JP2006331216A - Image processor, processing object range designation method in image processor, image processing range designation program and recording medium for recording image processing range designation program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To propose an image processor for designating a processing object range from a pickup image by a simple operation. <P>SOLUTION: In an image processor, when any decision key is not depressed under such conditions that a character string segmented as an image processing object range is not any character string desired as the processing object (step S206: NO), a movement detection program is performed, and the moving direction or moving quantity of the image processor is detected. When the forward movement is detected (step S207; YES), the both ends of the character string are moved inward to make the range narrow (step S208), and when backward movement is detected (step S209; YES), the both ends of the character string are moved outward to make the range wide (step S210). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing device, a processing target range specifying method in the image processing device, an image processing range specifying program, and a recording medium for recording an image processing range specifying program. The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that can be specified easily, a processing target range specifying method in the image processing apparatus, an image processing range specifying program, and a recording medium that records the image processing range specifying program.

  In recent years, performance improvements such as storage capacity and display size of portable devices having an imaging function such as digital electronic cameras and camera-equipped mobile phones have remarkably improved, and various applications such as using images captured by cameras as character input means have spread. Yes.

  As an application example, a method has been proposed in which character recognition is performed by cutting out a character range from a captured image using a portable terminal as disclosed in Patent Document 1 below. In the case of this method, it is necessary for the user to manually adjust the position and orientation of the portable terminal so that the character string to be recognized fits in the recognition target frame displayed on the display unit.

  In Patent Document 2 below, a method is proposed in which a user selects a character string to be recognized by an input operation such as pressing a button (key) arranged on a mobile terminal. In the case of this method, if a character string is correctly cut out in units of words, a word to be input can be easily selected by a simple button operation.

Further, in Patent Document 3 below, an electronic device that enlarges or reduces the size of information such as an image displayed on a screen according to the amount of movement of the device main body detected by a movement amount detection unit such as an acceleration sensor. Proposed.
JP 2003-169187 A JP 2005-18507 A JP 2005-25170 A

  As described above, when inputting an image in a specific range using a portable image processing apparatus, there are several methods, but each has the following problems.

  In the method of capturing an image so that the target fits in the displayed frame, the user needs to carefully adjust the position and orientation of the terminal body and the distance from the target object when specifying the image processing target range. . For this reason, there is a problem that the terminal body is out of the frame due to the vibration of the terminal body due to the pressing operation of the shutter button, and the image is blurred when it is too close to the imaging target and out of the autofocus range.

  In addition, in the case of a method for instructing an image processing target range from a portion cut out in units of words by a button input operation on a terminal, the current technique does not always accurately include a word when a tilted character such as italic is included. Units may not be cut out. Therefore, in order to correct the word extraction position, it is necessary to perform a large number of button input operations, and there is a problem that the operation is complicated. For example, when a horizontally written character string is input and the boundary position between the left and right input target ranges is not correctly detected, it is necessary to operate the input button repeatedly in order to move the boundary position, and the operation is complicated.

  Also, the method of cutting out in units of words cannot be applied to languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc. where there is no space between words. There is a problem that it is necessary to instruct and the operation is complicated. In addition, in order to select an image processing target range from a portion cut out in units of words, two kinds of operations, that is, selection of the front and rear boundary positions and position selection are necessary, and more operation time is required. There is also a problem that it is necessary.

  In addition, there is a problem that the method of detecting the movement of the device body and changing the display size is difficult to apply to information input and designation operations such as designation of an image processing target range.

  In addition, as in each of the above-described methods, when it is not possible to easily perform imaging and designation of an image processing target range by a series of operations, the user needs to perform repeated button operations, and the work is interrupted. There is a problem that work efficiency is greatly reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points. In particular, in the case of designating an image processing target range from a captured image obtained using a portable information terminal or a mobile phone, the present invention can be easily performed by a simple operation. It is an object to provide an image processing apparatus capable of specifying a processing target range, a processing target range specifying method in the image processing apparatus, an image processing range specifying program, and a recording medium for recording the image processing range specifying program. To do.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, an image processing apparatus performs image acquisition means for acquiring an image, movement detection means for detecting movement of the image processing apparatus, and the acquired image. An image processing unit that performs processing, and an image processing range determination unit that determines a processing target range in the image processing unit among the images according to the movement of the image processing apparatus detected by the movement detection unit.

