WO2004014068A1

WO2004014068A1 - Camera and image correction device

Info

Publication number: WO2004014068A1
Application number: PCT/JP2003/009864
Authority: WO
Inventors: Masanori Hasuda; Hidenori Miyamoto
Original assignee: Nikon Corporation
Priority date: 2002-08-05
Filing date: 2003-08-04
Publication date: 2004-02-12
Also published as: JPWO2004014068A1; AU2003252369A1

Abstract

A camera includes a judgment device for judging a region where the camera is used and a correction value output device for calculating and outputting a correction value for correcting an image picked by the camera according to the judgment result of the judgment device.

Description

Specification

Camera and Image Correction Apparatus This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-227276 (filed on Aug. 5, 2002), the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. . Technical field

The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly to a technique for correcting an image captured by a camera. Background art

For example, a digital camera adjusts the image expression such as color, contrast, and sharpness of an image obtained by an image sensor such as a CCD using an algorithm unique to the model, and records the corrected image on a recording medium. Each person has their own preference for image power and image expression, so some people may be dissatisfied if they make adjustments using a predetermined algorithm. It is possible to correct various image expression factors according to the user's preference by importing images into a convenience store or the like and using commercially available retouching software. When performing image correction on a computer using retouching software, the work is troublesome. Also, those who are not familiar with computers or retouching methods have had to endure with the camera output image even though they are dissatisfied. Disclosure of the invention

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera and an image correcting apparatus that can automatically obtain an image that matches the taste of a photographer or an image viewer.

A camera according to the present invention includes a discriminating device for discriminating a use area of a camera, and a correction value output device for obtaining and outputting a correction value for correcting an image captured by the camera according to a discrimination result of the discriminating device. . It is desirable that the discriminating device discriminates the use area of the camera based on the language setting of the camera. The image processing apparatus may further include a correction device that corrects the captured image based on the correction value output by the correction output device.

A camera according to the present invention includes a display device for displaying information, a discrimination device for discriminating a region where the camera is used, and a change device for changing a display mode of the display device according to a discrimination result of the discrimination device. The image processing apparatus may further include a correction value output device that obtains and outputs a correction value for correcting an image captured by the camera according to a determination result of the determination device. The image correction apparatus according to the present invention includes: (a) storing and accumulating a correction state performed on a captured image; (b) calculating a correction value based on the stored past correction state; ) A control device is provided for correcting a captured image based on the calculated correction value.

The image correction method according to the present invention specifies a region and corrects image data according to the result of specifying the region.

An image correction method according to the present invention stores and accumulates a correction situation performed on a captured image, calculates a correction value based on the accumulated past correction situation, and, based on the calculated correction value, Correct the newly input captured image. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a digital still camera according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the back. Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the camera control system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of image processing executed in the CPU.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of an image correction process performed in the image correction apparatus. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a digital still camera will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a digital still camera according to the present invention as viewed from the back. As shown in Fig. 1, a power switch 1 and a release button 2 are provided on the top of the camera, and an LCD monitor 3 and operation members 4, 5, and 6 are provided on the back of the camera. The LCD monitor 3 displays a captured image or displays a menu screen. The operation member 4 is a menu button, and instructs display and release of the menu screen on the liquid crystal monitor 3. The operation member 5 is a cross key, and instructs “selection” or “decision” of an item or a numerical value on the menu screen by operating the upper, lower, left and right pressing parts. The operation member 6 is an image correction mode setting button, and the setting and release of the image correction mode are alternately switched each time the operation member 6 is pressed. Details of the image correction mode will be described later.

Figure 2 shows the control system of the camera. The CPU 11 is connected to the operation unit including the power switch 1, the release button 2, the operation members 4, 5, 6, and the like. Further, the CPU 11 is connected to an image processing circuit 12 and a driver 14 for driving the photographing means 13 and the liquid crystal monitor 3. The photographing means 13 includes an image pickup device such as a CCD and a photographing operation member such as a shirt. The CPU 11 includes a nonvolatile memory 11a. When the release button 2 is operated at the time of photographing, the transmitted light beam of the photographing lens (not shown) is received by the image sensor of the photographing means 13. The image processing circuit 12 performs a predetermined process on an image signal which is a photoelectric conversion output by the image sensor. These processes include adjusting the image expression such as hue, contrast, saturation, and sharpness of the image, and compressing the image.

