JPH10108045A - Video photographing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To actively reduce hand shakes and to perform a photographing operation at a fixed speed by making a photographer visually recognize the degree of the hand jittering and the correction width of the hand shake. SOLUTION: Video images photographed in a video photographing part 12 are converted from analog video signals into digital video signals in an A/D converter 14 and written in a field memory 16. At the some time, in a motion detecting part 18, the general motion vector of images generated between fields is obtained. Further, in a motion judgement part 20, whether the general motion vector is the one due to the movement of a camera or the one by the hand jittering is judged. By using the general motion vector outputted from the motion detecting part 18 and a judged result in the motion judgement part 20, the operation supporting means of photographing is decided in a photographing supporting arithmetic part 30. Corresponding to the arithmetic result of the photographing supporting arithmetic part 30, the images for which the hand jittering has been corrected are displayed at a video display part 24 and auxiliary information for supporting the photographing operation outputted from the photographing supporting arithmetic part 30 is superimposed on the video display part 24.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention particularly relates to a user interface in a video camera having a camera shake detecting device and a camera shake correcting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a method for detecting a camera shake component of a video camera is disclosed in Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. in 1989.
Presented at the 0th Image Engineering Conference. This method detects a camera shake component of a video camera from image information using a motion vector obtained by a representative point matching method as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-201581. In this method, four local motion vectors are obtained from one screen in four detection areas arranged on the screen. Then, for example, an arithmetic mean is obtained from the local motion vectors of the four detection areas, and the camera shake is corrected using the arithmetic average as a global motion vector of the screen.

[0003]

However, in a video camera having the above-described conventional camera shake detection device and camera shake correction device, since the photographer could not confirm the actual size of the camera shake and the correction width of the camera shake, the degree of camera shake was determined. There is a problem that the photographer cannot predict whether the correction will be made up to the maximum.
Further, in the conventional method, there is no reference to correction of unevenness in speed of a video image in a shooting operation such as panning.

An object of the present invention is to provide a camera shake display function that allows a photographer to visually recognize the degree of the actual camera shake and the correction range of the camera shake and to actively reduce the camera shake, and to perform a shooting operation at a constant speed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a video camera having a photographing support function that can be performed.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a video camera having a camera shake detection function and a camera shake correction function by displaying a camera shake correction width and a camera shake amount so that the camera shake can be actively provided to the photographer. A display unit or a display unit or a panning unit that assists the photographing operation so that the photographing operation can be performed by panning at a constant speed, or tilting, or moving in an arbitrary direction. This is achieved by providing a speed control support unit for the photographer to smoothly change the speed of tilting or movement in an arbitrary direction.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. An image photographed by the image photographing unit 12 is converted from an analog video signal into a digital video signal by an A / D converter 14,
Is written to. At the same time, a global motion vector (hereinafter simply referred to as a "global motion vector") of an image generated between fields is detected by a motion detecting unit 18 using a conventional technique as described in, for example, JP-A-7-23276. Is required. Further, the motion determining unit 20 determines whether the general motion vector is due to camera motion or camera shake. Using the global motion vector output from the motion detection unit 18 and the determination result of the motion determination unit 20, the imaging support operation unit 30 determines an operation support unit for imaging.

[0007] As shown in FIG. 2, the photographing support calculation unit 30 includes a camera shake correction support calculation unit 32 and a constant speed shooting support calculation unit 34. According to the calculation result of the photographing support calculation unit 30, an image in which camera shake has been corrected is displayed on the video display unit 24, and the shooting support calculation unit 30 is displayed on the video display unit 24.
The auxiliary information for assisting the shooting operation output from is displayed in a superimposed manner.

In the camera shake correction method, an image extraction area 28 having a smaller size than the original image 26 is first set on the original image 26 stored in the field memory 16 as shown in FIG. The image extraction area 28 can freely move on the original image 26, and an arbitrary image is extracted by controlling the reading position of the digital video signal.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the center of the original image 26 and the center of the image extraction area 28 are defined as origins 40 and 41, respectively, and the image extraction area 28 according to the global motion vector output from the photographing support calculation unit. To move.
By enlarging the digital video signal in the image extraction area 28 read from the field memory 16 by the electronic zoom circuit 17, an image in which camera shake has been corrected can be obtained. At this time, in FIG. 4, the original image 26 and the image extraction area 28
Are different in the correctable ranges 42 (r1) and 44
(R2). However, when a signal for interrupting camera shake correction is output from the photographing support calculation unit 30, the read start address is determined so that the original image 26 and the origin of the image extraction area 28 match.

