Image processing system, image processing method, image processing program, image capturing apparatus, and image capturing method

• US 20060232682A1
• Filed: 03/29/2006
• Published: 10/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ono, Shuji
• Granted Patent: US 7,949,153 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/222.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/671 in combination with active ranging signals, e.g. using light or sound signals emitted toward objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/695 Control of camera direction for changing a field of view, e.g. pan, tilt or based on tracking of objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof

Abstract

An image processing is performed based on a distance computed for each partial area within an image capturing range. An image processing system according to the present invention includes a captured image acquiring section that acquires a captured image taken by an image capturing apparatus, a distance information acquiring section that acquires subject distance information that is information indicative of a distance between the image capturing apparatus and a subject for each of a plurality of partial areas in the captured image acquired by the captured image acquiring section, and an image processing section that performs an image processing different from one another on each of the plurality of partial areas in the captured image acquired by the captured image acquiring section according to the subject distance information acquired by the distance information acquiring section.

Claims

1. An image processing system comprising;

a captured image acquiring section that acquires a captured image taken by an image capturing apparatus;

a distance information acquiring section that acquires subject distance information that is information indicative of a distance between the image capturing apparatus and a subject for each of a plurality of partial areas in the captured image acquired by said captured image acquiring section; and

an image processing section that performs an image processing different from one another on each of the plurality of partial areas in the captured image acquired by said captured image acquiring section according to the subject distance information acquired by said distance information acquiring section.

2. The image processing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the image processing system further comprises a boundary specifying section that specifies a boundary of a subject in the captured image acquired by said captured image acquiring section based on the subject distance information acquired by said distance information acquiring section, and

said image processing section uses the boundary specified by said boundary specifying section to perform an image processing on the captured image acquired by said captured image acquiring section.

3. The image processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said image processing section uses the boundary specified by said boundary specifying section to trim off the captured image acquired by said captured image acquiring section.

4. The image processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the image processing system further comprises a main subject area specifying section that specifies a main subject area that is an area of a main subject included in the captured image acquired by said captured image acquiring section by means of the boundary specified by said boundary specifying section, and

said image processing section performs an image processing different from each other on an image in the main subject area and an image in an area except the main subject area.

5. The image processing system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said image processing section performs an image processing on the image in the area except the main subject area so as to have a color definition lower than that of the image in the main subject area.

6. The image processing system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said image processing section performs an image processing by a gamma correction on the image in the area except the main subject area so as to have a color definition lower than that of the image in the main subject area.

7. The image processing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said image processing section performs an image processing on an image in the partial area farther from the image capturing apparatus using the subject distance information acquired by said distance information acquiring section so as to have a lower color definition.

8. The image processing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said distance information acquiring section comprises:

a preliminary image acquiring section that acquires a plurality of preliminary images taken by an image capturing section every focusing distance when a focusing distance controlling section included in the image capturing apparatus sequentially changes a focusing distance of the image capturing section; and

a subject distance computing section that analyzes the plurality of preliminary images acquired by the preliminary image acquiring section every focusing distance to compute a distance between the image capturing apparatus and the subject for each of the plurality of partial areas in the captured image acquired by said captured image acquiring section.

9. The image processing system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the subject distance computing section comprises:

a spatial frequency computing section that computes a spatial frequency distribution every partial area for each of the plurality of preliminary images acquired by the preliminary image acquiring section every focusing distance ; and

a subject distance determining section that compares the spatial frequency distributions computed from the spatial frequency computing section in regard to the same partial area of the preliminary images different from one another and determines a focusing distance of the preliminary image having the largest level of spatial frequency component in a predetermined partial area as a distance between the image capturing apparatus and the subject in the predetermined partial area.

10. The image processing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said distance information acquiring section has a measured distance data acquiring section that acquires measured distance data indicative of a distance between the image capturing apparatus and the subject measured by a distance measuring section included in the image capturing apparatus as the subject distance information.

11. An image processing method comprising:

a captured image acquiring step of acquiring a captured image taken by an image capturing apparatus;

a distance information acquiring step of acquiring subject distance information that is information indicative of a distance between the image capturing apparatus and a subject for each of a plurality of partial areas in the captured image acquired in said captured image acquiring step; and

an image processing step of performing an image processing different from one another on each of the plurality of partial areas in the captured image acquired in said captured image acquiring step according to the subject distance information acquired in said distance information acquiring step.

12. An image processing program for an image processing apparatus that performs an image processing on a captured image, the program making the image processing apparatus function as:

a captured image acquiring section that acquires a captured image taken by an image capturing apparatus;

a distance information acquiring section that acquires subject distance information that is information indicative of a distance between the image capturing apparatus and a subject for each of a plurality of partial areas in the captured image acquired by said captured image acquiring section; and

an image processing section that performs an image processing different from one another on each of the plurality of partial areas in the captured image acquired by said captured image acquiring section according to the subject distance information acquired by said distance information acquiring section.

13. An image capturing apparatus comprising:

an image capturing section;

a focusing distance controlling section that controls a focusing distance of said image capturing section;

a preliminary image acquiring section that sequentially acquires a plurality of preliminary images taken by said image capturing section when said focusing distance controlling section sequentially changes the focusing distance ;

a focusing distance determining section that analyzes the plurality of preliminary images acquired by said preliminary image acquiring section every focusing distance to determine a focusing distance for a main subject;

a captured image acquiring section that acquires a captured image taken by said image capturing section when said focusing distance controlling section controls a focusing distance to the focusing distance determined by said focusing distance determining section; and

an image outputting section that outputs the plurality of preliminary images acquired by said preliminary image acquiring section every focusing distance along with the captured image acquired by said captured image acquiring section.