  Furthermore, the image acquisition unit includes an imaging unit that captures a subject, and a captured image determination unit that determines one image from images captured and acquired by the imaging unit as an image to be processed by the image processing unit. It is preferable that the movement detection means detects movement of the image processing apparatus using an image captured and acquired by the imaging means.

  The image processing apparatus further includes physical operation input means, and the image processing range determining means is based on the movement of the image processing apparatus detected by the movement detection means and the input from the physical operation input means. Is preferably determined.

  The image processing apparatus further includes a processing target range determination unit that automatically determines a processing target range of the image, and the image processing range determination unit changes the processing target range determined by the processing target determination unit. It is preferable to do.

  Furthermore, the image processing apparatus preferably includes a display unit that displays an image indicating the processing target range determined by the processing target determination unit.

  Furthermore, the display unit displays different ranges of the range to be changed by the image processing range determination unit in the processing target range determined by the processing target determination unit and the range other than the range to be changed in the processing target range. More preferably.

  Further, it is preferable that the image processing range determination unit cancels the change to the processing target range when the movement of the image processing apparatus detected by the movement detection unit is a movement equal to or greater than a threshold value.

  The image processing apparatus preferably further includes a physical operation input unit, and the image processing range determination unit preferably determines the change based on an input from the physical operation input unit.

  The movement detection means preferably repeats the detection when the movement of the image processing apparatus is not detected.

  Further, the image processing means preferably includes character recognition means, and the image processing range determination means preferably determines a range for character recognition in the character recognition means.

  Further, it is preferable that the image processing unit specifically includes a database collating unit, and the image processing range determining unit determines a range to be collated with the database in the database collating unit.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, a processing target range specifying method in an image processing apparatus is a method of specifying a range to be processed in the image processing apparatus, and includes an image acquisition step for acquiring an image, A movement detection step for detecting movement, and an image processing range determination step for determining a range to be processed in the acquired image according to the movement of the image processing apparatus detected in the movement detection step.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, the image processing range specifying program is a program for causing a computer to execute processing for specifying a range to be subjected to image processing, an image acquisition step for acquiring an image, and an image processing device A movement detection step for detecting a movement of the image processing range, and an image processing range determination step for determining a range to be processed in the acquired image according to the movement of the image processing apparatus detected in the movement detection step. .

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, the recording medium is a computer-readable recording medium, and records the program.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same parts and components are denoted by the same reference numerals. Their names and functions are also the same. Therefore, detailed description thereof will not be repeated.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a specific example of the configuration of the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. The image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment corresponds to an apparatus having an image acquisition function and an image processing function for processing the acquired image, such as a camera-equipped mobile phone or a camera-equipped personal computer.

  Referring to FIG. 1, an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an imaging unit 101, a display unit 102, an operation unit 103, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 105, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 107, an additional device 106, and a central control unit 104 for controlling them.

  The imaging unit 101 obtains digital image data by engineeringly imaging a subject with a digital electronic camera or the like. The display unit 102 displays an image created by an image display program using a liquid crystal panel or the like. The operation unit 103 has operation buttons such as a shutter button for a captured image determination unit. In addition to the acceleration sensor, the additional device 106 may include a connection device with an external storage device such as a microphone, a speaker, a light, a communication device, and a memory card I / F (interface).

  In addition, as another example of the image acquisition unit, instead of the imaging unit 101, a connection device with the external storage device that acquires a connected and stored image, or a communication device device, The additional device 106 may receive and acquire an image from another device.

  The RAM 105 includes an image buffer for temporarily storing captured images, an image storage unit for storing image data, and a work buffer for the central control unit 104 to execute a program. The ROM 107 includes an area for storing a movement detection program, a character recognition program, an image display program, and other programs, and a database used when executing the above programs such as a character recognition dictionary and an English-Japanese dictionary.

  The movement detection program is a program used by movement detection means for detecting movement of an image input to the image processing apparatus such as left and right, up and down, and rotation. The character recognition program is a series of programs that extract lines from an input image and then extract the character image and convert it into a character code. The image display program is a program for generating an image to be displayed on the display unit 102. The other program is a program for executing processing other than the above.

