JP2020101624A - Imaging apparatus, electronic apparatus, and control method and program of imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To effectively suppress influence of halation without depending on a type of a light source.SOLUTION: An imaging apparatus comprises: an imaging element that receives incident light including infrared wavelength light; and control means that performs control to increase an irradiation light amount of infrared light irradiated on a subject when halation generated in image data is detected on the basis of luminance information of the image data obtained from the imaging element.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, an electronic device, a control method for an image pickup apparatus, and a program that perform control for suppressing the influence of halation.

When a subject is imaged in a low-illuminance (low-luminance) environment using a camera, if high-illumination light enters the camera, light leaks out around the image capturing position of the light source, causing a phenomenon called halation. .. Halation occurs when high-intensity incident light forms an image on the image sensor and excessive charges are generated in the image sensor, and propagates to surrounding pixels. An image with halation has a problem of deterioration in image quality such as deterioration of visibility of a subject. For example, halation may occur in an image when a subject is imaged using a camera that monitors a public road at night. At night, the headlights of the car are turned on, so there is a large contrast between the ambient light and the light of the headlights. An image with halation is obtained. Then, in the image with halation, the visibility of the appearance of the vehicle, the vehicle number, etc. is reduced.

As a related technique, a technique of controlling insertion/removal of an infrared cut filter and a visible light cut filter has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).

JP, 2016-220002, A

For example, a halogen lamp that emits light containing a large amount of light in the infrared wavelength range is often used for a vehicle headlight. When a halogen lamp is used as the light source, even if an infrared cut filter is inserted in the optical path of the camera, light containing much light in the infrared wavelength range enters the camera. Therefore, even with the technique proposed in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to suppress the influence of halation on an image obtained by capturing an image of a subject using the camera in the situation described above.

An object of the present invention is to effectively suppress the effect of halation regardless of the type of light source.

In order to achieve the above object, the image pickup device of the present invention, based on the brightness information of the image data obtained from the image sensor and the image sensor that receives the incident light including the light of the infrared wavelength, to the image data When the generated halation is detected, the control means for controlling the irradiation light amount of the infrared light with which the subject is irradiated is increased.

According to the present invention, the influence of halation can be effectively suppressed without depending on the type of light source.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the imaging device which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of an imaging|photography part. It is a flow chart which shows a flow of processing of a 1st embodiment. It is a flow chart which shows the flow of judgment processing whether halation has occurred. It is a figure which shows an example of a gradient of brightness and a pixel space. It is a flow chart which shows a flow of processing of a 2nd embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the imaging device which concerns on 3rd Embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the configurations described in each of the following embodiments are merely examples, and the scope of the present invention is not limited by the configurations described in each of the embodiments.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the image pickup apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment. The image pickup apparatus 100 includes a photographing unit 101, an auxiliary storage device 102, an illumination unit 103, a control unit 104, a data communication unit 105, and a display unit 106. Hereinafter, the imaging device 100 will be described as being applied to a camera that performs public road monitoring. The imaging device 100 may be an unmanned public road surveillance camera. However, the imaging device 100 may be used for purposes other than public road monitoring. Further, although the image capturing apparatus 100 is described as performing moving image capturing, the image capturing apparatus 100 may perform still image capturing. When the imaging device 100 is applied to a camera that monitors public roads, the appearance of a vehicle, a vehicle number (license plate), or the like is assumed as a subject. For example, when the image capturing apparatus 100 performs public road monitoring in an environment with low illuminance (luminance) such as at night, an image obtained by the image capturing apparatus 100 capturing a subject with a headlight of a car using a halogen lamp as a light source Halation may occur. If the image is affected by the halation of the headlight, the visibility of the appearance of the car, the vehicle number, etc. is deteriorated, and it becomes difficult to determine the appearance, the vehicle number, etc. of the vehicle from the image. Hereinafter, an example in which the imaging apparatus 100 suppresses the occurrence of halation on an image by controlling the irradiation amount of illumination light having an infrared wavelength will be described. The image capturing apparatus 100 may be applied to an image capturing apparatus other than a camera that monitors public roads.

