.

  Further, the present invention provides a first determination means for determining a degree of similarity between temporally adjacent images based on a predetermined threshold in a plurality of images taken at a predetermined time interval. When the first determination means determines that the degree of similarity is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold value, a replication means that replicates the earlier or later image in time among the images; There is provided a program that functions as a control unit that interposes the generated images between the images and controls to reproduce a moving image using the plurality of images as frames.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily grasp the contents of each still image even in the case where the images are largely different from each other in the still images moving back and forth in time.

It is a block diagram which shows the circuit structure of the digital camera which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the control part which the digital camera has.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a digital camera 1 according to the present embodiment. The digital camera 1 has an interval shooting function and includes a control unit 7 connected to each unit via a bus line 6. The control unit 7 is a one-chip microcomputer that controls each unit of the digital camera 1, and includes an interval shooting control unit 71, a moving image reproduction control unit 72, a clock unit 73, and a clock 74.

  The interval shooting control unit 71 controls an interval (frame rate) that is a shooting time interval at the time of interval shooting. In this interval shooting, for example, still images are recorded at a time interval (interval) of 1 to 5 minutes within a total time of 12 hours (as a result, 720 to 144 still images are recorded). For a plurality of still images recorded by this interval shooting, after one image file is generated for each still image, information associated with other still images recorded by the interval shooting is embedded and stored in the storage unit 14. Is done. Therefore, when a plurality of interval shootings are performed, a plurality of groups of image files are recorded in the storage unit 14. When a moving image file that sequentially reproduces still images recorded by this interval shooting as frame images is generated, for example, if the generation frame rate is 1.5 FPS, it takes 16 to 3 minutes to complete the reproduction. It will be.

  The moving image reproduction control unit 72 generates a moving image file by executing processing according to a flowchart described later. This moving image file is obtained by inserting, as a frame, a still image corresponding to a frame and copying (duplicating) the still image as necessary. The clock unit 73 is used for measuring an interval in the interval shooting mode, and the clock 74 is a timing generator and controls the CMOS 8.

  The CMOS 8 is disposed on the optical axis of the imaging lens 2 that includes a focus lens, a zoom lens, and the like. The unit circuit 9 is a circuit to which an analog imaging signal corresponding to the optical image of the subject output from the CMOS 8 is input, a CDS that holds the input imaging signal, and a gain adjustment amplifier (AGC) that amplifies the imaging signal. ), An A / D converter (AD) that converts the amplified image signal into a digital image signal, and the like. The output signal of the CMOS 8 is sent to the image processing unit 10 as a digital signal through the unit circuit 9 and subjected to various image processing.

  Further, an input unit 11, a program memory 12, a work memory 13, a storage unit 14, and a display driver 15 are connected to the bus line 6. The display driver 15 drives the display unit 16 disposed on the back surface of the digital camera 1. The input unit 11 includes a shutter button, a mode setting key, and the like, and outputs a key input signal according to a user operation to the control unit 7. The program memory 12 stores an operation program for the control unit 7 and various data used for control of each unit, and also stores an AF control program for driving the focus lens to execute autofocus (AF) control. Yes.

  Note that the display driver 15 and the display unit 16 may be controlled so that the power supply is stopped and the operation is not stopped during interval shooting. By doing so, the life of the power source can be extended.

  The work memory 13 is a buffer that temporarily stores digitized subject image data after being imaged by the CMOS 8, and is also used as a working memory of the control unit 7. The image data temporarily stored in the work memory 13 is compressed (encoded) by the control unit 7, and finally an image file of a predetermined format (JPEG format or the like) or a moving image including a plurality of still image data. A file name is assigned as a file (Motion JPEG format, MPEG-4 format, MPEG-4 AVC format, etc.) and stored in the storage unit 14.

  Note that the storage unit 14 is in a state in which image files recorded at time intervals of 1 to 5 minutes are stored for each group (for each interval shooting) after a plurality of interval shootings have been performed. In addition, the image files of a plurality of groups that have been shot with these intervals are stored so as to be distinguishable from image files recorded by still image shooting and moving image files recorded by normal moving image shooting.

  In this manner, when the user operates the mode setting key to set the moving image generation mode in a state where the image file of the group that has been shot at intervals is stored in the storage unit 14, the control unit 7 stores in the program memory 12. In accordance with the stored program, the process is executed according to the procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, a group of image files taken at intervals stored in the storage unit 14 is read out and displayed on the display unit 16 (step S1). The display of the group is not limited as long as the user can visually identify the group. For example, the image of the first image file of each group may be displayed.

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not an operation for any of the displayed groups has been detected (step S2). When the user selects any group by operating the input unit 11, the control unit 7 detects this and advances the process from step S2 to step S3. Then, it is determined whether the shooting interval (interval) of the selected group is 30 seconds or more and less than 10 minutes (step S3). If the determination in step S3 is NO and the shooting interval is not 30 seconds or longer and less than 10 minutes, the processing of steps S4 to S11 is not performed, and the images of the image files belonging to the group are used. A moving image file is generated (step S12).