  The central control unit 104 executes each program stored in the ROM 107 and controls the operation of each unit.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the definition of the moving direction of the image processing detected by the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  With reference to FIG. 2, in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the moving direction of the image processing apparatus detected when the image captured from the imaging unit 101 moves to the left is defined as the left, The moving direction of the image processing apparatus detected when the image moves up is defined as up. Similarly, the moving direction of the image processing apparatus consisting of the vertical and horizontal directions and the combination thereof is defined. In addition, the moving direction of the image processing apparatus detected when the captured image becomes large by moving the image processing apparatus back and forth, the moving direction of the image processing apparatus detected when the captured image becomes small, Further, the moving direction of the image processing device detected when the image is rotated counterclockwise is defined as the left rotating direction, and the moving direction of the image processing device detected when the image is rotated clockwise is defined as the right rotating direction. To do.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of image processing in the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. The processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is realized by the central control unit 104 reading and executing each program stored in the ROM 107 and controlling the operation of each unit shown in FIG.

  4 is a diagram showing a specific example of an image in the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a specific example of a display screen of the display unit 102 in the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 3, first, in step S <b> 201, the user operates a shutter button or the like of the operation unit to determine a captured image, and the determined digital image data is stored in an image buffer in RAM 105. In step S202, the stored digital image data is converted into a binary image of black pixels corresponding to characters and white pixels corresponding to the background. FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating a specific example of an image stored in an image buffer in the RAM 105 and converted into a binary image.

  Next, in steps S203 to S205, a program that performs the following processing, which is an example of a processing target range determination unit, is executed, and a range that is presumed to be an image processing target is automatically detected in advance. The range is presented to the user on the display screen. That is, in step S203, rows are extracted from the binary image obtained in step S202. In step S203, the central control unit 104 projects the binary image in the horizontal direction and obtains the projection distribution. The method for obtaining the projection is not limited in the present invention. As one specific example, a method of adding the number of pixels in the horizontal direction is simple and preferable, but another specific example is a method of calculating an addition value of a circumscribed rectangle of connected components.

  FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the image in which the row is cut out in step S203. Of the plurality of rows cut out in the image shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the specific example of an image when the line nearest to a center part is selected. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4B, in step S203, the line closest to the center of the captured image is automatically determined and selected as the target line. However, a function of selecting a desired row may be added by moving the device up and down.

  Next, in step S204, the central control unit 104 divides the black pixels included in the selected row into connected components, and obtains a circumscribed rectangle for each connected component. Further, the distance between the circumscribed rectangles is calculated, and when the distance between adjacent rectangles exceeds a certain value (for example, 0.5 times the average height of the rectangles), the interval between the connected components is defined as a word break. to decide. In a language such as English, a larger blank portion is arranged between words than between characters in the word, and “word break” indicates a blank portion between words. In step S204, the central control unit 104 extracts, as the image processing target range, the range closest to the central portion among the plurality of ranges delimited by the “word delimiter” in the row selected in step S203. And cut out as one word.

  FIG. 4C is a diagram illustrating a specific example of an image obtained by cutting out a character string that is regarded as one word as an image processing target in step S204. In FIG. 4C, the distance between the circumscribed rectangle of the connected component “from” and the circumscribed rectangle of the connected component “queue” (the distance between “m” and “q”), and the connected component “queue”. Since the distance between the circumscribed rectangle and the circumscribed rectangle of the connected component “because” (the distance between “e” and “b”) is smaller than the predetermined value, it is determined that the segment between these connected components is a word break The connected component “from queue because” is cut out as one word.

  The character string cut out as one word in step S204 is displayed on the display screen of the display unit 102 formed of a liquid crystal panel or the like in step S205 so that the user can grasp it as an image processing target range. FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the display screen of the display unit 102 in step S205, and is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the display screen presenting a character string cut out as one word. is there. In the display example shown in FIG. 5A, a character string cut out as a single word is presented as a black pixel portion in an area surrounded by a rectangle. Note that the method of presenting the extracted character string is not limited to the method of enclosing with a rectangle as shown in FIG. 5A, and other methods are used so that the extracted character string can be identified from other character strings. The display method may be different from that of the character string, may be a presentation method such as changing the display color of the character string or the background color, or performing blinking display, or the display color of the portion outside the area surrounded by the rectangle The presentation method may be changed.