Next, main operations of such a video photographing support apparatus will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S1, the apparatus is initialized. The initial state is set by resetting the camera shake integration vector S, that is, storing (0, 0) in S, and resetting the camera driving speed V0, that is, storing (0, 0) in V0. Next, in step S3, a motion vector V is obtained by the above-described conventional technique.
It is determined whether the motion vector V is due to camera shake or camera motion such as panning. Here, if it is due to camera shake, the process proceeds to step S7, and a shooting support method for reducing camera shake is determined. If it is based on the movement of the camera, the process proceeds to step S21, where shooting support information for performing constant-speed shooting is determined.

First, a method of deriving a photographing support method for actively reducing camera shake to the photographer will be described.

In step S7, the motion vector V is added to the camera shake integrated vector S. The camera shake integrated vector S is used to determine whether the camera shake can be corrected and to visualize the degree of the camera shake as described later. Step S
In step 9, it is determined from the values of the respective elements of the camera shake integrated vector S whether or not the camera shake can be corrected. That is, if the first element of S, that is, the absolute value of x is equal to or smaller than the horizontal correction width r1, and the second element of S, that is, the absolute value of y is equal to or smaller than the vertical correction width r2, image extraction is performed. Since the area 28 is included in the original image 26, camera shake can be corrected.

If the camera shake can be corrected, the process proceeds to step S11, and the photographing support display switch SW is turned on. Next, in step S13, a read start address ADR of the image extraction area 28 is set.

In step S15, when the value of the camera shake integrated vector S is (x, y) as shown in FIG. 6, the origin of the image extraction area 28 is set to the position of (-x, -y) of the original image 26. The image is extracted by moving the image extraction area 28 so as to overlap with the image and displayed on the video display unit 24. Further, in step S17, a camera shake correction area 46 corresponding to the camera shake correction width is displayed as shown in FIG. Here, k is a positive number, and is a value experimentally determined to improve the visibility of the rectangle representing the correction width.

Next, if the photographing support display switch is turned on in step S19, the degree of camera shake is displayed in step S21. That is, the camera shake indicator 48 is displayed at the position (kx, ky) in the coordinate system of the image extraction area 28 in FIG.

The camera shake indicator 48 indicates the magnitude and direction of the camera shake, and it is necessary to operate the video camera so that the camera shake indicator 48 does not protrude from the camera shake correction area 46 and is as close to the center of the camera shake correction area 46 as possible. Thus, shooting is continued without interruption of camera shake correction.

On the other hand, if the camera shake cannot be corrected in step S9, the process proceeds to step S23, and the photographing support display switch SW is turned off. Further, step S25
Resets the camera shake integrated vector S. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S13, step S15, and step S17. However, since the shooting support display switch is off from step 19, the camera shake indicator 48 is not displayed, and
The photographer is notified that the camera shake correction has been interrupted.

Next, using the flow chart of FIG. 8, when it is determined in step S5 of FIG. 5 that the camera is moving, shooting support information for shooting at a constant speed at the camera driving speed V0, and camera driving information A method for deriving the photographing support information for smoothly changing the speed V0 will be described.

First, in step S31, the motion vector V
Is determined by the motion determination unit 20 to be the motion start vector, the motion vector V is substituted for the camera drive speed V0. Next, a value obtained by subtracting the motion vector V detected in step S3 from the camera driving speed V0 in step S35 is defined as ΔV. Here, ΔV represents unevenness in speed when the photographer is moving the camera. Next, in step S37, the sum of ΔV and the integrated camera shake vector S is set to S ′. In step S39, the first element of S ', that is, the absolute value of x' is equal to or less than a predetermined value r1 'smaller than r1, and the second element of S', that is, the absolute value of y 'is r2
If it is smaller than the predetermined value r2 ', the process proceeds to step S41, and if not, the process proceeds to step S61.