1 illustrates an example in which the imaging device 100 includes the illumination unit 103, the control unit 104, and the display unit 106, the illumination unit 103, the control unit 104, and the display unit 106 are separate from the imaging device 100. It may be provided as a device. For example, the lighting unit 103 may be an external lighting device connected to the imaging device 100. The display unit 106 may be an external display device that is connected to the data communication unit 105 of the image capturing apparatus 100 by wire or wirelessly. The control unit 104 may also be provided as an external device (for example, a personal computer or the like) separate from the imaging device 100. In this case, an external device (electronic device) having the function of the control unit 104 communicates with the imaging device 100 and performs various controls of the embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the image capturing unit 101. The image capturing unit 101 operates under the control of the control unit 104. The image capturing unit 101 includes a zoom lens 201, a focus lens 202, a diaphragm unit 203, an optical filter 204, an image sensor 205, an AGC 206, and an A/D converter 207. The image capturing unit 101 also includes a camera signal processing unit 208, a camera signal transmitting unit 209, a zoom driving unit 210, a focus driving unit 211, and an imaging control unit 212. In FIG. 2, an arrow indicated by a dotted line indicates light, and an arrow indicated by a solid line indicates a signal line. Incident light from the imaging target is incident on the imaging unit 101, and the imaging unit 101 outputs the incident light as a digital signal. The imaging control unit 212 controls the camera signal processing unit 208, the zoom drive unit 210, and the focus drive unit 211.

The zoom driving section 210 controls the optical enlargement/reduction of incident light by moving the zoom lens 201 back and forth on the imaging optical path. The focus drive section 211 moves the focus lens 202 back and forth on the image pickup optical path to perform focus control for incident light. The exposure amount of the light transmitted through the zoom lens 201 and the focus lens 202 is adjusted by the diaphragm unit 203. The light whose exposure amount has been adjusted by the diaphragm unit 203 passes through the optical filter 204. Then, the light transmitted through the optical filter 204 is captured by the image sensor 205. The optical filter 204 of this embodiment will be described as a visible light cut filter that cuts light in the visible light wavelength range. In this case, the light incident on the image sensor 205 is light having an infrared wavelength. However, the optical filter 204 is not limited to the visible light cut filter. For example, the optical filter 204 may be dummy glass that transmits light in all wavelength bands. Further, the optical filter 204 may be insertable into and removable from the imaging optical path. In this case, a predetermined insertion/removal mechanism controls insertion/removal of the optical filter 204 with respect to the imaging optical path. For example, the optical filter 204 may be an IR cut filter that cuts light having an infrared wavelength, and in this case, the insertion/removal mechanism removes the IR cut filter as the optical filter 204 from the imaging optical path.

The light imaged by the image pickup element 205 is converted into an analog signal and electrically amplified by an AGC (auto gain control) 206. The A/D converter 207 converts the amplified analog signal into a digital signal. The camera signal processing unit 208 performs development processing such as demosaicing on the digital signal output by the A/D converter 207. As a result, a digital image is formed. The camera signal transmission unit 209 transmits the formed digital image to the auxiliary storage device 102, an external device, or the like.

The auxiliary storage device 102 stores the above-described digital image, various evaluation values indicating the internal state of the photographing unit 101, a command from the control unit 104, and the like. The various evaluation values represent the states of the zoom lens 201, the focus lens 202, the diaphragm unit 203, and the optical filter 204. The information stored in the auxiliary storage device 102 may be stored in the RAM 112 of the control unit 104. The command from the control unit 104 includes image quality correction, detection processing for a subject, and the like. Here, the image quality correction is an image correction process for improving the image quality of the subject such as a process of changing the γ curve according to the state of the luminance histogram and a process of changing the saturation according to the estimated EV value. As the process of changing the γ curve, for example, a process of shifting the γ curve to the high brightness side when the brightness histogram is biased to the low brightness side at a predetermined ratio can be applied. As the process of changing the saturation according to the estimated EV value, a process of reducing the saturation when the estimated EV value is lower than a predetermined value can be applied. The EV value corresponds to a value serving as an index of brightness. On the other hand, the detection process is a process of detecting at least the halation phenomenon. The illumination unit 103 emits light under the control of the control unit 104 when the brightness of the shooting environment imaged by the shooting unit 101 is low illuminance (when the illuminance is equal to or lower than a predetermined illuminance) or when the control unit 104 detects halation. Increase the amount of light. Hereinafter, the illumination unit 103 will be described as irradiating infrared light.

