JP2001309228A - Digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (With correction) [PROBLEMS] To provide a digital camera capable of obtaining an image free from distortion due to a lens without correcting distortion generated by combining a plurality of images. When the setting is a panoramic photographing mode, the process proceeds to S2, an angle of a range to be photographed is read from a photographing mode setting unit, and the process proceeds to S3 to acquire subject image data of one vertical line, an A / D converter, The digital signal processing unit performs predetermined processing and stores the processed data in a memory. S
In step 4, the camera platform is rotated by a small angle, and in step S5, the amount of rotation is S.
It is determined whether the angle obtained in step 2 has been reached. If the set angle has not been reached, the process returns to S3 to capture an adjacent subject image. If the rotational movement amount has reached the set value in S5, the process ends. When this series of processing is completed, one piece of panoramic photograph image data is stored in the memory.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital camera and, more particularly, to a means for taking a panoramic photograph by a digital camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a means for taking a panoramic photograph by a system including a camera platform and a digital camera, a plurality of photographs are taken while rotating the camera platform by a fixed angle as shown in FIG. There was a method of connecting these photographic images by software processing.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, each image has a distortion corresponding to the lens as the distance from the center increases, and the distortion becomes maximum near the joint. I have. Therefore, in order to join photographs by software processing, it was necessary to perform correction processing using parameters unique to the lens.

Also, in order to capture image data into a personal computer and combine each image as a single panoramic image with software, it is necessary to select and input parameters according to the lens and camera model.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to obtain an image free from distortion due to a lens without performing a correction process for a distortion caused by synthesizing a single image.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems of the prior art, and comprises a head which is controlled to rotate at a constant speed or a small angle by an external control signal, and which controls the head. In a digital camera having an interface and an image sensor in which light-receiving elements are arranged in a matrix, a panoramic imaging mode is used in which a pan head is rotated and the image signal obtained by one vertical line at the center of the image sensor is continuously output. And a means for obtaining a panoramic photographic image by combining with a digital camera.

With this configuration, according to the present invention, a continuous scan image is obtained in accordance with the rotation of the camera platform by using, as a line sensor, light receiving elements arranged in one vertical line in an imaging element in which light receiving elements are arranged in a matrix. Thus, there is no problem of lens distortion as compared with a panoramic image obtained by combining a plurality of photographs.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a method of taking a panoramic image with a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a camera unit, 2 denotes a camera platform that rotates and moves by a small angle, 3 denotes a tripod, and 4 denotes a virtual mark for indicating a non-imaging portion corresponding to one vertical line being imaged. At the time of panoramic shooting, the subject image corresponding to the virtual mark position moves in the horizontal direction with the rotation of the camera platform, and a panoramic picture can be taken by joining the sequentially obtained subject images.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure,
21 is an optical block having a lens and a shutter, 22
Is an image sensor that converts a subject image into an electric image signal, and is composed of light receiving elements arranged in a matrix. 2
A / 3 converts an output from the image sensor into a digital signal.
A digital signal processing unit 24 for performing predetermined signal processing on an image signal from the A / D converter;
Reference numeral 5 denotes a memory capable of temporarily storing the processed image data, writing and reading not only image data but also various data required by the present system, and a digital signal processing unit. The unit 24 also performs image processing such as AE correction, gamma processing, and image compression on the data temporarily stored in the memory 25. Reference numeral 26 denotes a flash memory card as a recording unit used to accumulate a plurality of processed image data or to remove and transfer the data to another device such as a personal computer. 27 is a communication interface for moving image data to another device such as a personal computer via a communication cable, 28 is a camera platform control interface for controlling rotation of the camera platform, and 29 is whether to perform panorama mode / normal mode shooting. In the case of panoramic shooting in the setting unit, a shooting mode setting unit for setting the angle from the shooting start position to the end position, and a CPU 30 that controls the entire camera system.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the change of the subject image formed on the light receiving surface of the image pickup device with the rotation of the camera platform and the subject image of one vertical line to be captured. That is, in the present case, unlike the conventional example, data of the entire subject image on the image sensor is not taken in, but the data at the central portion is taken.
The subject image of the vertical line is continuously captured.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention. In the following flowchart, each step is abbreviated as “S”. This will be described below with reference to FIG. In photographing, the CPU 30 reads the set values from the photographing mode setting unit 29 in S1. If the setting is the normal photographing mode, the flow advances to S7 to perform normal photographing and end. If the setting is the panoramic shooting mode, the process proceeds to S2, and the angle of the range to be shot is read from the shooting mode setting unit 29. Then, the process proceeds to S3, in which the subject image data of one vertical line is fetched, and the A / D converter 23
The digital signal processor 24 performs predetermined processing and stores the processed data in the memory 25. In step S4, the camera platform is rotated by a small angle,
At 5, it is determined whether the rotational movement amount has reached the angle obtained at S2.
If the set angle has not been reached, the process returns to S3 to capture an adjacent subject image. If the rotational movement amount has reached the set value in S5, the process ends. When this series of processing is completed, the memory 25
Stores one piece of panoramic photograph image data.
Hereinafter, the image can be transferred to the flash memory of the recording unit 26 as needed, or the image can be transferred to a personal computer via a communication interface.

(Other Embodiments) There may be a case where a camera is mounted vertically to a camera platform for photographing. In this case, one central line of the image sensor and one horizontal line are used as a line sensor. By doing so, panoramic shooting with a wide vertical angle of view can be performed.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to take a panoramic photograph without performing a plurality of photograph pasting processes by software. In addition, since an image is obtained using one vertical line, it is possible to eliminate the problem of distortion due to a lens. Further, by making the rotational movement of the camera head finer, the resolution in the horizontal direction can be made higher than the number of pixels of the image sensor. Another feature is that it can be realized with little change in the hardware configuration of a conventional digital camera.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of panoramic shooting by a camera system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a camera system block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a photographing process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Camera part 2 Head 3 Tripod 21 Lens system 22 Image sensor 23 A / D converter 24 Signal processing unit 25 Memory 26 Flash memory 27 Communication interface 28 Head control interface 29 Shooting mode setting unit 30 CPU

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/91 H04N 101: 00 // H04N 101: 00 5/91 J F-term (Reference) 5B057 AA11 BA02 CA08 CB08 CE08 5C022 AA13 AB03 AB62 AB65 AC27 AC31 AC42 AC54 AC69 AC74 CA02 5C052 AA17 AB04 CC11 DD02 EE02 GA02 GA07 GB06 GC03 GC04 GD03 GE04 GE06 GF01 GF04 5C053 FA08 GB21 KA03 KA04 KA24 LA01 LA11 5A076 BA19BA

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A digital camera having a camera platform whose rotation is controlled at a constant speed or a small angle by an external control signal, an interface for controlling the camera platform, and an image sensor in which light receiving elements are arranged in a matrix. ,
A digital camera, comprising: means for obtaining a panoramic photograph image by continuously synthesizing image signals obtained in one vertical line at the center of the image sensor while rotating a pan head in a panoramic shooting mode.