JP2009224890A - Imaging device and personal digital assistant - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging device for displaying in which direction of a screen the object exists on the screen after the object gets off the screen by specifying the object as a target for the object once captured in a display means such as the screen. <P>SOLUTION: The imaging device includes: an imaging means 1; a display means 2 of captured images; a target specifying means 3 for specifying a target in the captured image on the basis of the image of the display means 2; a target position acquisition means 4 for acquiring the position for the specified target; an imaging device position acquisition means 5 for acquiring the position of the imaging device; and a target position indication means 6 for indicating the position of the target in the display means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  According to the present invention, in an imaging device or a portable information terminal, an object captured by a display unit such as a screen is specified as the target object. Is displayed on the screen.

When capturing a target with a telephoto lens, if the magnification is increased, the field of view is narrowed and it is difficult to find the target, and the captured target may be immediately outside the viewfinder. In the case of a camera using a telephoto lens, since the shooting range is narrow, it is difficult to find the target while looking at the viewfinder (liquid crystal screen) when shooting the same target from different shooting positions. Thus, there are telephoto lenses that are devised to make it easier to catch a target as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2.
JP 2005-283719 A JP 2003-241057 A

  However, in what is shown in the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 and 2, it may be convenient to first capture the target, but if the target captured once is outside the viewfinder, In order to capture the target again, it is necessary to do the same as the first, and it is not possible to search for the target while maintaining the high magnification.

  In addition, when shooting or observing while moving, not limited to a telephoto lens, when trying to search for what was seen before moving after moving, if the direction in which it is found is known, the target again Useful for searching for things.

  Furthermore, it is convenient if information on what the specified target is can be obtained on the spot.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and the purpose of the present invention is to make it easier to capture an object once captured, and for the identified object, the object is now visible on the screen or viewfinder. It is to provide a photographing apparatus and a portable information terminal that display which position is present from a displayed image so that a target can be easily captured again.

  In order to achieve the above object, a photographing apparatus of the present invention is designated by photographing means, display means for picked-up images, and object specifying means for specifying an object in a picked-up image based on the image of the display means. Object position acquisition means for acquiring the position of the object, photographing apparatus position acquisition means for acquiring the position of the photographing apparatus, and object position instruction means for indicating the position of the object on the display means. It is provided.

In the photographing apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that the photographing apparatus includes a position updating unit that updates the position of the photographing apparatus acquired by the photographing apparatus position acquisition unit.

  A portable information terminal according to the present invention includes the above-described photographing device, and includes an object search unit that searches for information about the object and an object information display unit that displays information about the object. It is.

  Once the captured target is specified as a target on the display screen, the position of the target will be displayed on the display screen even if the observer subsequently moves. The direction in which the object exists can be sensed through the display screen, and the target can be easily found again.

An embodiment of the photographing apparatus of the present invention will be described based on the block diagram showing the configuration of FIG.
The imaging apparatus of the present invention includes an imaging unit 1, a captured image display unit 2, an object designating unit 3 for designating an object in a captured image based on the image of the display unit 2, and a specified object. An object position acquisition unit 4 that acquires a position, an imaging apparatus position acquisition unit 5 that acquires the position of the imaging apparatus, and an object position instruction unit 6 that indicates the position of the object on the display unit 2.

  The photographing means 1 may be anything as long as it captures an image through a lens. The lens basically uses a telephoto lens or a zoom lens, but is not limited to these lenses.

  The display means 2 may be a liquid crystal screen, or may be a finder that can visually recognize an image that has passed through a lens.

  The object designating means 3 is for specifying and designating an image desired to be designated as an object among the images displayed on the display means 2. For example, the liquid crystal screen is set as a touch panel type and displayed on the liquid crystal screen. The image is designated as an object by touching the part of the image. Alternatively, a cursor that can indicate a position in the screen may be prepared on the liquid crystal screen, and a specific position in the liquid crystal screen may be designated by moving the cursor.

  The object position acquisition means 4 is composed of a gyro and a distance measurement means, and measures the direction and distance in the XYZ direction from the photographing apparatus, thereby obtaining the object from the direction and distance of the object viewed from the photographing apparatus. Get the position of an object. As the distance measuring means, for example, distance measuring methods using various AFs used in cameras can be adopted.

  The imaging device position acquisition unit 5 uses GPS, for example, and specifies the location where the imaging device is located in two dimensions or three dimensions. Normally, it is in time to acquire a two-dimensional position. However, when it is used in a place with large undulations, it is more accurate to acquire the position in three dimensions.

  When the object designated by the object designating means 3 is not displayed on the liquid crystal screen serving as the display means 2, the object position indicating means 6 displays the direction of the liquid crystal screen, for example, with an arrow. To do. For example, a small arrow is displayed when the screen is slightly shifted from the display screen, and a large arrow is displayed when the screen is far away.

Next, more specific embodiments of the present invention will be described.
First Embodiment An example of a portable information terminal according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the portable information terminal, FIG. 3 is an image showing an example of a liquid crystal screen serving as the display means 2 of the portable information terminal, and FIG. 4 is an example of an instruction of an object on the liquid crystal screen. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of the present invention.

