JPH11326563A - Time information-registering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily register time information by specifying image data at a watch part from image data being displayed on an image data display means, and setting time being indicated in time data that are recognized by a recognition means as the time of a built-in watch. SOLUTION: The image of a watch or the like is picked up by a digital still camera and the image data are displayed on a display part 3. In the image being displayed on the display part 3, and the outer-frame part of a watch is specified by a pen or the like on a touch panel 4. The image data at the specified watch part are stored in a watch image storage part 61 in a RAM 6. An analog/digital watch specification part 11 specifies whether the image data being stored in an image storage part 61 are analog or digital. An clock hand pattern extraction part 14 performs pattern matching, and a time information acquisition part 15 calculates time to obtain time information. In the case of a digital watch, a colon is searched from a row of numbers and time information is acquired from 2-character information before and after the colon.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus which uses time information and which can register time information using image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various methods have been developed for registering time information, such as adjusting the time of a built-in clock, for example.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-71013 discloses a method of incorporating accurate time data into a message sent from a center to a terminal device, and setting a clock time inside the terminal device based on the time data in the message. It has been disclosed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-236390 discloses a method in which a time display in a received television signal is pattern-recognized, and the time is set in a counting signal conversion circuit.
A method is disclosed in which the time is adjusted by resetting the second counting circuit of the counting signal conversion circuit at zero seconds. This uses the fact that the time display during television broadcasting is almost common in the display position on the screen, the display character pattern, and the display character size, and the arbitrary size is displayed at any display position in the image data. It does not correspond to the time display indicated by.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-45478 discloses that
The standard time signal and an electric signal related to the time notification sound are input, and the speech information recognized by the voice recognition device is input to the time setting control device from the electric signal, and the time setting control device notifies the time at the standard time signal sound timing. There is disclosed a method of setting the time of a voice.

[0006]

However, the time adjustment method of the prior art requires a time signal receiver, a television receiver, and the like, and the time cannot be adjusted without these. Further, even if a television receiver is used, if the time display is displayed at an arbitrary position and in an arbitrary size in the image data, there is a problem that the time cannot be set.

According to the present invention, a wristwatch or the like is captured as image data by a camera or the like and a clock is displayed at an arbitrary position and in an arbitrary size of the image data. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device that can easily register time information by recognizing the time measured by a clock.

Another object of the present invention is to register an image of a wristwatch or the like which is usually used by a user for checking the time, extract the registered clock image from the image data, and obtain time information for performing time recognition. To provide a registration device.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and the invention according to claim 1 is an image data input device for inputting image data of an analog display clock or a digital display clock. Means, image data display means for displaying image data input by the image data input means, designating means for designating clock data from the image data displayed on the image data display means, A recognition unit that recognizes the image data of the clock portion specified by the unit; and a time setting unit that sets the time indicated by the clock data recognized by the recognition unit as the time of the internal clock. Is a time information registration device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the time information registration device according to the first aspect, a deletion unit for deleting time-dependent data from the clock data recognized by the recognition unit, and a deletion by the deletion unit. Clock data storage means for storing the obtained clock data; determination means for determining whether or not the image data input to the image data input means matches the clock data stored in the clock data storage means; Control means for recognizing the input image data by the recognizing means when the determination is made by the recognizing means, and controlling the time recognized by the setting means to be set as the time of the internal clock. This is a time information registration device.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited by this.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a time information registration device 1 according to a first embodiment.

The time information registration device 1 according to the first embodiment includes an image data input unit 2 composed of a digital still camera, an image data display unit 3 composed of an LCD, a touch panel 4, and a ROM.
5, RAM 6, CPU 7, control circuit 8, A / D converter 9, display memory 10, analog / digital clock designation unit 11, rectangle extraction unit 12, character recognition unit 13, hand pattern extraction unit 14, time information acquisition unit 15 and so on.

The ROM 5 stores a control program to be described later, angle matching data 51 for detecting the long hand and the short hand of an analog timepiece, and used for time recognition.

