JP2020086660A - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an information processing apparatus for visually indicating a position of a code corresponding to product information in an image.SOLUTION: An information processing apparatus 1 is provided with a photographic image acquisition unit 11 for acquiring two or more photographic images including a plurality of codes, an image synthesis unit 12 for acquiring a composite image of the two or more acquired images composited with the code as a reference contained in the acquired images, a product information reception unit 13 for receiving product information, a code identifier acquisition unit 15 for acquiring a code identifier corresponding to the product information, a code identifier reception unit 16 for receiving the acquired code identifier and an output unit 17 for outputting the composite image where a code position identified by the received code identifier is visually indicated.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus or the like that acquires and outputs a composite image in which two or more captured images related to a code are combined.

Conventionally, various codes such as a QR code (registered trademark), a barcode and a color code are known. As the color code, for example, a chameleon code (registered trademark) and other color codes (see, for example, Patent Document 1) are known.

For example, when the code is attached to the product, the product information can be acquired by photographing the product to which the code is attached. Further, by searching the photographed image for a code corresponding to the product, it becomes possible to easily specify where the desired product is.

JP, 2016-110528, A

However, it may not be possible to include many codes in one captured image. For example, if the product to which the code is attached is placed on a storage shelf in a warehouse and the passage in front of the storage shelf is not wide, it will be stored on the storage shelf even if the angle of view of the camera is widened. There may be situations where only part of the code of the product in question can be photographed. Thus, there has been a demand for enabling efficient processing such as code search even when one coded image cannot include all codes to be searched.

The present invention has been made in response to the above circumstances, and it is possible to efficiently perform processing such as code search even when one coded image cannot include all codes to be searched. The purpose is to provide a device that can support.

In order to achieve the above object, the information processing apparatus according to the present invention uses a captured image acquisition unit that acquires two or more captured images including a plurality of codes, and two or more captured images based on a code included in the captured images. An image combining unit that acquires a combined image that has been combined and an output unit that outputs the combined image acquired by the image combining unit are provided.
With such a configuration, it is possible to appropriately combine two or more captured images including a code, and for example, an efficient code search can be realized by using the combined image after combination. In addition, when the object to be photographed is a repeating monotonous shape such as a shelf in a warehouse, it may be difficult to perform accurate composition based on only the shape of the subject. By using such a captured image, it is possible to realize highly accurate composition.

Further, in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the image combining unit may enlarge or reduce at least a part of the captured images so that the subjects included in the two or more captured images have the same size and combine the images. Good.
With such a configuration, it is possible to realize more appropriate composition of captured images.

Further, the information processing apparatus according to the present invention further includes a code identifier accepting unit that accepts a code identifier that is an identifier of the code to be searched, and the output unit includes the code identified by the code identifier accepted by the code identifier accepting unit. A synthetic image whose position is visually indicated may be output.
With such a configuration, the position of the code corresponding to the code identifier in the composite image can be easily specified.

Further, in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the code is associated with the product information that is information about the product, and corresponds to the product information receiving unit that receives the product information and the product information received by the product information receiving unit. A code identifier acquisition unit that acquires a code identifier may be further included, and the code identifier reception unit may receive the code identifier acquired by the code identifier acquisition unit.
With such a configuration, the position of the code corresponding to the product information in the composite image can be easily specified. Therefore, for example, when picking up a product from a warehouse, it becomes possible to easily know the position of the product to be picked up.

Further, in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the captured image is an image of the shelf on which the product is placed, and the code may be displayed on the product or the shelf.
With such a configuration, for example, the composite image can be used to confirm the position of the product to be picked up.

Further, an information processing method according to the present invention is an information processing method which is processed by using a captured image acquisition unit, an image composition unit, and an output unit, and the captured image acquisition unit includes two or more codes including a plurality of codes. The captured image acquisition step of acquiring the captured image of, and the image synthesis step of the synthesized image obtained by the image synthesis unit synthesizing two or more captured images with the code included in the captured image as a reference, and the output unit An output step of outputting the combined image acquired in the combining step.

According to the information processing apparatus and the like according to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately combine two or more captured images including a plurality of codes. Therefore, for example, an efficient code search can be realized by using the synthesized image after the synthesis.

