IMAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD

• US 20110157316A1
• Filed: 03/09/2011
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakamura, Satoshi, Okamoto, Satoru, Ueno, Toshiharu, Watanabe, Mikio
• Granted Patent: US 8,400,524 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/189 Recording image signals; Reproducing recorded image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/239 using two 2D image sensors having a relative position equal to or related to the interocular distance H04N13/243 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/289 Switching between monoscopic and stereoscopic modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/597 specially adapted for multi-view video sequence encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/631 Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• 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 23/843 Demosaicing, e.g. interpolating colour pixel values
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/7921 for more than one processing mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8047 using transform coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

A method for managing an image photographed by two or more image pickup devices corresponding to two or more viewpoints, comprises: storing a 2D image photographed by the two or more image pickup devices, with identifier indicating that the image is two-dimensional; and storing a 3D image photographed by the two or more image pickup devices, with identifier indicating that the image is three-dimensional. Hence, it becomes possible to search and display quickly an object 2D or 3D image by performing an access per folder.

Claims

1. An image recording apparatus, comprising:

a storage device configured to classify and store a two dimensional (2D) image file and a three dimensional (3D) image file including a plurality of viewpoint image files each corresponding to a plurality of viewpoints, into a 2D image folder and a 3D image folder, respectively;

a display device configured to display a two dimensional (2D) image and a three dimensional (3D) image;

a display mode switching device configured to switch a display mode to a 2D display mode for displaying a 2D image on the display device or a 3D display mode for displaying a 3D image on the display device, on the basis of a user input;

a first search device configured to search, at the time of the 2D display mode, a 2D image file stored in the 2D image folder, and output a first reduced image corresponding to the searched 2D image file to the display device;

a second search device configured to search, at the time of the 3D display mode, a 3D image file stored in the 3D image folder, and output a second reduced image corresponding to the searched 3D image file to the display device;

a selecting device configured to select the first or second reduced image displayed on the display device, on the basis of a user input;

a first display control device configured to read out the 2D image file corresponding to the selected first reduced image, and display a two dimensional image of the read 2D image file on the display device, at the time of the 2D display mode; and

a second display control device configured to read out the 3D image file corresponding to the selected second reduced image, and display a three dimensional image of the read 3D image file on the display device, at the time of the 3D display mode.

2. An image recording method executed by an image recording apparatus, comprising:

classifying and storing a two dimensional (2D) image file and a three dimensional (3D) image file including a plurality of viewpoint image files each corresponding to a plurality of viewpoints, into a 2D image folder and a 3D image folder which are included in a storage device of the image recording apparatus, respectively;

switching a display mode of the image recording apparatus to a 2D display mode for displaying a 2D image on a display device of the image recording apparatus and a 3D display mode for displaying a 3D image on the display device, on the basis of a user input;

searching, at the time of the 2D display mode, a 2D image file stored in the 2D image folder, and outputting a first reduced image corresponding to the searched 2D image file to the display device;

searching, at the time of the 3D display mode, a 3D image file stored in the 3D image folder, and outputting a second reduced image corresponding to the searched 3D image file to the display device;

selecting the first or second reduced image displayed on the display device, on the basis of a user input;

reading out the 2D image file corresponding to the selected first reduced image, and displaying a two dimensional image of the read 2D image file on the display device, at the time of the 2D display mode; and

reading out the 3D image file corresponding to the selected second reduced image, and displaying a three dimensional image of the read 3D image file on the display device, at the time of the 3D display mode.

3. The image recording method according to claim 2, further comprising:

switching a photographing mode of the image recording apparatus to a 2D photographing mode for photographing a two dimensional (2D) image or a 3D photographing mode for photographing a three dimensional (3D) image;

confirming presence of a 2D image folder and a 3D image folder, and creating the 2D image folder or the 3D image folder if the folder does not exist; and

storing a 2D image file including the 2D image photographed at the time of the 2D photographing mode and a 3D image file including the 3D image photographed at the time of the 3D photographing mode into the 2D and 3D image folders, respectively.

6. The image recording method according to claim 2, further comprising:

reading a number of displayable viewpoints, which depends on the display device, in the case of the 3D display mode;

reading and displaying viewpoint image files of all viewpoints of the read 3D image file when all viewpoint image file are determined to be displayable by the image recording apparatus; and

reading and displaying the same number of viewpoint image files of the read 3D image file as the number of displayable viewpoints with a viewpoint image file at the default viewpoint centered when all viewpoint image file are not determined to be displayable by the image recording apparatus.

