KR20100073769A - Apparatus for processing digital image and method for controlling thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus for processing a digital image and a method for controlling the same are provided to judges the application of a polarization filter by judging whether or not a region displayed in blue color is the region occupied by blue sky. CONSTITUTION: An input image is inputted(S410), and a blue color region in the inputted image is detected(S420). The measurement distance corresponding to the distance for the blue color region is measured(S440). If the blue region is judged as a blue sky region based on the measured distance, the light intensity inputted to emphasizing the blue color is adjusted(S460-S495).

Description

Apparatus for processing digital image and method for controlling Technical Field

The present invention relates to a digital image processing apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a digital image processing apparatus and a method for controlling the same, which can take a picture by emphasizing the blue color of the sky by removing the reflected or scattered light using a polarization filter. It is about.

Typically, the digital image processing apparatus includes all devices that process images such as a digital camera, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a phone camera, a PC camera, or use an image recognition sensor.

The digital image processing apparatus may image an image received through an image pickup device by a digital signal processor, compress the image, generate an image file, and store the image file in a memory.

In addition, the digital image processing apparatus may display and display an image of an image file received through an imaging device or stored in a storage medium on a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD).

Typically, a polarization filter may be used in the digital image processing apparatus. The polarized filter removes the reflected light and the scattered light so that the blue color of the sky can be further emphasized to take a picture. To this end, after the polarizing filter is mounted outside the barrel, the polarizing filter can be rotated to adjust the amount of light to be polarized and then take a picture.

An object of the present invention is to provide a digital image processing apparatus and a control method thereof capable of determining whether an polarization filter is applied by determining whether an area represented by blue in an image area is occupied by a blue sky.

The present invention, the step of receiving an input image; Detecting a blue region corresponding to a blue region in the input image; Measuring a measurement distance corresponding to the distance to the blue region; And adjusting the amount of light inputted to emphasize the blue color when the blue area is determined to be the blue sky area from the measurement distance.

The said light amount can be adjusted with a polarizing filter.

Comparing the measurement distance with a set distance, the step of inserting the polarization filter when the measurement distance is farther than the set distance, and rotating the polarization filter to adjust the amount of light.

The adjusting of the amount of light may include measuring an amount of input light, and rotating the polarization filter until the amount of light is smaller than a preset reference value.

The adjusting of the amount of light may include rotating the polarization filter, receiving an input image, measuring the amount of light in the input image, and comparing the amount of light with the reference value.

A plurality of measurement areas set in the entire area of the input image may be extracted, and the blue area may be detected in each of the measurement areas.

The blue area may be detected when the ratio of the blue area of the entire area of the input image is greater than or equal to a preset reference ratio.

The measurement distance may be measured by obtaining a position of the focus lens that receives the input image while moving the focus lens along the optical axis to obtain a clearest picture.

Another aspect of the invention, the image input unit for receiving an input image; A blue region detector for detecting a blue region corresponding to a blue region in the input image; A distance measuring unit measuring a measurement distance corresponding to the distance to the blue region; A light amount adjusting unit adjusting an amount of light input through the image input unit; And a controller configured to control the amount of light so as to emphasize the blue color when the blue area is determined to be the blue sky area from the measured distance.

The blue region detector may be included in the controller.

The light amount adjusting unit may include a polarizing filter for adjusting the amount of light by filtering the reflected light and scattered light, and a polarizing filter driving unit to insert the polarizing filter and rotationally drive the polarizing filter.

When the measurement distance is farther than the preset distance, it may be determined that the blue region is a blue sky region.

The polarization filter may be rotated until the amount of light input by the light amount adjusting unit is smaller than a preset reference value.

The blue region detector may extract a plurality of measurement regions set from the input image, and detect the blue region in each of the measurement regions.

The blue area may be detected when the ratio of the blue area of the entire area of the input image is greater than or equal to a preset reference ratio.

The distance measuring unit may include a focus lens driving unit which moves the position of the focus lens along the optical axis.

The distance measuring unit may measure the measurement distance by obtaining a position of the focus lens that receives the input image while moving the position of the focus lens along an optical axis to obtain a sharpest picture.

