JP4325487B2 - Output image selection device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an output image selection device that selects image data to be output from image data obtained by photographing a subject.

  In recent years, direct printers capable of printing images taken with a digital camera without using a personal computer or the like have been used. However, with a digital camera, the captured image can be easily erased, and in recent years, the recording medium of the captured image has become large capacity, so the user can take a similar picture in the same scene. A lot of shooting is increasing. In such a case, if a photograph of a similar scene is printed, there arises a problem that the printing cost increases.

Patent Document 1 discloses an electronic camera that can automatically select and print only a good photograph free from camera shake or blur among a plurality of recorded images recorded on a recording medium.
JP 2001-320621 A

  However, even if there are many images taken in the same scene, for example, even if the photo has no camera shake or blur, it is not necessary to print all the images. On the other hand, you may want to print an image that has been shaken or out of focus, but has only been shot in that scene, even if it is a poorly photographed photo.

  The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object thereof is to provide a technique for efficiently selecting a photo to be output from a plurality of photos taken in the same scene.

According to the present invention,
Storage means for storing a plurality of image data obtained by photographing a subject;
When the time interval is short according to the time interval at which the plurality of image data to be compared is photographed, the criteria for whether or not to include them in the same group Based on the degree of correlation between the plurality of image data to be compared, it is determined whether the plurality of image data to be compared is included in the same group for each image data obtained by photographing the same scene. Grouping means to
From the image data grouped by the grouping unit, a selection means for selecting image data to be output,
An output image selection device is provided.

  Output refers to outputting image data to an external device, for example, when printing with a printer or when sending image data attached to an e-mail. Although the output image selection device can be configured as a single device, the function of the output image selection device of the present invention can also be provided in a printing device such as a digital camera or a printer. The output image selection device of the present invention can be a digital camera further including a photographing unit for photographing a subject.

  According to the present invention, since a plurality of image data is grouped for each image data obtained by photographing the same scene, representative image data to be output from each group is selected, so there are many image data of similar scenes. In some cases, it is possible to prevent unnecessary image data from being output.

  Since image data having a high degree of correlation between image data has a high possibility of photographing the same scene, in this way, image data obtained by photographing the same scene can be accurately grouped.

  When the interval of the shooting time between the image data to be compared is short, the possibility of shooting the same scene is high even if the degree of correlation is low. Therefore, in the case where the interval between the shooting times when the image data to be compared is shot is short, the criterion for whether or not to include them in the same group can be lowered based on the correlation degree of the image data. As described above, the criteria for determining whether or not to include in the same group according to the shooting time interval between the comparison target image data is made different so that the grouping of the image data obtained by shooting the same scene is performed accurately. be able to.

  In the output image selection device according to the present invention, the selection means can select the image data that was photographed last among the grouped image data as image data to be output.

  A photographer of image data often shoots a plurality of image data in the same scene until he / she can shoot satisfactory image data. Therefore, it is possible to increase the possibility that the image data desired by the photographer can be output by selecting the image data captured last.

  In the output image selection device of the present invention, the selection means can select image data with a large amount of information as image data to be output from the grouped image data.

  Here, the information amount can be the information amount of the compressed data after the image data is compressed at the same rate by a compression technique such as JPEG. By selecting image data including more information, it is possible to increase the possibility of outputting desired image data of the photographer.

  It should be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements and a conversion of the expression of the present invention between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, etc. are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

  According to the present invention, a photo to be output can be efficiently selected from a plurality of photos taken in the same scene.

(First embodiment)
The digital camera in the present embodiment outputs the same image data when the captured image data is output to an external device, for example, when it is printed by a printer or transmitted as an e-mail attachment. A function of automatically selecting representative image data to be selected.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital camera according to the present embodiment.
The digital camera 100 includes an image capturing unit 102 that captures a subject, a time measuring unit 104, an image data writing unit 106 that writes image data captured by the image capturing unit 102 to a storage unit 114, an image data classification processing unit 108, an image A data selection unit 110 and an output unit 112 are included. The storage unit 114 includes a captured image data storage unit 116, a classified image data storage unit 118, and an output image data storage unit 120.

  The photographing unit 102 includes an optical system such as a lens, an image sensor such as a CCD, and an analog / digital converter. The image data writing unit 106 stores the image data obtained by the photographing unit 102 in the photographed image data storage unit 116 in association with the time counted by the time measuring unit 104.

