KR20100036679A - Apparatus for processing digital images and the method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A digital image processing device and operation method change the image taken a photograph of before the initialization of the GPS module signal into the image including the photographing position information. CONSTITUTION: A GPS(Global Positioning System) receiver(160) receives the GPS location information from a GPS satellite. A sensor unit(170) senses the movement of the digital image processing device(100). The digital signal processor(180) temporarily stores the motion estimation by the sensor unit about the image recording before the initialization of the GPS receiver. After the GPS receiver is initialized, the digital signal processor changes the motion estimation into the photography GPS location information.

Description

Apparatus for processing digital images and the method of the same}

The present invention relates to a digital image processing apparatus and an operation method thereof, and more particularly, to a digital image processing apparatus and an operation method thereof capable of storing location information in a photographed image before initialization of the GPS module is completed.

Digital image processing devices such as digital camcodes including digital cameras, mobile phones equipped with camera modules, PDAs, etc., are charged-coupled devices (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide semiconductors that convert light data coming through the lens into electrical signals. It is a device to take and record the image of the subject using an image sensor such as).

On the other hand, GPS (Global Positioning System) which can accurately obtain the latitude, longitude, and altitude location information and time information by measuring accurate time and distance from satellites flying over the earth using a GPS receiver. Technology is developing rapidly.

The GPS technology has been applied to various fields. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Nos. 2007-037168, 2006-279110, etc., a method of inputting GPS information acquired using a module-type or camera-integrated GPS receiver into a captured image in real time. Is disclosed.

However, while it takes about one second to boot up the digital image processing device, the GPS receiver can receive a significant amount of GPS data from the GPS satellites when it is activated for the first time or has not been used for some time. It takes time (45 seconds to 2 minutes). Therefore, in the prior art, in order to input GPS information into a captured image after booting the photographing apparatus, the GPS receiver waits for a considerable time until the GPS data is completely transmitted (until initialized), or captures the image. There was a problem in that one image should be stored without location information.

The present invention to solve the above problems and other problems, to provide a digital image processing apparatus and an operation method that can input the position information at the time of shooting to the image taken before the signal of the GPS module is initialized. The purpose.

The present invention to solve the above problems, GPS receiver for receiving GPS location information from the GPS satellites; Sensor unit for detecting the movement of the digital image processing device; And temporarily storing the movement information acquired by the sensor unit with respect to the image photographed before the GPS receiver is initialized, and converting the movement information into GPS position information at the time of shooting after the GPS receiver is initialized. It provides a digital image processing device comprising; digital signal processing means for storing in.

In addition, according to another feature of the invention, the sensor unit may be an acceleration sensor for detecting the three-axis movement of the digital image processing device.

According to another feature of the invention, the digital processing means, the sensor information input unit for inputting the movement information obtained by the sensor unit in the photographed image; An information conversion unit converting the movement information into GPS information at the time of image capturing by using the movement information and the GPS information when the GPS receiver is initialized; And a GPS information input unit which inputs the converted GPS information to the photographed image.

According to another feature of the present invention, the sensor information input unit may input at least one or more movement information selected from the displacement information, the velocity information, and the acceleration information acquired by the sensor unit to the photographed image.

The present invention to solve the above problems, (a) booting the acceleration sensor and GPS; (b) taking an image; (c) inputting movement information acquired by the acceleration sensor to an image photographed before GPS initialization; And (d) converting the movement information stored in the photographed image into GPS information after GPS initialization.

According to another feature of the present invention, the image file to which the movement information is input in step (c) may be temporarily stored in the temporary storage unit.

According to another feature of the invention, the movement information obtained in the step (c) may be selected at least one selected from the displacement information, the velocity information and the acceleration information obtained by the acceleration sensor.

According to another feature of the invention, after the step (d), (e) may further comprise the step of storing the image file including the converted GPS location information in the storage.

According to the present invention, the digital image processing apparatus may convert and store an image including location information at the time of photographing even before the signal of the GPS module is initialized.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a digital image processing apparatus and a GPS satellite according to an embodiment of the present invention.

 The digital image processing apparatus 100 may be applied to various image processing apparatuses, such as a digital cam code, a mobile phone equipped with a camera module, a PDA, etc., including a digital camera. In the present embodiment, the digital camera will be described as an example. . In addition, in the case of a digital camera, the present invention can be applied to a single lens reflex (SLR) camera as well as the compact digital camera shown in the drawing.