The distance measuring unit may measure the measurement distance by obtaining a position of the focus lens that receives the input image while moving the position of the focus lens along an optical axis to obtain a sharpest picture.

According to the digital image processing apparatus and the control method thereof according to the present invention, by determining whether the area represented by blue in the image area is occupied by the blue sky and determining whether to apply the polarization filter, user convenience in applying the polarization filter Can improve.

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

FIG. 1 is a rear view of a digital camera 100 which is an embodiment of a digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, on the back of the digital camera 100, the direction button 21, the menu-OK button 22, the wide angle (Zoom) button (W), the telephoto (Zoom) ) Button T, the display panel 25 and the like.

The direction button 21 may include four buttons, an up button 21a, a down button 21b, a left button 21c, and a right button 21d. The direction button 21 and the menu-OK button 22 are keys for executing various menus relating to the operation of the digital image processing apparatus such as a digital camera.

The wide-angle zoom button W or the tele-zoom button T has a wider angle of view or a narrower angle of view depending on its input. In particular, it may be used to change the size of the selected exposure area. In this case, when the wide-zoom button W is input, the size of the selected exposure area increases, and when the tele-zoom button T is input, the size of the selected exposure area may decrease.

As the display panel 25, an image display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) may be used. The display panel 25 may be included in the display unit 350 in which the input image is displayed in live view.

Meanwhile, a power switch 23, a shutter release button 24, a flash (not shown), and a lens unit (not shown) may be provided on the front or top surface of the digital camera 100.

The power switch 23 and the shutter release button 24 may be included in the user manipulation unit 360 (see FIG. 3) for inputting items to be manipulated by the user from the outside.

The power switch 23 may be used to turn on or off the power for the digital camera 100 to operate. The shutter release button 24 opens and closes to expose the film or the image pickup device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) for a predetermined time. In addition, the shutter release button records an image on the image pickup device by properly exposing a subject in association with an aperture (not shown).

On the other hand, the shutter release button 24 may be pressed in two stages. When the shutter release button 26 is pressed to one end, a first signal may be generated, and when the shutter release button 26 is pressed to one end, a second signal may be generated.

As an embodiment of a digital image processing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, a digital camera, a control apparatus, and a control method thereof are disclosed in US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0130650 (name: automatic using a secondary function of the camera). Method of automatically focusing using a quadratic function in camera.

Matters relating to the digital camera, the control apparatus, and the control method disclosed in the above-mentioned US application will be included in the present specification, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

2 is a block diagram of a control device 200 of a digital image processing apparatus, which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The control device 200 of the digital image processing apparatus may be mounted in the digital camera 100 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawing, an optical system OPS including a lens unit and a filter unit optically processes light from a subject. The lens unit of the optical system OPS includes a zoom lens, a focus lens, and a compensation lens. When the user presses the wide-angle zoom button W or the tele-zoom button T included in the user input unit INP, a signal corresponding thereto is input to the microcontroller 212.

Accordingly, as the microcontroller 212 controls the lens driver 210, the zoom motor M _Z is driven to move the zoom lens. That is, when the wide-zoom button W is pressed, the focal length of the zoom lens is shortened to widen the angle of view, and when the tele-zoom button T is pressed, the focal length of the zoom lens becomes long and the angle of view is narrowed.

On the other hand, in the auto focusing mode, the main controller embedded in the digital signal processor 207 controls the lens driver 210 through the microcontroller 212, and thus the focus motor M _F is driven. do. That is, the focus lens is moved to a position where the sharpest picture is obtained by driving the focus motor M _F.

The auto focus mode may be performed according to the first signal generated by pressing the shutter release button 24 of FIG. 1 to one end. At this time, the plurality of images are input while the position of the focus lens is moved along the optical axis, and the position of the focus lens which obtains the clearest image among the plurality of images is obtained.

The compensation lens compensates for the overall refractive index and is not driven separately. Reference numeral M _A denotes an aperture adjusting motor M _A for driving an aperture (not shown).

In the filter section of the optical system OPS, an optical low pass filter removes optical noise of high frequency components. Infra-Red cut filter cuts the infrared component of the incident light.

