JP4259960B2 - Imaging apparatus and information transmission system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging device having a function of assigning information to a specific subject, an imaging device having a function of acquiring information by photographing a subject to which information is assigned, and information using these imaging devices. The present invention relates to an information transmission system that transmits information.

  An imaging device having a function of assigning information such as subject information input by a photographer to a specific subject, and information can be transmitted between arbitrary members through photography using this imaging device. Information transmission systems have been proposed.

  As an imaging device as described above, the infrared light emitted from an infrared light transmitter attached to a specific subject is detected to identify the subject position, and information such as the position and name of the specific subject is identified. Is attached to a specific subject, and the light signal from the light emitter and the light signal of the subject image are combined. There has been proposed an apparatus that captures images at the same time and separates these two signals to obtain an image signal and a signal representing information (see Patent Document 2).

  In addition, as an information transmission system as described above, the position information of the subject is transmitted from the imaging device equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System) to the server, the database in the server is searched to identify the subject, There has been proposed one that transmits assigned information to an imaging apparatus (see Patent Document 3).

JP-A-9-74504 JP-A-11-298775 JP 2002-344792 A

  The imaging devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 have a problem in that since a light emitter must be attached to a subject, the target to which information is assigned is limited, and versatility is poor. Further, in the system described in Patent Document 3, since the accuracy of specifying the subject depends on the GPS performance, there is a possibility that the subject cannot be specified depending on the reception state of the satellite radio signal. It was.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus and an information transmission system that can assign information to an arbitrary subject within an imaging range accurately and easily.

  In order to achieve the above object, an imaging apparatus according to the present invention captures a scene including a specific subject and outputs a first image, and an optical signal including subject information attached to the subject. Comparing the first image and the second image, an optical signal generator for transmitting the light, a second imaging means for imaging the reflected light of the optical signal and outputting a second image, Irradiation position detecting means for detecting the irradiation position of the optical signal in the first image, and irradiation position adjusting means for changing the irradiation position so that the optical signal is irradiated to the subject. Features.

  Note that it is preferable to include display means for combining and displaying the index representing the irradiation position and the first image, and the display means is configured to display the subject information and the object information when the irradiation position matches the subject. Preferably, the first image and the first image are combined and displayed. It is preferable that an encoding unit for encoding the subject information is provided.

  The image pickup apparatus of the present invention picks up a first image pickup unit that picks up a scene including a specific subject and outputs a first image, and an optical signal in which subject information attached to the subject is encoded. The second imaging means for outputting the second image and the irradiation position detection for comparing the first image and the second image to detect the irradiation position of the optical signal in the first image Means, decoding means for decoding the light signal into the subject information, an indicator representing the irradiation position, and display means for combining and displaying the subject information with the first image. And The optical signal is preferably a flashing pattern of infrared light.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information transmission system including an information transmission imaging device that transmits subject information attached to a specific subject and an information reception imaging device that receives the subject information. The apparatus includes an optical signal generator that irradiates a subject with an optical signal including the subject information, and the information receiving imaging device captures a scene including a specific subject and outputs a first image. An imaging unit, a second imaging unit that captures the optical signal and outputs a second image, the first image and the second image are compared, and the light in the first image is compared. An irradiation position detecting means for detecting an irradiation position of a signal, a decoding means for decoding the optical signal into the subject information, an index representing the irradiation position, and the subject information are combined and displayed with the first image. First display means Characterized by comprising a.

  The information transmission imaging device includes a third imaging unit that captures a scene including the specific subject, a fourth imaging unit that captures reflected light of the optical signal, and the third and fourth An irradiation position detection unit that detects an irradiation position of the optical signal by comparing images captured by the imaging unit, and an irradiation position adjustment unit that changes the irradiation position so that the optical signal is irradiated to the subject. It is preferable to comprise. Furthermore, it is preferable that the imaging device for information transmission includes a second display unit that synthesizes and displays an index representing the irradiation position and an image obtained by the third imaging unit.

