Electronic camera capturing a group of a plurality of specific objects
View Patent ↗An electronic camera includes an imaging device. The imaging device has an imaging surface capturing an object scene and repeatedly outputs an object scene image. An orientation of the imaging surface is repeatedly changed by a CPU corresponding to a group photograph mode under which a group of a plurality of faces is captured. The CPU detects a face image from the object scene image outputted from the imaging device in association with a changing process of the orientation of the imaging surface. Furthermore, the CPU decides an angle range within which the group of a plurality of faces is contained based on a detection result of the face image. In addition, the CPU combines the plurality of object scene images outputted from the imaging device so as to create a combined image corresponding to the decided angle range. The created combined image is recorded in a recording medium.
1. An electronic camera provided with a processing unit to execute a computer program, which is supported by a supporting device having a pan/tilt rotation mechanism, comprising:
an imager having an imaging surface capturing a scene, which repeatedly outputs an image representing the scene;
a changer as a part of the computer program, which repeatedly changes a pan angle and/or a tilt angle by controlling said supporting device when a group photograph mode is selected;
a detector as a part of the computer program, which detects a specific object image from the image outputted from said imager in association with the changing process of said changer;
a decider as a part of the computer program, which decides a plurality of angles defining a range which contains a group of specific objects each of the specific objects is equivalent to the specific object image detected by said detector, based on a detection result of said detector; and
a creator as a part of the computer program, which combines a plurality of images outputted from said imager so as to create a combined image corresponding to the range defined by the plurality of angles decided by said decider,
wherein said changer includes a first changing processor which changes the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a first designated direction and a second change processor which changes the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a second designated direction opposite to the first designated direction, and said decider includes a first deciding processor which refers to a first specific object existing at an end in the first designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide one of the plurality of angles, and a second deciding processor which refers to a second specific object existing at an end in the second designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide another of the plurality of angles.
2. An electronic camera according to claim 1 , wherein a distance from the one of the plurality of angles to the first specific object is associated with a size of the first specific object, and a distance from the other of the plurality of angles to the second specific object is associated with a size of the second specific object.
3. An electronic camera according to claim 1 , wherein said decider includes:
a first distance calculator which calculates a distance from a specific object at one end in the first designated direction, out of specific objects contained in a current angle of view of the imaging surface, to one end in the first designated direction of the current angle of view of the imaging surface;
a first stopper which stops said first change processor when the distance detected by said first distance detector exceeds a threshold value;
a second distance calculator which calculates a distance from a specific object at one end in the second designated direction, out of the specific objects contained in a current angle of view of the imaging surface, to one end in the second designated direction of the current angle of view of the imaging surface; and
a second stopper which stops said second change processor when the distance detected by said second distance detector exceeds the threshold value.
4. An electronic camera according to claim 3 , wherein the threshold value indicates a numerical value associated with a size of the specific object.
5. An electronic camera according to claim 1 , wherein said specific object is equivalent to a face portion of a human.
6. An electronic camera according to claim 1 , wherein said changer refers to a zoom factor to decide one change amount.
7. An electronic camera according to claim 1 , wherein said changer starts the changing process in response to a remote control operation.
8. An electronic camera provided with a processing unit to execute a computer program, which is supported by a supporting device having a pan/tilt rotation mechanism, comprising:
an imager having an imaging surface capturing a scene, which repeatedly outputs an image representing the scene;
a changer as a part of the computer program, which repeatedly changes a pan angle and/or a tilt angle by controlling said supporting device when a group photograph mode is selected;
a detector as a part of the computer program, which detects a specific object image from the image outputted from said imager in association with the changing process of said changer;
a decider as a part of the computer program, which decides a plurality of angles defining a range which contains a group of specific objects each of the specific objects is equivalent to the specific object image detected by said detector, based on a detection result of said detector; and
a creator as a part of the computer program, which combines a plurality of images outputted from said imager so as to create a combined image corresponding to the range defined by the plurality of angles decided by said decider,
wherein each of the plurality of images noticed by said creator has an overlapped image overlapped with another image, and said creator includes a decider which decides, as a combined portion, a portion different from the specific object image on the overlapped image, a cropper which crops a partial image outside of the combined portion decided by said decider, and a combiner which uses an image left after a cropping process of said cropper so as to create the combined image.
9. An electronic camera provided with a processing unit to execute a computer program, which is supported by a supporting device having a pan/tilt rotation mechanism, comprising:
an imager having an imaging surface capturing a scene, which repeatedly outputs an image representing the scene;
a changer as a part of the computer program, which repeatedly changes a pan angle and/or a tilt angle by controlling said supporting device when a group photograph mode is selected;
a detector as a part of the computer program, which detects a specific object image from the image outputted from said imager in association with the changing process of said changer;
a decider as a part of the computer program, which decides a plurality of angles defining a range which contains a group of specific objects each of the specific objects is equivalent to the specific object image detected by said detector, based on a detection result of said detector; and
a creator as a part of the computer program, which combines a plurality of images outputted from said imager so as to create a combined image corresponding to the range defined by the plurality of angles decided by said decider, and said electronic camera further comprising:
a first setter as a part of the computer program, which sets a resolution of the image outputted from said imager to a first resolution in association with the detection process of said detector; and
a second setter as a part of the computer program, which sets a resolution of the image outputted from said imager to a second resolution higher than the first resolution in association with a creating process of said creator.
10. A computer program embodied in a non-transitory tangible medium, which is executed by a processor of an electronic camera provided with an imager having an imaging surface capturing a scene, which repeatedly outputs an image representing the scene, and supported by a supporting device having a pan/tilt rotation mechanism, said program, comprising:
a changing step of repeatedly changing a pan angle and/or a tilt angle by controlling said supporting device when a group photograph mode is selected;
a detecting step of detecting a specific object image from the object scene image outputted from said imager in association with the changing process of said changing step;
a deciding step of deciding a plurality of angles defining a range which contains a group of specific objects each of the specific objects is equivalent to the specific object image detected by said detecting step, based on a detection result of said detecting step; and
a creating step of combining a plurality of images outputted from said imager so as to create a combined image corresponding to the range defined by the plurality of angles decided by said deciding step, wherein said changing step includes a first changing step of changing the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a first designated direction and a second changing step of changing the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a second designated direction opposite to the first designated direction, and said deciding step includes a first deciding step of referring to a first specific object existing at an end in the first designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide one of the plurality of angles, and a second deciding step of referring to a second specific object existing at an end in the second designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide another of the plurality of angles.
11. An imaging control method executed by an electronic camera provided with an imager having an imaging surface capturing a scene, which repeatedly outputs an image representing the scene, and supported by a supporting device having a pan/tilt rotation mechanism, the imaging control method, comprising:
a changing step of repeatedly changing a pan angle and/or a tilt angle by controlling said supporting device when a group photograph mode is selected;
a detecting step of detecting a specific object image from the image outputted from said imager in association with the changing process of said changing step;
a deciding step of deciding a plurality of angles defining a range which contains a group of specific objects each of the specific objects is equivalent to the specific object image detected by said detecting step, based on a detection result of said detecting step; and
a creating step of combining a plurality of images outputted from said imager so as to create a combined image corresponding to the range defined by the plurality of angles decided by said deciding step, wherein said changing step includes a first changing step of changing the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a first designated direction and a second changing step of changing the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a second designated direction opposite to the first designated direction, and said deciding step includes a first deciding step of referring to a first specific object existing at an end in the first designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide one of the plurality of angles, and a second deciding step of referring to a second specific object existing at an end in the second designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide another of the plurality of angles.