JP5532214B2 - Camera phone - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera-equipped mobile phone, a photographing apparatus, and a photographing method.

  In recent years, with the miniaturization of digital cameras, mobile phones with built-in cameras have become common. In addition, the functions of the camera have become diverse, and it has become possible to handle various shooting conditions.

  Here, many of the shooting conditions set when shooting with the camera return to the initial setting by turning off the camera, so that the shooting conditions need to be set again at the next shooting.

  In addition, since an operation for setting shooting conditions occurs for each shooting situation, the user of the camera feels bothered.

  Therefore, a technique has been proposed that eliminates the complexity of setting the shooting conditions of the camera.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a recommended shooting mode suitable for shooting for each time zone is displayed on the setting screen in accordance with the time zone (morning, noon, evening) of the camera's internal clock, and the recommended shooting mode is selected by the user. The technique to make is disclosed (patent document 1).

  Patent Document 2 discloses a technique that makes it easy to select frequently used conditions by rearranging the display order of shooting conditions on the setting screen in accordance with the frequency of use of the shooting conditions (patent). Reference 2).

JP 2006-238076 A JP 2008-089669 A

  However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that the recommended shooting mode is not necessarily the optimum shooting mode depending on the shooting environment, season, and weather because the recommended shooting mode is fixed in accordance with the time zone. .

  The technique described in Patent Document 2 is effective when the user always performs shooting under specific shooting conditions. However, when shooting is repeated under various shooting conditions, there are no conditions for frequent use in the first place. Therefore, there is a problem that the operation is less effective and the operation becomes more complicated and inconvenient than the conventional one when the shooting condition is used less frequently.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a camera-equipped mobile phone that eliminates the complexity of setting camera shooting conditions.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the first aspect of the present invention is to generate a photo mode having a combination of a camera, a shooting condition selected by the user, and store the photo mode, and the photo mode selected by the user. A camera-equipped mobile phone comprising: setting means for setting shooting conditions of the camera based on the camera.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided storage means for generating and storing a photo mode having a combination of shooting conditions selected by a user, and setting means for setting shooting conditions based on the photo mode selected by the user. It is an imaging device characterized by having.

  A third aspect of the present invention is a photographing method using the camera-equipped mobile phone described in the first aspect.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the mobile telephone with a camera which eliminated the complexity of the setting of the imaging condition of a camera can be provided.

1 is a front view showing a mobile phone 11. FIG. It is a reverse view of FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a mobile phone 11. FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a part related to shooting in the hardware configuration of the mobile phone 11. It is a figure which shows the structure of ROM14 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the flash ROM17 of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the photo mode database 103 of FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an outline of the operation of the mobile phone 11 in the present embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing an outline of the operation of the mobile phone 11 in the present embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S41 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S42 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S43 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S44 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S45 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S45 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S45 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S45 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S45 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S45 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S45 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S45 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S45 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S45 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S48 of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the display method of the photo mode 103a. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S64 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part 20 in S66 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example at the time of displaying the standby screen 200 on the display part 20. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing details of FIG. 9.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

  First, the external structure of the mobile phone 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. Here, a mobile phone with a camera is illustrated as the mobile phone 11.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the mobile phone 11 has a box-shaped main body 11a.

  On the surface of the main body 11a, there are an input unit 18 having a numeric keypad used for inputting a telephone number, a function key used for photographing described later, a display unit 20 such as a liquid crystal for displaying various setting screens described later, and a telephone call. A microphone 21a and a speaker 21b to be used are provided.

  Further, the mobile phone 11 has a camera 15, and as shown in FIG. 2, a lens 15 a, a flash 15 b, and a light 15 c constituting the camera 15 are provided on the back side of the surface provided with the input unit 18. Exposed.

  Next, the hardware configuration of the mobile phone 11 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the mobile phone 11 includes a CPU 12 (Central Processing Unit) for driving and controlling each device, a flash ROM 17 for storing a photo mode 103a described later, a microphone 21a, and a speaker 21b having the speaker 21b. The display control unit 19 which is a control circuit for controlling the display of the display unit 20, the ROM 14 (Read Only Memory) storing fixed data such as various programs described later, and the CPU 12 temporarily execute various programs. The RAM 16 (Random Access Memory) for storing necessary data, the camera 15, the input unit 18, and the display unit 20 described above are connected to each other via a bus 13.

Note that the ROM 14, RAM 16, and flash ROM 17 constitute the storage unit 22,
In the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 3, if only the part related to photographing is described, the configuration as shown in FIG. 4 is obtained.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the ROM 14 stores a call program 101 for calling and a shooting program 102 for shooting.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the flash ROM 17 stores a photo mode database 103.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the photo mode database 103 is a database of a photo mode 103a having a combination of shooting conditions 103c of the camera 15.

