KR100575736B1 - Magnifier providing method for mobile communication terminal with camera - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of implementing a magnifier using a mobile communication terminal with a built-in camera. In the case of physically mounting a magnifier to a mobile communication terminal in order to apply a conventional magnifier function to a mobile communication terminal, it is inconvenient for management and design. If the user wants to use the simple zoom function of the mobile communication terminal with the camera function as a magnifying glass, only the ambiguous image is acquired when the mobile communication terminal is near to the target and the image is blurred. There was a problem ineffective just to expand. In view of the above problems, the present invention adds a separate magnifying glass menu to the mobile communication terminal to actively select the optical and digital zoom functions included in the mobile communication terminal with a camera function, and acquires a clearer image. To do this, the user selects an object to be viewed as either a photograph or a document, and provides a method for implementing a magnifying glass using a mobile communication terminal with a camera that acquires and enlarges a clear image using a different image processing algorithm. Because only the magnified image can be output to the user by itself, the user can maximize the user's convenience because the user can always use the magnified image without having to carry a separate magnifier.

Description

Magnifying glass using mobile camera with built-in camera {MAGNIFIER PROVIDING METHOD FOR MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL WITH CAMERA}

1 is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a flow chart showing the procedure of an embodiment of the present invention.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

10: camera unit 20: image processing unit

30: control unit 40: input unit

50: display unit

The present invention relates to a method of implementing a magnifying glass using a mobile communication terminal with a built-in camera, and in particular, a menu for expanding a small object large and clear by using an optical zoom / digital zoom function of an embedded camera and using image processing technology. The present invention relates to a method of implementing a magnifier using a mobile communication terminal with a built-in camera so that users with an original eye can more easily identify an object.

As the functions of mobile communication terminals become more diversified, mobile communication terminals are changing from simple phone calls to multimedia devices using various data communications. In order to provide these functions, the mobile communication terminal is equipped with a high performance calculator as well as a precise and high performance display unit and a large memory, and a camera for acquiring a multimedia image.

The current camera function has been long since the 100,000-pixel class has been generalized, 330,000-pixel class is already on the market, and a product equipped with a 1-megapixel camera is about to be released. In addition to these resolution enhancements, digital zoom is already built in to improve the camera's performance. Some products under development include 8x digital zoom and 8x optical zoom, providing a much better view than the naked eye. You may.

Thanks to the rapid development of the camera function as described above, various application functions using a camera are being added one after another, and functions such as taking a picture and special processing thereof or reading a two-dimensional barcode are already implemented. Therefore, the application range of the camera applied to the mobile communication terminal covers from a very close distance to a far distance. However, it does not support macro mode very close to the subject.

As such, a mobile communication terminal having a camera function already has a function of physically photographing an arbitrary object and enlarges it, but it is difficult to use it as a magnifying glass. In other words, the zoom function currently used does not consider the use of a magnifying glass, so when an object is photographed adjacent to it, the object is out of focus and an ambiguous image is output. Therefore, the magnified image is only an enlargement of an ambiguous image. In particular, when enlarging objects such as letters or numbers, it is difficult to recognize letters.

As a result, users with pristine eyes or those who need to enlarge their subjects should always carry a magnifying glass or magnifying glasses. In the case of the terminal for the elderly, a portable terminal equipped with a magnifying glass has been developed. However, this is only a physical magnifying glass mounted on the portable terminal. Therefore, in order to design a mobile communication terminal aimed at miniaturization and portability, there are many spatial and design features. It caused a problem. In addition, there is a problem that is not easy to manage and easy to damage.

As described above, when the magnifying glass is physically mounted on the mobile communication terminal in order to apply the conventional magnifying glass function to the mobile communication terminal, there is a lot of inconvenience in management and design, and the simple zoom function of the mobile communication terminal with the camera function is provided. In the case of using the magnifying glass, when the mobile communication terminal is adjacent to the target, only the ambiguous image is obtained because the focus is not corrected, and even when the mobile terminal is enlarged, the ambiguous image is enlarged.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a magnifying glass menu for actively selecting an optical and digital zoom function included in a mobile communication terminal having a camera function, and allows a user to take pictures and texts to obtain a clearer image. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method of implementing a magnifying glass using a mobile communication terminal with a built-in camera, which enables a user to select a magnification and use a different image processing algorithm according to a target, thereby outputting a sharper and more efficient magnification image to a user. have.

