KR101467869B1 - Digital image processing apparatus which display the degree of image blurring and the controlling method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a digital image processing apparatus and a control method thereof for displaying a degree of shake of an image, and in a digital image processing apparatus having an image stabilization module for detecting a shaking motion of a user and correcting the shaking motion, And a display unit for displaying an image indicating the degree of camera shake on the display screen. The digital image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: It is possible to easily determine whether or not the photographed image is stored or deleted by simply checking the degree of shake of the photographed image.

Digital image processing device, shake

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a digital image processing apparatus and a control method thereof,

The present invention relates to a digital image processing apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a digital image processing apparatus including a function of determining a degree of shake of a photographed image, and a control method thereof.

The digital image processing apparatus is a device for capturing an image of a subject, and various digital image processing apparatuses such as a digital camera and a camcorder can be easily contacted. These digital image processing devices have repeatedly developed many technologies so that users can take photographs or videos that can satisfy them as much as possible.

In recent years, a technique has been developed for eliminating the phenomenon of shaking of an image caused by a hand movement of a user when the user takes an image of the subject by hand, and is applied to a digital image processing apparatus. The above technique is a technique for detecting minute fluctuations of a digital image processing apparatus from a sensor such as a gyro sensor and fine adjustment of the position of a lens or an image pickup element provided in the digital image processing apparatus in accordance with the detected result signal, to be. By adjusting the position of the lens or the image pickup element, even if the main body of the digital image processing apparatus is shaken, the position of the lens or the image pickup element relative to the object is not changed.

However, there are cases in which the degree of camera shake is severe depending on the user, and the digital image processing apparatus frequently shakes severely when the shutter-release button is pressed. In addition, when the user is using a vehicle such as an automobile or a subway, even if there is no camera-shake, shaking of the automobile or the subway itself can not be avoided. In this case, the shaking of the image can not be prevented even by the above-mentioned shaking motion correction technique.

As a result, in the case of a severely shaken image, the user deletes it from a storage medium such as a removable memory. However, a method of checking whether the image is shaken is a method of enlarging and checking the image shot in the playback mode. However, it is very inconvenient for the user to check the captured images one by one.

Therefore, there is a need for a technique that provides a method by which a user can easily judge whether or not the image has been shaken.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a digital image processing apparatus and a control method thereof that enable a user to easily judge a degree of shake of an image caused by a shaking motion in a photographed image.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital image processing apparatus including a camera shake correction module for detecting a shaking motion of a user and correcting the shaking motion, the apparatus comprising: And displays an image indicating the degree of shaking on a display screen.

In the present invention, an image indicating the degree of shaking can be displayed on the display screen by the OSD method.

In the present invention, an image indicating the degree of shaking may be combined with a quick-view image or a reproduced image of the photographed image and displayed on a display screen.

In the present invention, it is possible to use any one of numerals, graphs, and alphabets to represent the degree of shaking.

Further, in the present invention, information indicating the degree of shaking can be stored in an Exif header.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control method of a digital image processing apparatus including a camera shake correction module for detecting shaking of a user and correcting the shaking motion, the method comprising the steps of: (a) (B) generating an image file including information indicating the degree of shaking in an Exif header; (c) generating an image indicating a degree of shaking using information indicating the shaking degree; and and (d) displaying the generated image. The control method of the digital image processing apparatus may further include:

In this manner, the degree of shake of the photographed image is determined, information indicating the degree of shake of the image is stored in the attribute information area of the Exif header, and the called information is displayed as a quick-view image or a reproduced image, It becomes easy to know whether or not the image has been shaken violently.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to Figs. 1 (a) to 5 (b).

1 (a) is a perspective view of a digital image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 (b) is a rear view. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a digital image processing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The digital image processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is a compact digital camera (compact digital camera), and is a digital camera in which a lens unit is integrally formed with a main body unit.

According to the present embodiment, the digital image processing apparatus 100 is composed of a compact digital camera, but the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention may be a single-lens reflex camera capable of attaching and detaching a lens.

1 (a) and 1 (b), the lens unit 111, the flash 112, the auxiliary light emitting means 113, the shutter-release button 141, and the power button 142) on the front and top surfaces. In addition, various buttons as a user input unit are provided on the back of the digital image processing apparatus 100, and a display screen 162 is also provided.

The lens unit 111 is a portion for passing the image light of the object and image-forming the image light by an image pickup element (not shown).

The flash 112 illuminates bright light instantly when photographing in a dark place. The flash 112 uses an automatic flash mode, a forced flash mode, a flash inhibition mode, a red-eye reduction mode, a slow synchro mode, have.

