Image synthesizer, image synthesis method and computer readable recording medium having image synthesis processing program recorded thereon

• US 20030076361A1
• Filed: 09/10/2002
• Published: 04/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Hatanaka, Haruo, Iida, Takashi, Chiba, Naoki
• Granted Patent: US 7,256,799 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/771
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4038 Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/04 Partial updating of the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/395 Arrangements specially adapted for transferring the contents of the bit-mapped memory to the screen G09G5/399 takes precedence

Abstract

In an image stitcher for arranging a plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns (both m and n are natural numbers) on a monitor screen such that their respective arrangement positions conform to an actual relative positional relationship, to stitch all the images utilizing information related to the arrangement position of each of the images, the image stitcher comprises means for displaying on the monitor screen an image arrangement pattern selection screen including a plurality of types of image arrangement patterns for arranging the plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns on the monitor screen, means for causing a user to select one of the plurality of types of image arrangement patterns on the image arrangement pattern selection screen, and means for arranging the plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns on the monitor screen in accordance with the image arrangement pattern selected by the user.

Claims

1. In an image stitcher for arranging a plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns (m and n are natural numbers) on a monitor screen such that their respective arrangement positions conform to an actual relative positional relationship, to stitch all the images utilizing information related to the arrangement position of each of the images, the image stitcher comprising:

means for displaying on the monitor screen an image arrangement pattern selection screen including a plurality of types of image arrangement patterns for arranging the plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns on the monitor screen;

means for causing a user to select one of the plurality of types of image arrangement patterns on the image arrangement pattern selection screen; and

means for arranging the plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns on the monitor screen in accordance with the image arrangement pattern selected by the user.

2. The image stitcher according to claim 1, further comprising

means for causing the user to select the plurality of images to be stitched and set the number of rows m and the number of columns n depending on the selected images.

3. The image stitcher according to claim 1, further comprising

means for taking the image arrangement pattern selected by the user this time as the initial value of a selection pattern at the time of selecting the subsequent image arrangement pattern.

4. The image stitcher according to claim 2, further comprising

means for taking the image arrangement pattern selected by the user this time as the initial value of a selection pattern at the time of selecting the subsequent image arrangement pattern.

5. In an image stitching method for arranging a plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns (m and n are natural numbers) on a monitor screen such that their respective arrangement positions conform to an actual relative positional relationship, to stitch all the images utilizing information related to the arrangement position of each of the images, the method comprising the steps of:

displaying on the monitor screen an image arrangement pattern selection screen including a plurality of types of image arrangement patterns for arranging the plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns on the monitor screen;

causing a user to select one of the plurality of types of image arrangement patterns on the image arrangement pattern selection screen; and

arranging the plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns on the monitor screen in accordance with the image arrangement pattern selected by the user.

6. The image stitching method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of

causing the user to select the plurality of images to be stitched and set the number of rows m and the number of columns n depending on the selected images.

7. The image stitching method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of

taking the image arrangement pattern selected by the user this time as the initial value of a selection pattern at the time of selecting the subsequent image arrangement pattern.

8. The image stitching method according to claim 6, further comprising the step of

taking the image arrangement pattern selected by the user this time as the initial value of a selection pattern at the time of selecting the subsequent image arrangement pattern.

9. A computer readable recording medium having an image stitch processing program, for arranging a plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns (m and n are natural numbers) on a monitor screen such that their respective arrangement positions conform to an actual relative positional relationship, to stitch all the images utilizing information related to the arrangement position of each of the images, recorded thereon, wherein the program causes a computer to carry out the steps of:

displaying on the monitor screen an image arrangement pattern selection screen including a plurality of types of image arrangement patterns for arranging the plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns on the monitor screen;

causing a user to select one of the plurality of types of image arrangement patterns on the image arrangement pattern selection screen; and

arranging the plurality of images to be stitched in m rows and n columns on the monitor screen in accordance with the image arrangement pattern selected by the user.

10. The computer readable recording medium according to claim 9, wherein the program causes the computer to carry out the step of

causing the user to select the plurality of images to be stitched and set the number of rows m and the number of columns n depending on the selected images.

11. The computer readable recording medium according to claim 9, wherein the program causes the computer to carry out the step of

taking the image arrangement pattern selected by the user this time as the initial value of a selection pattern at the time of selecting the subsequent image arrangement pattern.

12. The computer readable recording medium according to claim 10, wherein the program causes the computer to carry out the step of

taking the image arrangement pattern selected by the user this time as the initial value of a selection pattern at the time of selecting the subsequent image arrangement pattern.

13. An image stitching method comprising:

a first step of arranging a plurality of images in a two-dimensional manner such that their respective arrangement positions conform to an actual relative positional relationship;

a second step of automatically arranging all the images arranged in a two-dimensional manner in such a one-dimensional manner that the adjacent images have an overlapped portion; and

a third step of determining the adjacent images on the basis of the images arranged in a one-dimensional manner and stithing the adjacent images to obtain a composite image of all the images,

the second step comprising the steps of

registering for each of the images arranged in a two-dimensional manner information related to the adjacent images having an overlapped portion comprising information for specifying the adjacent images and information related to the distances between the center of the image and the centers of the adjacent images,

searching for a route which satisfies conditions under which the adjacent images having an overlapped portion are connected to each other and along which all the images can be drawn with one stroke using the information related to the adjacent images which is registered for each of the images, and

arranging, when the route which satisfies conditions under which the adjacent images are connected to each other and along which all the images can be drawn with one stroke can be searched for, all the images in a one-dimensional manner in accordance with the route searched for.