KR101772957B1 - Apparatus, method, computer program and computer readable recording medium for acquiring panoramic image - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a panoramic photographing apparatus. According to a first aspect of the present invention, the panoramic photographing apparatus includes: a light collection unit including multiple lenses transmitting or refracting the light reflected from a subject therethrough; a single photographing unit which converts the light passing through the individual lenses to electrical signals; a switching unit which selectively transmits the light passing through the individual lenses to the photographing unit so that only the light passing through one of the lenses is transmitted to the photographing unit at a time; and an image processing unit processing the electrical signals obtained by the photographing unit to generate a panoramic image. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the panoramic photographing apparatus can photograph an omni-directional image by using a single image sensor.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a panoramic photographing apparatus, a panoramic image generating method, a computer readable recording medium, and a computer program stored in a computer readable recording medium,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a panoramic photographing apparatus, and more particularly, to a panoramic photographing apparatus for photographing an image (including, for example, an image and a moving image) condensed by a plurality of lenses using one image sensor .

Recently, with the development of devices such as smart phones, social interest in VR technology (VR technology) is increasing. VR technology is one of the technologies that can overcome the limitations of the existing technology by increasing the fidelity of the representation of the simulated entity and overcoming the difference between the reality and the virtual system.

In recent years, a number of inventions combining VR technology and existing technologies have been developed. For example, a panoramic imaging technique combining virtual reality technology and lens technology has been proposed. Prior Art Publication No. 10-2015-0104183 describes a panoramic camera capable of measuring 360 degrees.

However, since a large number of image sensors used in such a panoramic photographing apparatus are included, the cost of the photographing is high, and it is difficult to manage and store the photograph. Therefore, accessibility to the general public is not easy, and when the wide angle of the lens included in the panoramic photographing apparatus is excessively increased, A lens distortion phenomenon may occur.

Therefore, a technique for solving the above-described problems is required.

On the other hand, the background art described above is technical information acquired by the inventor for the derivation of the present invention or obtained in the derivation process of the present invention, and can not necessarily be a known technology disclosed to the general public before the application of the present invention .

An embodiment of the present invention has an object to provide a panoramic photographing apparatus.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, as a technical means for achieving the above-mentioned technical object, there is provided a light-collecting portion including a plurality of lenses for passing and refracting light reflected from a subject, A switching unit for selectively transmitting light having passed through each of the plurality of lenses to the image sensing unit so that only light passing through one lens at a time is transmitted to the image sensing unit; To generate a panoramic image.

According to any one of the above-described objects of the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention can photograph a panoramic image using only an imaging unit smaller than the number of lenses.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention can produce a 360-degree panoramic image without using a reduction in resolution while using only an imaging unit smaller than the number of lenses.

The effects obtained by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description will be.

1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a panoramic photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram illustrating a mechanism for processing a video signal obtained by the panoramic photographing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of generating an image by the panoramic photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In order to clearly illustrate the present invention, parts not related to the description are omitted, and similar parts are denoted by like reference characters throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is referred to as being "connected" to another part, it includes not only "directly connected" but also "indirectly connected". Also, when an element is referred to as "comprising ", it means that it can include other elements as well, without departing from the other elements unless specifically stated otherwise.

Before describing the present invention, terms used in the present invention will be described.

The panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 is an apparatus for photographing a physical space in a wide-angle field of view. For example, the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 can capture an image of a wide angle over 180 degrees, preferably 360 degrees. When a lens having an excessively large wide angle is used, the resolution may be lowered and lens distortion may be increased, so that the panoramic photographing apparatus can photograph a plurality of images using at least two lenses 101 and 102. The panoramic photographing apparatus includes a 360-degree spherical panoramic photographing apparatus, a 360-degree cylindrical panoramic photographing apparatus, and the like.

In the following, 'image stitching' is a technique of reconstructing panoramic images by matching images acquired from multiple cameras (hereinafter referred to as 'stitching').

In the present invention, the meaning of 360 degrees means not only all directions on a two-dimensional plane, but also all directions in a three-dimensional space. In other words, 360 degrees in the present invention may mean the shape of a circle in two dimensions, or a shape of a sphere and a shape of a cylinder in three dimensions.

Hereinafter, the stitching method refers to a method of acquiring a wider image by attaching images to each other. A method of extracting feature points that are robust to image distortion and matching the feature points of the respective images to each other to form a panorama image, And a method of completing the panoramic image by blending.