The control unit 104 shown in FIG. 1 performs various controls. The control unit 104 has a CPU 111, a RAM 112 and a ROM 113. The function of the control unit 104 may be realized by expanding the control program stored in the ROM 1113 in the RAM 112 and executing the control program CPU 111 expanded in the RAM 112. In the present embodiment, the control unit 104 controls the irradiation light amount of the illumination unit 103 when the halation is detected by referring to the image data temporarily stored in the auxiliary storage device 102. Further, the control unit 104 evaluates the state of the photographing unit 101 and the image data temporarily stored in the auxiliary storage device 102 to estimate the EV value of the photographing environment, and according to the estimation result, the exposure amount of the photographing unit 101. To control. The control unit 104 also performs image quality correction on the image temporarily stored in the auxiliary storage device 102. The data communication unit 105 receives the image data output from the auxiliary storage device 102 as an input and transmits the input image data to the display unit 106. For example, when the display unit 106 is a device that is not built in the image pickup apparatus 100 and is installed outside the image pickup apparatus 100, the data communication unit 105 causes the auxiliary storage device 102 and the display unit 106 to perform It communicates by wire or wirelessly. The display unit 106 receives the image data output from the data communication unit 105 and displays the image data. Accordingly, the display unit 106 can present the image of the subject to the user. When the image data input to the display unit 106 is data compressed by the control unit 104, the display unit 106 performs decompression processing on the image data before displaying.

Next, the flow of processing according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. In the present embodiment, the illumination unit 103 emits infrared light to increase the illuminance of the shooting environment. As described above, when the image capturing apparatus 100 captures an image of a subject for monitoring public roads, the illumination unit 103 does not visually impose a load on the driver of the vehicle. Irradiate light of infrared wavelength. First, a visible light cut filter is installed as the optical filter 204 on the imaging optical path (S301). For example, when the imaging device 100 has a visible light cut filter insertion/removal mechanism, the insertion/removal mechanism inserts the visible light cut filter as the optical filter 204 into the imaging optical path. The visible light cut filter may be installed on the imaging optical path by any method. Since the visible light cut filter is installed on the image pickup optical path, the light incident on the image pickup element 205 becomes light having an infrared wavelength. As a result, even if halation occurs, the degree of influence of halation on image data is reduced.

The control unit 104 sets, as the first light amount, the illumination unit 103 with a sufficient amount of light that allows the imaging environment to be imaged with good brightness in an imaging environment in which halation does not occur, and irradiates the illumination unit 103. (S302). Under the control of the control unit 104, the photographing unit 101 measures the photographing scene by a predetermined photometric method (S303). The photometric method can be arbitrarily set by the user. The image capturing unit 101 sets the first shutter speed that provides the proper exposure (S304). In order to evaluate the intensity of halation described below, the control unit 104 estimates the EV value of the shooting environment based on the state of the exposure amount in the scene where halation does not occur and the brightness information of the acquired image data, The data is stored in the auxiliary storage device 102 (S305). In this embodiment, the brightness of the exposure and the brightness (illuminance) is defined based on the APEX (ADDITIVE SYSTEM OF PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE) system. For example, the difference between 1EV and 2EV regarding exposure corresponds to the difference in brightness for one step of exposure in the APEX system. Then, the control unit 104 determines whether halation has occurred (S306). If Yes is determined in S306, halation is detected. If the determination in S306 is No, halation is not detected.

The process of determining whether halation has occurred (the process of S306) will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The control unit 104 determines whether the estimated EV value is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value (S401). The predetermined threshold may be set arbitrarily. For example, the predetermined threshold value may be a value preset based on an empirical rule. Further, the predetermined threshold value may be a value regarding the amount of change from the estimated EV value in the image data acquired last time. For example, when the constant estimated EV value continues, the control unit 104 may set the constant estimated EV value to a predetermined threshold value.