  According to the imaging apparatus and the information transmission system of the present invention, the first imaging means for imaging a scene including a specific subject and outputting the first image, and the optical signal including the subject information attached to the subject are transmitted. An optical signal generator, a second imaging unit that captures reflected light of the optical signal and outputs a second image, and the first image and the second image are compared with each other in the first image. An irradiation position detection unit that detects an irradiation position of the optical signal and an irradiation position adjustment unit that changes the irradiation position so that the optical signal is irradiated to the subject. A first imaging unit that assigns information to the image, captures a scene including a specific subject, and outputs a first image; and captures an optical signal in which subject information attached to the subject is encoded, Second imaging means for outputting the image of An irradiation position detecting means for comparing the first image with the second image to detect an irradiation position of the optical signal in the first image; a decoding means for decoding the optical signal into subject information; and an irradiation position. And a display means for compositing and displaying the subject information and the subject information, and the information is obtained by photographing the subject irradiated with the optical signal. Information can be assigned to an arbitrary subject.

  In FIG. 1, an information transmission system 2 to which the present invention is applied comprises a subject 10, an information transmission camera 11, and an information reception camera 12. This information transmission system 2 is configured to send information (information transmission camera 11 and subject 10 of a subject 10) to a specific subject 10 such as an amusement park attraction or a tourist attraction building by an information sending camera 11 owned by a service provider. The unique ID information, subject information related to the subject 10 and the like (see FIG. 6) are assigned, and the subject 10 is photographed by the information receiving camera 12 owned by a general user, thereby transmitting the information to the information receiving camera 12. Is.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the information transmission camera 11 includes a lens barrel 21 in which an imaging lens 20 is incorporated, a finder objective window 22 and a finder eyepiece window 23 that form an optical finder, and a strobe light emitting unit 24. Is provided. A grip portion 25, a mode dial 26, and a release button 27 are provided on the side surface and the top surface, and a memory card slot 29 in which a memory card 28 is detachably loaded is provided on the other side surface. In addition, an infrared light generator 30 that emits infrared light and an infrared light imaging sensor 31 that captures reflected light of the infrared light are incorporated below the finder objective window 22.

  A CCD image sensor (CCD) (not shown) is disposed behind the imaging lens 20, and these and the lens barrel 21 constitute an imaging unit 42 (see FIG. 4). An imaging signal from the CCD is converted into digital image data by an A / D converter 43 (see FIG. 4). This image data is displayed as a so-called through image on a liquid crystal display (LCD) 32 provided on the back of the information transmission camera 11. Further, the subject image is framed through the LCD 32 or the optical viewfinder.

  The release button 27 is a two-step push switch. When the release button 27 is lightly pressed (half-pressed) after framing by the LCD 32 or the optical viewfinder, exposure adjustment (AE) and focus adjustment (AF) of the imaging lens 20 are performed. Various shooting preparation processes are performed. When the release button 27 is pressed once more (fully pressed), the imaging signal for one screen subjected to the imaging preparation process is converted into image data, and then the frame memory 47 (see FIG. 4) or the memory card 28. To be recorded.

  On the back of the information transmission camera 11, in addition to the LCD 32, a power button for switching on / off the power, a zoom operation button for changing the zoom lens of the imaging lens 20 to the wide side and the tele side, and display on the LCD 32 An operation unit 33 including a cursor operation key for moving the cursor in the menu screen to be displayed and an input button for inputting information to be assigned to the subject 10 is provided.

  The information transmission camera 11 can select a still image shooting mode for shooting a still image, a moving image shooting mode for shooting a movie, a playback mode for displaying a shot image on the LCD 32, and a setup mode for performing various settings. . Switching between these modes is performed by rotating the mode dial 26.

  In FIG. 4 showing the electrical configuration of the information transmission camera 11, the CPU 40 controls each part of the information transmission camera 11 via a bus 41. The imaging unit 42 converts the optical subject image from the imaging lens 20 into an electrical imaging signal by the CCD. The imaging signal output from the imaging unit 42 is converted into digital image data by the A / D converter 43 and subjected to various signal processing such as contour enhancement, gamma correction, and white balance adjustment by the signal processing unit 44.

  The system memory 45 includes a ROM that stores various programs for performing a shooting sequence, and a RAM that temporarily stores various data necessary for executing the programs. The CPU 40 reads out programs and data stored in the system memory 45 via the bus 41 and controls each part of the information transmission camera 11 based on these. In addition, information input through the operation unit 33 is recorded in the system memory 45 as text data.