  Next, in step S206, based on the user's instruction operation, it is determined whether or not the image processing target range displayed on the display screen is a character string desired by the user. In step S206, specifically, for example, it is determined whether or not a “confirmation key” having a function for determining the image processing target range is pressed, and it is determined whether or not the character string is desired by the user. The If the confirmation key has been pressed (YES in step S206), the process proceeds to step S211. If not (NO in step S206), the process proceeds to step S207. In other words, when the character string that is the image processing target range presented on the display screen in step S205 is a character string that represents a desired word (YES in step S206), the user performs a confirming operation so that the desired string is displayed. Desired image processing such as character string recognition processing can be performed on a character string representing a word.

  On the other hand, when the character string that is the image processing target range displayed on the screen is not a word desired by the user, that is, when the confirmation key is not pressed (NO in step S206), the central control unit 104 detects the movement. A movement detection program which is an example of the means is executed.

  The movement detection program acquires, for example, the distance data used in the autofocus function of the camera every 0.1 second, and compares the past distance value with the current value, so that the device and the object can be compared. This is a program for determining a change in the distance and executing a process of determining that the apparatus has moved in the forward direction when the distance is reduced and moved in the backward direction when the distance is increased.

  Alternatively, the central control unit 104 may execute a process of detecting the moving direction of the image processing apparatus main body using an acceleration sensor which is an example of a movement detecting unit and determining the moving direction based on the result.

  In steps S207 to S210, processing for designating / changing the image processing target range is executed based on the moving direction or moving amount of the image processing apparatus detected by using the movement detecting means in step S206. For example, the image processing device is changed so as to narrow the image processing target range by bringing the image processing device closer to the input target. That is, in step S207, it is determined whether or not the image processing apparatus has moved forward based on the imaging input from the imaging unit 101 by executing the distance detection program, and it has been determined that the image processing apparatus has moved forward. If it is determined (YES in step S207), in step S208, the central control unit 104 moves both ends of the character string cut out as one word in step S204 to the inside. FIG. 5B shows a display screen that presents a character string in which both ends of the character string extracted as being one word shown in FIG. 5A are moved inward in step S208. It is a figure which shows a specific example.

  Further, the image processing apparatus is changed so as to widen the image processing target range by moving the image processing apparatus away from the input target. That is, in step S209, it is determined whether or not the image processing apparatus has moved backward by executing the distance detection program. If it is determined that the image processing apparatus has moved backward (YES in step S209), step S209 is performed. In S210, the central control unit 104 moves both ends of the character string extracted as one word in step S204 to the outside. FIG. 5C shows a specific example of a display screen that presents a character string in which both ends of the character string cut out as one word shown in FIG. 5A are moved outward in step S210. FIG.

  Here, “close to the input target” means that the image processing apparatus main body is moved in the direction perpendicular to the surface lens of the camera as an example of the imaging unit 101 in the direction in which the imaging target is present. "Separate from input object" means movement in the opposite direction.

  Alternatively, in step 214, it is determined whether the user has performed an end operation during the image processing. In step 214, specifically, for example, it is determined whether or not the “cancel key” to which the halfway termination function has been added has been pressed. If the cancel key has been pressed (YES in step S214), the series of processing ends.

  When the character string that is the image processing target range presented on the display screen becomes a character string indicating a word desired by the user by repeating the processes of steps S205 to S209 (YES in step S206), the process is as follows. Proceed to step 211.

  In step 211 and subsequent steps, desired image processing is executed on the image processing target range in the photographed image. In the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, it is assumed that a character string recognition process is executed on a character string that is an image processing target range after step 211.

  In step 211, first, the central control unit 104 uses the black pixel connected component information used in step 204 to cut out the character string that is the image processing target range in units of characters. Then, for each extracted character, collation with the character recognition dictionary stored in the ROM 107 is performed, and the character closest to the dictionary shape is output as the character recognition result.

  In step S212, a character string as a character recognition result is searched from the English-Japanese dictionary stored in the ROM 107, and the result is displayed in step S213.

  FIG. 5D is a specific example of a display screen that presents the image processing target range after the processing in steps S205 to S209. In step S206, the confirmation key is displayed in the presentation state shown in FIG. Is pressed (YES in step S206), the character string recognition result in step S211 is "queue". If the English-Japanese dictionary stored in the ROM 107 is searched in step S212, the result is "create column". The word “queue” searched in step S213 and the search result “create column” are displayed on the display screen.

