JPH1172348A - Camera device and information acquisition method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To provide a camera device that can easily use a photographed place and the latest information related to the photographed place anytime and anywhere together with image information. SOLUTION: A camera device 10 receives a radio wave from a GPS satellite 1 and acquires position information of its current location. Further, based on this position information, position-related information such as map information and difference information for D-GPS is acquired via the Internet 40. Then, the position-related information obtained via the Internet 40 is associated with the photographed image information. Therefore, the photographed place and the latest information related thereto can be easily used together with the image information anytime and anywhere.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a camera device capable of acquiring image information and an information acquiring method capable of acquiring information related to the image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Systems have been developed which receive radio waves from a plurality of satellites, perform radio wave positioning, and detect their current location. For example, GPS (Global Positioning Syste
m) is installed in a car navigation system of a car, and a portable GPS receiver is used for climbing and hiking navigation, so that the user's current location can be easily indicated to the user. Various devices having such a GPS function have been proposed. As one of them, a camera equipped with GPS is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-307.
No. 913. The camera device described in this publication adds information on its current location obtained from a GPS to captured image data and stores the data. When reproducing image information, GP
Based on the position information obtained by S, map information built into the system can be displayed together.

[0003] Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-288725 discloses that map information can be superimposed on an acquired image and displayed.
Further, a camera device capable of recording the superimposed image is disclosed.

[0004]

In the camera apparatus disclosed in each of the above publications, the map information to be superimposed on the image includes map information recorded in advance on a recording medium such as a hard disk, a CD-ROM, or a floppy disk. Is read out and displayed on the map information around the current position on the recording medium from the information on the current position obtained by the GPS, and the photographed image is superimposed thereon.

However, in order to realize a camera device that can be used nationwide or abroad, if the necessary map information is recorded in advance on a hard disk or the like, the memory capacity becomes enormous and the camera device becomes large. , And also very expensive. Alternatively, the resolution of the recorded map information is reduced, and the map information cannot be practically used. In addition, if the destination is determined in advance, it is possible to use a recording medium on which detailed map information of the place is recorded, but use a recording medium that matches the taste of each user or a medium that has been upgraded to the latest information. Is difficult. The camera device having the conventional configuration can handle only map information, and if it is intended to provide more information, the memory capacity becomes enormous and becomes impractical.

In the above-mentioned conventional camera device, GP
Only single positioning of S is possible, and the position accuracy is on the order of several hundred meters. Therefore, even if the position can be grasped by matching with the main road on the map as in the case of car navigation, it is difficult to accurately determine the position of a city or a small street where the user is currently walking. For this reason, even if the image is taken while moving in a narrow range, it is not possible to accurately grasp each shooting location, and it is practically difficult to accurately associate the image information with the position information. Therefore, at present, it is impossible to realize a function such as searching for an image from position information.

[0007] On the other hand, it is possible to perform relative positioning that corrects independently located data based on difference information from a base station (fixed station) whose position is known with high precision in advance to increase the accuracy of position information. , D-GPS (Differential-GPS)
It is called. If D-GPS is adopted, the position accuracy can be improved to several meters, so that the current position of the user can be specified with high accuracy. Further, the position accuracy can be further improved by adopting a wide area D-GPS (WADGPS) that corrects position information obtained by solely positioning using difference information obtained from a plurality of base stations. WA
By adopting DGPS, it is possible to eliminate errors and multipath errors due to the spatial interaction of each base station, and even if there is a malfunctioning base station, it is possible to cover the area with another base station. Become. For this reason, since a small number of base stations can cover a wide area, stable and accurate position information can be obtained.

Therefore, in order to associate position information with image information captured while repeating movement, it is desirable to employ position information measured relative to D-GPS or WADGPS instead of sole positioning, which is realistic. is there.

Therefore, in the present invention, GP
It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera device and an information acquisition method capable of finding a current position by radio wave positioning such as S and acquiring information related to the position information. Also, D-GPS
And WADGPS can be used to obtain high-precision location information,
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a camera device and an information acquisition method capable of associating the position information with photographed image information. It is another object of the present invention to provide a compact and inexpensive camera device which can easily use a location where a photograph is taken anytime and anywhere and the latest information related to the place together with image information.