Referring to the drawings, the digital image processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment communicates with the GPS satellite 200 through the GPS receiver 160 (see FIG. 2) including a communication unit (not shown).

At least four GPS satellites 200 flying over the earth at an altitude of about 20,000 km are equipped with a precise atomic clock with an error of about 1 second for about 160,000 years, and transmits a radio wave for measurement of location to the ground based on this. do.

The GPS information receiving unit 160 (refer to FIG. 2) receives a position measuring radio wave transmitted from the GPS satellite 200 at a predetermined time interval (for example, 10 second intervals), calculates a distance, and then calculates a distance of itself. Receive location information and time information, including longitude information.

In addition, the digital camera 100 for taking an image and generating and storing an image file includes a shutter-release button 11, a power button 13, a wide angle-zoon button 15w, and a telephoto ( Telephoto-zoom 15t, function button 17, display unit 19, sensor unit 170 (see FIG. 2), and the like.

The shutter-release button 11 is opened and closed to expose the CCD or CMOS to light for a predetermined time, and records the image on the CCD by properly exposing the subject in conjunction with an aperture (not shown).

The power button 13 is input to operate by supplying power to the image processing apparatus.

The wide-angle zoom button 15w or the tele-zoom 15t increases or decreases the angle of view depending on the input. In particular, the wide-zoom button 15w or the tele-zoom 15t is input when the size of the selected exposure area is changed. When the wide-zoom button 15w is input, the size of the selected exposure area is reduced, and when the tele-zoom button 15t is input, the size of the selected exposure area is increased.

The function button 17 includes a total of five buttons including an up button, a down button, a left button, a right button and a menu / OK button. The function button 17 is input to execute various menus related to the operation of the digital image processing apparatus 100. Each of the keys may also be used as a shortcut key.

The sensor unit 170 (refer to FIG. 2) detects the movement of the digital image processing apparatus 100. The sensor unit 170 in the present invention uses a triaxial acceleration sensor. The sensor unit 170 may sense movement and speed in a specific direction. By using the characteristics of the acceleration sensor, the movement information of the digital image processing apparatus may be obtained, and as will be described later, the position information of the image may be inverted using the movement information as described above.

2 is a schematic block diagram of a digital image processing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to the drawings, the digital image processing apparatus 100 includes a user input unit 110, a photographing unit 120, an image processing unit 130, a storage unit 140, a display unit 150, a GPS receiver 160, The sensor unit 170 and the digital signal processor 180 are included.

The user input unit 110 inputs a signal for controlling various operations of the digital camera by a user's operation, and includes a shutter release button 11 (see FIG. 1 below), a power button 13, and a wide-angle zoom button 15w. ) Or a tele-zoom button 15t and a function button 17 and the like.

The photographing unit 120 converts an optical signal for an image of a subject into an electrical signal, and includes an optical system including an lens unit (not shown) and a filter unit (not shown), an image sensor (not shown), and the like. The lens unit may include a zoom lens, a focus lens, and a compensation lens.

An image sensor (not shown), such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS), accumulates the amount of light input through the lens unit and vertically synchronizes the image captured by the lens unit according to the accumulated amount of light. Output according to Image acquisition in a digital image processing apparatus is accomplished by an image sensor such as a CCD that converts light reflected from a subject into an electrical signal.

In order to obtain a color image using an image sensor, a color filter is required, and most of them employ a filter (not shown) called a color filter array (CFA). CFA passes only light representing one color per pixel and has a regularly arranged structure, and has various shapes according to the arrangement structure. The analog image signal output from the image sensor (not shown) is converted into a digital signal by an A / D conversion unit (Anolog-to-Digtal Converter (not shown)), and the digital image signal is the original (RAW) of the captured image file. ) Data.

The image processor 130 is a signal processing unit capable of displaying digitally converted RAW data. The image processor 130 removes the black level caused by the dark current generated by the CCD and the CFA filter sensitive to temperature change. Further, gamma correction is performed to encode information in accordance with nonlinearity of human vision, and CFA interpolation is performed to interpolate the Bayer pattern implemented by the RGRG line and the GBGB line of the gamma-corrected predetermined data into RGB lines. In addition, edge compensation converts the interpolated RGB signal into a YUV signal and filters the Y signal by a high-band filter to sharpen the image, and corrects the color values of the U and V signals using a standard color coordinate system and removes noise. In addition, the Y, U, and V signals are removed, and the signal is compressed and processed to generate an image file such as a JPEG file.