Block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention Flowchart showing the operation of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment The figure which shows an example of the picked-up image in the same embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the picked-up image in the same embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the picked-up image in the same embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the synthetic image in the same embodiment. The figure which shows an example of correspondence of goods information and a code identifier in the same embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the synthetic image which shows the position of the code of search object in the embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the synthetic image which shows the position of the code of search object in the embodiment. Schematic diagram showing an example of the external appearance of a computer system in the embodiment. The figure which shows an example of a structure of the computer system in the same embodiment.

Hereinafter, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described using an embodiment. Note that, in the following embodiments, the components and steps given the same reference numerals are the same or correspond to each other, and the repeated description may be omitted. The information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment acquires and outputs a combined image in which two or more captured images are combined using a code as a mark.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing device 1 according to the present embodiment. The information processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a captured image acquisition unit 11, an image composition unit 12, a product information reception unit 13, a storage unit 14, a code identifier acquisition unit 15, a code identifier reception unit 16, and And an output unit 17. The information processing apparatus 1 may be, for example, a personal computer, or a portable information processing terminal such as a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or the like, and is dedicated to performing processing regarding a captured image or the like. Device or a server or the like.

The captured image acquisition unit 11 acquires two or more captured images. The captured image is usually a still image, but the frame included in the moving image may be considered to be the captured image. Each captured image is an image including a plurality of codes. The captured image including the code is a captured image of the code. Strictly speaking, what is included in the captured image is a code image, but in the present embodiment, the code image is also called a code. The code may be, for example, a color code such as a chameleon code (registered trademark) or the code of Patent Document 1, may be a QR code (registered trademark), may be a bar code, or may be another code. May be In the present embodiment, the case where the code is a chameleon code will be mainly described. As will be described later, since the information corresponding to the code is read from the code included in the captured image, the captured image preferably has a resolution that allows the code of the capturing target to be read.

The captured image is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, a captured image of a shelf on which a product is placed. The code may be displayed on the product or the shelf. The display of the code on the product or the shelf may mean that the code is attached to the product or the shelf, or that the code is printed. The code displayed on the product may be, for example, the code displayed on the product itself, or the code may be displayed on the product packaging (for example, a cardboard box or a vinyl bag). It may be. The shelf on which the product is placed may be, for example, a storage shelf in a warehouse that stores the product, or may be a shelf on which the product is temporarily placed when the product is delivered or arrives. , Other shelves may be used. In addition, the captured image may be, for example, a captured image of products stacked on the ground or floor. In that case, the code may be displayed on the product.

The code included in the captured image may be associated with product information that is information about the product. The product information may include, for example, a product identifier, may include product attributes (for example, product color and size, type, manufacturer, product delivery destination, etc.), and other information related to the product. May be included. When the code is associated with the product information, for example, the product associated with the product information may be displayed with the code associated with the product information. In the present embodiment, the case where the product information is a product identifier will be mainly described. The information that associates the product information with the code will be described later.

The captured image acquisition unit 11 may acquire the captured image by an optical device such as a camera, or may accept the captured image acquired by an optical device such as a camera. When the captured image acquisition unit 11 receives a captured image, the reception may be reception of a captured image transmitted via a communication line, and a predetermined recording medium (for example, an optical disc, a magnetic disc, a semiconductor memory). It is also possible to read out the photographed image from The captured image acquisition unit 11 may store the acquired two or more captured images in a recording medium (not shown).

The image synthesizing unit 12 obtains a synthetic image by synthesizing two or more photographed images with a code included in the photographed images as a reference. Combining with a code as a reference means that, when a certain code is included in a plurality of captured images, the plurality of captured images are combined so that the positions of the codes are the same in the combined image. Whether the code included in the first captured image is the same as the code included in the second captured image can be determined by whether the information indicated by the code is the same. Therefore, as compared with the case where a plurality of captured images are combined using only the shape of the subject included in the captured images, it is possible to combine images with higher accuracy. In particular, when the subject has a repeating monotonous shape, such as a shelf in a warehouse, combining a plurality of captured images using only the shape of the subject may cause incorrect combining. However, by synthesizing a plurality of captured images with the code as a reference, such an incorrect synthesizing can be avoided, and an accurate synthetic image corresponding to the subject can be obtained. The image composition unit 12 may store the acquired composite image in a recording medium (not shown).