Therefore, the determination in step S3 is NO.
(1) When the shooting interval is less than 30 seconds (2) When the shooting interval is 10 minutes or more.
In the case of (1), the content of the reproduced moving image is relatively small even when the shooting interval is relatively short, and the content of the still images that are temporally different from each other is not significantly different from each other without executing the processing of steps S4 to S11. This is because it is predicted that it is easy to grasp the above. In the case of (2), the shooting interval is too long, and the contents of the images are very different in still images that move back and forth in time, and even if the processing of steps S4 to S11 is executed, the moving image is easy to grasp the contents. This is because it is predicted that the possibility of reproduction is low. Therefore, by performing the determination in step S3, it is possible to exclude in advance a group having a low effect even if the processes in steps S4 to S11 are performed.

  In this embodiment, only the shooting interval is used as a determination element in step S3. However, if position information acquired by GPS is recorded in an image file in the group, is there a change in the position information? If the photographer's posture change information (or the posture of the digital camera 1, the change in the imaging angle of view, or the change in the imaging direction) acquired by the acceleration sensor is recorded, whether or not there is a change in the position information. This information may also be used together to determine whether or not to execute the processes in steps S4 to S11. In this way, it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not the group includes many still images having completely different contents, that is, whether or not the group is to be a processing target in steps S4 to S11.

  Further, as a result of the determination in step S3, when the shooting interval of the selected group is 30 seconds or more and less than 10 minutes, the playback time when all the images of the image file of the group are sequentially played back is acquired. (Step S4). This playback time can be calculated and obtained by multiplying the playback frame rate by the number of image files.

Next, a threshold value of similarity is set (step S5). The similarity threshold is a value corresponding to the playback time acquired in step S4. For example, when the playback time is short, the similarity threshold is a low value, and when the playback time is long, the similarity threshold is set. A high value is preferable. The reason will be described later.
Note that the control unit 7 may not set the threshold value automatically as described above, but may set an arbitrary threshold value by a user operation. Thus, the user's intention can be reflected in the number of images constituting the moving image file generated in step S12 described later, that is, the reproduction time of the moving image.

  Thereafter, a process of sequentially determining the degree of similarity of images from the images of the first image file of the group is executed (step S6). That is, a process of determining the degree of similarity between temporally adjacent images based on the threshold set in step S5 in a plurality of images belonging to the group photographed at a predetermined time interval. More specifically, as shown in the next step S7, it is determined whether or not the degree of similarity between the temporally adjacent images is lower than the threshold value. If this determination is NO and the degree of similarity between adjacent images is not lower than the threshold, that is, if the degree of similarity between adjacent images is higher than the threshold, the process of step S10 described later is avoided. After executing the skip process which is the process to be performed (step S8), the process proceeds to step S11.

  In addition, when the degree of similarity between images that are temporally adjacent is lower than the threshold, that is, when the degree of similarity between the images is lower than the threshold and the two images are not similar, after the image that was captured later, It is determined whether or not several images having a degree of similarity higher than the threshold value continue (step S9). Even if the degree of similarity between temporally adjacent images is lower than the threshold and the two images are not similar, if several images (similar images) with a similarity higher than the threshold continue, Skip processing (step S8) is executed.

  Then, the degree of similarity between the temporally adjacent images is lower than the threshold (step S7; NO), the images are not similar, and the degree of similarity is higher than the threshold after the image captured later. If several images do not continue (step S9; NO), an image captured later is copied and inserted between the temporally adjacent images (step S10).

  Subsequently, for all images in the image file belonging to the group, it is determined whether or not the determination of the similarity degree by the processing in steps S6 to S10 is completed (step S11), and the similarity degree for all the images is determined. The processing from step S6 is repeated until the determination is completed. In this way, by repeating the processing from step S6, when the determination of the degree of similarity is completed for all the images, the image of the image file belonging to the group and the image copied and inserted in step S10 Is generated and stored in the storage unit 14 (step S12).

  When a moving image file stored in the storage unit 14 is played back, an image obtained by copying a later image is inserted between images that are not similar in time to adjacent images. Even if the images are greatly different from each other, a sudden change of the scene is suppressed, and it is not difficult to grasp the contents, and the moving image reproduction that makes it easy to grasp the contents becomes possible. Therefore, in the interval shooting, depending on the shooting conditions such as the shooting interval, the moving state of the moving body, the moving speed, etc., even if completely different landscapes are recorded one after another, there is a disadvantage that it is difficult to grasp the contents. Can be prevented. However, if several images with a high degree of similarity continue after the image taken later, the copy is not made, so that the reproduced moving image becomes redundant due to the copy. It can also be prevented beforehand.

  Further, as described above, when the playback time is short, the similarity threshold is set to a low value, and when the playback time is long, the similarity threshold is set to a high value. In other words, if the number of still images is large and the playback time is long, it seems redundant if the frame speed is reduced every time the landscape changes slightly. Therefore, the threshold for determining the similarity is increased and the images are somewhat similar. Don't copy frames even if they are low. On the other hand, if the number of still images is small and the playback time is short, each scene may be watched. Therefore, the threshold for determining the similarity between images is increased, and the frame speed can be increased even with slight changes. Slow down.