  The non-volatile memory 46 is composed of a rewritable storage medium such as an EEPROM, and records various setting information necessary for operating the information transmission camera 11. The various setting information is rewritten with new information when a new function is added. In the frame memory 47, image data for one frame subjected to image processing is written.

  The image compression / decompression circuit 48 performs compression processing on the image data written in the frame memory 47, for example, in the JPEG format. The compressed image data is recorded in the memory card 28 via the card I / F 49.

  The operation of the strobe device 50 is controlled by a strobe control circuit 51. In addition to the above, the information transmission camera 11 includes a timer 52, a calendar / clock circuit 53 for recording the shooting date and time, an I / O port 54 for exchanging input / output signals with the operation unit 33, and power to each unit. A power supply unit 55 for supplying power, an LCD driver 56 for controlling the drive of the LCD 32, and the like are provided.

  Information input by the operation unit 33 is encoded by the encoding circuit 57 according to a predetermined algorithm, and the encoded information is transmitted by the infrared light emitter 30 as an optical signal of a blinking pattern. An irradiation position adjustment circuit 58 is connected to the infrared light generator 30. The irradiation position adjustment circuit 58 sets the irradiation position so that infrared light is irradiated to a specified position on the subject 10 according to the detection result of the irradiation position of infrared light by the irradiation position detection circuit 59 described later. adjust. In addition, as a method for designating the irradiation position of the infrared light on the subject 10, the LCD 32 may be a touch panel type and may be performed by a user's finger input, or linked to the AF focus position when the release button 27 is half-pressed. You may let them.

  The infrared light imaging sensor 31 images infrared light emitted from the infrared light generator 30 and reflected by the subject 10, and transmits an imaging signal to the irradiation position detection circuit 59. As will be described later, the infrared light imaging sensor 31 is for detecting which part of the imaging range is irradiated with infrared light, so that its resolution is equivalent to the CCD of the imaging unit 42, It may be low. Further, the frame rate of the infrared light imaging sensor 31 may be lower than that of the CCD as long as the blinking pattern of the infrared light can be detected.

  The irradiation position detection circuit 59 detects the irradiation position of infrared light within the imaging range, and transmits the detection result to the CPU 40. The CPU 40 controls the irradiation position adjustment circuit 58 according to the detection result, and adjusts the irradiation position of the infrared light so as to coincide with the designated position on the subject 10. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the LCD driver 56 is controlled so that the pointer 70 indicating the irradiation position and the frame 71 (portion surrounded by the dotted line) indicating the position specified on the subject 10 are displayed on the LCD 32 together with the subject 10. Composite display. Note that the infrared light irradiation position is the center of the imaging range during the initial operation.

  In the information transmission camera 11, an automatic adjustment mode for automatically adjusting the irradiation position by operating the irradiation position adjustment circuit 58 and a manual adjustment mode for manually adjusting the irradiation position by disabling the irradiation position adjustment circuit 58 are selected. It is possible.

  When the irradiation position adjustment circuit 58 is controlled to adjust the irradiation position of the infrared light to the designated position on the subject 10, and the adjustment of the irradiation position is completed by fully pressing the release button 27, for example, as shown in FIG. In addition, the CPU 40 controls the LCD driver 56 again, and displays a window 72 (portion surrounded by a two-dot chain line) representing the contents of the assigned information on the LCD 32 together with the subject 10. Thereby, the content of the information allocated to the subject 10 can be confirmed.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the information receiving camera 12 is configured by removing the infrared light generator 30 and the irradiation position adjusting circuit 58 from the information transmitting camera 11. The information receiving camera 12 compares the image obtained from the CCD of the image capturing unit 42 with the image output from the infrared light imaging sensor 31 to identify the subject irradiated with infrared light. Then, the infrared light blinking pattern detected by the infrared light imaging sensor 31 is decoded by the decoding circuit 80 to acquire subject information. The subject information and the captured image are associated with each other, and the composition shown in FIG. The image is displayed on the LCD 32. When the release button 27 is fully pressed in this state, the composite image is recorded on the memory card 28.