A RAM 6 stores a work area for operating the system and a clock image storage unit 61 for storing a clock image specified by a user, and a number recognition result storage unit for storing a result obtained by recognizing numeric information from a digital clock image. 62, a short hand angle storage unit 63 and the like for storing an angle formed by the short hand and the 12 o'clock direction in the analog timepiece are arranged.

Further, the CPU 7 operates in accordance with the program stored in the ROM 5 to control the image data input unit 2, display unit 3, touch panel 4, RAM 6, rectangle extracting unit 12, character recognizing unit 13, needle pattern extracting unit 14, etc. Control.

The image data input from the image data input unit 2 is written once in the RAM 6, and then the written data is read and written in the display memory 10. The data written in the display memory 10 is displayed on the display unit 3 according to a command from the CPU 7.

A touch panel 4 is attached to the display unit 3 so as to cover the display unit 3. The touch panel 4 is formed of a transparent analog resistive type touch panel, and display data on the display unit 3 can be visually recognized through the touch panel 4. It has become.

The touch panel 4 is connected to a control circuit 8 for controlling the application of voltage to the touch panel 4 and the like. When the touch panel 4 is traced, the control circuit 8 detects a position traced by a signal from the A / D converter 9.
The position traced by the command signal from 7 is displayed as a locus.

The A / D converter 9 converts an analog output of the touch panel 4 for outputting the traced locus as position information into a digital signal when the operator traces with a finger, a pen or the like, and inputs the digital signal to the CPU 7.

A clock image is designated by the traced trace, and the designated clock image is stored in the clock image storage unit in the RAM 6.

The analog / digital clock designating section 11 allows an operator to designate whether the clock image stored in the clock image storage section is an analog clock image or a digital clock image. , The needle pattern extracting unit 14 stores the angle matching data 5 in the ROM 5
1 is used to extract the angle between the hour hand and the hour hand and the 12 o'clock direction of the timepiece. After this angle is obtained, the time is obtained by the time information obtaining unit 15.

If the data in the clock image storage unit is a digital clock, the rectangle extraction unit 12 and the character recognition unit 13 perform digit recognition, and use this recognition result to obtain a time information acquisition unit 15.
The time is required at.

The time obtained by the time information obtaining unit 15 is set as the current time of a built-in clock (not shown).

The above processing will be described in detail with reference to the operation flowchart of FIG.

Using the digital still camera 2, the user takes a picture of a wristwatch owned by him or a clock on a street corner (step S1). When shooting, the camera is shot so that the upper direction of the clock matches the upper direction of the image.

The photographed image data is displayed on the display unit 3 (step S2). FIG. 3 shows an example of image data displayed on the display unit 3. (A) is a view of an analog clock, and (b) is a view of a digital clock.

In the image displayed on the display unit 3,
The outer frame portion of the timepiece is designated by enclosing it from the touch panel 4 with a pen or the like (step S3). Usually, the clock is photographed so that the upper direction of the clock coincides with the upper direction of the image. If the two do not match, the operator touches the touch panel 4 to specify the upper direction of the clock. (Step S4).

FIG. 4 shows an example in which the outer periphery and upward direction of a clock portion in a photographed image are designated. In this figure,
(A) is a diagram in which an outer frame of a clock portion of an analog clock is designated,
(B) is a diagram in which the upward direction of the analog clock is designated, (c) is a diagram in which the outer frame of the clock portion of the digital clock is designated, and (d) is a diagram in which the upward direction of the digital clock is designated. Especially,
(B) and (d) show a case where the upward direction of the clock does not match the upward direction of the image.

The CPU 7 stores the image data of the clock portion designated in step S3 in the clock image data storage 61 in the RAM 6 (step S5).

If the data stored in the clock image data storage 61 does not match the upward direction of the clock with the upward direction of the image, the upward direction of the clock specified in step S4 becomes the upward direction of the image. The image is rotated so as to match, and after the upper direction of the clock matches the upper direction of the image, the image is stored in the clock image data storage 61 in the RAM 6 (step S6).

As for the image rotation technique, a technique already realized by image editing software or the like may be used.

When this processing is completed, the upward direction of the image data stored in the clock image data storage section 61 always indicates the upward direction of the clock.