7. The image recording method according to claim 2, comprising:

selecting an image to be edited;

confirming whether the selected image is separately stored for each viewpoint in a plurality of viewpoint image folders;

separately storing one file into the plurality of folders for each viewpoint when the file is not separated for each viewpoint;

reading images in the viewpoint image folders for each viewpoint at the time of editing and writing the images after the editing;

integrating the images in the plurality of viewpoint image folders for each viewpoint into one file to record the file in a recording medium at the time of an end of the editing; and

writing header information of the file.

10. The image recording method according to claim 2, further comprising

storing a plurality of viewpoint image files corresponding to viewpoints of the 3D image files to a plurality of viewpoint image folders.

4. An image recording method executed by an image recording apparatus, comprising:

(a) storing a two dimensional (2D) image and a three dimensional (3D) image which includes a plurality of viewpoint image files each corresponding to a plurality of viewpoints and includes default viewpoint information;

(b) switching a display mode of the image recording device to a 2D display mode for displaying a 2D image on a display device of the image recording apparatus and a 3D display mode for displaying a 3D image on the display device, on the basis of a user input;

(c) searching a 2D and 3D image files, and outputting a first reduced image and a second reduced image which correspond to the searched 2D and 3D image files to the display device, respectively;

(d) selecting the first or second reduced image displayed on the display device on the basis of a user input;

(e) selecting the first or second reduced image displayed on the display device, on the basis of a user input;

(f) reading out the 2D image file corresponding to the selected first reduced image, and displaying a two dimensional image of the read 2D image file on the display device, at the time of the 2D display mode;

(g) reading out the 3D image file corresponding to the selected second reduced image, and displaying a three dimensional image of the read 3D image file on the display device, at the time of the 3D display mode,

the step (g) including;

reading the default viewpoint information of the read 3D image file;

reading a number of displayable viewpoints;

reading and displaying an 3D image by using all viewpoint image files of the read 3D image file when all viewpoint image files are displayable; and

reading and displaying an 3D image by using the same number of viewpoint image files of the read 3D image file as the displayable viewpoints with a viewpoint image file corresponding to the default viewpoint centered when all viewpoint image files are not displayable, at the time of the 3D display mode.

5. The image recording method according to claim 4, comprising:

reading default viewpoint information of the read 3D image file; and

reading and displaying the viewpoint image file of the read 3D image file corresponding to a default viewpoint in the case of a 2D display mode.

8. The image recording method according to claim 4, comprising:

selecting an image to be edited;

confirming whether the selected image is separately stored for each viewpoint in a plurality of viewpoint image folders;

separately storing one file into the plurality of folders for each viewpoint when the file is not separated for each viewpoint;

reading images in the viewpoint image folders for each viewpoint at the time of editing and writing the images after the editing;

integrating the images in the plurality of viewpoint image folders for each viewpoint into one file to record the file in a recording medium at the time of an end of the editing; and

writing header information of the file.

9. The image recording method according to claim 4, further comprising

storing the 2D image file and the 3D image file to a 2D image folder and a 3D image folder, respectively.

11. The image recording method according to claim 9, further comprising

storing a plurality of viewpoint image files corresponding to viewpoints of the 3D image files to a plurality of viewpoint image folders.

12. An image recording apparatus, comprising:

a storage device configured to store a two dimensional (2D) image and a three dimensional (3D) image which includes a plurality of viewpoint image files each corresponding to a plurality of viewpoints and includes default viewpoint information;

a display device configured to be able to display a two dimensional (2D) image and a three dimensional (3D) image;

a display mode switching device configured to switch a display mode to a switch 2D display mode for displaying a 2D image on the display device and a 3D display mode for displaying a 3D image on the display device, on the basis of a user input;

a search device configured to search a 2D and 3D image files, and output a first reduced image and a second reduced image which correspond to the searched 2D and 3D image files to the display device, respectively;

a selecting device configured to select the first or second reduced image displayed on the display device, on the basis of a user input;

a first display control device configured to read out the 2D image file corresponding to the selected first reduced image, and display a two dimensional image of the read 2D image file on the display device, at the time of the 2D display mode; and

a second display control device configured to read out the 3D image file corresponding to the selected second reduced image, and display a three dimensional image of the read 3D image file on the display device, at the time of the 3D display mode,

wherein the second display control device reads the default viewpoint information of the read 3D image file, reads a number of displayable viewpoints, at the time of the 3D display mode,

the second display control device reads and displays an 3D image by using all viewpoint image files of the read 3D image file when all viewpoint image files are displayable, and

the second display control device reads and displays an 3D image by using the same number of viewpoint image files of the read 3D image file as the displayable viewpoints with a viewpoint image file corresponding to the default viewpoint centered when all viewpoint image files are not displayable.

13. The image recording apparatus according to claim 12, wherein

a storage device includes a 2D image folder in which a 2D image file is stored and a 3D image folder in which a 3D image file is stored.