  Next, the effect | action by the said embodiment is demonstrated with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 8 and FIG. First, the operation unit 33 of the information transmission camera 11 is operated to input information to be assigned to the subject 10, and then a shooting range is determined and a position on the subject 10 to which information is assigned is designated.

  In the encoding circuit 57, the information input from the operation unit 33 is encoded into an infrared light signal, and the encoded light signal is transmitted from the infrared light generator 30 as a blinking pattern. Then, reflected light of the optical signal is imaged by the infrared imaging sensor 31, and the irradiation position of the infrared light is detected by the irradiation position detection circuit 59 based on this imaging signal.

  At this time, the LCD driver 56 is controlled by the CPU 40, and the pointer 70 indicating the irradiation position and the frame 71 indicating the position designated on the subject 10 are combined and displayed on the LCD 32 together with the subject 10. Further, the irradiation position adjustment circuit 58 is controlled or manually adjusted so that the irradiation position of the infrared light coincides with the designated position on the subject 10.

  When the irradiation position of the infrared light matches the designated position on the subject 10 and the adjustment of the irradiation position is completed by pressing the release button 27 fully or the like, the CPU 40 controls the LCD driver 56 again and assigns it. A window 72 representing the content of the information is displayed on the LCD 32 together with the subject 10. Thereby, information is assigned to the subject 10.

  In FIG. 9, on the information receiving camera 12 side, the infrared light imaging sensor 31 detects the infrared light emitted from the infrared light generator 30 of the information transmitting camera 11 and reflected by the subject 10. The image captured by the infrared light image sensor 31 is compared with the image obtained by the CCD, and the subject 10 irradiated with the infrared light is specified. Then, the blinking pattern of the infrared light is decoded into subject information by the decoding circuit 80, and the composite image shown in FIG. With such a configuration, information can be pinpointed to a specified position on the subject 10.

  In the above-described embodiment, information is input through the operation unit 33. However, a microphone may be built in the information transmission camera 11 and information may be input by voice. Further, as a mechanism for adjusting the irradiation position of the infrared light, the infrared light generator 30 may be configured to freely swing, and the infrared light generator 30 may be mechanically moved, or an optical device such as a mirror. A typical technique may be used.

  The irradiation position irradiated by the infrared light generator 30 is not limited to one position in one scene, and a plurality of positions may be provided. In this case, information can be assigned to a plurality of subjects within the shooting range or a plurality of locations in the same subject. Further, the infrared light generator 30 may be separated from the information transmission camera 11 and separated. In this way, the irradiation position must be adjusted manually, but the irradiation position adjustment circuit 58 can be omitted, and the configuration of the information receiving camera 12 can be made substantially the same.

  It should be noted that a server having a function of generating the composite image shown in FIG. 6 is prepared by analyzing the imaging signal output from the infrared imaging sensor 31, and the image captured by the user on the server and the infrared light are prepared. The image pickup signal output from the image sensor 31 may be transferred, a composite image may be created by the server, and the composite image may be returned from the server to the camera. In this case, it is not necessary to have a function of decoding information, and the burden of hardware design can be reduced.

  In addition, information included in the blinking pattern of infrared light is limited to ID information unique to the information transmission camera 11 and the subject 10, and the subject information is associated with the ID information to transmit information via wireless communication or a server. The information may be transmitted from the camera 11 to the information receiving camera 12. In the information receiving camera 12, the ID information of the subject 10 is decoded from the information included in the infrared light, and the subject information associated with the ID information is acquired. In this way, subject information related to each subject can be freely added / updated on both the transmission side and the reception side.

  When a moving object is targeted as a subject to which information is assigned, for example, after manually setting data by aligning an infrared light irradiation position with a designated position on the subject, an image at the designated position is cut out. Information is allocated by temporarily storing it in the frame memory 47 and automatically tracking the movement of the moving body for each moving image frame using a known local pattern matching technique.