  The portable information terminal of the present invention includes a photographing means 1, a photographed image display means 2, and an object designation means 3 for designating an object in a photographed image based on the image of the display means 2, An object position acquisition means 4 for acquiring a position of a specified object, an imaging apparatus position acquisition means 5 for acquiring the position of the imaging apparatus, an object position instruction means 6 for indicating the position of the object on the display means 2, and It comprises an object search means 7 for searching for information about the object and an object information display means 8 for displaying information about the object.

  The photographing means 1 may be any device that can photograph an image through a lens. For example, the photographing means 1 has an image sensor that converts an optical signal into an electrical signal and can photograph a digital image of an object through an optical system. Use. The lens basically uses a telephoto lens or a zoom lens, but is not limited to these lenses.

  The display unit 2 displays an image photographed by the photographing unit 1 and uses, for example, a liquid crystal screen.

  The object designating means 3 is for specifying and designating an image desired to be designated as an object among the images displayed on the display means 2. For example, the liquid crystal screen is set as a touch panel type and displayed on the liquid crystal screen. The image is designated as an object by touching the part of the image.

  The object position acquisition means 4 comprises a gyro and a distance measurement means, and measures the direction and distance of the object viewed from the portable information terminal by measuring the direction and distance in the XYZ direction from the portable information terminal. To get the position of the object. As the distance measuring means, for example, distance measuring methods using various AFs used in cameras can be adopted.

  The imaging device position acquisition unit 5 uses GPS, for example, and specifies the position where the portable information terminal is located in two dimensions or three dimensions. Normally, it is in time to acquire a two-dimensional position. However, when it is used in a place with large undulations, it is more accurate to acquire the position in three dimensions.

  When the object designated by the object designating means 3 is not displayed on the liquid crystal screen serving as the display means 2, the object position indicating means 6 displays the direction of the liquid crystal screen, for example, with an arrow. To do. For example, a small arrow is displayed when the screen is slightly shifted from the display screen, and a large arrow is displayed when the screen is far away.

  The object search means 7 accesses the database directly connected to the main body for the object specified by the object specifying means 3 or accesses the database outside the main body via the communication device, and specifies the specified object. Search for information about.

  The object information display means 8 displays the information searched by the object search means 7 on the display screen, and the same display screen as the liquid crystal screen of the display means 2 may be used. The liquid crystal screen may be used.

  Next, a display screen serving as the display means 2 of the portable information terminal of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. As the display means 2, a liquid crystal screen 9 is provided as shown in FIG. The liquid crystal screen 9 also functions as the object information display means 9. The illustrated liquid crystal screen 9 shows an example of a photographed image at a zoo, where an elephant is shown in the distant view, a hippo in the center left, a butterfly in the lower right, and a snake in the lower left.

  When an image portion of “snake” is touched on the liquid crystal screen 9, the object designating unit 3 designates the snake as the object. Then, the object search means 7 for searching for information about the object specifies that the object specified by touching is a snake, and the specified information on the liquid crystal screen 9 that also serves as the object information display means 8 is specified. “Snake” is displayed in the image area.

  Alternatively, a display screen serving as the object information display unit 9 may be provided separately from the liquid crystal screen 9 of the display unit 2 and information on the object may be displayed on the display screen.

  The database holding various information searched by the object search means 7 may be directly connected to the portable information terminal main body, or a communication function is provided in the portable information terminal, and this communication function is provided from the portable information terminal. To access the database.

  When the magnification of the lens of the photographing means 1 is increased while the snake is designated as an object and the snake is reflected on the screen, the whole body of the snake is displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. In this case, “snake” is displayed over the snake image. If the snake slightly deviates from the screen, “snake” is displayed on the screen along with an arrow indicating the position of the snake, as shown in FIG. 4B. Further, when no snake appears on the screen, the direction in which the snake appears is indicated by an arrow as shown in FIG. 4C, and “snake” is displayed on the screen.

Next, the principle that the position of the designated object is displayed on the screen will be described with reference to FIG.
First, an observer holds the portable information terminal of the present invention, copies a snake on the liquid crystal screen 9 in the A direction, and specifies this as an object by the object specifying means 3.

  Then, the direction and distance with respect to the target object from a portable information terminal are measured and memorize | stored by the target object position acquisition means 4. FIG. In addition, the current position of the portable information terminal on the earth is acquired by the photographing apparatus position acquisition means 5. As a result, the position of the object on the earth is also specified. Therefore, as long as the object does not move, the absolute position of the object is specified.

  Here, if the portable information terminal is moved in the direction B in FIG. 4, snakes will not appear on the liquid crystal screen 9. However, since the absolute position of the snake that is the object is known, it is possible to indicate the direction of the snake on the liquid crystal screen 9 with an arrow. Therefore, on the liquid crystal screen 9, the direction of the snake is indicated by an arrow together with the character display of “snake”.