When it is determined as Yes in S401, the control unit 104 determines whether or not the acquired image data has a brightness equal to or higher than the first brightness threshold value (S402). The first brightness threshold value is a threshold value for filtering a high brightness area such as blown-out highlights. The first brightness threshold may be set to any value. For example, the first brightness threshold may be any value obtained from a rule of thumb.

If Yes is determined in S402, there is a high-luminance region (first luminance region) in the image data, and thus halation may occur. In this case, the control unit 104 determines whether the second luminance area is distributed around the first luminance area (S403). The second brightness area is an area having a brightness equal to or higher than the second brightness threshold value lower than the first brightness threshold value. The brightness equal to or higher than the second brightness threshold indicates that the brightness is due to the charge leakage in the image sensor 205, which is imaged around the high brightness region in the halation phenomenon. That is, the second brightness threshold value is a brightness value indicating charge leakage due to halation. The brightness of the second brightness distribution is lower than the brightness of the first brightness distribution. When the second luminance region is distributed in the image data so as to be adjacent to the first luminance region, the determination in S403 is Yes. If Yes is determined in S403, there is a high possibility that halation is occurring, so the control unit 104 determines that halation is occurring (S404).

On the other hand, if No is determined in any of S401, S402, or S403, it is unlikely that halation has occurred. In this case, the control unit 104 determines that halation has not occurred (S405). As described above, whether halation has occurred is determined based on the brightness information of the image data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a brightness gradient and a pixel space. FIG. 5(A) shows the luminance gradient of the gradient extraction row in FIG. 5(B). FIG. 5B shows a pixel space of image data. As shown in FIG. 5A, the brightness near the center of the brightness gradient is equal to or higher than the first brightness threshold value. Therefore, Yes is determined in S402. Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the second brightness area is distributed in the vicinity of the first brightness area. Therefore, Yes is determined in S403. Therefore, if the estimated EV value is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold value, the control unit 104 determines that halation has occurred.

When it is determined that the halation has occurred by the above-described processing for determining whether the halation has occurred, it is determined as Yes in S306 of FIG. In this case, the control unit 104 refers to the previous image data (previous frame) temporarily stored in the auxiliary storage device 102. Then, the control unit 104 detects the motion area by comparing the immediately previous frame temporally different from the current frame (acquired image data) (S307). Then, the control unit 104 evaluates the intensity of halation (S308). The processes of S308 and S309 are processes of deriving a sufficient irradiation light amount (second light amount) to suppress halation. In the present embodiment, the control unit 104 evaluates the difference between the current estimated EV value and the estimated EV value stored in the past, as shown in the following mathematical expression (1).

In the above formula (1), “d _ev ”is a difference. “Ev” is the current estimated EV value. “Ev _pre ” is an estimated EV value in the past. The difference “d _ev ”is an index for evaluating the intensity of halation. The intensity of halation may be evaluated by a method other than the above method. For example, the intensity of halation may be evaluated based on the area ratio between the first luminance region and the second luminance region in FIG.

The control unit 104 derives a second light amount for suppressing halation according to the evaluated intensity of halation from the following mathematical expression (2) (S309).

In the above mathematical expression (2), “l ₂ ”is the second light amount for suppressing halation. “ _{M hal} ”is a mask parameter that means the result of halation determination, and takes a value of 0 or 1. “A” is an adjustment parameter adjusted according to the shooting scene and takes a value of 0 or more. “D _ev ”is a value of the intensity of the evaluated halation described above. “L _max ”is the maximum allowable irradiation light amount of the illumination unit 103. “L _def ”is the irradiation light amount of the illumination unit 103 when the halation is not determined, and corresponds to the first light amount. The control unit 104 sets the above-described second light amount “l ₂ ”to the illumination unit 103 and causes the illumination unit 103 to irradiate the second light amount “l ₂ ”infrared light (S310). The second light amount obtained by the above-described mathematical expression (2) is larger than the first light amount. Therefore, when it is determined that halation has occurred, the irradiation light amount from the illumination unit 103 increases.