1 and 2, a detailed configuration of a panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention and a detailed configuration of a panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 necessary for producing a panoramic image using a plurality of lenses 101 and 102 and one photographing section 400 will be described with reference to FIGS. A method of obtaining an electrical signal will be described.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of a panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Fig.

As shown in FIG. 1, the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 may include a light collecting unit 100.

The light collecting unit 100 may guide the light reflected from the subject to enter the inside of the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000.

Specifically, the light collecting unit 100 forms a movement path for allowing an external image to be incident inside the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000, that is, inside the light collecting unit 100. To this end, the light collecting part 100 may include a plurality of lenses 101 and 102 for passing and refracting light reflected from a subject.

In this case, the light collecting unit 100 includes the first lens 101 and the second lens 102 as a total of two lenses 101 and 102. However, this is merely an example, May include at least two lenses (101, 102).

On the other hand, the refractive indexes of the lenses 101 and 102 shown in FIG. 1 are determined according to the curvatures of the lenses 101 and 102. That is, the larger the curvature, the shorter the focal distance and the larger the refractive index. As the curvature and the refractive index become larger, a wider range of images can pass through the lenses 101 and 102.

The panoramic photographing apparatus 1000, which is an embodiment of the present invention, can be configured to photograph at a wide angle, preferably 360 degrees, on the basis of the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000. Therefore, the function of the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 can be realized by using a fish-eye lens having a relatively large refractive index as described above.

The plurality of lenses 101 and 102 included in the light condensing portion 100 can pass and refract light reflected from the subject at a wide angle of 360 degrees based on the point where the optical axes of all the lenses 101 and 102 meet.

Specifically, the lenses 101 and 102 included in the light collecting unit 100 may be installed at any position where the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 can photograph 360 degrees. That is, when the images included in the light passing through the respective lenses 101 and 102 are simultaneously reproduced, the lenses 101 and 102 may be installed at positions where all the images can be implemented 360 degrees around the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 have.

When the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 includes three lenses having an optical axis shared on the same plane, the first lens 101 has a wide angle of 120 degrees or more, And the third lens has an axis that is rotated by 120 degrees counterclockwise from the optical axis of the first lens 101 as an optical axis with an axis that is rotated by 120 degrees in the clockwise direction from the optical axis of the first lens 101 as an optical axis, If the angle is 120 degrees or more, the sum of squares of all the lenses 101 and 102 exceeds 360 degrees, so that the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 can normally produce a panoramic image.

Meanwhile, the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 may include a switching unit 200.

The switching unit 200 serves to selectively transmit an image passed through the lenses 101 and 102 to the imaging unit 400 to be described later. Specifically, the switching unit 200 is provided on each of the paths through which the light having passed through the lenses 101 and 102 reaches the imaging unit 400, which will be described later, .

When the light having passed through each of the lenses 101 and 102 is simultaneously incident on one imaging unit 400, light incident from various directions is superimposed on the imaging unit 400 so that the imaging unit 400 can normally none. That is, in order to normally capture light incident from various directions, it is necessary to divide the image sensing unit 400 or provide a plurality of image sensing units 400. However, when a plurality of image pickup units 400 are provided, the production cost of the apparatus can be greatly increased.

Accordingly, the switching unit 200 of the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of lenses 101 and 102, It is possible to make the time when light passing through the light sources 101 and 102 enter the image sensing unit 400 different from each other. That is, the switching unit 200 selectively transmits the light having passed through each of the plurality of lenses 101 and 102 to the image sensing unit 400 so that only light passing through one lens 101 and 102 at a time is transmitted to the image sensing unit 400 .

In the case where the imaging unit 400 to be described later is partitioned into n units, the switching unit 200 may transmit the light passing through the n lenses 101 and 102 to the imaging unit 400 at one time The light passing through each of the plurality of lenses 101 and 102 can be selectively transmitted to the image sensing unit 400.

The switching unit 200 can transmit only the light passing through one lens 101 and 102 to the image sensing unit 400 at a time in a predetermined sequence among the lenses 101 and 102 included in the light condensing unit 100. [ For example, when the light collecting part 100 is composed of four lenses, the switching part 220 passes light passing through the first lens 101, blocks light passing through the remaining lens, Passes only the light passing through the second lens 102, blocks the light passing through the other lens, then passes only the light that has passed through the third lens, blocks the light passing through the other lens, And blocking the light passing through the remaining lenses can be repeated periodically. At this time, only the light passing through one lens is allowed to reach the image sensing unit 400, and the time required for sensing the light passing through one lens and acquiring an electrical signal in the image sensing unit 400 is referred to as a 'first period' The switching unit 200 changes the lenses 101 and 102 that pass the light in the predetermined order every first period so that the light passing through each of the lenses 101 and 102 is changed into the ' It is possible to sequentially arrive at the imaging unit 400 once at a time once per one period of time (i.e., a time period in which one cycle corresponds to the number of lenses).