The image synthesizing unit 12 may magnify or reduce at least a part of the photographed images so that the subjects included in the two or more photographed images have the same size and combine the images. Enlarging or reducing the captured image may be a change in the size (pixel number) of the captured image. In order to make the sizes of the subjects included in the two or more captured images the same, the image composition unit 12 enlarges or reduces the captured images of at least one captured image and composites them, for example, as follows. You may. The image synthesizing unit 12 uses the position of a certain code included in the first captured image and the position of the same code included in the second captured image to perform at least one correspondence between the first and second captured images. Points can be specified. Then, the image synthesizing unit 12 sets at least one of the images such that the shape around the corresponding point (for example, the contour extracted by the contour extraction or the segment extracted by the image segmentation) has the same size. May be scaled up or down. In addition, when the plurality of codes included in the first captured image are also included in the second captured image, the image composition unit 12 sets at least the distance between the plurality of codes to be equal. One of the images may be enlarged or reduced. Further, when the actual size of the code displayed on the product etc. is the same, the image composition unit 12 takes at least one of the images so that the sizes of the codes included in the plurality of taken images are the same. The image may be enlarged or reduced. From the viewpoint of making it possible to read the code included in the composite image, it is preferable to perform the enlargement in which the number of pixels is increased rather than the reduction in which the number of pixels is reduced. At least a part of the captured images may be enlarged and combined so that the sizes of the subjects included in the captured images are the same. In addition, when the size of the subject included in the two or more captured images is the same, the captured images do not have to be enlarged or reduced during combining. Further, if it is premised that the contours of the products and the contours of the shelves included in the captured image are rectangular, the image composition unit 12 performs trapezoidal correction (correction of trapezoidal distortion so that those contours become rectangular. ), and then synthesizing. Further, the image composition unit 12 may combine the plurality of captured images after adjusting the exposure, color tone, and the like.

The product information receiving unit 13 receives product information. This product information is product information used for code search. For example, when the product information is the product identifier, the product information that is the product identifier that identifies the product whose position is desired to be known in the composite image is input and accepted by the product information accepting unit 13. Further, for example, when the product information is information indicating the attributes of the product and the position of the red M size T-shirt is desired to be known in the composite image, the product indicating “red”, “M size”, and “T-shirt”. The information is input and accepted by the product information acceptance unit 13. The product information receiving unit 13 may store the received product information in a recording medium (not shown).

The product information receiving unit 13 may receive information input from an input device (for example, keyboard, mouse, touch panel, etc.), or may receive information transmitted via a wired or wireless communication line. Of course, information read from a predetermined recording medium (for example, a magnetic disk or a semiconductor memory) may be accepted. The product information accepting unit 13 may or may not include a device (for example, a modem or a network card) for performing acceptance. The product information receiving unit 13 may be realized by hardware or software such as a driver that drives a predetermined device.

The storage unit 14 stores information that associates the product information with the code identifier. The code identifier is an identifier that identifies the code. The code identifier may be, for example, information indicated by the code (information obtained by reading the code). As described above, when the product information and the code are associated with each other, the product information and the code identifier are also associated with each other as a result. Therefore, information indicating the correspondence between the product information and the code identifier may be stored in the storage unit 14.

The process of storing information in the storage unit 14 does not matter. For example, information may be stored in the storage unit 14 via a recording medium, information transmitted via a communication line or the like may be stored in the storage unit 14, or The information input via the input device may be stored in the storage unit 14. The storage in the storage unit 14 may be a temporary storage such as a RAM or a long-term storage. The storage unit 14 can be realized by a predetermined recording medium (for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc.).

Here, "associating the product information with the code identifier" means that the code identifier may be acquired from the product information. Therefore, the information stored in the storage unit 14 may include information that includes the product information and the code identifier as a set, or may be the information that links the product information and the code identifier.

The code identifier acquisition unit 15 acquires the code identifier corresponding to the product information received by the product information reception unit 13. At the time of the acquisition, the code identifier acquisition unit 15 may acquire it using the information stored in the storage unit 14. Specifically, the code identifier acquisition unit 15 searches the product information stored in the storage unit 14 using the product information received by the product information reception unit 13 as a search key, and associates the product information with the product information. The code identifier may be acquired. The code identifier acquisition unit 15 passes the acquired code identifier to the code identifier reception unit 16.

The code identifier receiving unit 16 receives a code identifier which is an identifier of a code to be searched. In the present embodiment, the case where the code identifier accepting unit 16 receives the code identifier from the code identifier acquiring unit 15, that is, the case where the code identifier acquired by the code identifier acquiring unit 15 is accepted will be mainly described. You don't have to. The code identifier receiving unit 16 may store the received code identifier in a recording medium (not shown).