The present invention for achieving the above object, the step of entering the magnifying glass menu according to the user selection; Selecting a type and magnification of an object for using the magnifier function; And sharpening the camera image obtained by applying the selected magnification using a different image algorithm according to the type of the selected object and outputting the sharpened image to the display unit.

The sharpening with the different image algorithms may include applying an image algorithm for sharpening a color image if the selected object is a photographic image, and sharpening a gray scale image if the selected object is a document image such as a character or a symbol. Differentially applying the image algorithm for the characterized in that it further comprises.

When described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings of the present invention as described above.

1 is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. However, the present invention is different from the operation according to the general configuration in that the image processing unit 20 processing the image obtained from the camera unit 10 processes the image through a different sharpening algorithm according to the observation target.

That is, when a user enters a predetermined magnifier menu by operating the input unit 50 and selects a target to which a desired magnification and magnifier function are applied, the controller 30 accepts the user's selection and operates the camera unit 10. In this case, the image processing unit 20 that receives the image signal output from the camera unit 10 is operated differently. The image processing unit 20 performs an operation of digitally enlarging an image received from the camera unit 10 and views an image through a sharpness algorithm that sharply processes an image blurred by close-up photography. Clear process This ambiguity is because the camera lens of the mobile communication terminal has a predetermined limit distance. Generally, since the camera of the mobile communication terminal does not support macro shooting, when the camera is brought close to the object to use the magnifying glass, the focus is not correct. This is to compensate for the blurring of the object.
In detail, the sharpening algorithm performed by the image processor 20 emphasizes the detailed parts by increasing the contrast effect of the boundary part in the image when the blurred image is acquired. Sharpening algorithms may be implemented through high pass filtering, unsharp masking, or high-boost filtering. The mask for high pass filtering has a positive line coefficient at its center, a negative line coefficient at its outer boundary, and the sum of the line coefficients is zero. The high pass filtering removes low frequency components and shows only very small details. In addition, the unsharp masking may obtain a clear image by subtracting the 'low pass filtering result' from the original image, and the high frequency assist filtering improves the brightness of the original image and then 'low pass filtering result'. 'To get a clear image. Here, the sharpening algorithm is not applied to an image enlarged using a camera function of a mobile communication terminal, but is a general technique used for image processing.

:0~255)에 따른 출력 그레이 레벨(

:0~255)이

(여기서, n은 1보다 큰 양수) 함수의 특징을 갖는 영상이 획득되었다면, 입력 그레이 레벨(

:0~255)에 따른 출력 그레이 레벨(

:0~255)이

(여기서, m은 0보다 크고 1보다 작은 양수) 함수의 특징을 갖는 감마 보정으로 상기 획득된 영상이 선형적인 특성을 갖도록 한다. 여기서, 상기 감마 보정은, 이동통신 단말기의 카메라 기능을 사용하여 확대된 영상에 적용된 바는 없으나, 영상 처리를 위해 사용되는 일반적인 기술이다. Although the appearance of a photograph or an object can be somewhat ambiguous, although it can be distinguished to some extent, when a clear distinction such as a character or a symbol is required, a general color image sharpening algorithm is insufficient. Therefore, after the user selects a menu and selects the object to be observed by selecting a menu, and then selects a document (character or symbol, etc.), the screen is converted to gray scale to suit the purpose. You can apply sharpening algorithms for grayscale to identify sharper characters or symbols. Such gray scale sharpening shows excellent performance when zooming out letters such as books, newspapers, and advertisements when the subject is clearly black and white, and the user uses volume keys (side keys) or direction keys to sharpen the sharpness. If you adjust it, you can get more reliable character reading. For example, by adjusting the brightness and contrast, or by adjusting the gamma values that can be adjusted all at once, you can obtain a clear image of high contrast in grayscale. Can be maximized.
In more detail, the gray scale image is classified into levels ranging from 0 (black) to 255 (white), and pixels larger than 255 are set to 255, and pixels smaller than 0 are set to 0. If a nonlinear characteristic exists in an image obtained through grading scale sharpening, gamma correction is performed to obtain a linear characteristic. For example, input gray level (

Output gray level according to (0 to 255)

: 0 ~ 255)

(Where n is a positive number greater than 1), if an image having the characteristic of

Output gray level according to (0 to 255)

: 0 ~ 255)

(Where m is a positive number greater than 0 and less than 1) a gamma correction characterized by a function such that the obtained image has a linear characteristic. Here, the gamma correction is not applied to an image enlarged using a camera function of a mobile communication terminal, but is a general technique used for image processing.