Here, it is generally known that the above-mentioned image expression such as color tone has a different preference according to cultural differences. Differences in culture can be called differences between countries and regions. For example, in the case of portrait photography, a strong reddish skin color is generally preferred in Japan for the same skin color, but a bluish skin color is preferred in the UK, France and Germany. Regarding sharpness, soft images with weak outline enhancement are preferred in Japan and France, while images with strong edge enhancement are preferred in the United States and Germany. Regarding saturation, images with bright colors tend to be preferred in Italy. In contrast, images with lower contrast are preferred in Japan.

In the present embodiment, the use area of the camera is automatically determined by using the language setting function originally provided in the camera, and the correction amount of each image expression item by the image processing circuit 12 is changed according to the determination result. The language setting is originally intended to enable a camera of the same model to be used in a plurality of languages, and is provided as one of the setting items on the menu screen described above. On the menu screen, the user operates the cross key 5 to “select” the user's own language or a favorite language from among multiple languages (Japanese, English, German, etc.) Then, the item names in the menu display are displayed in the selected language. At this time, the CPU 11 performs image correction on the captured image according to the selected language as described later. As a result, it is possible to increase the possibility of obtaining an image that matches the camera user's preference.

To achieve this, a correction template is stored in the memory 11a at the stage of manufacturing the camera. In the correction table, a plurality of image correction values are associated with each of the selectable languages. The plurality of image correction values relate to the above-described hue, contrast, saturation, sharpness, and the like. For example, with regard to color, the correction amounts for R, G, and B corresponding to each language are stored as numerical values. For the contrast, for example, a gamma correction value is stored. For any language, a correction value is set in advance so as to provide an image expression preferred in the language area. The specific value of the image correction value may be determined according to the generally known preference of each linguistic sphere, or may be determined based on the result of a new survey for more accuracy. Good.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an image processing procedure using a correction table, which is executed in the CPU 11.

When the release button 2 is operated to perform shooting, the image signal output from the image sensor is Once stored in a buffer (not shown). After that, the processing of FIG.

First, it is determined whether or not the image correction mode has been set (step S1). The image correction mode is set by the image correction mode setting button 6 as described above. If the image correction mode is set by operating the image correction mode setting button 6, the selected language in the language setting is determined (step S2). Specifically, the language selected by operating the menu button 4 and the cross key 5 is determined.

Subsequently, each image correction value corresponding to the selected language is read out from the correction table in the memory 11a (step S3). Then, the image data read from the buffer is corrected according to the read correction values (step S4). Then, after processing such as compression is performed on the corrected image data, the image data is recorded on a recording medium (not shown) such as a memory card (step S5).

On the other hand, if the correction mode has not been set, the captured image is recorded on the recording medium in step S5 without performing image correction.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the selected language in the language setting of the camera is automatically determined, and the captured image is corrected so as to have an image expression generally preferred in the language zone. Thus, it is possible to increase the likelihood that the corrected image will match the preferences of the people in that language (including the photographer and the viewers who will see the image). And if it matches your taste, there is no need to perform another image processing such as retouching. As a result, the user does not have to perform retouching or the like, and a user who is not familiar with the computer-based resetting method can obtain a desired image.

In addition, although the hue, the contrast, the saturation, and the sharpness have been exemplified as the image expression items, other items may be included, or the number of items may be reduced. The easiest way is to make corrections for only one of the items, for example, the hue. In the above-described embodiment, the correction value of the image expression item is obtained using the language setting of the camera. However, in addition to the language setting, there are regional modes (Japan mode, US mode, Italian mode, etc.), and when one of the modes is selected, the image is corrected immediately according to the selected mode. Is also good. Alternatively, the position of the camera may be detected using, for example, GPS or the like, and a correction value may be obtained according to the position information. For example, if the camera is located in the United States, it may be configured to select a correction value that provides an image representation preferred in the United States based on recognition that the user is an American.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a digital camera has been described as an example. However, the exposure image of the silver halide film is converted into digital image data with a film scanner. Because it can be converted, the present invention is also applicable to cameras handling silver halide films. In this case, the camera calculates a correction value for the image according to the language setting and the like, and stores the correction value. Then, an image correction device such as a computer captures the captured image converted to digital data overnight, further captures the correction values stored by the camera, and then uses a predetermined software to perform digital image data conversion. One night is corrected with the correction value.