The generated image file may be stored in the storage 140, and the image file may be stored in an Exif (Exchangeable image file format) format. In the case of the Exif structure, GPS information such as latitude and longitude provided from the GPS information receiver 170 to be described later may be stored in the GPS info IFD area in the 0th IFD area of the application marker segment 1 (APP1) area. have.

On the other hand, the storage unit 140 is a concept including a temporary storage unit that can temporarily store the captured image file. For example, as will be described later, since it takes a predetermined time before the GPS module is initialized, the displacement, the speed, and the displacement of the digital image processing apparatus 100 obtained by the acceleration sensor Movement information about an acceleration or the like may be temporarily input to the image file and stored in the temporary storage unit.

In addition, the storage unit 140 of the present invention is not only for storing the image file, but also for the operation of the EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) and the digital camera processor in which an algorithm necessary for the operation of the digital camera processor is stored. Of course, the flash memory may further include a flash memory in which the setting data is stored.

When the power of the digital image processing apparatus 100 is turned on, the GPS information receiver 160 controls itself from the GPS satellite 200 at a predetermined time interval (for example, every 10 seconds) under the control of the digital signal processing unit 180. Latitude, longitude, altitude information as time information and location information. However, the GPS information receiver 160 may not receive the GPS information from the moment when the operation starts. For example, when the product is used for the first time after completion, or when the product is operated again after not using a significant amount of time or more, a considerable time is required to find the initial position from the GPS satellite 200 in order to receive GPS information. It takes The time required may vary depending on the period of non-use of GPS, the features of the surroundings, or the type of product. In addition, the term referring to the time required is also used in various ways such as cold time, warm time and hot time. However, the present invention is of course applied without being limited to the above terms if it takes a long time to receive the GPS information by initially operating the GPS at the time of booting the image processing apparatus.

The sensor unit 170 detects the movement of the digital image processing apparatus 100. The sensor unit 170 in the present invention uses a triaxial acceleration sensor. The triaxial accelerometer 170 may sense displacements, speeds, and accelerations in three axis directions (eg, X, Y, and Z) of the digital image processing apparatus 100. In addition, unlike the GPS receiver 160 described above, the acceleration sensor 170 moves at the same time as the digital image processing apparatus 100 is turned on under the control of the digital signal processing unit 180. Can sense it. Therefore, by using the above characteristics of the acceleration sensor 170, the movement information of the image photographed before the GPS receiver 160 is initialized can be obtained, and the digital signal processor 180 converts the movement information into GPS position information. By converting to, position information can be obtained for an image photographed before GPS initialization.

The above operation is operated under the control of the digital signal processing unit 180, and the digital signal processing unit 180 is a control unit 181, a sensor information input unit 182, an information converter 183, and a GPS information input unit 184. ).

The sensor information input unit 182 inputs movement information of the digital image processing apparatus 100 obtained by the acceleration sensor 170 to an image photographed before the GPS receiver 160 is initialized. Since the acceleration sensor 170 is initialized at substantially the same time as the operation of the digital image processing apparatus 100, the sensor information input unit 182 processes the digital image acquired at the time of capturing by the acceleration sensor instead of the GPS position information with respect to the captured image. Temporarily stores movement information of the device 100. For example, in the case of a triaxial acceleration sensor, information such as acceleration, velocity, and displacement with respect to X, Y, and Z axes at the time of image capturing is stored in the captured image. The image file including the movement information may be stored in a temporary storage unit (not shown).

When the initialization of the GPS receiver 160 is completed, the information converter 183 converts the movement information of the image at the time of shooting, which is stored in the image photographed before the initialization of the GPS receiver 160, to the GPS position information. Instead of GPS information such as latitude and longitude, which are absolute position information, the image file generated before the GPS initialization stores movement information about relative movement of the digital image processing apparatus 100 such as displacement, speed, and acceleration. As the movement information is initialized by the information conversion unit 183, the GPS information received by the GPS receiver 160 may be stored using the stored movement information and the GPS information received by the GPS receiver 160. GPS information, including longitude, is converted.

The GPS information input unit 184 inputs the GPS information converted from the movement information at the time of photographing into the photographed image file by the information converting unit 183 to generate an image file including the GPS position information as absolute position information. At this time, the image file may be stored in Exif (Exchangeable image file format) format. In the case of the Exif structure, GPS information such as latitude and longitude may be stored in the GPS info IFD region in the 0th IFD region of the application marker segment 1 (APP1) region.