  It should be noted that, when playing back the moving image file generated in step S12, processing for setting the time required for playing according to the user's operation, and the moving image with a plurality of images as frames according to the set time. You may make it perform the process which adjusts a frame rate. In this way, even when the generated moving image file becomes long enough to exceed the predetermined reproduction time, it is possible to perform reproduction within the predetermined reproduction time.

  Further, in the present embodiment, between images that are not similar in temporally adjacent images, an image captured later is copied and inserted, but the previous (temporarily past) It is also possible to copy the image of the photographed person and insert it.

  In short, in video playback that involves sudden changes in the content of the image, if the viewer has time to recognize that the content has changed, either the still image taken before or the still image taken later, Either of them can be copied and inserted.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to these, The invention described in the claim and its equal range are included.
The invention described in the claims of the present application will be added below.

<Claim 1>
First determination means for determining a degree of similarity between temporally adjacent images based on a predetermined threshold in a plurality of images photographed at a predetermined time interval;
When it is determined by the first determination means that the degree of similarity is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value, a duplication means for duplicating the earlier or later image among the images,
Control means for interpolating the images duplicated by the duplicating means between the images, and controlling to reproduce a moving image having the plurality of images as frames;
An image processing apparatus comprising:

<Claim 2>
When the first determining means determines that the degree of similarity is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, and when copying the later image among the images, the time within the images A second determination means for determining the degree of similarity between the later image and the image captured later in time based on a predetermined threshold;
The duplicating means duplicates an image later in time among the images when the second judging means judges that the degree of similarity is not more than the predetermined threshold value. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1.

<Claim 3>
And further comprising third determination means for determining whether or not the predetermined time interval is within a predetermined range,
When the third determination unit determines that the predetermined time interval is within a predetermined range, the first determination unit determines the degree of similarity between the images based on a predetermined threshold value. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.

<Claim 4>
Time acquisition means for acquiring a time required for the reproduction processing of the moving image with the plurality of images as frames;
4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a changing unit that changes a threshold value for determining the degree of similarity according to the time acquired by the time acquiring unit.

<Claim 5>
Playback time setting means for setting the time required for playback processing;
Adjusting means for adjusting a moving image playback frame rate with the plurality of images as frames in accordance with the time set by the playback time setting means;
An image processing apparatus further comprising:

<Claim 6>
The computer that the device has
First determination means for determining, in a plurality of images taken at a predetermined time interval, the degree of similarity between temporally adjacent images based on a predetermined threshold;
When the first determination means determines that the degree of similarity is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold value, a duplication means for duplicating the earlier or later image among the images,
Control means for interpolating between the images duplicated by the duplicating means, and controlling to reproduce a moving image having the plurality of images as frames;
A program characterized by functioning as

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Digital camera 7 Control part 9 Unit circuit 10 Image processing part 11 Input part 12 Program memory 13 Work memory 14 Storage part 71 Interval imaging | photography control part 72 Movie reproduction control part 73 Clock part

Claims (6)

First determination means for determining a degree of similarity between temporally adjacent images based on a predetermined threshold in a plurality of images photographed at a predetermined time interval;
When it is determined by the first determination means that the degree of similarity is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value, a duplication means for duplicating the earlier or later image among the images,
Control means for interpolating the images duplicated by the duplicating means between the images, and controlling to reproduce a moving image having the plurality of images as frames;
An image processing apparatus comprising: When the first determining means determines that the degree of similarity is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, and when copying the later image among the images, the time within the images A second determination means for determining the degree of similarity between the later image and the image captured later in time based on a predetermined threshold;
The duplicating means duplicates an image later in time among the images when the second judging means judges that the degree of similarity is not more than the predetermined threshold value. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. And further comprising third determination means for determining whether or not the predetermined time interval is within a predetermined range,
When the third determination unit determines that the predetermined time interval is within a predetermined range, the first determination unit determines the degree of similarity between the images based on a predetermined threshold value. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. Time acquisition means for acquiring a time required for the reproduction processing of the moving image with the plurality of images as frames;
4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a changing unit that changes a threshold value for determining the degree of similarity according to the time acquired by the time acquiring unit. Playback time setting means for setting the time required for playback processing;
Adjusting means for adjusting a moving image playback frame rate with the plurality of images as frames in accordance with the time set by the playback time setting means;
An image processing apparatus further comprising: The computer that the device has
First determination means for determining, in a plurality of images taken at a predetermined time interval, the degree of similarity between temporally adjacent images based on a predetermined threshold;
When the first determination means determines that the degree of similarity is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold value, a duplication means for duplicating the earlier or later image among the images,
Control means for interpolating between the images duplicated by the duplicating means, and controlling to reproduce a moving image having the plurality of images as frames;
A program characterized by functioning as

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