  In the above processing example, the case where an English-Japanese dictionary is used as an example of the database is shown. However, any database that can be searched such as an address book in addition to dictionaries such as a Japanese language dictionary and a Chinese-Japanese dictionary can be used. I do not care.

  In the above processing example, the image processing target range is narrowed when the image processing apparatus is moved forward, and the image processing target range is widened when the image processing apparatus is moved backward. The reverse is also acceptable. Further, the present invention includes a method for detecting, for example, movement in the vertical direction instead of the perspective direction.

  When detecting the movement in the vertical direction, the movement detection program is executed to detect in which direction the image processing apparatus has moved based on the image acquired by the imaging unit 101. The change in the image acquired by the imaging unit 101 is obtained from the difference between the image acquired at a certain time and the image acquired before that time. For example, all the pixels of the image captured 0.1 seconds ago and all the pixels of the image captured at the present time are 1 pixel in the range of ± 25% of the imaging width in the x-axis direction and the y-axis direction. Move in units to find the difference in RGB values between all pixels that can be calculated. The amount of movement in the x-axis direction and the amount of movement in the y-axis direction that minimize the average of the pixel value differences can be detected as the amount of movement of the image processing apparatus. Note that in the case of detecting movement in the vertical direction, the required amount of movement is determined only in the vertical direction (y-axis direction on the captured image), but it is difficult for the user to strictly move only in the vertical direction. It is also preferable to detect the amount of movement in the x-axis direction in order to absorb blur in the left-right direction.

  In addition, the movement detection program is executed to detect the left and right movement of the image processing apparatus, and the currently displayed image processing target range is surrounded by a word break on the left or right side according to the movement. The image processing target range may be moved.

  Note that the movement detection means executed in steps S205 to S210 may discard the detection results up to the point of failure when the movement detection fails at a certain time and perform the repeated movement detection process again. Further, when a large movement equal to or greater than the threshold value is detected, it may be determined that the operation up to the present time has been canceled, and a predetermined cancel operation may be performed.

  In other words, in the processes of steps S205 to S210, when the movement detection fails continuously for a certain time (for example, 0.5 seconds), or when acceleration exceeding a predetermined threshold is detected for a certain time, the central control unit In 104, it may be determined that the image processing apparatus has continuously moved greatly, and a word extraction result stored in advance may be displayed on the screen. In addition, it is preferable to use the average value of the fixed time of about 0.2 second for the acceleration at this time.

  When the above processing is executed in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the movement direction is detected by the movement detection unit using the input from the imaging unit 101 that is the imaging apparatus, and the imaging is performed based on the detected movement direction. The processing target range of the image can be confirmed or changed.

  Furthermore, by performing a database search represented by character recognition and dictionary search according to the detected moving direction, an electronic dictionary function for performing image processing with operability close to the intuitive operation of the user can be provided.

  That is, using an intuitive operation of moving the device in space and simple operation input means, the user can specify or change an image processing target range such as a character string range to be input.

[Second Embodiment]
The image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment includes a cross key that is a physical operation input unit for designating the up, down, left, and right directions on the operation unit 103, and the physical operation input unit of the user. Operation detection means for detecting an operation is provided, and the boundary of the image processing target range is designated and changed based on the results of the operation detection means and the movement detection means.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of image processing in the image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. The process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6 is a process (steps S205 to S210) for selecting an image processing target range from the example of image processing in the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. Correspondingly, it is realized by the central control unit 104 reading out and executing each program stored in the ROM 107 and controlling the operation of each unit shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of the display screen of the display unit 102 in the process shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  In the second embodiment, as in the process according to the first embodiment, when the English character string data is imaged and a desired word is input as a character string rectangle as an image processing target range, the cross key The process of changing the boundary of the image processing target range specified in step 1 to be narrowed by moving the image processing apparatus in the forward direction and widening by moving it in the backward direction is executed.

  Referring to FIG. 6, as in the image processing according to the first embodiment, words that are subject to line extraction and image processing are extracted from the captured image and displayed on the display screen of display unit 102 in step S601. Is done. Subsequently, in step S602, similarly to the image processing according to the first embodiment, it is determined whether or not the confirmation key has been pressed, and the user desires an image processing target range displayed on the display screen. Whether it is a character string or not is determined.