The photoelectric conversion unit OEC may include an imaging device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS). The photoelectric conversion unit OEC converts light from the optical system OPS into an electrical analog signal.

The analog-to-digital converter may include a CDS-ADC (Correlation Double Sampler and Analog-to-Digital Converter) device 201. The analog-to-digital converter processes the analog signal from the photoelectric converter (OEC), removes the high frequency noise, adjusts the amplitude, and converts the analog signal into a digital signal. Here, the digital signal processor 207 controls the timing circuit 202 to control the operation of the photoelectric converter OEC and the analog-to-digital converter 201.

The optical system OPS, the photoelectric conversion unit OEC, the CDS-ADC element 201, and the like may be included in the image input unit 310 of FIG. 3.

The real time clock 203 provides time information to the digital signal processor 207. The digital signal processor 207 processes digital signals from the CDS-ADC element 201 to generate digital image signals classified into luminance (Y value) and chromaticity (R, G, B) signals.

The light emitting unit LAMP driven by the microcontroller 212 under the control of the main controller embedded in the digital signal processor 207 includes a self-timer lamp, an auto-focus lamp, a mode indicating lamp, and a flash standby lamp. This may be included.

The user input unit INP may include a direction button 21, a wide-angle zoom button W, a telephoto-zoom button T, and the like. The user input unit INP may be included in the user manipulation unit 360 of FIG. 3.

The digital image signal from the digital signal processor 207 is temporarily stored in the DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) 204. The EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) 205 stores algorithms and setting data such as a boot program and a key input program required for the operation of the digital signal processor 207. In the memory card interface 206, a user's memory card may be attached or detached.

The digital signal processor 207 and / or the microcontroller 212 may be included in the controller 320 of FIG. 3 according to the present invention. The digital signal processor 207 and / or the microcontroller 212 may also be equipped with cache memory as temporary storage space.

In this case, the cache memory and the DRAM 204 may be included in the first storage unit 330 of FIG. 3 that temporarily stores an input image, a measurement distance, a metering value, and the like. The cache memory included in the first storage unit 330 of FIG. 3 may be included separately from the digital signal processor 207 and / or the micro controller 212.

The memory card recognized through the memory card interface 206 may be included in the second storage unit 340 of FIG.

The digital image signal from the digital signal processor 207 is input to the display panel driver 214, whereby the image is displayed on the display panel 215.

The controller 200 of the digital image processing apparatus may further include display units 214 and 215. The display units 214 and 215 may include a display panel 215 and a display panel driver 214 for driving the display panel 215. The display units 214 and 215 may be included in the display unit 350 of FIG. 3 according to the present invention.

On the other hand, the digital image signal from the digital signal processor 207 can be transmitted by serial communication via a universal serial bus (USB) connection portion 31a or an RS232C interface 208 and the connection portion 31b thereof, and a video filter ( 209 and through the video output unit 31c. Here, the digital signal processor 207 may incorporate a microcontroller therein.

The audio processor 213 outputs the audio signal from the microphone MIC to the digital signal processor 207 or the speaker SP, and outputs the audio signal from the digital signal processor 207 to the speaker SP.

Meanwhile, the polarization filter 221 and the polarization filter driver 222 may be provided to adjust the amount of input light. The polarization filter 221 may filter the reflected light and the scattered light to adjust the amount of light. The polarization filter driver 222 may insert the polarization filter and rotationally drive the polarization filter 221. In this case, the polarization filter driver 222 may rotate the polarization filter until the input light amount is smaller than a preset reference value.

3 is a block diagram of a digital image processing apparatus 300 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The digital image processing apparatus 300 may be controlled by the control method S400 of the digital image processing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 4.

Referring to the drawings, the digital image processing apparatus 300 includes an image input unit 310; The control unit 320; Storage units 330 and 340; Display unit 350; A user manipulation unit 360; A distance measuring unit 370; Light amount adjusting unit 380; And a blue region detector 390.

The image input unit 310 receives an input image. The blue region detector 390 detects a blue region corresponding to the blue region in the input image. The distance measuring unit 370 measures a measurement distance corresponding to the distance to the blue region.