The imaging control unit 212 of the image capturing unit 101 adjusts the exposure in conjunction with the irradiation of light from the illumination unit 103. The imaging control unit 212 limits the photometric region to the moving region detected in S307, and performs photometric control so that the subject is exposed appropriately (S311). In addition, the imaging control unit 212 controls the shutter speed to set the second shutter speed for achieving the proper exposure of the moving subject (S312). Image data in which halation is suppressed is acquired by the above processing. When it is determined to be Yes in S306, the amount of light emitted from the illumination unit 103 is increased by performing the processes of S307 to S312. On the other hand, if it is determined No in S306, it is determined that halation has not occurred, so the processes of S307 to S312 are not performed. As described above, in S311, control is performed so that photometry is performed so that the subject is exposed to light only in the moving area. However, when the moving area is no longer detected, a predetermined metering method is automatically set. May be done. The predetermined photometric method may be any of center-weighted, overall average, and spot metering. Further, the user can set an arbitrary photometric method from these photometric methods.

After the process of S312 or when the result of determination in S306 is No, the control unit 104 performs correction for improving the image quality of the image data (S313). This completes the processing of one frame of image data. The data communication unit 105 acquires the image data (current frame) temporarily stored in the auxiliary storage device 102 and transmits it to the display unit 106 (S314). The display unit 106 displays the current frame (S315). As a result, the current frame can be presented to the user.

For example, when a headlight of a car that uses a halogen lamp as a light source is reflected in an image obtained by the imaging device 100 capturing an object, the halogen lamp includes a large amount of light having an infrared wavelength, unlike an LED. , Image data is affected by halation. When the image data is affected by halation, the visibility of the area such as the appearance of the car or the vehicle number is reduced, not the area of the headlight where the halation is occurring. This makes it difficult for the user to determine the appearance, vehicle number, etc. of the vehicle from the image data displayed on the display unit 106. Therefore, when the control unit 104 determines that halation has occurred in S306, the control unit 104 increases the amount of infrared light emitted by the illumination unit 103 from the first amount of light to the second amount of light. As a result, even if halation occurs due to the image pickup apparatus 100 receiving a large amount of light having an infrared wavelength, the amount of infrared light emitted by the illumination unit 103 increases, so that the effect of halation occurs. Can be suppressed. Therefore, even if the halation influences when the image data is acquired, the visibility of the vehicle appearance, vehicle number, etc. of the image data displayed on the display unit 106 is improved. As described above, it is possible to suppress the influence of halation generated in the image, regardless of the type of light source. Further, when the occurrence of halation is not detected in S306, the light amount of infrared light does not increase. As a result, it is possible to reduce the power consumed for the irradiation of infrared light, as compared with the case where infrared light having a large amount of light is always irradiated.

Here, the brightness of the image data increases when halation occurs, but the average brightness of all or part of the image data is the same when halation occurs and when halation does not occur. There is also a possibility. In the first embodiment, the control unit 104 does not increase the irradiation light amount of infrared light by the illumination unit 103 simply based on the average luminance, but if the determination in S306 is Yes, the infrared light is not emitted. The irradiation light amount of is increased. That is, the control unit 104 increases the irradiation light amount of infrared light when it is determined Yes in S403 of FIG. In this respect, the following second and third embodiments are also the same.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment will be described. The configuration of the imaging device 100 of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. The control unit 104 of the image pickup apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment has a function of detecting a predetermined subject. The control unit 104 detects a predetermined subject from the image data and performs an emphasis process such as setting a frame in the detected region of the subject. The control unit 104 causes the display unit 106 to display image data in which a region of a predetermined subject is highlighted. As a result, it is possible to present the user with an image with high visibility of the subject. For example, when the imaging device 100 is applied to public road monitoring, it is assumed that the predetermined subject is the appearance of the vehicle, the vehicle number, the human body, the face, or the like. The predetermined subject is assumed to be a moving subject, but may be a still subject. When the image data captured by the image capturing apparatus 100 is affected by halation due to a vehicle headlight or the like, the visibility of a predetermined subject is reduced. The image capturing apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment performs control to detect a predetermined subject included in image data and highlight a region of the predetermined subject. This improves the convenience for the user.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the second embodiment. Since steps S601 to S612 are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof will be omitted. The control unit 104 refers to the previous image data (previous frame) temporarily stored in the auxiliary storage device 102. Then, the control unit 104 detects a motion vector by comparing the immediately preceding frame that is temporally different from the current frame (acquired image data) (S613). Any method can be applied to the motion vector detection method. For example, optical flow, block matching, or the like can be applied as a motion vector detection method. When these motion vector detection methods are applied, the control unit 104 divides the image data into small areas, searches for small areas having the same pixel value between the image data, and associates the small areas with each other. The distance and direction between the small areas are detected.