[0010]

For this reason, the camera device of the present invention acquires position information of its own current position by radio wave positioning, transmits this position information via a computer network, and transmits the position information to a computer such as a server. Various information (location-related information) related to the location information of the current location of the user is obtained from the information providing system connected to the network. Then, the position-related information obtained through these networks can be associated with the photographed image information. That is, the camera device of the present invention includes an imaging device capable of acquiring image information, a position information acquisition device capable of receiving radio waves from satellites, performing radio positioning, and acquiring position information of its current location, and a computer network. And a control device capable of acquiring the position-related information at the time of acquiring the image via the communication device. Further, in the information acquisition method of the present invention, an imaging step of acquiring image information, a position information acquisition step of receiving a radio wave from a satellite, performing radio wave positioning, and obtaining position information of its own current position, and a computer network And a step of acquiring position-related information related to the position information via the PC, and a step of acquiring position-related information when the image is acquired.

According to the camera device and the information acquisition method of the present invention, the position information of the current position when a building or a landscape is photographed is acquired by GPS, and information related to the position information is acquired from a communication device via a computer network. it can. A computer network such as the Internet is connected to a large and high-performance server and other information providing systems, and information (position-related information) related to the transferred position information, such as map information and D-GPS.
Alternatively, there exists upgraded information desired by the user such as difference information for WADGPS, and the position-related information can be collected in real time on the camera device side. Therefore, detailed map information, information on shops and restaurants, or recent information on amusement parks and theme parks can be obtained anytime and anywhere without preparing a huge storage medium in the camera device body. For this reason, it is possible to obtain a small and inexpensive camera device that can easily obtain various information according to the place where the image was taken.

The information related to the position information handled by the camera device capable of acquiring the position information by the conventional GPS is only the map information, and the amount of the information is limited. In the information acquisition method, it is possible to acquire various information related to positional information at the time of photographing via a computer network through which a vast amount of information is distributed, and process the acquired information on the camera device side. For example, when a restaurant is photographed, information such as the location, name, opening hours, menu, and price of the restaurant is obtained from an information providing server such as an Internet WWW server connected to a computer network based on information on the photographing location. Thus, the information can be displayed or recorded in association with the image information. Further, it is also possible to obtain recent map information of a shooting place via a network and to mark image information associated with the above-described various information on a map.

Further, in the camera device and the information acquisition method of the present invention, a usage pattern in which image information is transferred from a communication device to a specific server via a computer network together with position information at the time of projection and stored. Is also possible. In this way, it is not necessary to store the position-related information including the image information in the camera device, so that the camera device can be significantly reduced in size, and a portable or multifunctional device having a size smaller than a notebook. Thus, a camera device having a huge storage capacity can be realized. Of course, the information transferred to the specific server and recorded can be automatically transmitted to the camera device based on the positional information attached via the communication device or by inputting the condition through the input device or the like. A usage form of transferring and using is also possible. The capacity of the storage device prepared in the camera device can be determined in consideration of the shooting frequency, the speed of transferring image information to the server side via the network, and the like, to such an extent that the handleability and portability of the camera device are not impaired. . The camera device can be provided with a storage device such as a built-in RAM disk or a hard disk, and further, a removable storage device such as a floppy disk or a rewritable or write-once CD can be provided. In such a storage device, at least one of the position information of the current location acquired by the GPS and the position-related information acquired from the server based on the position information is associated with the image information together with the photographed image information. By storing the image information, the image information can be used for various purposes such as synthesis of a map and creation of a guide map.

Further, in the present invention, D-GPS or WADGP relating to position information from at least one base station via a network as position-related information.
It is also possible to acquire difference information for performing relative positioning of S. By performing relative positioning, accurate location information of the shooting location (own location information) can be obtained, and based on this, a more accurate current location can be determined. For this reason,
By recording the accurate position information together with the image information and obtaining related information based on the accurate position information,
It can be used by actually matching the image information with its position. For example, if relative positioning is performed, the location of the store where the image was taken and the position of the store can be found with an error of about several meters, so that it is possible to provide a camera device that can be used by ordinary users in reality, whose names and services always match. In addition, the correction processing of the position information of the shooting location based on the difference information may be performed on the camera device side, or the position information may be transmitted to the server side via the network, and the server with the higher processing capability may perform the calculation, The corrected position information may be received by the camera device again.

[0015] As the computer network, the Internet, which is currently widespread throughout the world, is considered optimal. Therefore, it is desirable to use a communication device that can convert image data, character data, audio data, and the like via the Internet.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a camera device 10 of the present embodiment.
1 schematically shows how to make a projection using. As shown in FIG. 1, a camera device 10 of the present example has an imaging unit 16 provided on a side surface of a housing 11 provided with a display device 12 such as an LCD, and the imaging unit 16 is oriented in an appropriate direction. A desired subject 3 projected on the display device 12 can be photographed by operating the shutter button 14. Further, the camera device 10 of the present embodiment
An S antenna 2 is provided, which can receive radio waves from the GPS satellites 1 and acquire position information such as coordinates and altitude of its current location. In addition to the housing 11, an input device 13 for selecting information and a communication unit for easily accessing a public telephone line such as a PHS network to the Internet 40 are built in, and a communication antenna therefor is provided. 4 is also provided. Then, when the shutter button 14 is pressed, the image of the display device 12 is stored in an external storage device such as a hard disk or a flash ROM, and the position information is obtained by GPS, and the related information based on the position information can be obtained from the Internet 40. ing.