  Specifically, each photo mode 103a has a photo mode name 103b and a shooting condition 103c of the camera 15 for each photo mode 103a.

  Examples of the shooting conditions 103c of the camera 15 include “brightness”, “white balance”, “light”, “flash”, “magnification”, and “shooting mode” as shown in FIG. 7, but are not limited thereto. .

  Further, as will be described in detail later, each photo mode 103a has a camera activation program 103d for activating the camera function of the mobile phone 11, that is, for activating the photographing program 102.

  Next, an outline of the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  Here, the process of generating the photo mode 103a and the process of setting the shooting conditions of the camera 15 based on the generated photo mode 103a will be described separately in FIGS.

  First, the process of generating the photo mode 103a will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the following steps, the mobile phone 11 will be described on the assumption that the call program 101 has already been activated and is in a so-called standby state.

  First, the CPU 12 starts the shooting program 102 stored in the ROM 14 in response to a user request, and causes the user to select shooting conditions based on the shooting program 102 (S1 in FIG. 8).

  Next, the CPU 12 generates one photo mode 103a by combining the selected shooting conditions (S2 in FIG. 8).

  Next, the CPU 12 stores the generated photo mode 103a in the photo mode database 103 of the flash ROM 17 (S3 in FIG. 8).

  The above is the process of generating the photo mode 103a.

  Next, the process of setting the shooting conditions of the camera 15 based on the generated photo mode 103a will be described.

  First, the CPU 12 first causes the user to select one photo mode 103a (S4 in FIG. 9).

  Next, the CPU 12 reads out the photo mode 103a selected by the user from the photo mode database 103, and activates the camera 15 with the shooting conditions of the read photo mode 103a as initial settings (S5 in FIG. 9).

  The above is the outline of the operation of the present embodiment.

  Next, details of the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, the process of generating the photo mode 103a will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS.

  First, when the user of the mobile phone 11 turns on the power of the mobile phone 11, the CPU 12 activates the call program 101 stored in the ROM 14.

  When the call program 101 is activated, the CPU 12 puts the mobile phone 11 in a so-called standby state, and displays a standby screen 200 as shown in FIG. 11 on the display unit 20 via the display control unit 19 (S41 in FIG. 10). This state is a state waiting for an incoming call or mail, and a state where the mobile phone 11 (CPU 12) is waiting for the user to press a main menu key which is one of the input units 18. It is.

  Next, when the main menu key of the input unit 18 is pressed, the CPU 12 displays the main menu 201 shown in FIG. 12 on the display unit 20 (S42 in FIG. 10).

  Next, when the camera menu in the main menu 201 is selected, the CPU 12 displays the camera menu screen 203 shown in FIG. 13 on the display unit 20 (S43 in FIG. 10).

  Next, when the camera photographing function in the camera menu screen 203 is selected, the CPU 12 activates the photographing program 102 stored in the ROM 14 and displays a camera activation screen 205 as shown in FIG. S44 of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 14, a shooting icon 51 and a function icon 52 are displayed on the camera activation screen 205. In addition, a scene (not shown) captured by the lens 15 a is displayed on the camera activation screen 205, and shooting can be performed by selecting the shooting icon 51.

  Next, when the function icon 52 is selected on the camera activation screen 205, the CPU 12 displays a function menu 207 as shown in FIG. 15, and when “camera adjustment” is selected by the user from the function menu 207, FIG. Is displayed, and the user is allowed to set shooting conditions (S45 in FIG. 10).

  Here, S45 will be described with an example.

  For example, when setting conditions for shooting a landscape in a bright place, the user selects conditions suitable for shooting a landscape in a bright place from the camera adjustment screen 211 shown in FIG.

  Specifically, the cursor 53 is set to “brightness adjustment” on the camera adjustment screen 211 shown in FIG. 16 and the selection icon 57 is selected to display the brightness adjustment screen 213 shown in FIG. The brightness at the time of shooting is set by selecting the selection icon 57 in accordance with “1”.

  In addition, when returning to the camera adjustment screen 211, the close icon 58 is selected.

  Also, on the camera adjustment screen 211 shown in FIG. 16, the cursor 53 is set to “white balance setting” and the selection icon 57 is selected to display the white balance setting screen 215 shown in FIG. 18, and the cursor 53 is set to “clear sky”. By selecting the selection icon 57, the white balance at the time of shooting is set.

  Further, here, it is assumed that the light is set to “off”, the flash is set to “OFF”, the magnification is set to “1”, and the shooting mode is set to “landscape” by the same operation.

  Here, when setting conditions for shooting a landscape in a dark place, as shown in FIGS. 19, 20, and 21, the light is turned on in the light adjustment screen 217, and the flash adjustment screen is displayed. The flash is set to “ON” at 219, the brightness is set to “+2” on the brightness adjustment screen 213, and other conditions are set as appropriate.