  Further, the image stored in the memory card 28 in the information receiving camera 12 may be searched using the acquired information, for example, the keyword in the ID information or the subject information. The information transmission system of the present invention may be applied to special shooting such as stereo shooting and panoramic shooting. In this case, one camera is made to function as an information transmission camera, an infrared light irradiation position is set with this camera, and AE, AF, and an imaging range are determined. The AE, AF, and shooting range parameters are transmitted to other cameras as infrared light information. The information is combined and displayed together with the subject on the LCD 32 of the camera to which the information is transmitted. The user manually adjusts the shooting range so as to match this information and performs shooting. In this way, the irradiation position of the infrared light can be accurately determined, and the shooting range and the like can be adjusted smoothly, so that more advanced special shooting can be easily performed.

  In addition to the blinking pattern of the above embodiment, the light intensity may be divided into a plurality of stages and emitted as an optical signal including subject information. In this case, for example, if the intensity is divided into four levels and light is emitted, information of 4 bits can be transmitted at one timing. In addition, a plurality of wavelength lights may be emitted at the same time.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the information transmission system to which this invention is applied. It is a front external appearance perspective view of the information transmission camera. It is a back external appearance perspective view of the information transmission camera. It is a block diagram which shows the electrical structure of the camera for information transmission. It is explanatory drawing which shows a mode that the pointer showing the irradiation position and the frame showing the position designated on the subject were combined and displayed on the LCD together with the subject. It is explanatory drawing which shows a mode that the window showing the content of information was synthesize | combined and displayed on LCD with the to-be-photographed object. It is a block diagram which shows the electrical structure of the camera for information reception. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the camera for information transmission. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the camera for information reception.

Explanation of symbols

2 Information Transmission System 10 Subject 11 Information Transmitting Camera 12 Information Receiving Camera 20 Imaging Lens 27 Release Button 28 Memory Card 30 Infrared Light Generator 31 Infrared Light Imaging Sensor 32 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
33 Operation unit 40 CPU
42 Imaging Unit 44 Signal Processing Unit 57 Coding Circuit 58 Irradiation Position Adjustment Circuit 59 Irradiation Position Detection Circuit 70 Pointer 71 Frame 72 Window 80 Decoding Circuit

Claims (9)

First imaging means for imaging a scene including a specific subject and outputting a first image;
An optical signal generator for transmitting an optical signal including subject information attached to the subject;
Second imaging means for imaging reflected light of the optical signal and outputting a second image;
An irradiation position detecting means for comparing the first image with the second image and detecting an irradiation position of the optical signal in the first image;
An imaging apparatus comprising: an irradiation position adjusting unit that changes the irradiation position so that the optical signal is irradiated to the subject.   The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for combining and displaying an index representing the irradiation position and the first image.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the display unit compositely displays the subject information and the first image when the irradiation position coincides with the subject.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an encoding unit that encodes the subject information. First imaging means for imaging a scene including a specific subject and outputting a first image;
Second imaging means for imaging a light signal encoded with subject information attached to the subject and outputting a second image;
An irradiation position detecting means for comparing the first image with the second image and detecting an irradiation position of the optical signal in the first image;
Decoding means for decoding the optical signal into the subject information;
An imaging apparatus comprising: an indicator representing the irradiation position; and display means for combining and displaying the subject information with the first image.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical signal is a blinking pattern of infrared light. In an information transmission system including an information transmission imaging device that transmits subject information attached to a specific subject, and an information reception imaging device that receives the subject information,
The information transmission imaging device includes an optical signal generator that irradiates a subject with an optical signal including the subject information,
The information receiving imaging device includes: a first imaging unit that images a scene including a specific subject and outputs a first image;
Second imaging means for imaging the optical signal and outputting a second image;
An irradiation position detecting means for comparing the first image with the second image and detecting an irradiation position of the optical signal in the first image;
Decoding means for decoding the optical signal into the subject information;
An information transmission system comprising: an indicator representing the irradiation position; and first display means for combining and displaying the subject information with the first image. The information transmission imaging device includes: a third imaging unit that captures a scene including the specific subject;
A fourth imaging means for imaging reflected light of the optical signal;
An irradiation position detecting means for detecting an irradiation position of the optical signal by comparing the images picked up by the third and fourth imaging means;
The information transmission system according to claim 7, further comprising an irradiation position adjustment unit that changes the irradiation position so that the optical signal is irradiated to the subject.   9. The information transmission imaging apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising: a second display unit that synthesizes and displays an index representing the irradiation position and an image obtained by the third imaging unit. Information transmission system.

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