The auxiliary light emitting means 113 supplies auxiliary light to the subject so that the digital image processing apparatus 100 can automatically and quickly catch the focus when the amount of light is insufficient or at night.

The shutter-release button 141 generates an image photographing signal by the input of the photographer. When the photographer inputs the half-shutter signal by half pressing the shutter-release button 141, the digital image processing apparatus 100 adjusts the amount of light by focusing. Then, when the focus is adjusted and the amount of light is adjusted, the photographer can press the shutter-release button 141 completely to capture the captured image.

The power button 142 is a key input button disposed on the upper part of the digital image processing apparatus 100 to supply power to the digital image processing apparatus 100 to operate.

The user input unit is composed of various key buttons, and is used by the user to operate necessary functions of the digital image processing apparatus 100. [ The user input unit includes buttons such as a wide angle zoom button 143W, a telephoto-zoom button 143T, a function button 146, and a play button 147.

The display screen 162 is formed of a liquid crystal display (LCD) and displays a function of displaying status information of the digital image processing apparatus 100 as well as displaying an image of a subject to be captured in real time . In this embodiment, the display screen 162 is formed of a liquid crystal display, but the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, the display screen according to the present invention may include an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), a field emission display (FED), or the like.

Hereinafter, functions of the digital image processing apparatus according to the internal structure will be described with reference to FIG. The digital image processing apparatus 200 includes an image sensing unit 210, a control unit 220, a storage unit 230, a user input unit 240, an image stabilization module 250, (260). The distinction of the internal structure is illustrative and does not limit the present invention.

The image pickup section 210 is a section for photographing a subject and converting the image of the subject into an electrical signal. The image pickup unit 210 may include a lens unit for passing image light from a subject and an image pickup device (not shown) for converting the passed image light into an electrical signal. As the image pickup device, a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) or a charge coupled device (CCD) can be used. And an image signal processing unit for analyzing an electrical signal applied from the image pickup device and converting the electrical signal into a digital signal representing an image to generate a video signal. The applied video signals are temporarily stored in the RAM of the storage unit 230 to be described later.

The control unit 220 performs overall control of the digital image processing apparatus 200 according to the present invention.

The storage unit 230 stores various signals, data, and algorithms for operation of the digital image processing apparatus 200, and the like.

The storage unit may include a RAM as a temporary storage medium. The RAM may temporarily store a video signal or the like generated by the image pickup unit. The RAM may be a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or the like.

Meanwhile, a memory card or the like may be used as a storage medium for storing an image file generated by using the image signal generated by the image sensing unit 210. [ The memory card may be internal or external.

EEPROM (electrically erasable and programmable read only memory) or the like may be used as a storage medium storing user setting data related to shooting conditions and the like and a program implementing an algorithm for controlling the digital image processing device 200 .

The description of the user input unit 240 has been described with reference to FIG. 1 (b), and will be omitted.

The camera shake correction module 250 performs a function of preventing image blur by sensing a shaking motion of a user. The camera shake correction module 250 may include a sensing unit 251 and a shake correction unit 252.

The sensing unit 251 senses the shaking of the digital image processing apparatus 200 due to the shaking of the user. A gyro sensor or the like may be used to detect the shaking.

The camera shake correction unit 252 uses the sensing signal sensed by the sensing unit 251 to finely adjust the position of the lens or the imaging device. Also, the shake correction unit 252 determines how much the image of the image file generated at the input of the shutter-release button is shaken, and generates information indicating the degree of shake.

Hereinafter, an example of a method for determining the degree of shake of a photographed image will be described.

One method of determining the degree of shaking of a photographed image is as follows. When the gyro sensor is provided in the sensing unit 251, a gyro signal is generated from the gyro sensor. The gyro signal is a signal indicating the direction of the shaking by sensing the shaking of the device equipped with the gyro sensor. The shake correcting unit 252 can generate a hall signal for finely adjusting the imaging element or the lens using the gyro signal. As a result, it is possible to determine how much the image of the generated image file is shaken by calculating the difference in degree of correction by the Hall signal with respect to the degree of shake represented by the gyro signal. That is, if the difference is large, it can be determined that the image is shaken much, and if the difference is small, it can be determined that the image is clear.

And a method of analyzing the generated image file in the frequency domain by another method of determining the shake degree of the photographed image can be used. When an object is photographed to generate an image file, it is generally focused. At the moment when the object is focused, the high frequency component of the image file is maximized. Accordingly, the generated image file is analyzed, and the amount of the high frequency component is measured, and the amount of the high frequency component is compared with the amount of the high frequency component measured at the moment when the pre-shooting is focused. That is, when there is a large difference in the amount of the high frequency component, it can be determined that the image is largely shaken. If the difference in the amount of the high frequency component is small, the image can be determined to be clear.