  The image data classification processing unit 108 groups the plurality of image data stored in the captured image data storage unit 116 for each image data obtained by capturing the same scene.

  The image data classification processing unit 108 can perform grouping based on, for example, the time associated with each image data. The image data classification processing unit 108 can classify image data captured within a predetermined time into the same group. In addition, the image data classification processing unit 108, when arranged along the time axis according to the time when each of the plurality of image data was captured, is equal to or greater than a predetermined time and the time when the previous or subsequent image data was captured. The image data with the interval can be classified into a group different from the image data before or after the image data.

  Further, the image data classification processing unit 108 can perform grouping based on, for example, the degree of correlation between image data. The degree of correlation between image data can be performed using a phase only correlation method, a normalized correlation method, or the like.

  The image data classification processing unit 108 can also group a plurality of image data based on both the time associated with each image data and the degree of correlation between the image data. Even in the case of image data obtained by photographing the same scene, there is a possibility that the degree of correlation between the image data will be low if the angle is different or the person in the image is different. However, there is a high possibility that image data obtained by photographing the same scene will be photographed within a certain period of time. Therefore, for example, it is possible to determine whether or not to classify into the same group by lowering the determination reference value between image data in which the image data is captured for a short time.

  The image data classification processing unit 108 stores the image data grouped as described above in the classified image data storage unit 118 for each group.

  The image data selection unit 110 selects a predetermined number of image data as image data to be output for each group from the image data stored in the classified image data storage unit 118.

  For example, the image data selection unit 110 can select the image data captured last among the image data classified into each group. Digital camera photographers often take multiple pictures in the same scene until a satisfactory picture is obtained. Therefore, there is a high probability that the image data captured last in the image data of the same scene is the desired image data.

  Further, the image data selection unit 110 can select, for example, image data with a large amount of information as data to be output from among the image data classified into each group. Here, an image having a large amount of information can be an information amount of compressed data obtained by compressing image data photographed by the photographing unit 102 at the same rate using, for example, JPEG. For example, when taking a commemorative photo with a plurality of people, image data with a large amount of information may include many people. Therefore, there is a high possibility that image data having a large amount of information is desired image data among image data obtained by photographing the same scene.

  The image data selection unit 110 stores the selected image as image data to be output in the output image data storage unit 120. The output unit 112 outputs the image data stored in the output image data storage unit 120 to the outside. Here, the output may be output to a printer and the image data may be printed as a printed photograph. Further, the output unit 112 may attach the photograph stored in the output image data storage unit 120 to an e-mail or the like and transmit it to another terminal via a network (not shown).

  In the above example, the storage unit 114 has been described as including the captured image data storage unit 116, the classified image data storage unit 118, and the output image data storage unit 120. However, the internal configuration of the storage unit 114 is not limited thereto. However, any configuration can be used as long as the grouping of a plurality of image data and the selected image data can be identified. The storage unit 114 can store, for example, an index as shown in FIG.

  Here, the index has columns for entering the number (NO.) Of the image data, the time when the image data was obtained, the group number into which the image data was classified, and a flag indicating whether or not the image data was selected. For example, image data with numbers “0001”, “0002”, “0003”, and “0012” are classified into group 1, and image data with number “0004” are classified into group 2. From group 1, the image data with the number “0012” is selected as the image data to be output. Also, from the group 2, the image data with the number “0004” is selected as the image data to be output.

  In this case, the output unit 112 refers to the storage unit 114 to detect whether or not a flag is set in the flag column, and outputs the image data with the flag set.

  As described above, according to the digital camera 100 in the present embodiment, after grouping a plurality of image data for each image data obtained by photographing the same scene, representative image data to be output from each group is selected. Therefore, when there are many image data of similar scenes, it is possible to prevent unnecessary image data from being output.

(Second embodiment)
In this embodiment, a printing apparatus capable of printing image data captured by a digital camera or the like without using a personal computer or the like will be described. The printing apparatus according to the present embodiment has a function of automatically selecting representative image data to be output from similar image data when printing image data captured by a digital camera or the like.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment.
The printing apparatus 200 includes an image data capturing unit 202 that captures image data stored in various media and writes the image data in the storage unit 114, an image data classification processing unit 108, an image data selection unit 110, and a printing unit 204. . The storage unit 114 includes a captured image data storage unit 116, a classified image data storage unit 118, and an output image data storage unit 120.