Specifically, the light that has passed through the switching unit 200 and reaches the image sensing unit 400 can be converted into an electrical signal by the image sensing unit 400. The image sensing unit 400 is periodically rotated by the switching unit 200 The light passing through one lens at a time is selectively received, so that the image sensing unit 400 can selectively convert light passing through each of the plurality of lenses into an electrical signal.

Therefore, the switching unit 200 opens only the movement path corresponding to one lens 101, 102 at a time in a predetermined order. For example, if the light travel path is set to be opened in the order of the first lens 101, the second lens 102, and the like, if light passing through the second lens 102 is transmitted to the image sensing unit 400 The light passing through the first lens 101 is no longer transmitted to the image sensing unit 400. That is, when the movement path corresponding to the second lens 102 is opened, the movement path corresponding to the first lens 101 is blocked.

The switching unit 200 sequentially switches the lenses 101 and 102 in a predetermined sequence from the beginning when the paths of the lenses 101 and 102 that pass light to be transmitted to the image sensing unit 400 are sequentially opened one by one, Only the light having passed through the image sensing unit 400 can be transmitted. That is, the switching unit 200 repeatedly changes the movement path corresponding to each of the plurality of lenses periodically.

The switching unit 200 may change the movement path by using electrical switching. For example, the switching unit 200 may be configured to selectively block light passing through the lenses 101 and 102, An arrangement or device, that is, an electrochromic device capable of controlling the passage of light according to a specific change in voltage for each path that passes through the photodetectors 101 and 102 and moves to the image pickup unit can be arranged. Hereinafter, the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 is described based on the case where the switching unit 200 is constituted by a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, which is a kind of an electrochromic device. However, The switching unit 200 can also be configured.

When a voltage is applied to the LCD panel, light is blocked, whereas when no voltage is applied to the LCD panel, light incident from an external light source can be transmitted. In the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention, Can selectively block or block the movement path of light passing through the lenses 101 and 102 by selectively applying a voltage to the LCD panel. That is, voltages may be applied to the remaining LCD panels other than the LCD panel corresponding to the predetermined order so as to block the light traveling path.

In other words, a voltage is applied to the LCD panel in the remaining path except the one-path LCD panel through which light is to be transmitted, so that light is transmitted only through the LCD panel of one path to reach the image pickup section, It is possible to replace an LCD panel to which a voltage is not applied and periodically change one path through which light is transmitted.

The switching unit 200 may include at least two LCD panels. Specifically, the number of LCD panels included in the switching unit 200 may be at least the number of lenses 101 and 102 included in the light- Lt; / RTI >

More specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, when the number of the lenses 101 and 102 included in the light collecting unit 100 is four, the number of the lenses 101 and 102 in the switching unit 200 The number of LCD panels included can also be four.

1, for example, the first switching unit 201 may be disposed behind the first lens 101, the second switching unit 202 may be disposed behind the second lens 102, and each of the switching units 201 , 202 may include an LCD panel.

On the other hand, the time for the switching unit 200 to transmit light passing through one lens 101, 102 at a time is determined by the time for the image sensing unit 400 to generate one image frame, that is, have. That is, the image sensing unit 400 may have a time period (first period) for converting light into an electrical signal to acquire one image frame. According to this time period, the image sensing unit 400 can acquire The number of image frames present may be expressed in frames per second (FPS).

The panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention is a panoramic photographing apparatus that converts the time taken by the image sensing unit 400 to pick up one frame and the time required for converting the light passing through one lens 101, 200 to transmit the light that has passed through one of the lenses 101, 102. The switching unit 200 can transmit the light having passed through one lens 101 and 102 at a time to the image sensing unit 400 for a time corresponding to one second divided by the frame per second,

For example, when the number of lenses is four as shown in FIG. 2 and the time for the imaging unit 400 to generate one image frame is ¼ second, that is, when the number of frames per second is 4 FPS, (First period) through which the light having passed through the light emitting elements 101 and 102 is transmitted may be ¼ second. At this time, each lens is opened once per second. That is, the cycle (second cycle) in which all the lenses are opened once is 1 second.