Second Embodiment An example of a portable information terminal according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing an example of an instruction of an object on a liquid crystal screen when constellation is observed with a portable information terminal.

  The portable information terminal of the second embodiment has the same basic configuration as that of the first embodiment. Since it is intended to be used for astronomical observation, the database has information on constellations. Moreover, although the imaging device position acquisition means 5 is performed by using, for example, GPS, GPS can acquire time information together with position information, and by collating with a database related to constellations by acquiring time information at the time of position information acquisition. The system can be improved. If the position of the observation point, the observation direction, and the observation date and time are specified, the constellations that can be observed at that position can be extracted from the database.

  Here, the starry sky is photographed with the portable information terminal, and the image shown in FIG. On the liquid crystal screen 9, when the center handle portion is touched, the object specifying means 3 specifies the handle portion as the target. Then, the object search means 7 for searching for information about the object accesses a database having information on the constellation, and it is specified that the object specified by touching is the Big Dipper, and the object information “Big Dipper” is displayed in the vicinity of the specified image on the liquid crystal screen 9 which also serves as the display means 8.

  Then, after designating the Big Dipper as an object, when the imaging angle of the portable information terminal is gradually lowered in order to search for the North Star, the Big Dipper will not be displayed on the liquid crystal screen 9, but it is shown in FIG. In this way, the direction in which the Big Dipper is present is indicated by an arrow together with the indication of the Big Dipper. When the North Star is caught and touched, the object is designated as an object by the object designating means 3. Then, the object search means 7 for searching for information on the object accesses a database having information on the constellation, specifies that the object specified by touching is a North Star, and displays object information display. “North Polar Star” is displayed in the vicinity of the specified image on the liquid crystal screen 9 serving as the means 8.

  Each time a new object is designated, the designation of the previous object may be automatically canceled, but two or more objects may be displayed simultaneously as shown in the figure. . In this case, the cancellation of the object can be designated for each object. When searching for constellations, it is easy to search for other constellations if the direction of the reference constellation is known, so it is convenient to be able to display the directions of multiple objects at the same time.

Third Embodiment An example of a portable information terminal according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the portable information terminal.

  The portable information terminal of the third embodiment is basically the same as the first embodiment described above, and is based on the image of the photographing means 1, the photographed image display means 2, and the display means 2 constituting the photographing apparatus. Object specifying means 3 for specifying an object in a captured image, object position acquiring means 4 for acquiring the position of the specified object, imaging apparatus position acquiring means 5 for acquiring the position of the imaging apparatus, An object position indicating means 6 whose position is indicated on the display means 2, an object searching means 7 for searching for information about the object, and an object information displaying means 8 for displaying information on the object are configured.

  Moreover, it has the positional information update means 10 which updates the positional information on an imaging device. In the first embodiment described above, the position information of the portable information terminal is not changed until a new object is designated. That is, it is assumed that the portable information terminal does not move the imaging position. Therefore, the position information of the portable information terminal is not updated unless a new object is designated. In the case of this embodiment, even if a new object is not specified, when the portable information terminal is moved and used, the position information of the object viewed from the moved position is updated by updating the position information of the portable information terminal. The position can be displayed.

  As the position information update means 10, for example, a release button performs its function. The position information of the portable information terminal is updated when the release button is pressed or half-pressed. Note that the position information update unit 10 is not limited to the release button, and may be another button or switch.

  Each time the release button is pressed, the position information of the portable information terminal is updated. On the other hand, the position of the object is specified when the object is first designated. Therefore, the position of the target object is displayed with an arrow based on the newly acquired position information of the portable information terminal and the position information of the target object originally specified.

  In the first embodiment, the position of the object is always displayed on the display screen. In the present embodiment, the position information of the portable information terminal is newly acquired only when the release button is pressed. The position is displayed. That is, when the release button is pressed, the position information of the portable information terminal at the position where the release button is pressed is acquired by the photographing apparatus position acquisition means 5 so that the position of the object at that position after the movement can be displayed. It becomes.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the imaging device of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the portable information terminal of this invention. It is an image figure of the liquid crystal screen of the portable information terminal of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the instruction | indication of the target object of the portable information terminal of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the principle of the imaging device of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of the instruction | indication of the target object of the portable information terminal of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the other example of a structure of the portable information terminal of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image | photographing means 2 Display means 3 Object designation means 4 Object position acquisition means 5 Imaging device position acquisition means 6 Object position instruction means 7 Object search means 8 Object information display means 9 Liquid crystal screen 10 Position information update means

Claims (3)

Photographing means;
Means for displaying the captured image;
Object designating means for designating an object in a captured image based on the image of the display means;
Object position acquisition means for acquiring a position of the specified object;
Photographing device position obtaining means for obtaining the position of the photographing device;
Object position indicating means for indicating the position of the object on the display means;
An imaging apparatus comprising:   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a position updating unit that updates a position of the imaging apparatus acquired by the imaging apparatus position acquisition unit. While comprising the imaging device of claim 1 or claim 2,
An object search means for searching for information about the object;
Object information display means for displaying information on the object,
A portable information terminal comprising:

Images