The light amount adjusting unit 380 adjusts the light amount of light input through the image input unit 310. If it is determined that the blue region is the blue sky region from the measurement distance, the controller 320 may control the amount of light to be adjusted to emphasize the blue color.

In this case, the blue region detector 390 may be included in the controller 320. That is, the controller 320 may detect a blue region corresponding to the blue region in the input image, and measure the measured distance by the distance measuring unit 370 when it is determined that the blue region is included in the input image.

The digital image processing apparatus 300 according to the present invention may determine whether the polarization filter is applied by determining whether the blue region represented by blue in the entire region of the input image occupies the blue sky. That is, when it is determined that the blue region corresponds to a blue sky, the polarizer filter may be automatically inserted, and the polarization filter may be rotated to adjust the amount of light polarized to take a picture.

To this end, the blue region detection unit 390 may first detect the blue region, and the distance measuring unit 370 may measure the measurement distance with respect to the blue region to determine whether the blue region occupies the blue sky.

In this case, when it is determined that the measurement distance is infinite, it may be determined that the blue region is the blue sky region. As a specific embodiment, when the measurement distance is farther than the preset setting distance, it may be determined that the blue region is the blue sky region.

The blue region detector 390 may detect a blue region corresponding to the blue region in the input image. In this case, the plurality of measurement areas 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55 set in the entire area 50a of the input image 50 as shown in FIG. 5 are extracted, and the measurement areas 51, 52, 53, 54, 55 can detect a blue region.

In other words, if the color of the measurement areas 51, 52, 53, 54, 55 is analyzed to be blue, the target area is likely to be sky. In particular, if a blue area is detected in the upper measurement area 51, the blue sky area is likely to be included in the input image 50.

However, the blue region may be detected even when the photograph or the blue object is not the actual sky. That is, when a blue region other than the actual sky is detected, it may not be necessary to use a polarization filter.

Meanwhile, as another embodiment of detecting the blue region, the blue region may be detected when the ratio of the blue region in the entire region of the input image is greater than or equal to a preset reference ratio. In this case, it is possible to prevent the use of the polarizing filter in the case where only a very small area is the blue sky area and thus it is not necessary to use the polarizing filter.

In order to prevent the polarization filter from being used when the actual blue region is not the blue sky region and the polarization filter is not necessary, the measurement distance is measured by measuring the measurement distance from the distance measuring unit 370 to the detected blue region. The polarization filter may be operated only when it is determined that the distance is greater than the set distance and is determined to be a blue sky area.

The distance measuring unit 370 may include a focus lens driver 210 of FIG. 2 that moves the position of the focus lens along the optical axis. In this case, the measurement distance may be measured by obtaining a position of the focus lens that receives the input image while moving the focus lens along the optical axis to obtain the clearest picture.

In this case, when the sharpest picture can be obtained when the focus lens is positioned at an infinite position with respect to the blue region, the measurement distance can be measured to infinity. In addition, when the measurement distance is measured to infinity, it may be determined that the blue region corresponds to the blue sky region.

The light amount adjusting unit 380 may adjust the light amount of light input through the image input unit 310. To this end, the light amount adjusting unit 380 may include a polarization filter 221 of FIG. 2 and a polarization filter driver 222 of FIG. 2.

The polarization filter 221 of FIG. 2 may adjust the amount of light by filtering the reflected light and the scattered light. The polarization filter driver 222 of FIG. 2 may insert the polarization filter and rotationally drive the polarization filter 221 of FIG. 2. In this case, the light amount adjusting unit 380 may rotate the polarization filter until the input light amount is smaller than a preset reference value.

The input image input through the image input unit 310 may be displayed in a live view on the display unit 350 in real time, so that the user may take a picture according to a desired composition and setting while checking the input image.

As another example, the measurement distance for the blue region and the blue region may be displayed on the display unit 350. The user may check the measurement distances for the blue region and the blue region on the display unit 350 and then operate and adjust the polarization filter when it is determined to be necessary. In this case, when a user input for operating the polarization filter is input, the polarization filter may be inserted and manually rotated by a user's manipulation.

The image input unit 310 receives an input image from the outside. The image input unit 310 may include an optical system (OPS), a photoelectric converter (OEC), a CDS-ADC device 201, and the like illustrated in FIG. 2.