When the code identifier accepting unit 16 does not accept the code identifier acquired by the code identifier acquiring unit 15, the code identifier accepting unit 16 is input from, for example, an input device (for example, keyboard, mouse, touch panel, etc.). Code identifier may be accepted, the code identifier transmitted via a wired or wireless communication line may be received, and the code read from a predetermined recording medium (eg, magnetic disk or semiconductor memory) The identifier may be accepted. The code identifier accepting unit 16 may or may not include a device (for example, a modem or a network card) for performing acceptance. The code identifier accepting unit 16 may be realized by hardware or software such as a driver that drives a predetermined device.

The output unit 17 outputs the combined image acquired by the image combining unit 12. In outputting the combined image, the output unit 17 may output a combined image in which the position of the code identified by the code identifier received by the code identifier receiving unit 16 is visually indicated. That is, in the composite image, the composite image may be output so that the position of the code identified by the code identifier received by the code identifier receiving unit 16 can be specified. In the composite image, the position of the code may be indicated by using, for example, a predetermined figure, may be indicated by changing the display attribute of the code in the synthesized image, or may be indicated by other methods. Good. The predetermined graphic may be, for example, an elliptical graphic as shown in FIG. 8A or an arrow-shaped graphic as shown in FIG. 8B. The change of the display attribute may be, for example, a change of the display color, a blinking display, or another change of the display attribute. For example, in the composite image, only the code identified by the code identifier received by the code identifier receiving unit 16 may be displayed in a blinking manner or may be displayed in a color different from the original code (for example, red). Good.

For example, for each code included in the composite image, the output unit 17 acquires in advance information that associates the code position in the composite image with the code identifier of the code, and the code identifier reception unit 16 receives the code identifier. In such a case, the position in the composite image corresponding to the code identifier may be acquired and the composite image visually indicating the position may be output.

Here, this output may be, for example, a display on a display device (for example, a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display), may be transmitted to a predetermined device via a communication line, may be printed by a printer, or may be a recording medium. May be stored in the storage device, or may be delivered to another component. Even if the output unit 17 transmits or stores the composite image, it is preferable that the composite image is finally output visually. This is so that the composite image can be visually recognized. The output unit 17 may or may not include a device (for example, a display device or a printer) that outputs. The output unit 17 may be realized by hardware or software such as a driver for driving those devices.

Next, the operation of the information processing device 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
(Step S101) The captured image acquisition unit 11 determines whether or not two or more captured images have been acquired. If two or more captured images have been acquired, the process proceeds to step S102. If not, the process of step S101 is repeated until two or more captured images are received.

(Step S102) The image composition unit 12 acquires a composite image in which the two or more captured images received in step S101 are composited with the code included in each captured image as a reference.

(Step S103) The product information receiving unit 13 determines whether the product information has been received. If the product information is received, the process proceeds to step S104. If not, the process of step S103 is repeated until the product information is received.

(Step S104) The code identifier acquisition unit 15 acquires the code identifier corresponding to the product information accepted in step S103, using the information stored in the storage unit 14.

(Step S105) The code identifier receiving unit 16 receives the code identifier acquired in Step S104 from the code identifier acquiring unit 15.

(Step S106) The output unit 17 outputs a composite image in which the position of the code identified by the code identifier accepted in step S105 is visually shown. Then, the process returns to step S103.

Note that, in the flowchart of FIG. 2, when two or more new captured images are combined, the process may return to step S101 in response to the input to that effect. The order of processing in the flowchart of FIG. 2 is an example, and the order of each step may be changed as long as the same result can be obtained. Further, in the flowchart of FIG. 2, the processing is ended by powering off or interruption for aborting the processing.

Next, the operation of the information processing device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described using a specific example. First, the user photographs the photographed images M1 to M3 shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 using a digital camera in the warehouse where the products are stored, and the photographed images M1 to M3 are displayed on the information processing apparatus 1. Suppose you typed it. Then, the captured images M1 to M3 are accepted by the captured image acquisition unit 11 and passed to the image synthesis unit 12 (step S101). In the photographed images M1 to M3, products 22 are placed on the shelves 21, and a color code indicated by a black rectangular graphic is attached to each product 22. Further, in FIGS. 3 to 5, the reference numeral “22” is described only for some products, but the product to which the color code is attached is the product 22, respectively.