The above method is an example, and it is possible to judge the degree of shaking of an image by various algorithms other than the above-mentioned method.

The information indicating the degree of shaking may be included in the Exif header when an image file is generated by the imaging signal.

An image file generation unit (not shown) generates an image file using the image signal generated last by the image pickup signal. That is, an image file is generated through a process of converting R, G, and B data into YCbCr format data and compressing it in accordance with the JPEG format, using Raw data generated by the image light of the subject image formed on the image pickup element in the image pickup unit 210.

The structure of a file in the creation of an image file is made according to a file format called Exif. In the Exif file format, compression of image data is performed by the JPEG format. In addition, in the Exif file format, the Exif header can include various kinds of data on the photographing conditions, that is, attribute information. In the maker note field, items to be added can be arbitrarily added depending on the manufacturer. Therefore, in the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention, information indicating the degree of shake of the image determined by the shake correction unit 252 can be included. The attribute information included in the Exif header can be used by calling at any time if necessary.

The display unit 260 displays a UI, a preview image in the preview mode, and a playback image in the playback mode, which are provided according to the operation of the subject, the buttons by the user, and the like. The display unit 260 may include a display driver 261 and a display screen 262.

The display driver 261 performs a function of reproducing an image such as a video signal or an image file. On the other hand, the display screen 262 is a part for displaying the reproduced image so that the user can confirm it, and the detailed description is omitted in FIG. 1 (b).

The display driver 261 may display information such as the remaining battery level, the number of photographable photographs, the ISO sensitivity, and the flash setting on the display screen 262. It is referred to as OSD (On Screen Display) to provide information related to such shooting over a preview image or a playback image.

On the other hand, when the display driver 261 receives information about the degree of shake of the image from the controller 220 or the shake correction module 250, the display driver 261 displays the contents on the display screen 262 so that the user can recognize the contents Lt; / RTI > The image may be generated by a character or a graph such as numerals and alphabets.

The image is an image indicating the degree of shaking, and the image is displayed on the display screen 262 in an OSD manner. In displaying an image representing the degree of shake, the image indicating the degree of shake may be displayed in combination with a quick-view image provided immediately after shooting the subject. Alternatively, after shooting, an image indicating the degree of shake can be displayed in a combined manner with a playback image in a playback mode.

In FIG. 2, all signals or data are illustrated as moving around the control unit 220 for convenience of explanation. However, in reality, data and various control signals can be moved through a data bus, As shown in FIG.

As described above, the digital image processing apparatus having the camera shake correction module displays an image showing the degree of shaking of the captured image, so that the user can easily check whether the captured image is shaken severely.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display screen showing a degree of shaking of an image according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 3, a quick-view image is displayed on the display screen 300. The image displayed on the display screen 300 is shaken and the contour of the person who is the subject is blurred. In the lower left of the display screen 300, an image 310 indicating the degree of shaking of the image is displayed in an OSD manner. In the present embodiment, the image 310 indicating the degree of shaking is represented by numerals, and the range of numbers may be 0 to 5. [ Alternatively, the range may be 0 to 10. That is, the range of the number can be changed in various ways, and it is also possible to display not only numbers but also characters such as alphabets such as A to F.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a degree of shaking of an image displayed on a display screen according to another embodiment of the present invention.

4, a thumbnail image is displayed on the display screen 400 as a playback image in the playback mode. The thumbnail image displays a quadrant thumbnail image, and the activation cursor 420 is located in the upper right image. Also, at the lower left, an image 410 indicating the degree of shaking of the image is displayed in the form of a bar graph. As shown in FIG. 4, a bar graph indicating the degree of shaking of an image in which the activated cursor 420 is positioned may be displayed thicker than other graphs, as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, even when the subject image is continuously photographed in the continuous shooting mode, it is also possible to simultaneously display the degree of blurring of the image of the image group in the image group generated by one shot signal, using the bar graph. In this case, it is easy to select only the non-shaken images among the images shot in the continuous shooting mode, and to delete the remaining images.

As described above, the degree of shaking of the photographed image is determined, information indicating the degree of shaking of the image is stored in the attribute information area of the Exif header, and the called information is displayed as a quick-view image or a reproduced image The user can easily know whether or not the photographed image has been severely shaken.

5A and 5B are flowcharts 500a and 500b showing a control method of the digital image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 (a) shows a method of displaying the degree of shake of an image in a quick-view image which temporarily displays an image photographed by the user immediately after shooting.

