SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS

• US 20090097709A1
• Filed: 10/08/2008
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Tsukamoto, Nobuyuki
• Granted Patent: US 8,189,865 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2628 Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/272 Means for inserting a foreground image in a background image, i.e. inlay, outlay

Abstract

A signal processing apparatus for displaying an input image in the sate in which a part of the image is enlarged, displays an enlarged image obtained by enlarging a part of a designated object in the input image so that the enlarged image is superimposed at a position in accordance with the position of the designated object.

Claims

1. A signal processing apparatus comprising:

an input unit which inputs moving image information representing an image of a plurality of frames;

a designation unit which designates an object included in the image of the moving image information;

a detection unit which detects a position of the object, designated by the designation unit, in the image of the moving image information;

an enlargement unit which generates an enlarged image by enlarging an image including a part of the object designated by the designation unit;

a superimposition unit which superimposes the enlarged image on the image of the moving image information;

an output unit which outputs information of an image obtained by the superimposition unit to a display apparatus; and

a controller for controlling the superimposition circuit so as to decide a superimposition position of the enlarged image in accordance with the position detected by the detection unit.

2. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit detects the position of the object, designated by the designation circuit, in each of the frames of the moving image information, and

wherein the controller controls the superimposition circuit so as to decide the superimposition position of the enlarged image in each of the frames of the moving image information in accordance with the position detected by the detection unit.

3. A signal processing apparatus comprising:

an input unit which inputs moving image information representing an image of a plurality of frames;

a designation unit which designates a plurality of objects in the image of the moving image information;

a detection unit which detects a position of each of the plurality of objects, designated by the designation unit, in the image of the moving image information;

an enlargement unit which generates a plurality of enlarged images by enlarging an image including a part of each of the plurality of objects designated by the designation unit;

a superimposition unit which superimposes the plurality of enlarged images on the image of the moving image information;

an output unit which outputs information of the image obtained by the superimposition unit to a display apparatus; and

a controller for controlling the superimposition circuit so as to decide a superimposition position of each of the enlarged images in accordance with the positions detected by the detection circuit.

4. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the detection unit detects the position of each of the plurality of objects, designated by the designation unit, in each of the frames of the moving image information, and

wherein the controller controls the superimposition circuit so as to decide the superimposition positions of the plurality of enlarged images in each of the frames of the moving image information in accordance with the positions detected by the detection unit.

5. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein, if the position, detected by the detection circuit, of each of the plurality of designated objects in the image of the moving image information is in a predetermined relation to each other, the enlargement unit generates one enlarged image by enlarging an image simultaneously including a part of each of the plurality of objects having the predetermined relation in place of the plurality of enlarged images obtained by enlarging the part of each of the plurality of the objects under the predetermined relation, the superimposition unit superimposes the one enlarged image on the image of the moving image information in place of the plurality of enlarged images, and the controller controls the superimposition unit so as to decide a superimposition position of the one enlarged image on a basis of the position of each of the plurality of objects having the predetermined relation.

6. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the controller controls the superimposition unit so as to decide the superimposition position of each of the plurality of enlarged images as a position where the plurality of enlarged images does not overlap with each other, in accordance with the position detected by the detection unit.

7. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an analyzing unit which analyzes an overlapping range of the plurality of enlarged images on a basis of the position detected by the detection unit and shapes of the plurality of enlarged images, and

a combining unit which generates an image by combining images in the overlapping range, analyzed by the analyzing unit, of the plurality of enlarged images,

wherein the superimposition unit superimposes the image generated by the combining unit on the image of the moving image information.

8. A signal processing method comprising the steps of:

designating an object included in an input image of moving image information representing the image of a plurality of frames;

detecting a position of the object, designated in the designating step, in the image of the moving image information;

generating an enlarged image by enlarging an image including a part of the object designated in the designating step;

superimposing the enlarged image on the image of the moving image information;

outputting information of an image obtained in the superimposing step to a display apparatus; and

deciding a superimposition position of the enlarged image in the superimposing step in accordance with the position detected in the detecting step.

9. The signal processing method according to claim 8, wherein the detecting step detects the position of the object, designated at the step of designating the object, in each frame of the moving image information, and wherein the deciding step decides the superimposition position of the enlarged image in each of the frames of the moving image information in accordance with to the position detected at the detecting step.

10. A signal processing method comprising the steps of:

designating a plurality of objects included in an input image of moving image information representing the image of a plurality of frames;

detecting a position of each of the plurality of objects, designated in the designating step, in the image of the moving image information;

generating a plurality of enlarged images by enlarging an image including a part of each of the plurality of objects designated in the designating step;

superimposing the plurality of enlarged images on the image of the moving image information;

outputting information of the image obtained in the superimposing step to a display apparatus; and

deciding a superimposition position of each of the plurality of enlarged images in the superimposing step in accordance with the positions detected in the detecting step.

11. The signal processing method according to claim 10, wherein the detecting step detects the position of each of the plurality of objects, designated in the designating step, in each of the frames of the moving image information, and

wherein the deciding step decides the superimposition positions of the plurality of enlarged images in each of the frames of the moving image information in accordance with the positions detected in the detecting step.

12. The signal processing method according to claim 10, wherein, if the position, detected in the detecting step, of each of the plurality of designated objects in the image of the moving image information, is in a predetermined relation to each other, the generating step generates one enlarged image by enlarging an image simultaneously including a part of each of the plurality of objects having the predetermined relation in place of the plurality of enlarged images obtained by enlarging the part of each of the plurality of objects having the predetermined relation, the superimposing step superimposes the one enlarged image on the image of the moving image information in place of the plurality of enlarged images, and the deciding step decides the superimposition position of the one enlarged image on the basis of the position of each of the plurality of objects having the predetermined relation.

13. The signal processing method according to claim 10, wherein the deciding step decides the superimposition position of each of the plurality of enlarged images to be a position where the plurality of enlarged images does not overlap with each other, in accordance with the position detected in the detecting step.

14. The signal processing method according to claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

analyzing an overlapping range of the plurality of enlarged images on a basis of the position detected in the detecting step and shapes of the plurality of enlarged images, and

generating an image produced by combining images in the overlapping range, analyzed in the analyzing step, of the plurality of enlarged images,

wherein the superimposing step superimposes the image generated in the generating step on the image of the moving image information.