14. An image capturing method comprising:

a focusing distance controlling step of controlling a focusing distance of an image capturing section;

a preliminary image acquiring step of sequentially acquiring a plurality of preliminary images taken by the image capturing section when the focusing distance is sequentially changed in said focusing distance controlling step;

a focusing distance determining step of analyzing the plurality of preliminary images acquired in said preliminary image acquiring step every focusing distance to determine a focusing distance for a main subject;

a captured image acquiring step of acquiring a captured image taken by the image capturing section when a focusing distance is controlled to the focusing distance determined in said focusing distance determining step in said focusing distance controlling step; and

an image outputting step of outputting the plurality of preliminary images acquired in said preliminary image acquiring step every focusing distance along with the captured image acquired in said captured image acquiring step.

15. An image capturing apparatus comprising:

an image capturing section;

a focusing distance controlling section that controls a focusing distance of said image capturing section;

a preliminary image acquiring section that sequentially acquires a plurality of preliminary images taken by said image capturing section when said focusing distance controlling section sequentially changes the focusing distance ;

a focusing distance determining section that analyzes the plurality of preliminary images acquired by said preliminary image acquiring section every focusing distance to determine a focusing distance for a main subject;

a captured image acquiring section that acquires a captured image taken by said image capturing section when said focusing distance controlling section controls a focusing distance to the focusing distance determined by said focusing distance determining section; and

a subject distance computing section that analyzes the plurality of preliminary images acquired by said preliminary image acquiring section every focusing distance to compute a distance between said image capturing section and a subject for each of a plurality of partial areas in the captured image acquired by said captured image acquiring section.

16. An image capturing method comprising:

a focusing distance controlling step of controlling a focusing distance of an image capturing section;

a preliminary image acquiring step of sequentially acquiring a plurality of preliminary images taken by the image capturing section when the focusing distance is sequentially changed in said focusing distance controlling step;

a focusing distance determining step of analyzing the plurality of preliminary images acquired in said preliminary image acquiring step every focusing distance to determine a focusing distance for a main subject;

a captured image acquiring step of acquiring a captured image taken by the image capturing section when a focusing distance is controlled to the focusing distance determined in said focusing distance determining step in said focusing distance controlling step; and

a subject distance computing step of analyzing the plurality of preliminary images acquired in said preliminary image acquiring step every focusing distance to compute a distance between the image capturing section and a subject for each of a plurality of partial areas in the captured image acquired in said captured image acquiring step.

17. An image capturing apparatus comprising:

an image capturing section;

a distance measuring section that measures a distance between said image capturing section and a subject for each of a plurality of distance measuring points within an image capturing range of said image capturing section;

a measured distance data storing section that respectively stores measured distance data indicative of a plurality of distances measured by said distance measuring section in association with an image taken by said image capturing section and positions of the plurality of distance measuring points in the image taken by said image capturing section; and

an image outputting section that outputs the image taken by said image capturing section along with the plurality of measured distance data stored on said measured distance data storing section.

18. An image capturing method comprising:

a distance measuring step of measuring a distance between an image capturing section and a subject for each of a plurality of distance measuring points within an image capturing range of the image capturing section;

a measured distance data storing step of respectively storing measured distance data indicative of a plurality of distances measured in said distance measuring step in association with an image taken by the image capturing section and positions of the plurality of distance measuring points in the image taken by the image capturing section; and

an image outputting step of outputting the image taken by the image capturing section along with the plurality of measured distance data stored in said measured distance data storing step.

19. An image capturing apparatus comprising:

an image capturing section;

a distance measuring section that measures a distance between said image capturing section and a subject for a distance measuring point within an image capturing range of said image capturing section;

a focusing distance controlling section that controls a focusing distance of said image capturing section;

a preliminary image acquiring section that sequentially acquires a plurality of preliminary images taken by said image capturing section when said focusing distance controlling section sequentially changes the focusing distance within a predetermined range including the distance measured by said distance measuring section;

a focusing distance determining section that analyzes the plurality of preliminary images acquired by said preliminary image acquiring section to determine a focusing distance for a main subject; and

a captured image acquiring section that acquires a captured image taken by said image capturing section when said focusing distance controlling section controls a focusing distance to the focusing distance determined by said focusing distance determining section.

20. The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein said distance measuring section irradiates infrared light on the image capturing range to measure the distance between said image capturing section and the subject included in the image capturing range.

21. An image capturing method comprising:

a distance measuring step of measuring a distance between an image capturing section and a subject for a distance measuring point within an image capturing range of the image capturing section;

a focusing distance controlling step of controlling a focusing distance of the image capturing section;

a preliminary image acquiring step of sequentially acquiring a plurality of preliminary images taken by the image capturing section when the focusing distance is sequentially changed within a predetermined range including the distance measured in said distance measuring step in said focusing distance controlling step;

a focusing distance determining step of analyzing the plurality of preliminary images acquired in said preliminary image acquiring step to determine a focusing distance for a main subject; and

a captured image acquiring step of acquiring a captured image taken by the image capturing section when a focusing distance is controlled to the focusing distance determined in said focusing distance determining step in said focusing distance controlling step.