  When the character string that is the image processing target range displayed on the screen is not a word desired by the user, that is, when the confirmation key is not pressed (NO in step S602), the central control unit 104 determines whether the movement detection unit A movement detection program as an example is executed to detect whether the image processing apparatus has moved in the front-rear direction based on imaging input from the imaging unit 101 as in the image processing according to the first embodiment. .

  When it is detected that the left side of the cross key is pressed and it is determined that the image processing apparatus has moved forward (YES in step S603), the central control unit 104 currently performs image processing in step S610. The left border of the rectangle surrounding the character string that is the target range is moved inward (the image processing target range is narrowed). FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the display screen of the display unit 102 after the process of step S610. The process of step S610 is performed on the display screen illustrated in FIG. It is a figure which shows the specific example in a case.

  If it is detected that the left side of the cross key has been pressed and it is determined that the image processing apparatus has moved backward (YES in step S604), the central control unit 104, in step S611, The left boundary of the rectangle surrounding the character string that is the image processing target range is moved outward (the image processing target range is widened).

  If it is detected that the right side of the cross key has been pressed and it is determined that the image processing apparatus has moved forward (YES in step S605), the central control unit 104, in step S612, The right boundary of the rectangle surrounding the character string that is the image processing target range is moved inward (the image processing target range is narrowed). FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the display screen of the display unit 102 after the process of step S612. The process of step S612 is performed on the display screen illustrated in FIG. It is a figure which shows the specific example in a case.

  If it is detected that the right side of the cross key has been pressed and it is determined that the image processing apparatus has moved backward (YES in step S606), the central control unit 104, in step S613, The right boundary of the rectangle surrounding the character string that is the image processing target range is moved outward (the image processing target range is widened).

  On the other hand, if it is not detected that the cross key has been pressed and it is determined that the image processing apparatus has moved forward (YES in step S607), the central control unit 104 determines that the image is currently displayed in step S614. Both ends of the rectangle surrounding the character string that is the processing target range are moved inward (the image processing target range is narrowed). If it is determined that the image processing apparatus has moved backward (YES in step S608), the central control unit 104 determines in step S614 that a rectangular character string surrounding the character string that is currently the image processing target range is displayed. Move both ends of the boundary to the outside (widen the image processing target range). These processes are the same as the processes in steps S207 to S210 of the image processing according to the first embodiment.

  When the cross key is pressed to change the image processing target range, the display color of the border of the pressed image processing target range (to be changed) is changed, or the line such as the thickness is changed. It is preferable to clearly indicate to the user which part of the boundary indicating the image processing target range is to be changed, by changing the display method of the boundary, such as changing the display method, to be different from the normal boundary display method. Alternatively, even if the display method of the boundary part not to be changed is different from the normal boundary display method, it is possible to clearly indicate to the user which part is the change target.

  The above processing is repeated until the range of the character string rectangle desired by the user is designated, and then image processing is performed on the designated target range. Specifically, it is possible to perform image processing such as performing character string recognition and dictionary search and displaying the result on the display screen in the same manner as the image processing according to the first embodiment.

  When the above processing is executed by the image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment, the image processing target range of the image captured by the movement detection device using the input from the imaging device and the physical operation input unit. Therefore, the user can arbitrarily change the image processing target range by specifying the boundary portion of the image processing target range to be changed by a key operation such as a cross key and simultaneously moving the apparatus. it can. In addition, by providing a confirmation key in the image processing apparatus, it is possible to determine a boundary at a certain point in time.

  As described above, the image processing apparatus according to the present invention can easily specify the input target range by detecting an intuitive operation of moving the device in space. Therefore, the user can perform an efficient input operation. That is, since operability with a natural feeling that does not require complicated key operations can be realized, anyone can easily use it. In other words, using the image processing apparatus according to the present invention, the user can change the object to be processed from the captured image using an intuitive operation of moving the apparatus without performing a complicated operation. It is possible to select a range to be performed. This means that the user can easily perform operations such as selecting a target image processing target part, for example, a specific character string part, and inputting it to a dictionary search through a series of input operations to the mobile device. Is possible.

  Further, in the image processing apparatus according to the present invention, since the movement is detected from the image input from the imaging unit, it is possible to determine the moving direction of the image processing apparatus without adding a special device such as a speed sensor. is there. Therefore, it is possible to achieve both reduction in size and weight of the image processing apparatus and simplification of user operations.