  In the present embodiment, the same components as those described in the first embodiment with reference to FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

  The image data capturing unit 202 acquires the image data in association with the time when each image data was captured. Also in the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the image data classification processing unit 108 groups a plurality of image data for each image data obtained by photographing the same scene. The image data selection unit 110 selects representative image data to be output from the grouped image data. The printing unit 204 prints the image data selected by the image data selection unit 110 as a print photo.

  As described above, according to the printing apparatus 200 in the present embodiment, after grouping a plurality of image data for each image data obtained by photographing the same scene, representative image data to be output from each group is selected. Therefore, when there are a lot of image data of similar scenes, it is possible to prevent unnecessary image data from being printed.

  In the above-described embodiment, each component of the digital camera 100 and the printing apparatus 200 stores a program for realizing the components shown in the figure loaded in the CPU, memory, and memory of an arbitrary computer. It is realized by an arbitrary combination of hardware and software, mainly a storage unit such as a hard disk and a network connection interface. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that there are various modifications to the implementation method and apparatus. Each drawing described below shows a functional unit block, not a hardware unit configuration.

  The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. The embodiments are exemplifications, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of the respective constituent elements and processing processes, and such modifications are within the scope of the present invention. .

  The output image automatic selection processing described in the above embodiment can be executed only when the “output image automatic selection mode” or the like is selected in the digital camera 100 or the printing apparatus 200. In this case, when such a mode is not selected, the digital camera 100 or the printing apparatus 200 may cause the user to select image data to be output or output all captured image data. Can do.

  In addition, when a camera shake sensor or the like is provided in the digital camera, the state of camera shake or the like is recorded in the image data, and the image data selection unit 110 has less camera shake from the grouped image data. It is also possible to select image data that is in focus.

  In the above embodiment, an example in which image data to be output is selected from image data captured using a digital camera has been described. However, the present invention is a moving image captured by a digital video camera. The present invention can also be applied when selecting still image data to be output from the data. The output image selection device of the present invention can have a function of extracting still image data from moving image data captured by a digital video camera at predetermined time intervals, for example.

  For example, the image data capturing unit 202 of the printing apparatus 200 described in the second embodiment can capture a plurality of still image data extracted in this way. The image data classification processing unit 108 can group a plurality of still image data captured by the image data capturing unit 202 based on the degree of correlation thereof. The image data selection unit 110 selects image data to be output from the still image data of each group grouped by the image data classification processing unit 108.

  For example, when taking a picture of a wedding ceremony with a digital video camera, it is often the case that the bride and groom are photographed, then the surrounding people are photographed, the situation inside the venue is photographed, and then the bride and groom are photographed again. . In such a case, if several pieces of still image data to be output are appropriately selected from moving image data photographed by a digital video camera, only a scene showing the bride and groom may be selected. According to the present invention, after selecting some still image data from moving image data, grouping them into similar still image data and selecting still image data to be output from each group. Various scene images can be selected as image data to be output.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the digital camera in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the index memorize | stored in the memory | storage part. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Digital camera 102 Image pick-up part 104 Time measuring part 106 Image data writing part 108 Image data classification process part 110 Image data selection part 112 Output part 114 Storage part 116 Photographed image data storage part 118 Classified image data storage part 120 Output image data storage Unit 200 printing apparatus 202 image data capturing unit 204 printing unit

Claims (4)

Storage means for storing a plurality of image data obtained by photographing a subject;
When the time interval is short according to the time interval at which the plurality of image data to be compared is photographed, the criteria for whether or not to include them in the same group Based on the degree of correlation between the plurality of image data to be compared, it is determined whether the plurality of image data to be compared is included in the same group for each image data obtained by photographing the same scene. Grouping means to
Selecting means for selecting image data to be output from among the image data grouped by the grouping means;
An output image selection device comprising: The output image selection device according to claim 1 ,
The output image selecting device is characterized in that the selecting means selects image data taken last in the grouped image data as image data to be output. The output image selection device according to claim 1 ,
The selection means selects image data having a large amount of information as image data to be output from grouped image data. The output image selection apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the output image selection apparatus which is a further comprising a digital camera photographing means for photographing an object.

Images