Meanwhile, the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 may include a route switching unit 300.

The path switching unit 300 is configured to refract or reflect the light that has passed through the respective lenses 101 and 102 to be incident on the image sensing unit 400. For example, And may include planar mirrors of the same plate shape.

Specifically, the path switching unit 300 functions to change the movement path so that the light having passed through the lenses 101 and 102 can move toward the image sensing unit 400. For example, when the optical axis of the lenses 101 and 102 does not face the image sensing portion of the image sensing unit 400, the path of the light passing through the lenses 101 and 102 is directed to the image sensing unit 400 The switching unit 300 can change the light traveling path.

In the case where there is no linear movement path from the lenses 101 and 102 to the image sensing unit 400, the path of the light must be changed. In the path where the light travels through the lenses 101 and 102, 300 may be provided to change the light travel path so as to be incident on the image sensing unit 400. The panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 may use a plurality of mirrors (reflections) or lenses (refractions) in order to change the light travel path to the image sensing unit 400. [

1, it is described that a path switching unit 300 is included in a moving path of an image formed behind all the switching units 200. However, the switching unit 200 is provided in front of the switching unit 200, that is, The path switching unit 300 may be provided between the switching unit 300 and the switching unit 300. If an image passed through the light collecting unit 100 and the switching unit 200 is directly incident on the image sensing unit 400 without the path switching unit 300 The path switching unit 300 may not be provided behind the lenses 101 and 102. [

Meanwhile, the panoramic imaging apparatus 1000 may include an imaging unit 400.

The image sensing unit 400 is an image sensing device that detects the subject information and converts it into an electric image signal. The image sensing unit 400 may include an image sensor such as a charge coupled device (CCD), a metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) have.

When the light having passed through the lenses 101 and 102 is incident on the imaging unit 400 and reaches the imaging unit 400, the imaging unit 400 can convert the light into an electrical signal. The electric signal converted by the image pickup unit 400 is transmitted to the image processing unit to be described later.

As described above, the panoramic imaging apparatus 1000, which is an example of the present invention, includes one imaging unit 400, and only the light that has passed through one lens at a time in the first period reaches the imaging unit 400 , An electric signal corresponding to each lens is completed in every first period.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, when four lenses 101 and 102 acquire one frame per 1/4 second, the time when light passing through one lens 101 and 102 is transmitted The first period is also a maximum of 1/4 second, and the period (second period) during which the first lens 101 transmits light and then the first lens 101 transmits light is 1 second. In other words, an electrical signal is obtained through light passing through each of the lenses 101 and 102 every second (second period).

The panoramic imaging apparatus 1000 according to another embodiment of the present invention may include a plurality of imaging units 400 that are smaller than the number of lenses 101 and 102. In this case, The electric signals can be respectively converted into light passing through the lenses 101 and 102.

For example, in the case of the panoramic imaging apparatus 1000 including the two imaging units 400 and the four lenses 101 and 102, the first imaging unit 400 of the two imaging units 400 includes four lenses 101 The second imaging unit 400 of the two imaging units 400 converts the light transmitted through at least one of the lenses 101 and 102 of the first imaging unit 400 and the second imaging unit 102 to an electrical signal, Converts the light transmitted through the remaining lenses 101 and 102, other than the lenses 101 and 102, which have been converted into the electrical signals.

Meanwhile, the image sensing unit 400 may operate continuously irrespective of the light transmitted toward the image sensing unit 400, and each of the electrical coloring elements included in the switching unit 200 may be synchronized with the switching unit 200, It may be operated only when it is transmitted. Accordingly, when the synchronization between the switching unit 200 and the image sensing unit 400 is required, the control unit may include a control unit (not shown) for synchronization, and may not include the control unit if not necessary.

Meanwhile, the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 may include an image processing unit (not shown).

The image processing unit may process the electrical signals acquired by the image sensing unit 400 to generate a panorama image.

Specifically, the image processing unit may process a plurality of electrical signals obtained by the image sensing unit 400 to generate a plurality of image frames.

That is, the light transmitted to the image sensing unit 400 through the lenses 101 and 102 is converted into an electrical signal by the image sensing unit 400, and the image processing unit processes the periodically converted electrical signals, Can be generated.

Each of the image frames is generated based on light passing through each of the lenses 101 and 102 included in the light condensing section 100. Since the plurality of lenses 101 and 102 included in the light condensing section 100, It is necessary to have a number of image frames corresponding to the still image of 360 degrees to complete the still-cut image.