In step S41, first, the photographing support display switch SW is turned on. Next, in step S43, S 'is set as the camera shake integrated vector S, and in step S45, the read start address ADR is set. In step S47, an image is displayed on the video display unit 24, and in step S49, a constant-speed shooting support area described later is superimposed and displayed on the video display unit 24. If the shooting support display switch is turned on in step S51, the camera shake indicator 48 is displayed on the video display unit 28 in a superimposed manner in step S53.

On the other hand, in step S61, it is determined whether the absolute value of x is equal to or smaller than r1 or whether the absolute value of y is equal to or smaller than r2. As a result, in step S63, the shooting support display switch is turned on, and in step S65, an operation for changing the camera driving speed is performed. That is, at this time, the average of V0 and V is newly calculated as the camera driving speed V
Set to 0. Next, in step S67, a shake integrated vector S is newly obtained. Thereafter, the image is displayed by the operation after step S41.

On the other hand, if the absolute value of x is greater than r1 or the absolute value of y is greater than r2, step S7
The photographing support display switch 1 is turned off. Next, in step S73, the motion vector V at this time is newly set as the camera driving speed V0. In step S75, the value of the camera shake integrated vector S is reset. Thereafter, step S4
The video is displayed by the operation after 1. However, since the photographing support display switch is off, the photographing support display is not displayed, and the photographer is made aware that correction has not been performed.

FIG. 9 shows the constant-speed photographing support area 80.
While the camera shake indicator 48 is within the area 81, the image is moving at the constant camera driving speed V0. Therefore, the photographer indicates that the camera shake indicator 48 is in the area 8
The camera may be moved so as to be displayed in the area 1. Areas 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, and 89 are speed control areas. For example, if the camera shake indicator 48 is displayed in the area 82 when the photographer is moving the camera, the magnitude of the camera driving speed V0 gradually increases. If the camera is operated such that the camera shake indicator 48 is displayed in the area 81 when the speed attained by the photographer is reached, the image moves and is displayed at a constant speed at that speed. Conversely, the shake indicator 48
Is within the region 86, the magnitude of the camera driving speed V0 gradually decreases, and finally a still image is obtained. Arrow 90 represents k2 times V0. k2 is a positive number experimentally determined to improve the visibility of the speed display. With this arrow, the photographer can recognize in which direction the corrected image is moving.

[0025]

According to the present invention, by displaying the correction range and the amount of the camera shake, the photographer can recognize the degree of the camera shake, and the camera shake indicator 48 is displayed in the correction width area. By moving the camera in such a manner as described above, there is an effect of actively reducing camera shake. Also, by displaying the speed correction width area and the speed adjustment area, panning, tilting, or moving in any direction, shooting at a constant speed,
Further, there is an effect that it is easy to smoothly change the speed. This can also be easily implemented by displaying the camera shake indicator 48 in any area.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a photographing support calculation unit according to the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of electronic zoom.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a camera shake correction range.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing main operations of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the principle of camera shake correction.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of a user interface for assisting in reducing camera shake.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a continuation of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of a user interface for supporting constant-speed shooting.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Video camera, 28 ... Image extraction area, 30 ... Photographing support calculation part, 32 ... Camera shake correction support calculation part, 34 ... Constant speed photography support calculation part, 46 ... Camera shake correction area, 80 ...
Constant-speed shooting support area.

Claims (3)

[Claims] An image photographing apparatus having a camera shake detection function and a camera shake correction function is provided with means for displaying a camera shake correction width and a camera shake amount, and assists a photographer in a photographing operation so as to actively reduce the camera shake. A video photographing device characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. A display for assisting a photographing operation in a video photographing apparatus having a camera shake detecting function and a camera shake correcting function, so that a photographer can perform photographing by panning, tilting, or moving in an arbitrary direction at a constant speed. A video photographing device comprising a unit. 3. The panning or tilting,
The image capturing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a speed control support function that allows the photographer to smoothly change the speed of movement in an arbitrary direction.