Upon receiving the captured images M1 to M3 shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the image composition unit 12 reads information from the color code included in each captured image. It is assumed that the read information is the code identifier of the color code. Next, the image synthesizing unit 12 identifies a code identifier common to a plurality of captured images. In this specific example, it is assumed that the photographed images M1 and M2 have the same code identifier of the color codes C1 to C4. In addition, it is assumed that the color codes C5 to C12 are common to the captured images M2 and M3. Then, the image synthesizing unit 12 synthesizes the photographed images M1 and M2 so that the respective positions of the color codes C1 to C4 are the same, and the respective positions of the color codes C5 to C12 are the same in the synthesized image. By further synthesizing the photographed image M3 so as to obtain, as shown in FIG. 6, a synthesized image M4 obtained by synthesizing the photographed images M1 to M3 is acquired and passed to the output unit 17 (step S102). As shown in FIG. 6, when the composite image M4 is acquired, the captured images M1 and M3 are slightly enlarged and composited with the captured image M2. The captured image M2 may be reduced and combined with the captured images M1 and M3. When receiving the composite image M4, the output unit 17 acquires information that associates the code identifier of each color code included in the composite image M4 with the position in the composite image M4, and stores the information in a recording medium (not shown).

After that, it is assumed that the user wants to know the position of the product identified by the product identifier “G1003”. Then, it is assumed that the product information having the product identifier “G1003” is input to the information processing device 1. The product information “G1003” is accepted by the product information accepting unit 13 and passed to the code identifier acquisition unit 15 (step S103).

Note that in this specific example, it is assumed that the storage unit 14 stores the information shown in FIG. 7 that associates the product information with the code identifier. Then, when the code identifier acquisition unit 15 receives the product information “G1003”, the code identifier “G1003” is searched using the product information as a search key, and the code identifier “0000004234” corresponding to the hit product information “G1003” is searched. Is acquired and passed to the code identifier receiving unit 16 (step S104).

Upon receiving the code identifier “000000234”, the code identifier receiving unit 16 passes the received code identifier to the output unit 17 (step S105). Upon receiving the code identifier "000000234", the output unit 17 searches the code identifier in the information associating the code identifier of each color code included in the composite image M4 with the position, and finds the position corresponding to the hit code identifier. get. Then, as shown in FIG. 8A, the output unit 17 displays the composite image M4, the position of which is indicated by the pointing graphic D1, on the display (step S106). As a result, the user can know the position of the color code to be searched by the pointing graphic D1 in FIG. 8A, and can easily pick up the product to which the color code is attached, for example. Note that FIG. 8A shows a case where the designated figure D1 has an elliptical shape and the elliptical designated figure D1 contains the color code to be searched, but this need not be the case. For example, as shown in FIG. 8B, the position of the color code to be searched may be visually indicated by the arrow-shaped instruction graphic D2.

As described above, according to the information processing device 1 according to the present embodiment, a plurality of captured images are combined by using a code, so that the images can be combined with higher accuracy compared to the case where no code is used. In particular, when synthesizing shot images that have repetitive shapes such as warehouse shelves using only the shapes, inaccurate composition may occur, but by using the code as a reference, Such incorrect synthesis can be avoided. Further, even when the entire image of the shelf cannot be photographed, for example, when the passage in front of the shelf is narrow in a warehouse or the like, a composite image of the entire shelf is obtained by performing such composition. Will be able to. Further, by receiving the product information and outputting the position of the code identified by the code identifier corresponding to the product information in the composite image, the position of the code corresponding to the product information can be easily grasped. become. As a result, for example, it becomes possible to easily know the position of the product to be picked up in the warehouse. Further, for example, when the code is displayed on the spine of a book, it becomes possible to easily grasp where the desired book is on the shelf of the bookstore.

In addition, although the case where the product information is received and the code identifier corresponding to the received product information is acquired has been described in the present embodiment, it is not limited thereto. The information processing device 1 may accept the code identifier and output a composite image indicating the position of the code identified by the code identifier. In that case, the information processing device 1 may not include the product information reception unit 13, the storage unit 14, and the code identifier acquisition unit 15. In that case, for example, in a device other than the information processing device 1, the code identifier corresponding to the product information may be acquired, and the acquired code identifier may be input to the information processing device 1.