  Furthermore, a simple button operation such as a cross key or a confirmation key and a method that can be operated at the same time, such as movement of the device, are linked to each other, so that an operation that is easier for the user can be realized. For example, when a word is designated, it is possible to simultaneously designate a boundary to be changed and move the boundary.

  In addition, according to this method, it is possible to easily specify an input target range, a range of words, and the like even in a language that does not use a space between words such as Japanese and Chinese.

  By changing the display method of the boundary to be changed or the display method of the boundary not to be changed at the time of changing the input target range, it is possible to prevent an erroneous operation of the user.

  In addition, by adding a cancel function based on a simple operation that greatly moves the device, it is possible to easily return to the state before the selection operation even if an operation input that is different from the intended one is accidentally entered. Can easily cancel the instruction operation.

  In addition, even when the movement detection unit fails to detect movement, the range designation operation can be continued by repeatedly executing the movement detection. As a result, there is no need to continue capturing the imaged object within the camera's imageable range, and there is an advantage that the user can freely change the direction of the camera.

  Furthermore, an image processing method executed in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment can be provided as a program. Such a program is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a flexible disk attached to the computer, a CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory), a ROM, a RAM, and a memory card, and provided as a program product. You can also. Alternatively, the program can be provided by being recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk built in the computer. A program can also be provided by downloading via a network.

  The provided program product is installed in a program storage unit such as a hard disk and executed. The program product includes the program itself and a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

It is a figure which shows the specific example of a structure of the image processing apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the definition of the moving direction of the said image process detected in the image processing apparatus concerning this Embodiment. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of image processing in the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of an image in the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the display screen of the display part in the process shown by the flowchart of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the image process in the image processing apparatus concerning 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the display screen of the display part in the process shown by the flowchart of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Image pick-up part, 102 Display part, 103 Operation part, 104 Central control part, 105 RAM, 106 Additional apparatus, 107 ROM.

Claims (14)

Image acquisition means for acquiring images;
Movement detection means for detecting movement of the image processing apparatus;
Image processing means for processing the image;
An image processing apparatus comprising: an image processing range determining unit that determines a processing target range in the image processing unit of the image according to the movement of the image processing apparatus detected by the movement detecting unit. The image acquisition means includes imaging means for photographing a subject,
The image processing unit further includes a captured image determining unit that determines one image from images captured and acquired by the imaging unit as an image to be processed.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the movement detection unit detects movement of the image processing apparatus using an image captured and acquired by the imaging unit. A physical operation input means;
The said image processing range determination means determines the said process target range based on the movement of the said image processing apparatus which the said movement detection means detected, and the input from the said physical operation input means. Image processing device. A processing target range determination unit that automatically determines the processing target range of the image,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing range determination unit changes the processing target range determined by the processing target determination unit.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a display unit configured to display an image indicating the processing target range determined by the processing target determination unit.   The display means includes a range to be changed in the image processing range determination means in the processing target range determined in the processing target determination means, and a range other than the change range in the processing target range. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the display forms are different.   5. The image processing according to claim 4, wherein the image processing range determination unit cancels the change to the processing target range when the movement of the image processing apparatus detected by the movement detection unit is a movement equal to or greater than a threshold value. apparatus. A physical operation input means;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the image processing range determination unit determines the change based on an input from the physical operation input unit.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the movement detection unit repeats the detection when movement of the image processing apparatus is not detected. The image processing means includes character recognition means,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing range determination unit determines a range to be subjected to character recognition by the character recognition unit. The image processing means includes a database collating means,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing range determining unit determines a range to be compared with a database in the database collating unit. A method for specifying a range to be processed in an image processing apparatus,
An image acquisition step of acquiring an image;
A movement detecting step for detecting movement of the image processing apparatus;
A processing target range designation method in an image processing apparatus, comprising: an image processing range determination step of determining a range to be processed among the images according to the movement of the image processing apparatus detected in the movement detection step. . A program for causing a computer to execute processing for specifying a range to be subjected to image processing,
An image acquisition step of acquiring an image;
A movement detecting step for detecting movement of the image processing apparatus;
An image processing range designation program for executing an image processing range determination step for determining a range to be processed among the images according to the movement of the image processing apparatus detected in the movement detection step.   A computer-readable recording medium for recording the image processing range specifying program according to claim 13.