To this end, the image processing unit 20 should have an image processing algorithm related to magnification, a sharpening algorithm of a color image, and a sharpening algorithm of a gray scale image, and the controller 30 accepts a user's selection and receives an image processing unit ( Selectively operate the algorithm to be implemented in 20).

If the optical zoom is supported, the controller may manipulate the lens applied to the camera unit 10 to adjust the optical zoom.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a magnifying glass function performing process according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, a user enters a magnifying glass menu separately provided through a key operation and sets a magnification. The magnification is set using the optical zoom and the digital zoom, and determines the degree of magnification.

Then, the user selects the type of object to be observed. The user can select one of a photograph (color) and a document (gray scale of characters and symbols). If ignored or not selected, it is preferable that the photo image processing is selected by default. Here, the reason for selecting the object is to perform the compensation accordingly because the image of the object to be observed is often blurred when the camera is brought close to the object to be observed and it is out of focus limit. That is, as mentioned above, when the document is processed, the image processing is performed with a gray scale close to black and white, so that a clearer image quality can be obtained. Even in the case of color, it is already known that the reason for the blurring of the image is due to a mismatch of focus. Therefore, an algorithm for sharpening the image can be effectively applied to compensate for the color blur. It should also be noted that even in this case, a sharply magnified image can be obtained in comparison with the case where the sharpening process is not performed.

Note that the magnification may be selected first as shown in the magnification setting and the object selection, but it is noted that this is not limitative and may be performed simultaneously with the object selection or later.

In addition, in the gray scale image processing, if the user can adjust the gamma value (a value that simultaneously adjusts the brightness and the contrast level) by key manipulation, a more effective magnifier can be used.

In addition, the enlarged and sharpened output screen of the observation target may be stored as a picture or a video by a user's selection, thereby leaving a precise observation record of the target.

When using the present invention as described above, not only can provide a magnifier function that provides a clear magnification image quality to the user who wants to use the magnifier, but also can be very useful when you want to magnify the observation target larger, It can be a groundbreaking feature not only for users with low vision but also for general users with precise targets.

 As described above, the method of implementing a magnifying glass using a mobile communication terminal having a camera embedded therein is to add an additional magnifying glass menu to the mobile communication terminal to actively use the optical and digital zoom functions provided in the mobile communication terminal having a camera function. In order to obtain a clearer image, when the user selects an object to be viewed as a photograph or a document, a different image processing algorithm accordingly allows the user to acquire and enlarge a clear image, thereby expanding more clearly with a simple software change. Since the image can be output to the user, there is an effect that can maximize the user's convenience because a clear magnified image is always available without carrying a separate magnifying glass.

Claims (5)

Entering a magnifying glass menu according to a user selection; Selecting a type or magnification of an object for using the magnifier function; Processing the camera image obtained by applying the selected magnification by a different image algorithm according to the type of the selected object; And a step of outputting the image processed by the image algorithm to a display unit. The method of claim 1, wherein the type of the object includes a picture and a document, and the object is a object having different sharpening characteristics. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing of the different image algorithms comprises applying an image algorithm for sharpening a color image if the selected object is a photographic image, and a gray scale image if the selected object is a document image composed of letters or symbols. A method for implementing a magnifying glass using a mobile communication terminal with a camera, further comprising the step of differentially applying an image algorithm for sharpening the image. The mobile communication terminal with a camera according to claim 3, wherein the applying of the image algorithm for sharpening the gray scale image further comprises applying a different gamma value by a user's key operation. Magnifying glass implementation method. The method of claim 1, wherein the magnified image processed by the image and output to the display unit is stored as a picture or a video by a user's selection.

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