Accordingly, the image processing unit can group the generated image frames by the number corresponding to the number of the plurality of lenses 101 and 102 included in the light condensing unit 100 according to the created order.

Specifically, in the case of the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 including the four lenses 101 and 102, one image frame obtained by the electrical signals picked up by the lenses 101 and 102 is grouped into one group can do.

More specifically, the light condensed by the first lens 101 is converted into an electrical signal by the imaging unit 400, and the first image frame A-1, the second lens 102 and the first image frame B-1 and the third lens, which have been completed by using the electrical signal converted by the image processing unit, to the image sensing unit 400, The first image frame C-1, which is obtained by converting the electrical signal into an electrical signal, and the image processing unit uses the converted electrical signal, converts the light condensed by the fourth lens into an electrical signal, The first image frame D-1 completed with the signal can be group 1.

On the other hand, the image processing unit converts each of the plurality of image frames included in each group into a position corresponding to the lens in which the light transmitted to the image sensing unit 400 is condensed when an electrical signal corresponding to each image frame is obtained Arrange and connect to complete one still-cut image.

For example, in the first group, the image frame A-1 is arranged at a position corresponding to the first lens 101, and the image frame B-1 is arranged at a position corresponding to the second lens 102 1, the image frame C-1 is arranged at a position corresponding to the lens No. 3, the image frame D-1 is arranged at a position corresponding to the lens No. 4 and stitched as one image, whereby one still- It completes.

In other words, when a frame is formed in the form of a sphere and each lens is attached to the frame, each image frame is arranged in the form of a sphere, and when each lens is attached to the cylinder-shaped frame, .

When the still-cut image is completed, the image processing unit can produce a video content by connecting a plurality of still-cut images sequentially completed in the order of the generated time.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a still-cut image created based on group 1, a still-cut image created based on group 2, a still-cut image created based on group 3, Still-cut images, such as still-cut images created in each group, can be linked in time order to produce video content.

Hereinafter, a method of producing a moving image by the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of generating an image by the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, in order for the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 to generate an image, an image must be incident from outside the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 to the inside. The plurality of lenses 101 and 102 that have passed through each of the plurality of lenses 101 and 102 reach the imaging unit 400 in accordance with a predetermined sequence for each of the lenses 101 and 102 included in the panoramic imaging apparatus 1000 The path other than one of the paths may be blocked (S1001).

1, for example, the path through which the light having passed through the first lens 101 reaches the imaging unit 400 is opened, and the light passing through the second lens 102 is transmitted through the imaging unit 400, The path through which the light having passed through the first lens 101 reaches the image sensing unit 400 is blocked.

Accordingly, the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 acquires one image frame by converting the light reaching the image sensing unit 400 through an open path in step S1001 into an electrical signal (S1002).

At this time, when the number of image frames obtained corresponds to the number of lenses included in the light condensing unit 100 (S1003), the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 stitches image frames corresponding to the number of lenses to form one still cut An image can be generated (S1004).

The number of image frames corresponding to the number of the plurality of lenses 101 and 102, which are generated in two cycles every two periods, the number of which corresponds to the number of lenses 101 and 102, is stitched One still-cut image can be completed (S1003).

For example, since the image frames A-1, B-1, C-1, D-1, etc. are generated in each of the lenses 101 and 102 every time the first period passes, 1, B-1, C-1, and D-1 are stitched together to complete one still-cut image.

Specifically, in step S1003, each image frame included in a plurality of image frames is arranged and stitched in a different order according to the order in which the plurality of image frames generated in the second period are generated, thereby completing the still-cut image .

On the other hand, after one image frame is acquired in step S1002, the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 repeats the process of changing the opened path until the shooting ends (S1006) and acquiring the image frame (S1002) .

At this time, the cycle of obtaining the image frame by changing the opened path, that is, the period in which the steps S1005 and S1002 are performed corresponds to the first period described above.

Here, in step S1002 of changing the open path, in order to change one path that is not blocked by the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000, light passing through each of the lenses 101 and 102 is transmitted to the image capturing unit 400 The voltage may be selectively applied to at least one LCD panel provided in each of the plurality of paths.

Specifically, a voltage is applied to each LCD panel so that light can be transmitted only through at least one LCD panel provided in one of a plurality of paths through which light passing through the lenses 101 and 102 reaches the image sensing unit 400 Can be applied.