The control unit 104 assumes the magnitude of the motion vector from the motion vector obtained in S613 as the amount of blur in the imaging of the moving subject, and controls the third shutter to suppress the motion blur according to the magnitude of the motion vector. Derive the speed. Then, the control unit 104 sets the derived third shutter speed (S614). The third shutter speed can be derived by the following mathematical expression (3).

In the above formula (3), “S ₃ ”is the third shutter speed. “F _r ”is a frame rate when deriving the third shutter speed. “V” is the detected motion vector. “N” is an allowable parameter.

The control unit 104 derives the irradiation light amount (third light amount) from the illumination unit 103 with respect to the exposure amount changed due to the control of the shutter speed in S614. Since the shutter speed is set to the third shutter speed in S614, the exposure amount decreases. The third amount of light is such that the moving area is properly exposed again. Then, the control unit 104 sets the derived third light amount to the irradiation light amount of the illuminating unit 103, and controls the illuminating unit 103 to irradiate the infrared light with the third light amount (S615). Derivation of the third light amount is performed by the following mathematical expression (4).

In the above mathematical expression (4), “l ₃ ”is the third irradiation light amount for properly exposing a moving subject that has become dark due to a high shutter speed. “ _{M hal} ”is a mask parameter that means the result of halation determination, and takes a value of 0 or 1. “R” is an adjustment parameter in consideration of the reflectance of the subject, and takes a value of 0 or more. “D _ev ”is the difference in the exposure amount due to the change in the exposure amount. "L _pre "is the irradiation light amount immediately before. The permissible parameter “n” may be a value that is suitably set according to the shooting scene, or may be a preset value that is set without depending on the scene. “I _pre ”is the second light amount if the image data has halation, and the first light amount if the image data has no halation.

The control unit 104 performs suitable image quality correction on the image data in order to further improve the detection accuracy of the predetermined subject (S616). The control unit 104 detects a predetermined subject from the image data subjected to the image quality correction in S616 (S617). The control unit 104 adds the detection data to the current image data and controls the addition of the detection data to the display unit 106 via the data communication unit 105 from the auxiliary storage device 102 (S618). The detection data (hereinafter, referred to as label data) is data representing the imaging area of the detection target and what the detection target is (type of the detection target). For example, when the subject to be detected is a vehicle number, label data indicating the vehicle number is added to the image data as detection data. When the display unit 106 displays the image data, the control unit 104 controls the display of the frame of the imaging region of the detection target and also the control of displaying the label data. As a result, a frame is displayed on the display unit 106 in the region of the predetermined subject that is the detection target in the image, and the detected predetermined subject is highlighted. The display unit 106 also displays data indicating what the detected predetermined subject is. As a result, the user can visually recognize the subject of the image data more favorably.

<Third Embodiment>
Next, a third embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the image pickup apparatus 100 according to the third embodiment. The imaging device 700 of FIG. 7 has an external storage device 707, a timer 708, and an operation unit 709 in addition to the imaging device 100 of FIG. Other configurations of the image pickup apparatus 700 are similar to those of FIG. The control unit 704 has a function of detecting the predetermined subject described in the second embodiment. In addition to the label data indicating what the detected subject is, the control unit 704 stores time information indicating the time when the subject is detected in the external storage device 707 in association with the label data.

For example, when the image pickup device 700 is used for public road monitoring, the image data obtained by the image pickup device 700 can be used for inquiries and the like. In this case, the imaging device 700 performs control to store the image data obtained by imaging the subject in the external storage device 707. As a result, the image data can be retrieved from the external storage device 707 and the image data can be analyzed, which improves the convenience of the user. Here, when the image data stored in the external storage device 707 is analyzed, it may not be necessary to use all the data stored in the external storage device 707. The data necessary for analyzing the image data may be image data showing the detected subject, label data of the detected subject, time information when the image data was detected, or the like.