The image file including the converted GPS information is stored in the storage 140. Of course, the GPS information input unit 184 not only inputs the GPS information obtained by converting the above-described moving information into the image file, but also in the case of an image captured after the GPS is initialized, the GPS information received during the corresponding shooting is applied. Of course, the function of inputting the captured image is performed.

Hereinafter, an operation method of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3. The operation method according to the present invention may be performed in the image processing apparatus 100 as shown in FIG. 2. The main algorithm for converting movement information into an image file and inputting GPS information is an image processing apparatus 100. It may be performed in the digital signal processing unit 180 with the help of the peripheral components in FIG.

First, operation of the GPS 160 and the acceleration sensor 170 is started (step 210). The activation of the acceleration sensor 170 and the GPS 160 may be simultaneously performed by booting the digital image processing apparatus 100.

Next, the user captures a desired image (step 220).

The controller 181 checks whether the GPS information is received from the GPS receiver 160 (step 230). If the initialization of the GPS 160 is completed and the GPS information is received, the GPS information input unit 184 is The GPS information is input to the captured image and stored in the storage 140 (step 280).

In general, the digital image processing apparatus 100 such as a digital camera takes about 1 second to boot up, and takes several seconds to complete the shooting by performing other operations required by the user to shoot an image. do. However, as described above, the GPS information receiver 160 cannot receive the GPS information immediately from the moment when the operation of the GPS is started, and the GPS information receiver 160 is not suitable for receiving the GPS information according to the unused time, the surrounding feature or the type of the product, and the like. Time (e.g., about 45 seconds to 2 minutes) is used. In this case, therefore, GPS information cannot be input even if an image is taken. Therefore, in this case, the sensor information input unit 182 inputs the movement information acquired by the acceleration sensor 170 to the photographed image and temporarily stores it in the temporary storage unit (step 240).

After the predetermined time elapses, when the GPS initialization is completed, the information conversion unit 183 uses the movement information at the time of shooting and the currently received GPS movement information, and the like to determine the latitude and longitude of the movement information acquired at the time of shooting by the acceleration sensor. Convert to GPS location information to be included (step 260).

The GPS information input unit 184 inputs the GPS position information converted as described above into the corresponding image (step 270), and stores it in the storage unit 140 (step 280).

When the above series of operations are performed, all image files stored in the digital image processing apparatus 100 may include GPS location information regardless of the shooting time.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the true scope of protection of the present invention should be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a digital image processing apparatus and a GPS satellite according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a schematic block diagram of a digital image processing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

3 is a diagram illustrating a method of operating a digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Claims (8)

A GPS receiver for receiving GPS location information from a GPS satellite; Sensor unit for detecting the movement of the digital image processing device; And Temporarily stores the movement information acquired by the sensor unit with respect to the image photographed before the GPS receiver is initialized, and converts the movement information into GPS position information at the time of photographing after the GPS receiver is initialized. And digital signal processing means for storing. The method of claim 1, The sensor unit is a digital image processing device, characterized in that the acceleration sensor for detecting the three-axis movement of the digital image processing device. The method of claim 1, The digital processing means, A sensor information input unit which inputs the movement information obtained by the sensor unit to the photographed image; An information conversion unit converting the movement information into GPS information at the time of image capturing by using the movement information and the GPS information when the GPS receiver is initialized; And And a GPS information input unit which inputs the converted GPS information to the photographed image. The method of claim 3, wherein And the sensor information input unit inputs at least one movement information selected from the displacement information, the velocity information, and the acceleration information acquired by the sensor unit to the photographed image. (a) booting the acceleration sensor and the GPS; (b) taking an image; (c) inputting movement information acquired by the acceleration sensor to an image photographed before GPS initialization; And (d) converting the movement information stored in the photographed image into GPS information after GPS initialization; and operating the digital image processing apparatus. The method of claim 5, And the image file to which the movement information is input in step (c) is temporarily stored in the temporary storage unit. The method of claim 5, And the movement information obtained in step (c) is selected from at least one selected from displacement information, velocity information, and acceleration information acquired by the acceleration sensor. The method of claim 5, And after the step (d), (e) storing the image file including the converted GPS location information in a storage unit.

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