The controller 320 may include an image input unit 310; Storage units 330 and 340; Display unit 350; A user manipulation unit 360; A distance measuring unit 370; Light amount adjusting unit 380; And by controlling the blue region detector 390 to determine whether an area represented by blue is an area occupied by a blue sky in the image region to determine whether the polarization filter is applied.

In addition, when it is determined that the blue sky region is included in the input image, the controller 320 automatically inserts a polarization filter and adjusts the amount of light polarized to suppress scattered light and / or reflected light. Can be controlled.

The controller 320 may include the digital signal processor 207 and / or the microcontroller 212 illustrated in FIG. 2.

The storage units 330 and 340 may store an input image, a measurement distance, a metering value, and the like. The storage units 330 and 340 may include a first storage unit 330 and a second storage unit 340. The first storage unit 330 may temporarily store an input image, a measurement distance, a metering value, and the like. The captured image may be stored in the second storage unit 340.

The display unit 350 may include the display panel 25 shown in FIG. 1 and / or the display panel driver 214 and the display panel 215 of FIG. 2. The user may input a desired command from the outside through the user manipulation unit 360. The user manipulation unit 360 may include a power switch 23 of FIG. 1, a shutter release button 24, and / or a user input unit INP of FIG. 2.

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve user convenience in applying a polarizing filter by determining whether an area represented by blue in the image area is an area occupied by a blue sky and determining whether to apply a polarizing filter. In addition, it is possible to take a photo in which the input of the reflected light and the scattered light is suppressed in the image including the blue sky.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a control method (S400) of a digital image processing apparatus as a preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

The control method S400 of the digital image processing apparatus may be implemented in the digital image processing apparatus of FIGS. 2 and / or 3 and the control apparatuses 200 and 300 thereof. To this end, the control method S400 of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention may be a program or algorithm stored in the storage means of FIG. 2 or implemented in the form of a semiconductor chip such as firmware.

Therefore, in the method S400 of controlling the digital image processing apparatus, the same matters as those described for the digital image processing apparatus and the control apparatuses 200 and 300 will be referred to, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Referring to the drawings, the control method of the digital image processing apparatus (S400), the input image input step (S410); Wave region detection step (S420); Distance measuring step S440; And light amount adjusting steps S460 to S495.

In the input image input step S410, an input image is received. In the blue region detection step S420, a blue region corresponding to a blue region is detected in the input image. In the distance measuring step S440, a measurement distance corresponding to the distance to the blue region is measured. In the light amount adjusting steps S460 to S495, when it is determined that the blue area is the blue sky area from the measurement distance, the light amount of the input light is adjusted to emphasize the blue color.

The control method (S400) of the digital image processing apparatus may include a polarization filter operation function determination step (S405). In the polarization filter operation function determination step (S405), it is determined whether the current polarization filter operation function is ON, and the polarization filter operation according to the present invention described below when the polarization filter operation function is ON. The function can be performed. The polarization filter operation function may be set by selection through a separately designated hot key or a button or a menu.

The input image input in the input image input step (S410) is displayed in live view on the display panel in real time, so that the user can take a picture according to a desired composition and setting while checking the input image.

In the control method (S400) of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether the polarization filter is applied by determining whether the blue region represented in blue occupies the blue sky in the entire region of the input image. That is, when it is determined that the blue region corresponds to the blue sky, the polarizer filter may be automatically inserted, and the polarization filter may be rotated to adjust the amount of light to be polarized to take a picture.

To this end, first, the blue region may be detected in the blue region detection step S420, and the measured distance with respect to the blue region may be measured in the distance measuring step S440 to determine whether the blue region occupies the blue sky.

In this case, when it is determined that the measurement distance is infinite, it may be determined that the blue region is the blue sky region. As a specific embodiment, when the measurement distance is farther than the preset setting distance, it may be determined that the blue region is the blue sky region.

In the blue region detection step S420, a blue region corresponding to a blue region may be detected in the input image. In this case, the plurality of measurement areas 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55 set in the entire area 50a of the input image 50 as shown in FIG. 5 are extracted, and the measurement areas 51, 52, 53, 54, 55 can detect a blue region.