Therefore, the control unit 704 accesses the timer 708 via the data communication unit 705 when the subject is detected in S617 of FIG. Information on the current time is obtained from the timer 708. The control unit 704 stores the current time (the time when the subject is imaged) acquired from the timer 708 in the external storage device 707 in association with the image data and the label data obtained by the imaging. As a result, the external storage device 707 stores the image data, the label data, and the time information in association with each other. The imaging device 700 has an operation unit 709. When the user operates the operation unit 709 to search for image data from the image data stored in the external storage device 707, the user can specify time information and perform the search. This allows the user to easily search for desired image data.

The searched image data (image data regarding a predetermined subject) is displayed on the display unit 706. The user can also operate the operation unit 709 to send a command to the data communication unit 705. The data communication unit 705 inputs the received command to the control unit 704. This makes it possible to sequentially control the image capturing unit 701 and the illumination unit 703. Therefore, it is possible for the user to image under more preferable conditions. In the third embodiment, an example in which image data, label data, and time information are associated and stored in the external storage device 707 has been described, but the external storage device 707 corresponds to image data and time information. It may be attached and stored.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the gist thereof. The present invention supplies a program that implements one or more functions of each of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors of a computer of the system or apparatus execute the program. It can also be realized by a process of reading and executing. The present invention can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

100 image pickup apparatus 101 image pickup section 103 illumination section 104 control section 106 display section 204 optical filter 205 image pickup element 708 timer 709 operation section

Claims (15)

An image sensor that receives incident light including light of an infrared wavelength,
Based on the brightness information of the image data obtained from the image pickup device, when detecting the halation that occurs in the image data, a control unit that performs control to increase the irradiation light amount of infrared light that irradiates the subject,
An imaging device comprising: The imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the incident light is light in which visible light is cut by a visible light cut filter. The control means has a first luminance region equal to or higher than a first luminance threshold in the image data, and a second luminance region higher than a second luminance threshold lower than the first luminance threshold is the first luminance region. The case around the brightness area is detected as the state where the halation is occurring,
The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image pickup apparatus is provided. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the second brightness threshold value is a threshold value for determining a brightness region corresponding to charge leakage due to halation. The control means detects a moving area based on the image data, and controls the detected moving area to perform photometry.
The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image pickup apparatus is an image pickup apparatus. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the control unit performs control to set a second shutter speed such that exposure is matched with the movement region when the halation is detected. The control means, for the image data acquired when the irradiation light amount of the infrared light is increased, a process of changing the γ curve according to the state of the luminance histogram or a value serving as an index of brightness. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image pickup apparatus performs a process of changing saturation. The control means detects a motion vector based on the image data, changes the shutter speed to a third shutter speed according to the magnitude of the detected motion vector, and adjusts the infrared light so that the exposure matches the motion area. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the amount of irradiation light is controlled. 9. The image pickup according to claim 1, wherein the control unit detects a predetermined subject from the image data and applies enhancement processing to the detected predetermined subject. apparatus. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the control unit performs a process of displaying a frame for the region of the predetermined subject as the emphasis process. 11. The control device according to claim 9, wherein the control unit adds control data indicating the detected type of the predetermined subject to the image data, and controls to display the detection data together with the image data. The imaging device described. 12. The imaging device according to claim 9, wherein the control unit performs control to associate time information when the predetermined subject is detected with the image data and store the time information in the storage unit. apparatus. When communicating with an imaging device having an imaging device that receives incident light including light of an infrared wavelength, and detecting halation that occurs in the image data based on the brightness information of the image data obtained from the imaging device, the subject A control unit that controls to increase the amount of infrared light emitted to the
An electronic device comprising: A method of controlling an image pickup apparatus having an image pickup element that receives incident light including light of an infrared wavelength,
Based on the brightness information of the image data obtained from the image sensor, when detecting the halation that occurs in the image data, the step of performing a control to increase the irradiation light amount of infrared light irradiating the subject,
A method for controlling an imaging device, comprising: A computer-readable program for causing a computer to execute the method for controlling an imaging device according to claim 14.

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