The operator specifies whether the image data stored in the clock image data storage section 61 is a digital clock or an analog clock by the analog / digital clock specifying section 11 (step S7). FIG. 5 shows a display example of analog / digital clock designation.

If the timepiece in the image is a digital timepiece, the rectangle extracting unit 12 and the character recognizing unit 13 recognize the character of the numeral part, and the time information obtaining unit 15 obtains the time information (step S8).

If the clock in the image is an analog clock, the center of the image data stored in the clock image data storage 61 is obtained (step S9). The center of the image data can be obtained as a point whose size is reduced by half in both the vertical and horizontal directions.

The needle pattern extracting unit 14 performs pattern matching with the angle matching data 51 in the ROM 5,
The short hand is extracted (step S10). Since the long hand, the short hand, and the second hand both extend as straight lines in the direction of the outer periphery from the center point obtained in step S9, a straight line portion extending in the direction of the outer periphery from the center point is obtained by pattern matching.
The shortest needle is extracted as the short hand.

The angle formed by the extracted hour hand and the upward direction of the clock (direction at 12 o'clock) is determined by pattern matching with the angle matching data 51, and the time information acquiring unit 15 calculates the time from the determined angle. Information is obtained (step S11).

This is because the hour hand of the clock is 12 hours (720 hours).
Minutes) and rotate one time (360 degrees), n
Assuming that the angle between the upper hand of the clock (direction of 12 o'clock) and the hour hand in clockwise direction is x degrees in minutes, 720: 3
Since the proportional expression of 60 = n: x holds, n = 2 × x
The time is calculated in minutes using the expression (minute).

The distinction between day and night can be made based on, for example, the brightness of the surroundings when the clock is photographed.

The processing in the case of a digital timepiece in step S8 will be described with reference to the operation flowchart of FIG.

A numeral part and a colon (:) as a separator are extracted from the clock image data stored in step S5, and the extracted numeral part is recognized (step S6).
1).

Techniques for extracting characters, numbers, and the like from an image portion and recognizing the extracted characters are known.
The technology disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 05702 or the like is used.

The recognized number string is stored in the number recognition result storage section 62 in the RAM 6 (step S62).

A colon (:), which is a separator, is searched from the head of the number string stored in the number recognition result storage unit 62 (step S63).

After searching for a colon, time information is obtained from information of two characters before and after the colon. That is, the time information is acquired by setting the two characters before the colon as hours and the two characters after the colon as minutes (step S64).

The processing in the case of an analog timepiece in steps S9, S10 and S11 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 7 shows angle matching data stored in the ROM 5. This figure shows the dot pattern of the hands of the watch when the angle between the upward direction of the watch (12 o'clock direction) and the hands of the watch is changed by 1 degree from 0 degree to 359 degrees. . In the data of the hands corresponding to each angle, the center corresponds to the center of the clock, for example, 0
In the case of degrees, the needle extends right above the center, and in the case of 45 degrees, the needle extends from the center to the upper right. The dot pattern is stored in a compressed state, and FIG. 7 shows the compressed data obtained by restoring the compressed data to 0 degrees and 45 degrees.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of time recognition in the case of an analog clock.

The center point of the clock image data storage is obtained (step S90). The center point in the horizontal direction is obtained by counting the size in the horizontal direction and calculating a half of the size. In the vertical direction, the center point is similarly obtained.

A straight line extending in the outer peripheral direction from the center point obtained in this step is searched using the angle matching data. That is, the angle of the angle matching data is set to 0
It is set every time (step S91).

It is determined by performing pattern matching whether data corresponding to the angle (in this case, data of 0 degree) exists from the center point obtained in step S90 (step S92).

If it does not match the pattern data, the flow advances to step S95 to add 1 to the angle value. If it matches the pattern data, it counts how far the pattern data matches from the center position (step S93).
This count value indicates the length of the needle. Here, the counted value and the angle are stored in the memory (step S94).

Next, 1 is added to the angle value of the angle matching data (step S95), and it is determined whether the angle value is 360 degrees (step S96). If the angle is not 360 degrees, the process returns to step S92 and the process is repeated.