The camera device 10 of the present embodiment includes a PHS base station 6
From the public telephone line network 7, and from the access point 8 closest to the current location of the camera device 10 to the Internet 40 which is a computer network. Internet 40
Various servers 41 such as a WWW (World Wide Web) server and a mail server are connected. Further, a storage device 42 having various database functions is connected to these servers 41, and various and recent information can be obtained in real time via the Internet 40.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the camera device 10. The camera device 10 of this example is a control unit C
An internal bus 18 connected to the CPU 17 has an R serving as a working storage area.
AM 19 and ROM 20 storing control programs and the like
And a display device 12 such as an LCD, an input device 13 for selecting and editing displayed information, and an external storage device 15 such as a hard disk. The imaging unit 16 is connected to the internal bus 18, and the light condensed through a lens or the like is converted into an electric signal by the imaging element 31, and further, image information obtained by image processing by the image processing circuit 32 is obtained. It is supposed to be. The data (image information) processed by the image processing circuit 32 is displayed on the display device 12 via the CPU 17. Therefore, the user can monitor the image displayed on the display device 12 and operate the shutter button 14 to obtain (photograph) desired image information in the external storage device 15 as a still image or a moving image.

Further, a data communication device 22 is connected to the internal bus 18, and the camera device 10 is connected to the access point 8 of the nearby Internet 40 via the PHS network by the data communication device 22. TC
Data can be exchanged with a server or the like connected to the Internet according to the P / IP protocol. Of course, the present invention is not limited to the PHS line network, and it is also possible to access the Internet 40 by marching directly with a mobile telephone line or another public telephone line, or an access point of a provider.

The internal bus 18 has a GPS surveying unit 2
The GPS surveying unit 23 is connected to a receiver 24 that receives data from GPS satellites via the GPS receiving antenna 2 and analyzes the received data to determine its own position such as coordinate position and time information. A computer 25 is provided for obtaining position information of the current location. Since the camera device 10 of this example can obtain the difference information of the current position via the Internet 40 by the data communication device 22, the GPS surveying unit 23
-A GPS operation is performed to obtain the position information of the current position with much higher accuracy than the single positioning.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a process for obtaining image information using the camera device 10 of the present embodiment. Step S
At T1, the camera device 10 captures an image of a building such as a store or a restaurant, or a landscape such as a mountain or a plateau.
3, the position information of the current position (photographing place) of the self is acquired. The position information acquired at this time is position information obtained by independent positioning that receives radio waves from the GPS satellites 1 and performs radio wave positioning, and generally includes an error of several hundred meters. . Therefore, in step ST3, the position information is transmitted from the data communication device 22 to the differential server for providing difference information for D-GPS among the servers 41 via the Internet 40. Then, in step ST4, difference information for D-GPS or WADGPS is received via the Internet 40, and in step ST5, the position information of its current location is acquired in units of several meters. As described above, in the camera device 10 of the present embodiment, first, the difference information is received from the Internet 40 as information related to the position information of the current position obtained by the GPS, so that more accurate position information can be obtained. I have. According to the relative positioning in which the position information of the current position is corrected based on the difference information by the GPS computer 25, an error component such as a multipath error is corrected, and the high-precision current position information in which the error is suppressed to several meters is obtained. Obtainable. Of course, it is also possible to correct the current position information on the server side having a high computing ability, and to obtain the corrected current position information on the camera device 10 side. If the correction is performed on the server side, the calculation processing time can be reduced, and the accurate position information of the shooting position can be quickly obtained.

Next, in step ST6, the accurate position information of the photographing place is sent to the Internet 40 again using the data communication device 22. In this step ST6, a connection for information provision connected to the Internet 40 is established by specifying the URL of the server that provides the map information among the servers 41, the position information is sent, and the map around the shooting location corresponding thereto is sent. Information is obtained in step ST7. This map information can be displayed on the display device 12 as a map, and an image can be superimposed and displayed at a position corresponding to the current location on the displayed map. Then, when the user wants to save the video projected on the display device 12 (video in which an image is added to the map), the user associates the image information with the map information acquired via the Internet, and associates the image information with the map information acquired via the Internet. Can be saved. It is also possible to send the map information associated with the image information to another server, for example, a user's personal server via the Internet 40 and store it.