Once entering the photographing mode, the camera shake correction module provided in the digital image processing apparatus operates (S500). When the user turns on the shutter-release button to apply the image photographing signal (S501), the image of the subject is captured and the image signal is generated.

The shaking degree of the image photographed in the image signal is determined (S503). A method of determining the shake degree of the image may be performed in the same manner as described with reference to FIG.

When the shake degree of the image is determined, information indicating the shake degree is included in the Exif header to generate an image file (S504). Since the image file is generated according to the Exif file format, it will be compressed in the JPEG format. In addition, the information indicating the degree of shaking may be included in the attribute information of the Exif header, and may be included in the maker note area in which data can be freely added and removed by the manufacturer.

In step S505, an image indicating the degree of shaking is generated to display an image indicating the degree of shaking in the quick-view image together with the generation of the image file. The image may be represented by a character such as a number, a graph, or an alphabet.

An image representing the degree of the generated blurring is synthesized with a quick-view image displayed immediately after image capture and displayed on a display screen (S506). In the above synthesis method, an image representing the degree of shaking in the quick-view image is synthesized by the OSD method.

By the above-mentioned method, the user can determine whether the shooting is successful by confirming the image showing the degree of shaking in the quick-view image provided immediately after shooting the subject before confirming the reproduced image, It is possible to save time for deleting the data.

5 (b) shows a method of displaying the degree of shake of an image on a reproduced image to a user. 5 (b) is the same as FIG. 5 (a) up to the step of generating the image file by including the information indicating the degree of shaking of the image in the Exif header.

After the generation of the image file, the playback mode is switched by the input signal from the user (S515). In the playback mode, a screen nail image is provided as an initial playback image. However, the screen nail image can be converted into a thumbnail image so that a plurality of reproduced images can be displayed on the display screen by an input signal from the user. The thumbnail image may be provided as an image such as four or nine divisions.

Once the mode is switched to the playback mode, the control unit of the digital image processing apparatus or the part for controlling display of the image reads the screen nail image data or the thumbnail image data from the image file and reads the attribute information of the Exif header included in the image file Can come. In the present invention, information indicating the degree of shaking is included in the image file, and information indicating shaking information is called in the Exif header of the image file stored in the storage medium (S516).

In operation S517, the generated image is combined with the captured image, that is, the screen nail image or the thumbnail image, and displayed on the display screen in operation S518. As shown in FIG. 5 (a), numerals, alphabets, and graphs can be used to represent the degree of shaking.

According to the above-mentioned method, in checking the reproduced image, the user confirms whether the image is shaken or not by confirming the image showing the degree of shaking without enlarging each image to check whether the image is shaken, It is possible to determine whether or not to delete the image.

The foregoing description and drawings are merely illustrative of the present invention and are used for the purpose of illustrating the present invention only and not for limiting the scope of the present invention described in the claims or the claims. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, the technical protection scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification, but should be defined by the claims.

1 (a) and 1 (b) are diagrams showing an external configuration of a digital image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a digital image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display screen showing a degree of shaking of an image according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a degree of shaking of an image displayed on a display screen according to another embodiment of the present invention.

5 (a) and 5 (b) are flowcharts showing a control method of a digital image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (7)

A digital image processing apparatus comprising an image stabilization module for detecting a shaking motion of a user and correcting the shaking motion, A control unit for determining a degree of shake of an image caused by camera shake of an image belonging to an image group generated in an image continuously captured in the continuous shooting mode; And a display unit for displaying a shake degree of an image belonging to the image group together with a thumbnail image of the image group. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the display unit displays the thumbnail image indicating the degree of shake on the display screen in an OSD manner. 3. The method of claim 2, Wherein the display unit combines the thumbnail image representing the degree of shaking with a quick-view image of the photographed image, and displays the combined result on the display screen. 3. The method of claim 2, Wherein the display unit combines the thumbnail image indicating the degree of shake with a reproduced image of the photographed image and displays the result on the display screen. 3. The method of claim 2, Wherein the display unit uses one of a numeral, a graph and an alphabet in the thumbnail image indicating the degree of shaking. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, Wherein the control unit stores information indicating the degree of shaking in an Exif header. A method of controlling a digital image processing apparatus including an image stabilization module for detecting a shaking motion of a user and correcting the shaking motion, (a) determining a degree of shake in an image group generated in an image continuously shot in a continuous shooting mode; (b) generating an image file by including in the Exif header information indicating the degree of shaking of the image group; (c) generating a thumbnail image indicating the degree of shaking using information indicating the degree of shaking of the image group; And and (d) displaying the generated thumbnail image.

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