  Also, when setting conditions for photographing a nearby landscape, for example, as shown in FIG. 22, whether zoom is set to “3 times (maximum)” on the zoom magnification adjustment screen 223 and other conditions are set appropriately. 23, the zoom is set to “1 × (minimum)” on the zoom magnification adjustment screen 223, and the shooting mode is set to “close-up” on the shooting mode adjustment screen 225 as shown in FIG. Is set appropriately or any one of the operations.

  Next, when the user selects the function menu 207 shown in FIG. 15 (S46 in FIG. 10) and selects “Save Shooting Conditions” from the function menu 207 (S50 in FIG. 10), the CPU 12 is set in S45. A new photo mode 103a is generated by combining the shooting conditions and stored in the photo mode database 103 of the flash ROM 17 (S51 in FIG. 10). At this time, the photo mode name 103b of the photo mode 103a may be input in accordance with a user operation.

  Here, when the photo mode 103a is generated, the CPU 12 incorporates the camera activation program 103d in addition to the combination of shooting conditions in the photo mode 103a (see FIG. 7).

  That is, storing the combination of shooting conditions as the photo mode 103a means that a “camera activation system” having the stored combination of shooting conditions as an initial setting is newly constructed.

  Next, when the user performs an operation to end the camera function, the CPU 12 ends the camera function (S52 in FIG. 10). If the camera function is not terminated and the shooting conditions are not set, other processing (for example, shooting) is performed in response to a user request (S54 in FIG. 10).

  On the other hand, when the user tries to end the camera function without storing the shooting conditions (S47 in FIG. 10), the CPU 12 makes an inquiry screen 204 for inquiring the user “Do you want to save the shooting conditions?” As shown in FIG. Is displayed (S48 in FIG. 10).

  When the YES icon 204a is selected here (S49 in FIG. 10), the CPU 12 generates a new photo mode 103a by combining the shooting conditions set in S45, and stores it in the photo mode database 103 of the flash ROM 17. At this time, the camera start program 103d is incorporated in the photo mode 103a in addition to the combination of shooting conditions.

  When the saving of the photo mode 103a ends, the CPU 12 ends the shooting program 102 and returns to the standby state again.

  When the NO icon 204b is selected in S49, the CPU 12 ends the shooting program 102 without generating the photo mode 103a, and returns to the standby state.

  In order to store a plurality of shooting conditions (a plurality of photo modes 103a are generated and stored), each time a shooting condition to be stored is selected (S45), “shooting condition” is selected from the function menu 207 during camera activation in S50. Either “Save” or “Repeat the operation of saving the shooting conditions at the end of the camera function in S49” may be performed.

  In this way, the photo mode 103a is generated and stored in the photo mode database 103 shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 7, “photo mode A” is a combination of conditions when photographing a landscape in a bright place as described above, and “photo mode B” is a combination of conditions when photographing a landscape in a dark place as described above.

  “Photo mode C” and “Photo mode D” are combinations of conditions for photographing the above-mentioned nearby object.

  Next, a process of setting the shooting conditions of the camera 15 based on the generated photo mode 103a will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, in order to set the shooting conditions of the camera 15 based on the generated photo mode 103a, it is necessary to make the photo mode 103a selectable by the user, and the method is described with reference to FIGS. I will explain.

  First, when the main menu key is pressed while the mobile phone 11 is in a standby state (see FIG. 11) (S61 in FIG. 26), the CPU 12 displays the main menu 201 (see FIG. 12) on the display unit 20. (S62 in FIG. 26).

  Next, when “camera menu” in the main menu 201 is selected, the CPU 12 displays the camera menu screen 203 (see FIG. 13) on the display unit 20 (S63 in FIG. 26).

  Next, when “My Photo Mode” in the camera menu screen 203 is selected, the CPU 12 displays the My Photo mode menu 301 shown in FIG. 27 on the display unit 20 (S64 in FIG. 26).

  In FIG. 27, “Photo mode A”, “Photo mode B”, “Photo mode C”, and “Photo mode D”, which are the photo mode names 103b of the four photo modes 103a shown in FIG. Has been.

  Here, when a specific photo mode 103a (photo mode A in FIG. 27) is selected from the my photo mode menu 301, specifically, the photo mode that the user of the mobile phone 11 wants to paste on the standby screen 200 When the cursor 53 is moved to 103a and the function key is pressed (S65 in FIG. 26), the CPU 12 displays the function menu 303 on the display unit 20 as shown in FIG. 28 (S66).

