IMAGING APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20100020191A1
• Filed: 07/24/2009
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: SUGIMOTO, Masahiko
• Granted Patent: US 8,248,484 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/222.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/61 based on recognised objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/633 for displaying additional information relating to control or operation of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/64 Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/673 based on contrast or high frequency components of image signals, e.g. hill climbing method
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/14 Picture signal circuitry for video frequency region cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors, or control thereof H04N23/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/147 Scene change detection

Abstract

To output stable results as necessary when recognizing scenes with a camera. Unless the result of scene recognition can be stabilized, an output result will confuse the user. In consideration thereof, by combiningly performing processing for determining what type of scene a particular scene is and processing for monitoring whether or not a change has occurred from a recognized scene, it is now possible to perform scene recognition in an accurate and stable manner.

Claims

1. An imaging apparatus comprising:

an information acquiring device which acquires photographic information which is information on a photographic scene;

a reference information registering device which registers reference information which is set based on the photographic information;

a scene change determining device that determines whether or not the scene has changed based on the reference information stored in the reference information registering device and the photographic information acquired by the information acquiring device,

a scene recognizing device which recognizes a scene based the photographic information acquired by the information acquiring device when it is determined, by the scene change determining device, that a scene is changed; and

a control device which performs at least one of display control, photographic control, signal processing control, and information recording control in response to a scene recognition result by the scene recognizing device.

2. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scene recognition device updates the reference information registered in the reference information registering device based on the photographic information corresponding to the scene recognition result.

3. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information acquiring device acquires at least one of:

face detection result information indicating whether a human face exists in the photographic scene;

subject distance information on a subject distance; and

photometric information on brightness of a subject.

4. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the information acquiring device acquires, as the photographic information, two or more of:

face detection result information indicating whether a human face exists in a photographic scene;

subject distance information on a subject distance; and

photometric information on brightness of a subject, and

the scene change determining device determines whether the photographic scene has changed or not based on the photographic information acquired by the information acquiring device and the reference information stored in the reference information registering device, the reference information corresponding to the photographic information.

5. The imaging apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the scene change determining device includes a weight setting device which respectively weights, by information type, the two or more of information acquired by the information acquiring device and the reference information stored in the reference information registering device, the reference information corresponding to the two or more of information.

6. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scene change determining device comprises:

a single scene change determining device which successively determines the occurrence/nonoccurrence of scene change based on the reference information stored in the reference information registering device and the photographic information acquired by the information acquiring device;

a scene change history record registering device which registers, as a scene change history record, a history of single scene change determination results by the single scene determining device; and

a total scene change determining device which determines whether the photographic scene has changed or not based on the scene change history record.

7. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scene recognizing device comprises:

a single scene recognizing device which executes, for a predetermined time period or a predetermined times, single scene recognition for recognizing the photographic scene based on the photographic information acquired by the information acquiring device;

a scene recognition history record registering device which registers, as a scene recognition history record, a history of single scene recognition results by the single scene recognizing device; and

a total scene recognizing device which executes total scene recognition for recognizing the photographic scene based on the scene recognition history record registered in the scene recognition history record registering device.

8. The imaging apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the total scene recognizing device detects a photographic scene with a greatest frequency from the scene recognition history record, and recognizes the photographic scene with the greatest frequency as the total scene recognition result.

9. The imaging apparatus according to claim 8, wherein when the total scene recognizing device detects a plurality of photographic scenes with the greatest frequency are detected, the total scene recognizing device recognizes a most recent photographic scene with the greatest frequency as the total scene recognition result.

10. The imaging apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the total scene recognizing device includes:

a weight setting device which weights each single scene recognition result in the scene recognition history record registered in the scene recognition history record registering device such that the greater weight is assigned to the newer single scene recognition result; and

a calculating device which calculates a cumulative score for each single scene recognition result weighted by the weight setting device, and

the total scene recognizing device determines a single scene recognition result with the highest cumulative score calculated by the calculating device, as the total scene recognition result.

11. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a shutter button which instructs photometering and ranging for primary exposure when halfway pressed and instructs primary exposure when fully pressed, wherein

a number of single scene recognition results before the shutter button is halfway pressed and a number of single scene recognition results after the shutter button is halfway pressed are separately set in the scene recognition history record registered in the scene recognition history record registering device.

12. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a photographic information history record registering device which registers, as a photographic information history record, a history of the photographic information acquired by the photographic information acquiring device, wherein

the scene recognition device comprises a total scene recognizing device which performs total scene recognition for recognizing the photographic scene based on the photographic information history record registered in the history record registering device.

13. The imaging apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising

a shutter button which instructs photometering and ranging for primary exposure when halfway pressed and instructs primary exposure when fully pressed, wherein

a number of units of photographic information before the shutter button is halfway pressed and a number of units of photographic information after the shutter button is halfway pressed are separately set in the photographic information history record registered in the photographic information history record registering device.

14. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a photographing mode setting device which sets a photographing mode depending on the scene recognition result by the scene recognition device, wherein

the control device performs the photographic control according to the set photographing mode.

15. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a shutter button that instructs photo-metering and ranging for primary exposure when halfway pressed and instructs primary exposure when fully pressed, wherein

after the shutter button is pressed halfway, the information acquiring device acquires only information indicating a subject distance for primary exposure and information on the brightness of a subject for primary exposure.

16. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a selecting device which selects a timing to perform scene recognition of the photographic scene from upon a determination of scene change or at a predetermined cycle; and

a cycle setting device which sets the predetermined cycle when the scene recognition is to be performed, wherein

when the selecting device selects to perform the scene recognition of the photographic scene at the predetermined cycle, the scene recognition device performs the scene recognition of the photographic scene based on the photographic information acquired by the information acquiring device at the predetermined cycle set by the cycle setting device instead of upon the determination of scene change by the scene change determining device.

17. The imaging apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the predetermined cycle to be set by the cycle setting device is a preset cycle or a cycle arbitrarily settable by a user.

18. An imaging method comprising:

acquiring photographic information which is information on a photographic scene;

recognizing a scene from the acquired photographic information;

storing reference information which is set based on the photographic information corresponding to the scene recognition result;

determining whether the scene has changed or not from based on the stored reference information and the acquired photographic information;

recognizing the scene based on the photographic information when it is determined that the scene has changed; and

performing at least one of display control, photographic control, signal processing control, and information recording control in response to the scene recognition result.

19. The imaging method according to claim 18, wherein

the recognizing of a scene includes:

a single scene recognizing step for recognizing the photographic scene based on the acquired photographic information;

a scene recognition history record registering step for registering a predetermined number of newest single scene recognition results recognized in the single scene recognizing step as a scene recognition history record in a history record registering device; and

a total scene recognizing step for recognizing the photographic scene based on the scene recognition history record registered in the scene recognition history record registering device.

20. The imaging method according to claim 18, wherein

the recognizing of a scene includes:

a photographic information history record registering step for registering a predetermined number of newest units of photographic information as photographic history record in a photographic information history record registering device; and

a total scene recognizing step for recognizing the photographic scene based on the photographic information history record registered in the photographic information history record registering device.