In the camera device 10 of the present embodiment, in addition to map information, other information (position-related information) related to the photographed subject can be obtained via the Internet 40. For example, by connecting the URL of the appropriate server and transmitting the position information at the time of projection in step ST8, it is possible to obtain various information related to the position information that can be provided from the server. For example,
When the subject is a shrine or a temple, information on the history, origin, festival, and the like can be acquired and displayed on the display device 12 together with the captured image. When the subject is a restaurant, information such as a name, a location, business hours, and a menu can be acquired and displayed on the display device 12 together with the captured image. Further, when the above-described map information is acquired, such information can be combined with a map and displayed. When the user wants to save the video (position-related information and image information, or map information, position-related information, and image information) displayed on the display device 12, they are associated with each other and are stored in the external storage device 15. It is also possible to store the data in the server or to transmit the data to the server and store it in the same manner as described above.

As described above, when a specific server is used as a storage device via the Internet 40, the capacity of the external storage device 15 in the camera device 10 can be reduced and the storage device itself can be reduced in size. Thus, it is possible to realize a handy type camera device having excellent portability. Also, since information can be stored on the server side, much more information can be stored than in the past. When the information is once stored in the server, the information stored in the camera device 10 can be collected again automatically based on the position information or by inputting a condition through the input device 13. You can also

FIGS. 4 to 8 show the camera device 10 of this embodiment.
An example of an image image obtained by the above is shown. With reference to these drawings, a method of using the camera device 10 of the present example will be further described. As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the camera device 10 of the present example uses the restaurant 3 as the subject.
Is captured by the imaging device 30 into the camera device 10.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 5 (A) and 5 (B), map information around the shooting location is obtained via the Internet 40 on the basis of the accurate location information of the current location using D-GPS. The acquired image image (image) 3a of the restaurant 3 is displayed at a position corresponding to the shooting location on the map 45 displayed on the display device 12 and acquired. Processing such as displaying an image on a map can be automatically performed by an application program, or can be performed by operating the input device 13 provided next to the display device 12. . For example, the zoom-in / zoom-out of the map 45, the size of the image 3a displayed on the map 45, and the like can be easily edited by operating the input device 13. The image information 46 obtained in this manner can be stored by operating the input device 13.

By repeating such an operation, FIG.
As shown in (A) and (B), each time an image is taken while moving, the images 3b, 3c, 3
The unique image information 47 in which d is displayed can be synthesized on the display screen 12 and stored in the camera device 10 or can be stored in a specific server via the Internet 40. In this way, for example, while walking in a strange town or the like, the location or trajectory of a favorite restaurant or building can be accurately left, and a memorable image can be edited.

In performing such operations, if the user's current location information has been obtained by sole positioning by GPS including an error of several hundred meters, the screen of the map 45 obtained by the position information is not necessarily the shooting location. It does not correspond to. Therefore, the user has to search for the true shooting location. On the other hand, in the camera device 10 of the present embodiment, a D-GPS or WADGPS
, And accurate position information of the current position with an error of about several meters can be obtained from the difference information. Therefore, by obtaining map information via the Internet 40 based on this position information, the user's current location can be immediately specified, and even if the distance between the photographed subjects 3 is short, the map information can be obtained. The position where the image was taken can be shown accurately.

As described above, the camera device 10 of the present embodiment can obtain accurate current position information, and can be used as follows. As shown in FIG.
One building 50 is connected to various places around it, for example, FIG.
Taken at point A and point B of
-Accurate position information of the current location by GPS can be acquired and recorded. For this reason, it is possible to clearly show on the map 45 from which position (direction) the building 50 was photographed. Therefore, it is possible to reliably determine that the image 3e shown in FIG. 7B was taken at the point A and that the image 3f shown in FIG. 7C was taken at the point B. By comparing the photographing position with the displayed map 45, the shape of the building 50 can be three-dimensionally accurately and reliably grasped.

Further, in the camera device 10 of the present embodiment, not only map information but also map information
Since other information of the photographed object can be obtained via the Internet, not only a photographed image can be superimposed on a map based on map information, but also various information can be associated with image information. For example, as shown in FIG. 8A, information 51 relating to a photographed object such as the location, name, business hours, and menu of a shop is acquired from the server 41 based on the location information of the current location, and the information of the shop is acquired. An original image 52 in which the image information 3g and the information 51 related to the object are posted can be created. Also, as shown in FIG. 8B, the original image 52 on which the image information 3g of the shop and the information 51 related to the object are formed on the map 45.
It is also possible to create the image 53 displayed on the.