When the information processing device 1 includes the product information reception unit 13, the storage unit 14, and the code identifier acquisition unit 15, the code identifier reception unit 16 is considered to be an interface in which the output unit 17 receives the code identifier. May be.

Further, in the present embodiment, the case has been described in which the composite image visually indicating the position of the code to be searched is output, but the present invention is not limited thereto. When the code search is not performed, the output unit 17 may simply output the composite image. In that case, the information processing device 1 may not include the product information reception unit 13, the storage unit 14, the code identifier acquisition unit 15, and the code identifier reception unit 16. In that case, for example, a device other than the information processing device 1 may search for a code using the output composite image.

Further, although the case where the code is associated with the product has been described in the present embodiment, the code may be associated with the product. The product may be, for example, a product, or a product other than the product (for example, a book managed in a library). The article corresponding to the code may be the article on which the code is displayed. In that case, for example, in the storage unit 14, the code identifier and the item information may be associated with each other. Further, the information processing device 1 may include an article information receiving unit that receives article information instead of the product information receiving unit 13. The item information may be considered to be the same as the item information, except that the item is replaced by the item. The code identifier acquisition unit 15 may also acquire the code identifier corresponding to the item information.

Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the combined image is used to search for the code has been mainly described, but this need not be the case. For example, it may be used to output information corresponding to the code included in the composite image. More specifically, when the input for instructing the code included in the composite image is accepted, the information indicated by the instructed code (information obtained by reading the code) is acquired, and in response to the acquisition. The code identifier of the designated code may be acquired, and the information corresponding to the code identifier may be read and output. When the information indicated by the code is the code identifier, the process of acquiring the code identifier may not be separately performed. The processing may be performed by the information processing device 1 or another device, for example. Further, the input for instructing the code may be, for example, an instruction using an input device such as a mouse, or may be a tap of the position of the code on a touch panel or the like. The information corresponding to the code identifier, which is an output target, may be, for example, product information associated with the code, product information, or information associated with another code.

Further, in the above embodiment, when the information processing device 1 is a server in the server/client system, the product information receiving unit 13, the output unit 17, and the like receive information via a communication line or output information. You may do it.

Further, in the above embodiments, each process or each function may be realized by being centralized by a single device or a single system, or distributed by a plurality of devices or multiple systems. It may be realized by

Further, in the above-described embodiment, when information is exchanged between the constituent elements, for example, when the two constituent elements for exchanging the information are physically different from each other, one of the constituent elements is used. It may be performed by the output of information and the reception of information by the other component, or when the two components that transfer the information are physically the same, one component May be performed by shifting from the processing phase corresponding to the above to the processing phase corresponding to the other component.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, information related to processing executed by each component, for example, information that each component has received, acquired, selected, generated, transmitted, or received. Further, information such as thresholds, mathematical expressions, addresses, etc. used by each component in processing may be held in a recording medium (not shown) temporarily or for a long period of time, even if not specified in the above description. Further, the storage of the information in the recording medium (not shown) may be performed by each component or the storage unit (not shown). Further, the reading of information from the recording medium (not shown) may be performed by each component or the reading unit (not shown).

Further, in the above-described embodiment, when the information used by each component, such as the threshold value or address used by each component in the processing and various setting values may be changed by the user, Even if not explicitly stated in the description, the user may or may not be able to change the information as appropriate. When the user can change the information, the change is realized by, for example, a reception unit (not shown) that receives a change instruction from the user and a change unit (not shown) that changes the information according to the change instruction. May be. The reception of the change instruction by the reception unit (not shown) may be reception from an input device, reception of information transmitted via a communication line, or reception of information read from a predetermined recording medium. ..

Further, in the above embodiment, when two or more constituent elements included in the information processing apparatus 1 have a communication device, an input device, or the like, even if the two or more constituent elements physically have a single device. Well, or may have separate devices.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, each component may be configured by dedicated hardware, or a component that can be implemented by software may be implemented by executing a program. For example, each component can be realized by a program execution unit such as a CPU reading and executing a software program recorded in a recording medium such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory. At the time of execution, the program execution unit may execute the program while accessing the storage unit or the recording medium. The software that implements the information processing device 1 in the above-described embodiment is the following program. That is, this program acquires a composite image in which a computer combines a captured image acquisition unit that acquires two or more captured images including a plurality of codes with two or more captured images based on the code included in the captured images. It is a program for functioning as an image synthesizing unit and an output unit for outputting the synthetic image acquired by the image synthesizing unit.