When the angle value of the matching data becomes 360 degrees, the matching process ends.

Here, the data stored in step S94 is confirmed, and a hand corresponding to the smallest count value is extracted as a short hand (step S97).

The angle at this time is stored in the short hand angle storage section 63 in the RAM 6. The extracted angle between the hour hand and the 12 o'clock direction of the clock is the angle stored in the hour hand angle storage unit 63 from the above description. After the angle is obtained, the time information is obtained in minutes by using the above-described expression. That is, the time is obtained in minutes by 2 × (the value of the short hand angle storage unit).

Thus, time information can be obtained regardless of whether an analog clock or a digital clock is photographed.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a time information registration device 1 according to a second embodiment.

In FIG. 9, the time-dependent information deleting unit 16,
The configuration other than the designated clock image storage unit 64 and the designated clock image extraction unit 17 is the same as the configuration in FIG.

In the case of a digital clock, character recognition is performed from the entire display image data, and information of two characters before and after the colon may be recognized as time. Since only the whole image data is displayed and the method is the same, a detailed description is omitted here.

In the case of an analog clock, the time-dependent information deletion unit 16 specifies and stores a clock once recognized by the user in the clock image storage unit 61, and then reads the clock image stored in the clock image storage unit 61 from the long hand. Then, the time-dependent portion such as the short hand is cut, and the remaining portion is stored in the designated clock image storage section 64 as a time-independent portion.

In the method of deleting the needle, the needle data is extracted by performing the time recognition processing described in FIG. 8 in the first embodiment. Therefore, the extracted needle data is deleted from the original image data. Can be realized.

The designated clock image extraction unit 17 extracts data that matches the pattern stored in the designated clock image storage unit 64 from the displayed data and uses it as clock data for recognizing the data. A technique for extracting data in a form that matches a specific pattern from displayed image data is known, and using this pattern matching technique, data that matches data stored in a designated clock image storage unit is known. Extract data from display data.

After the clock image to be recognized is extracted,
The method of recognizing the timepiece is exactly the same as in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

The clock image to be recognized may be automatically extracted based on the data stored in the specified clock image storage unit, or may be specified by the user as in the first embodiment. Needless to say, this may be done.

[0067]

According to the present invention, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the time information can be obtained with only the image data input means, and the time can be set easily and without any special device. can do.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, a clock which is always used is photographed once, and the clock portion is designated.
Thereafter, when the timepiece is photographed, the timepiece portion is automatically extracted, so that a device with excellent operability can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a time information registration device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the time information registration device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a display unit at the time of shooting a clock.

FIG. 4 is a diagram in which an outer frame of a clock portion in a captured image and an upward direction of the clock are designated.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of analog / digital clock designation.

FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart showing time information acquisition in the case of a digital clock.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of angle matching data.

FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart showing time recognition processing in the case of an analog timepiece.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a time information registration device according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Time information registration device 2 Image data input part 3 Display part 3 4 Touch panel 5 ROM 6 RAM 7 CPU 8 Control circuit 9 A / D converter 10 Display memory 11 Analog / digital clock designation part 12 Rectangular extraction part 13 Character recognition part 14 Hand pattern extraction unit 15 Time information acquisition unit 16 Time dependent information deletion unit 17 Designated clock image extraction unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image data input device for inputting image data of an analog display clock or a digital display clock, an image data display device for displaying image data input by the image data input device, and an image data display device. Specifying means for specifying image data of the clock portion from the displayed image data; recognition means for recognizing the image data of the clock portion specified by the specifying means; and clock data recognized by the recognition means. Time setting means for setting the time as a time of a built-in clock. 2. The time information registration device according to claim 1, wherein: a deletion unit that deletes time-dependent data from the clock data recognized by the recognition unit; and a clock that stores the clock data deleted by the deletion unit. Data storing means; determining means for determining whether or not the image data input to the image data input means matches the clock data stored in the clock data storing means; Control means for recognizing the set image data by the recognizing means, and controlling the time recognized by the setting means to be set as the time of a built-in clock.