For example, in order to transmit the light passing through the first lens to the image sensing unit 400, the light passing through the first lens 101 is arranged in a path that reaches the image sensing unit 400 The voltage may be applied to all LCD panels other than the LCD panel.

In addition, by repeating steps S1005 and S1002, it is possible to acquire a plurality of image frames. For example, according to the example shown in FIG. 2, the light arriving at the image sensing unit 400 through the first lens 101 is picked up The image frame A-1 generated in the first period, the light arriving at the image sensing unit 400 through the second lens 102, and the image frames B-1 and B-3 generated in the first cycle Captures light reaching the image sensing unit 400, captures light reaching the image sensing unit 400 through the image frame C-1 and the fourth lens generated in the first period, and outputs the image frame D -1, and so on.

On the other hand, the process of acquiring image frames by changing the open path and acquiring image frames, acquiring a number of image frames corresponding to the number of lenses, and using them to generate a still-cut image (S1004) Lt; / RTI >

At this time, the process of obtaining an image frame by changing the open path is repeated to acquire a number of image frames corresponding to the number of lenses, and a cycle of generating a still-cut image using them is performed, that is, a process of steps S1005 and S1002 And the cycle in which the step S1004 is performed corresponds to the second cycle described above.

On the other hand, when the photographing ends, the panoramic photographing apparatus 1000 repeats step S1004 to connect the plurality of still-cut images acquired in chronological order to generate the moving image contents (S1007).

2, B-2, C-2, C-3, C-3 and C-4 completed by image frames A-1, B-1, C-1 and D- Still cut image completed by D-2, still cut image completed by image frames A-3, B-3, C-3, D-3 ... Etc. may be connected in chronological order to generate video contents.

The panoramic image generation method using the panoramic imaging apparatus according to the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 may also be implemented in the form of a recording medium including instructions executable by a computer such as a program module executed by a computer . Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. In addition, the computer-readable medium may include both computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Communication media typically includes any information delivery media, including computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave, or other transport mechanism.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing description of the present invention is for illustrative purposes only and that those of ordinary skill in the art can readily understand that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the present invention. will be. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single entity may be distributed and implemented, and components described as being distributed may also be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the detailed description and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents are to be construed as being included within the scope of the present invention do.

1000: Panoramic shooting device
100: concentrator
101: first lens
102: second lens
200: Switching
300:
400:

Claims (14)

A light collecting part including a plurality of lenses for passing and refracting light reflected from a subject;
An imaging unit for periodically converting light passing through each of the plurality of lenses into an electrical signal;
Wherein the plurality of lenses are provided on respective paths that the light passing through the plurality of lenses reaches to the imaging unit so as to open or shut off the path of each light and transmit only the light passing through one lens at a time to the imaging unit, A switching unit for selectively transmitting light having passed through each of the lenses to the image sensing unit;
An image processing unit for processing the electrical signals obtained by the imaging unit to generate a panoramic image; And
And at least one path switching unit that reflects or refracts light passing through at least one of the plurality of lenses included in the light condensing unit and transmits the light to the imaging unit,
The switching unit includes:
Wherein the light guiding unit transmits only the light passing through one lens at a time in the predetermined order among the lenses included in the light collecting unit to the imaging unit,
And at least one electrochromic device for selectively transmitting light with respect to each of the paths through which light passes through each lens so as to selectively block light passing through each of the lenses included in the light collecting part, ,
And a control unit for operating the image pickup unit only when the electrical coloring element transmits light while synchronizing the image pickup unit and the switching unit,
The light-
The light reflected from the subject is reflected and refracted at a viewing angle of 360 degrees with respect to the point where the optical axes of all the lenses included in the light condensing unit meet,
The second period in which each of the at least one electric coloring-receiving element transmits light that has passed through each of the lenses,
Wherein the image pickup unit corresponds to a value obtained by multiplying a first period, which is a cycle of acquiring an electrical signal for generating one image frame, by a number of lenses included in the light condensing unit,
Wherein the image processing unit comprises:
Each of the electric signals periodically converted by the image pickup unit is processed to generate a plurality of image frames,
Grouping the generated image frames by the number corresponding to the number of lenses included in the light condensing unit according to the generated order,
Each of the plurality of image frames included in each group is arranged and stitched at a position corresponding to a condensed lens of light transmitted to the image pickup unit when an electrical signal corresponding to each image frame is obtained, Complete the image,
A panoramic photographing apparatus, comprising: a plurality of still-cut images which are successively formed and connected in a chronological order; delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete

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