In the above program, the function realized by the program does not include the function realized only by hardware. For example, a function that can be realized only by hardware such as a modem or an interface card in an acquisition unit that acquires information and an output unit that outputs information is not included at least in the function realized by the program.

Further, this program may be executed by being downloaded from a server or the like, and the program recorded on a predetermined recording medium (for example, an optical disk such as a CD-ROM, a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory, etc.) can be read out. May be performed by. Further, this program may be used as a program that constitutes a program product.

The computer that executes this program may be a single computer or a plurality of computers. That is, centralized processing may be performed or distributed processing may be performed.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the external appearance of a computer that executes the above program and realizes the information processing device 1 according to the above embodiment. The above embodiment can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed on the computer hardware.

In FIG. 9, a computer system 900 includes a computer 901 including a CD-ROM drive 905, a keyboard 902, a mouse 903, and a monitor 904.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of the computer system 900. 10, a computer 901 is connected to an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) 911, a ROM 912 for storing a program such as a boot-up program, and an MPU 911 in addition to a CD-ROM drive 905, and is connected to an instruction of an application program. A RAM 913 that temporarily stores and provides a temporary storage space, a hard disk 914 that stores application programs, system programs, and data, and a bus 915 that interconnects the MPU 911, ROM 912, and the like. The computer 901 may include a network card (not shown) that provides a connection to a LAN, WAN, or the like.

A program that causes the computer system 900 to execute the functions of the information processing apparatus 1 according to the above-described embodiment may be stored in the CD-ROM 921, inserted into the CD-ROM drive 905, and transferred to the hard disk 914. Alternatively, the program may be transmitted to the computer 901 via a network (not shown) and stored in the hard disk 914. The program is loaded into the RAM 913 when it is executed. The program may be loaded directly from the CD-ROM 921 or the network. Further, the program may be read into the computer system 900 via another recording medium (for example, a DVD or the like) instead of the CD-ROM 921.

The program does not necessarily have to include an operating system (OS) that causes the computer 901 to execute the functions of the information processing device 1 according to the above-described embodiment, a third-party program, or the like. The program may include only a part of an instruction that calls an appropriate function or module in a controlled manner to obtain a desired result. How the computer system 900 operates is well known and will not be described in detail.

Further, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made and these are also included in the scope of the present invention.

As described above, according to the information processing apparatus and the like according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an effect that a combined image including a code can be obtained, and it is useful, for example, as an apparatus that indicates the position of the code to be searched in the combined image.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information processing device 11 Photographed image acquisition part 12 Image composition part 13 Product information acceptance part 14 Storage part 15 Code identifier acquisition part 16 Code identifier acceptance part 17 Output part

Claims (7)

A captured image acquisition unit that acquires two or more captured images including a plurality of codes,
An image synthesizing unit that obtains a synthetic image by synthesizing the two or more photographed images with a code included in the photographed images as a reference;
An information processing apparatus, comprising: an output unit that outputs the combined image acquired by the image combining unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image combining unit enlarges or reduces at least a part of the captured images and combines the captured images so that the subjects included in the two or more captured images have the same size. A code identifier accepting unit that accepts a code identifier that is an identifier of a code to be searched,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit outputs a composite image in which the position of the code identified by the code identifier accepted by the code identifier accepting unit is visually indicated. The code is associated with product information, which is information about the product,
A product information receiving unit that receives the product information,
Further comprising a code identifier acquisition unit that acquires a code identifier corresponding to the product information received by the product information reception unit,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the code identifier reception unit receives the code identifier acquired by the code identifier acquisition unit. The photographed image is an image of a shelf on which a product is placed,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the code is displayed on the product or the shelf. An information processing method performed using a captured image acquisition unit, an image composition unit, and an output unit,
A captured image acquisition step in which the captured image acquisition unit acquires two or more captured images including a plurality of codes;
An image synthesizing step in which the image synthesizing unit obtains a synthesized image that synthesizes the two or more photographed images with a code included in the photographed images as a reference;
An output step in which the output section outputs the combined image acquired in the image combining step. Computer,
A captured image acquisition unit that acquires two or more captured images including a plurality of codes,
An image composition unit that acquires a composite image that combines the two or more captured images with a code included in the captured images as a reference,
A program that functions as an output unit that outputs the composite image acquired by the image composition unit.

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