Note that the present invention can be applied to a case where image processing is performed on an image taken by a digital still camera over a short period of time. Also in this case, when the image data is read from the digital camera to the computer, the language setting set in the camera or the regional mode is also read. Alternatively, the above-described image processing may be performed on the input image data according to the selected language or the regional mode set on the computer.

In the above-described embodiment, the correction value of the image is obtained according to the area where the camera is used. However, instead of this, an image correction method that grasps the correction tendency of each user based on the correction situation performed in the past and automatically corrects the image based on each user's tendency is also considered. Can be An image correction device having such a function can be realized by incorporating software for causing a computer or the like to perform a function of automatically correcting an image based on the inclination of each user. Hereinafter, a method of the image correction processing based on the correction tendency of each user will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of an image correction process executed by the computer.

Software incorporated in the computer has a function of manually correcting an image. Here, the manual image correction includes the above-described image expression, that is, adjustment of the hue, contrast, saturation, and sharpness of the image. When the user manually corrects the captured image read into the computer, the process shown in Fig. 4 starts.

In step S10, the correction status of each correction item, that is, the image expression item when the image data is manually corrected is stored in the memory of the computer. Here, each time the image data is manually corrected, the correction value of each correction item is stored and accumulated in the memory. In step S20, a correction value is calculated based on the past correction status stored and stored in the memory. For example, an average of correction values in a plurality of image corrections manually executed in the past is used as a correction value for automatically performing the next image correction. In step S30, when a newly captured image is input to the computer, the input image data is automatically corrected using the correction value calculated in step S20.

According to this, it is possible to increase the possibility that each user's favorite image can be obtained. Moreover, since the correction is made automatically, if enough correction data is obtained to calculate the correction value, The user does not need to perform a complicated manual correction.

Many digital still cameras have a display device for image confirmation, for example, a liquid crystal monitor 3. Therefore, the display mode of the display device may be changed according to the area where the camera is used. The display mode includes, for example, the brightness of the screen, that is, the brightness of the backlight, the use of colors in menus, and the like. In this case, the display mode of the liquid crystal monitor 3 is corrected by the correction value set for each area where the camera is used in the correction execution process in step S4 of the flowchart of FIG. At this time, the display mode of the liquid crystal monitor 3 may be corrected, and the image stored in the storage medium may be corrected as described above.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the area where the camera is used is determined, and a correction value for correcting the captured image is determined according to the determination result. As a result, it is possible to increase the possibility of obtaining an image that is favorable in the area where the camera is used, and it is possible to reduce the work of performing correction again. Further, the display mode of the display device of the camera may be changed according to the use area.

Further, the correction status made on the captured image may be stored and accumulated, and the correction value may be calculated based on the accumulated past correction status. If the captured image is corrected based on the calculated correction value, it is possible to increase the possibility that each user's favorite image can be obtained. Industrial potential

In the above, an example has been described in which an image captured by a digital still camera is corrected according to the area where the camera is used. However, an image captured by a camera that shoots a moving image can be corrected according to the area where the camera is used.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. The camera is

A determination device for determining an area where the camera is used;

A correction value output device that obtains and outputs a correction value for correcting an image captured by the camera according to the determination result of the determination device.

2. The camera according to claim 1,

The determination device determines the use area of the camera based on a language setting of the camera.

3. The force mela according to claim 1 or claim 2

The image processing apparatus further includes a correction device that corrects the captured image based on the correction value output by the correction output device.

4. The camera is

A display device for displaying information;

A determination device for determining an area where the camera is used;

A change device for changing a display mode of the display device according to a result of the determination by the determination device.

5. The camera according to claim 4,

The image processing apparatus further includes a correction value output device that obtains and outputs a correction value for correcting an image captured by the camera according to the determination result of the determination device.

6. The image correction device

(a) storing and accumulating the correction status performed on the captured image; (b) calculating a correction value based on the stored past correction status; and (c) calculating a correction value based on the calculated correction value. And a control device for correcting the photographed image.

7. Image correction method

Identify the area, The image data is corrected according to the result of specifying the area. The image correction method is

Stores and accumulates the correction status made on the captured image,

Calculate the correction value based on the accumulated past correction status,

The newly input photographed image is corrected based on the calculated correction value.