As described above, the camera device 1 of the present embodiment
0, the position information of the current position is acquired by the GPS surveying unit 23, and the position information of the current position is obtained from the data communication device 22 via the Internet 40 via the server 4.
1 to obtain information desired by the user, such as map information related to the position information of the current location, difference information for D-GPS or WADGPS, and the like.
Therefore, even without providing a recording medium such as a hard disk which records detailed map information, information on shops, restaurants, shrines and temples, or a great amount of information such as outdoor information such as mountain climbing, hiking, fishing, etc., via the Internet, A small camera device capable of acquiring such information and capable of processing various kinds of information related to image information can be provided at low cost. In addition, data that covers all the information desired by the user is prepared for each regional item, and the latest information required by the user at any place in the world can be transmitted to the Internet 40 without any trouble or cost of updating. It can be obtained in real-time via the PC, and can be associated with the image information and saved. Furthermore, each information can be associated with image information to create a unique image. Furthermore, since various kinds of information opened on the Internet 40 can be used as the position-related information, such a vast amount of information can be easily used by the compact camera device 10 together with the image information.

Further, the information related to the position information handled by the conventional camera device capable of acquiring the position information by the GPS is only the map information. Obtains various information related to the current location information of the camera device 1
0 can be processed. For example, when a mountain or a plateau is photographed, information on the name, altitude, alpine plants, and the like of the mountain or the plateau can be acquired, and the information can be stored in association with image information. In addition, an image in which the above information is posted can be created.

In the above example, a still image is described as an example, but the same processing can be performed on a moving image such as a video image.

[0034]

As described above, in the camera apparatus and the information acquisition method of the present invention, the position information of the current position is acquired by catching the radio wave from the GPS satellite and performing the sole positioning, and the information of the current position is acquired. Is transmitted to the computer network so that various location-related information related to the location information of the current location can be obtained in real time via the computer network. Then, the position-related information obtained via the computer network can be associated with the photographed image information. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a small-sized and inexpensive multifunctional camera device that can easily obtain various information such as information on a shooting target as well as map information around the shooting location based on information on the current location. . In addition, at any place in the world, the latest information required by the user is obtained via a computer network, and map information and information of a shooting target are added to the image information by associating the image information with various types of information. You can also create your own images.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a state where an image is captured by a camera device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the camera device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of acquiring position-related information related to position information of a current location by the camera device illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of image information obtained by photographing with the camera device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which map information is combined with the image information shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a plurality of pieces of image information are combined with map information.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a case where one building is photographed from different directions.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which image-related information is combined with position-related information related to position information of a current position of the user;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... GPS satellite 2 ... GPS antenna 3 ... Subject 4 ... Communication antenna 10 ... Camera device 11 ... Housing 12 ... Display device 13 ... Input device 14 ... Shutter button 15 external storage device 16 imaging unit 17 CPU 22 data communication device 23 GPS measuring unit 31 image sensor 32 image processing circuit 40 ··the Internet

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An imaging device capable of acquiring image information, a position information acquiring device capable of receiving radio waves from a satellite to perform radio wave positioning and acquiring position information of its own current position, and A camera device, comprising: a communication device capable of acquiring position-related information related to position information; and a control device capable of acquiring the position-related information at the time of acquiring an image via the communication device. 2. The camera device according to claim 1, further comprising a storage device capable of storing at least one of the position information and the position-related information in association with the acquired image information. . 3. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein the communication device can acquire difference information capable of correcting the position information from at least one base station. 4. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein the communication device is capable of acquiring map information related to the position information. 5. The camera device according to claim 1, further comprising a display device, wherein the position-related information associated with the image information can be displayed together with the image information. 6. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein the computer network is the Internet. 7. An image capturing step of acquiring image information, a position information acquiring step of receiving radio waves from a satellite to perform radio wave positioning, and acquiring position information of its own current position, and said position information via a computer network. An information acquisition method, comprising: acquiring position-related information related to the image processing; and acquiring the position-related information when an image is acquired. 8. The information acquisition method according to claim 7, further comprising a step of storing at least one of the position information and the position-related information in association with the acquired image information. 9. The information acquisition method according to claim 7, further comprising a step of acquiring difference information capable of correcting the position information from at least one base station. 10. The information acquisition method according to claim 7, wherein map information related to the position information is obtained as the position-related information. 11. The information acquisition method according to claim 7, further comprising a step of displaying the position information related to the image information together with the image information. 12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the computer network is the Internet.