In other words, if the color of the measurement areas 51, 52, 53, 54, 55 is analyzed to be blue, the target area is likely to be sky. In particular, if a blue area is detected in the upper measurement area 51, the blue sky area is likely to be included in the input image 50.

However, the blue region may be detected even when the photograph or the blue object is not the actual sky. That is, when a blue region other than the actual sky is detected, it may not be necessary to use a polarization filter.

Meanwhile, as another embodiment of detecting the blue region, the blue region may be detected when the ratio of the blue region in the entire region of the input image is greater than or equal to a preset reference ratio. In this case, it is possible to prevent the use of the polarizing filter in the case where only a very small area is the blue sky area and thus it is not necessary to use the polarizing filter.

In order to prevent the polarization filter from being used when the actual blue region is not the blue sky region and thus it is not necessary to use the polarization filter, the measurement distance is measured by measuring the measurement distance to the blue region detected in the distance measuring step S440. The polarization filter may be operated only when it is determined that the distance is greater than the set distance and is determined to be a blue sky area.

In this case, the method may include determining whether the blue region is included in the input image (S430), and if it is determined that the blue region is included in the input image, the distance measuring step (S440) may be performed.

In the distance measuring step S440, a measurement distance corresponding to the distance to the blue region may be measured. In this case, the measurement distance may be measured by obtaining a position of the focus lens that receives the input image while moving the focus lens along the optical axis to obtain the clearest picture.

In this case, when the sharpest picture can be obtained when the focus lens is positioned at an infinite position with respect to the blue region, the measurement distance can be measured to infinity. In addition, when the measurement distance is measured to infinity, it may be determined that the blue region corresponds to the blue sky region.

In this case, the method may include determining whether the blue area corresponds to the blue sky area (S450), and when it is determined that the blue area corresponds to the blue sky area, in the image input in the light amount adjusting steps (S460 to S495). In order to remove reflected light and scattered light, a polarizing filter may be used to adjust the amount of light to be polarized.

As a specific embodiment for this, in step S450 of determining whether the blue area corresponds to the blue sky area, the measured distance measured in the distance measuring step S440 may be compared with a preset set distance. In this case, when the measured distance is farther than the set distance, it may be determined that the blue region corresponds to the blue sky region.

In the light amount adjusting steps S460 to S495, when it is determined that the blue area is the blue sky area from the measurement distance, the light amount of the input light may be adjusted to emphasize the blue color. At this time, light quantity can be adjusted with a polarizing filter.

In this case, in order to adjust the amount of light in the light amount adjusting steps (S460 to S495), a polarizing filter is inserted in front of the lens unit to which light is incident, and the amount of polarized light is adjusted by rotating the polarizing filter to thereby reflect reflected light and / or scattered light. Can be eliminated or reduced. In this case, the light amount adjusting steps S460 to S495 may be automatically performed when it is determined that the blue area corresponds to the blue sky through the blue area detecting step S420 and the distance measuring step S440.

However, as another embodiment, the measurement distance for the blue region and the blue region may be shown to the user, and the light amount adjusting steps S460 to S495 may be performed by selection by the user.

The light amount adjusting steps S460 to S495 may include a polarization filter insertion step S460 and a polarization filter rotation step S470. In the polarization filter insertion step (S460), a polarization filter may be inserted. In the polarization filter rotation step S470, the polarization filter may be rotated.

The polarization filter insertion step S460 may be performed when the measurement distance is farther than the set distance. That is, when it is determined that the blue region is a region corresponding to the blue sky, the polarization filter insertion step S460 may be performed.

In addition, by rotating the polarization filter in the polarization filter rotation step (S470), it is possible to adjust the amount of light to be polarized. At this time, by rotating the polarization filter, the amount of light polarized to remove the reflected light and scattered light can be adjusted.

To this end, the light amount adjusting steps S460 to S495 may include light amount measuring steps S480 and S490. In the light amount measuring steps S480 and S490, the input image is newly input while the polarization filter is rotated (S480), and a metering value corresponding to the incident light amount measured on the newly input input image may be measured. In this case, the polarization filter may be rotated until the metering value is smaller than a preset reference value.