  When “Desktop paste” in the function menu 303 is selected (S67 in FIG. 26), the CPU 12 pastes the photo mode 103a of the selected shooting condition on the standby screen 200 (S68 in FIG. 26).

  This state is shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 29, the photo mode 103a (photo mode A, photo mode B, photo mode C) selected by the user is pasted (displayed) on the standby screen 200 as icons 80, 81, and 82.

  Next, a method for setting the shooting conditions of the camera 15 based on the generated photo mode 103a will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the standby screen 200 (S71 in FIG. 30), when the user selects any of the icons 80, 81, and 82, that is, when one photo mode 103a is selected (S72 in FIG. 30), the CPU 12 is selected. The photo mode 103a corresponding to the selected icon is read from the photo mode database 103 (S73 in FIG. 30).

  Next, the CPU 12 uses the camera activation program 103d included in the selected photo mode 103a to activate the camera function with the combination of the shooting conditions constituting the selected photo mode 103a as an initial setting (S74 in FIG. 30). . That is, the photographing program 102 is activated to display the camera activation screen 205 shown in FIG. 14, and the camera 15 can be used.

  In this state, the user can perform shooting based on a combination of shooting conditions constituting the photo mode 103a.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, the mobile phone 11 having the camera 15 has the photo mode 103a having a combination of shooting conditions selected by the user, and uses the photo mode 103a for shooting. As a result, it is possible to perform shooting based on a combination of shooting conditions selected in advance by the user.

  For this reason, it is not necessary to set conditions every time shooting is performed, and the complexity of setting the shooting conditions of the camera 15 can be eliminated.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the photo mode 103a itself has a camera activation capability (camera activation program 103d), and when the icon corresponding to the photo mode 103a is selected on the standby screen 200, the CPU 12 activates the camera. Using the program 103d, the camera 15 is activated with a combination of photographing conditions constituting the photo mode 103a as an initial setting.

  Therefore, the operation for starting the camera 15 and the operation for setting the shooting conditions can be performed simply by selecting an icon corresponding to the photo mode 103a, and the shooting operation can be simplified.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the mobile phone 11 that is a mobile phone with a camera has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and all devices having a photographing function are used. Applicable to.

11 ………… Mobile phone 11a ………… Main body 12 ………… CPU
13 ………… Bus 14 ………… ROM
15 ………… Camera 15a ……… Lens 15b ……… Flash 15c ……… Light 16 ………… RAM
17 ………… Flash ROM
18 ………… Input unit 19 ………… Display control unit 20 ………… Display unit 21 ………… Telephone unit 21a ………… Microphone 21b ………… Speaker 22 ………… Storage unit 51 ………… ... Shooting icon 52 ………… Function icon 53 ………… Cursor 57 ………… Selection icon 58 ………… Closed icon 80 ………… Icon 81 ………… Icon 82 ………… Icon 101… …… Calling program 102 ……… Shooting program 103 ……… Photo mode database 103a …… Photo mode 103b …… Photo mode name 103c …… Shooting conditions 103d …… Camera activation program 200 ……… Standby screen 201 ……… Main Menu 203 ……… Camera menu screen 205 ……… Camera start screen 204 ……… Inquiry screen 204a …… YES 204b …… NO icon 207 ……… Function menu 211 ... …… Camera adjustment screen 213 ……… Brightness adjustment screen 215 ……… White balance setting screen 217 ……… Light adjustment screen 219 ……… Flash adjustment screen 223 ……… Zoom magnification adjustment screen 225 ……… Shooting mode adjustment screen 301 ……… My photo mode menu 303 ……… Function menu

Claims (4)

A camera,
Storage means for generating and storing a photo mode having a combination of shooting conditions selected by the user;
Setting means for setting shooting conditions of the camera based on the photo mode selected by the user;
First selection means for allowing a user to select a plurality of the photographing conditions;
A second selection means for allowing the user to select one of the photo modes;
Activation means for enabling the camera;
Have
The storage means is means for generating and storing individual photo modes by combining a plurality of combinations of the photographing conditions selected by the user using the first selection means and the activation means,
The setting means is means for making the camera usable by using the activation means, with the shooting conditions of the photo mode selected by the user using the second selection means as initial settings. Mobile phone with camera. Having a display,
The first selection means includes
Means for displaying a plurality of the photographing conditions on the display unit and selecting one photographing condition;
The second selection means includes
The camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1 , wherein the camera-equipped mobile phone is configured to display a plurality of the photo modes on the display unit and to select one photo mode. Display means for displaying a call waiting screen on the display unit;
3. The camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 2 , wherein the second selection unit is a unit that displays a plurality of the photo modes as icons on the standby screen and selects the icons. 4. The camera according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the shooting condition includes at least one of brightness, white balance, color tone, light, flash, zoom magnification, and shooting mode. Mobile phone.

Images