IP Library Granted Patent US 10,379,318
Granted Patent B2
US 10,379,318 · App. 15/936,371 · Granted Aug 13, 2019

Image-capturing device, proposal-image generating device, proposal-image generating method, proposal-image generating program, and storage medium

Inventor: Maki Matsunaga (Tokyo, JP)
Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
G02B7/28G03B13/30G03B13/32G03B13/36G03B15/00H04N5/232
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,379,318
App. No.
15/936,371
Granted
Aug 13, 2019
Kind
B2
Abstract

Provided is an image-capturing device including: an image-capturing unit that acquires an image of a subject; a subject-extracting unit that separates and extracts a main subject and a background from the acquired image; a distance-information acquiring unit that calculates the distance between the image-capturing unit and the extracted main subject and the distance between the image-capturing unit and the extracted background; a photographing-condition acquiring unit that acquires acquisition-time photographing conditions for an acquisition time of the image and an adjustable photographing condition that can be adjusted with respect to the acquisition-time photographing conditions; a photographing-condition selecting unit that selects a photographing condition that is worth adjusting on the basis of the acquired acquisition-time photographing conditions and adjustable photographing condition and the acquired distances; and an image-processing unit that generates, by performing image processing on the acquired image, an image that will be acquired when the selected photographing condition is set.

Claims (34)

1. An image-capturing device comprising:

an image-capturing unit that acquires an image of a subject;

a subject-extracting unit that separates and extracts a main subject and a background from the image acquired by the image-capturing unit;

a distance-information acquiring unit that calculates a distance between the image-capturing unit and the main subject extracted by the subject-extracting unit and a distance between the image-capturing unit and the background extracted by the subject-extracting unit;

a photographing-condition acquiring unit that acquires acquisition-time photographing conditions for an acquisition time of the image and an adjustable photographing condition that can be adjusted with respect to the acquisition-time photographing conditions;

a photographing-condition selecting unit that selects a photographing condition that is worth adjusting on the basis of the acquisition-time photographing conditions and the adjustable photographing condition acquired by the photographing-condition acquiring unit and the distances acquired by the distance-information acquiring unit; and

an image-processing unit that generates, by performing image processing on the image acquired by the image-capturing unit, an image that will be acquired when the photographing condition selected by the photographing-condition selecting unit is set.

2. The image-capturing device according to claim 1 , wherein the acquisition-time photographing conditions are photographing conditions of a lens attached at the acquisition time of the image, and

the adjustable photographing condition is a photographing condition that can be adjusted in the lens attached at the acquisition time of the image.

3. The image-capturing device according to claim 1 , wherein the acquisition-time photographing conditions are photographing conditions of a lens attached at the acquisition time of the image, and

the adjustable photographing condition is a photographing condition of an exchangeable lens that is different from the lens attached at the acquisition time of the image.

4. The image-capturing device according to claim 1 , wherein the image processing is electronic blurring processing, and the photographing-condition selecting unit selects, on the basis of the acquisition-time photographing conditions and the adjustable photographing condition, an F-number as a photographing condition that is worth adjusting provided that there is room to adjust the F-number of the lens so as to be small, the distance from the image-capturing unit to the subject is smaller than a first threshold, and the distance from the image-capturing unit to the background is larger than a second threshold, which is larger than the first threshold.

5. The image-capturing device according to claim 1 , wherein the image processing is trimming processing, and

the photographing-condition selecting unit selects, on the basis of the acquisition-time photographing conditions and the adjustable photographing condition, a focal length as a photographing condition that is worth adjusting provided that there is room to adjust the focal length of the lens and the distance from the image-capturing unit to the subject is larger than a first threshold.

6. The image-capturing device according to claim 1 , wherein the image processing is focus processing,

the image-capturing unit acquires a plurality of images of the subject that are made to have different focus positions from each other, and

the photographing-condition selecting unit selects an F-number as a photographing condition that is worth adjusting so that the F-number is large provided that the distance from the image-capturing unit to the subject is smaller than a first threshold and the distance from the image-capturing unit to the background is larger than a second threshold, which is larger than the first threshold.

7. The image-capturing device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a subject-classification determining unit that determines a classification of the main subject extracted by the subject-extracting unit on the basis of the image acquired by the image-capturing unit;

wherein the photographing-condition selecting unit selects a photographing condition that is worth adjusting further provided that the photographing condition is suitable for the classification of the main subject determined by the subject-classification determining unit.

8. A proposal-image generating device comprising: a subject-extracting unit that separates and extracts a main subject and a background from an image acquired by an image-capturing unit;

a distance-information acquiring unit that calculates a distance between the image-capturing unit and the main subject extracted by the subject-extracting unit and a distance between the image-capturing unit and the background extracted by the subject-extracting unit;

a photographing-condition acquiring unit that acquires acquisition-time photographing conditions for an acquisition time of the image and an adjustable photographing condition that can be adjusted with respect to the acquisition-time photographing conditions;

a photographing-condition selecting unit that selects a photographing condition that is worth adjusting on the basis of the acquisition-time photographing conditions and the adjustable photographing condition acquired by the photographing-condition acquiring unit and the distances acquired by the distance-information acquiring unit; and

an image-processing unit that generates, by performing image processing on the image acquired by the image-capturing unit, an image that will be acquired when the photographing condition selected by the photographing-condition selecting unit is set.

9. A proposal-image generating method comprising: a subject-extracting step of separating and extracting a main subject and a background from an image acquired by an image-capturing unit;

a distance-information acquiring step of calculating a distance between the image-capturing unit and the main subject extracted in the subject-extracting step and a distance between the image-capturing unit and the background extracted in the subject-extracting step;

a photographing-condition acquiring step of acquiring acquisition-time photographing conditions for an acquisition time of the image and an adjustable photographing condition that can be adjusted with respect to the acquisition-time photographing conditions;

a photographing-condition selecting step of selecting a photographing condition that is worth adjusting on the basis of the acquisition-time photographing conditions and the adjustable photographing condition acquired in the photographing-condition acquiring step and the distances acquired in the distance-information acquiring step; and

an image-processing step of generating, by performing image processing on the image acquired by the image-capturing unit, an image that will be acquired when the photographing condition selected in the photographing-condition selecting step is set.

10. A non-temporary computer-readable storage medium that stores a proposal-image generating program that causes a computer to execute: a subject-extracting step of separating and extracting a main subject and a background from an image acquired by an image-capturing unit;

a distance-information acquiring step of calculating a distance between the image-capturing unit and the main subject extracted in the subject-extracting step and a distance between the image-capturing unit and the background extracted in the subject-extracting step;

a photographing-condition acquiring step of acquiring acquisition-time photographing conditions for an acquisition time of the image and an adjustable photographing condition that can be adjusted with respect to the acquisition-time photographing conditions;

a photographing-condition selecting step of selecting a photographing condition that is worth adjusting on the basis of the acquisition-time photographing conditions and the adjustable photographing condition acquired in the photographing-condition acquiring step and the distances acquired in the distance-information acquiring step; and

an image-processing step of generating, by performing image processing on the image acquired by the image-capturing unit, an image that will be acquired when the photographing condition selected in the photographing-condition selecting step is set.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 28, 2018
From: MATSUNAGA, MAKI
To: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 045367/0935 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation PCTJP2015078037 · Oct 2, 2015
Related Publication 20180217356A1 · Aug 2, 2018