To this end, the method may further include a step of comparing the metered value with the reference value (S495), and in the step of comparing the metered value with the reference value (S495), the metered value may be compared with the reference value. In this case, when the metering value is larger than the reference value, the polarization filter rotating step S470 and the light quantity measuring steps S480 and S490 may be performed again.

In this case, the polarization filter rotating step S470 and the light quantity measuring steps S480 and S490 may be performed until the metering value is smaller than the reference value as a result of the comparison in the step S495 of comparing the metering value with the reference value.

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve user convenience in applying a polarizing filter by determining whether an area represented by blue in the image area is an area occupied by a blue sky and determining whether to apply a polarizing filter. In addition, it is possible to take a photo in which the input of the reflected light and the scattered light is suppressed in the image including the blue sky.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, it is merely an example, and those skilled in the art may realize various modifications and equivalent other embodiments therefrom. I can understand. Accordingly, the true scope of protection of the invention should be defined only by the appended claims.

1 is a diagram illustrating a rear surface of a digital camera as an embodiment of a digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a control apparatus that may be included in the digital camera of FIG. 1.

3 is a block diagram schematically showing a digital image processing apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a control method of a digital image processing apparatus as a preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating measurement regions for detecting a blue region in an entire region of an input image.

Claims (18)

Receiving an input image; Detecting a blue region corresponding to a blue region in the input image; Measuring a measurement distance corresponding to the distance to the blue region; And And adjusting the amount of light inputted so as to emphasize the blue color when the blue area is determined to be the blue sky area from the measurement distance. The method of claim 1, And a control method of the digital image processing apparatus by adjusting the amount of light by a polarization filter. The method of claim 2, Comparing the measured distance with a predetermined set distance; Inserting the polarization filter when the measurement distance is farther than the set distance, and And rotating the polarizing filter to adjust the amount of light. The method of claim 3, Adjusting the amount of light, Measuring the amount of light input, and Rotating the polarization filter until the amount of light becomes smaller than a preset reference value. The method of claim 4, wherein Adjusting the amount of light, Rotating the polarization filter, Receiving an input image, Measuring the amount of light in the input image; And comparing the light amount with the reference value. The method of claim 1, And extracting a plurality of measurement areas set in the entire area of the input image and detecting the blue area in each of the measurement areas. The method of claim 1, And a blue region is detected when a ratio of a blue region of the entire region of the input image is greater than or equal to a preset reference ratio. The method of claim 1, And controlling the measurement distance by obtaining a position of the focus lens that receives the input image while moving the position of the focus lens along the optical axis to obtain the sharpest picture. An image input unit which receives an input image; A blue region detector for detecting a blue region corresponding to a blue region in the input image; A distance measuring unit measuring a measurement distance corresponding to the distance to the blue region; A light amount adjusting unit adjusting an amount of light input through the image input unit; And And a controller configured to control the amount of light so as to emphasize the blue color when the blue area is determined to be the blue sky area from the measurement distance. 10. The method of claim 9, The blue region detection unit is included in the control unit. The method of claim 10, The light amount adjusting unit, A polarization filter for filtering the reflected light and the scattered light to adjust the amount of light; and And a polarization filter driver to insert the polarization filter and rotationally drive the polarization filter. The method of claim 10, And determining that the blue area is the blue sky area when the measurement distance is farther than a preset distance. The method of claim 11, And rotating the polarization filter until the amount of light input by the light amount adjusting unit is smaller than a preset reference value. The method of claim 11, And the blue region detector extracts a plurality of measurement regions set from the input image, and detects the blue region from each of the measurement regions. The method of claim 14, And the blue region is detected when the ratio of the blue region of the entire region of the input image is greater than or equal to a preset reference ratio. The method of claim 15, And a focus lens driver for moving the position of the focus lens along the optical axis. The method of claim 16, And a distance measuring unit measuring the measurement distance by obtaining a position of the focus lens that receives the input image and obtains the clearest picture while moving the position of the focus lens along the optical axis. The method of claim 16, And a distance measuring unit measuring the measurement distance by obtaining a position of the focus lens that receives the input image and obtains the clearest picture while moving the position of the focus lens along the optical axis.

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