IMAGE CAPTURE DEVICE

• US 20110298941A1
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Okawa, Keisuke, Takada, Naomasa, Sakai, Takenori
• Granted Patent: US 8,830,374 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/222.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30201 Face
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/337 involving reference images or patches
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/162 using pixel segmentation or colour matching
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body

Abstract

The present invention provides a highly flexible shooting environment by letting the user shoot any subject he or she likes.

The image capture device of this invention includes: an image capturing section, which receives light coming from a subject and generates a signal representing an image of the subject; a first detecting section for detecting a feature in the image by a first predetermined method; a second detecting section for detecting a feature in the image by a second method, which is different from the first method; an interface section for accepting an operation specifying a position on the image; and a controller for determining, according to a relationship between a location of the feature detected by the first detecting section and the position specified for the interface section at a point in time when the interface section accepts the operation, which of the first and second detecting sections should be used to detect a feature in a forthcoming image to be generated from that point in time on.

Claims

1. An image capture device comprising:

an image capturing section, which receives light that has come from a subject and which generates a signal representing an image of the subject;

a first detecting section for detecting a feature in the generated image by a first predetermined method;

a second detecting section for detecting a feature in the generated image by a second method, which is different from the first method;

an interface section for accepting an operation that specifies a position on the generated image; and

a controller for determining, according to a relationship between a location of the feature detected by the first detecting section and the position specified for the interface section at a point in time when the interface section accepts the operation, which of the first and second detecting sections should be used to detect a feature in a forthcoming image to be generated from that point in time on.

2. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising a display section for displaying the image that has been generated by the image capturing section and the location of the feature that has been detected by the first detecting section while the feature in the image is being detected by the first detecting section.

3. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein the first detecting section detects the feature in the generated image using a predefined pattern, and

wherein the second detecting section detects the feature in the generated image by reference to the position specified for the interface section and color information of the generated image.

4. The image capture device of claim 3, wherein the first detecting section detects the feature in the generated image by using a pattern representing at least one of the shapes and relative arrangement of multiple parts that form a human face.

5. The image capture device of claim 2, wherein while the first detecting section locates the feature,

the controller determines whether or not the position specified for the interface section is inside of an area from which the feature has been detected, and

wherein if the position is inside of the feature detected area, the controller instructs the display section to display a recognizable indicator at the location of the feature detected.

6. The image capture device of claim 2, wherein while the first detecting section locates the feature,

the controller determines whether or not the position specified for the interface section is inside of an area from which the feature has been detected, and

wherein if the position is outside of the area, the controller determines that the feature in the image be detected by the second detecting section, instructs the second detecting section to detect the image feature by reference to the position and color information of the image, and instructs the display section to display a recognizable indicator at the location of the image feature detected by the second detecting section.

7. The image capture device of claim 5, wherein if the position that has been inside of the feature detected area is now outside of that area, the controller determines that the feature in the image be detected by the second detecting section, instructs the second detecting section to detect the image feature by reference to the position and color information of the image, and instructs the display section to display a recognizable indicator at the location of the image feature detected by the second detecting section.

8. The image capture device of claim 6, wherein if the position that has been outside of the feature detected area is now inside of that area, the controller instructs the display section to display a recognizable indicator at the location of the feature detected by the first detecting section.

9. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein at least two of the first detecting section, second detecting section, and the controller are integrated together on a single chip circuit.

10. The image capture device of claim 2, wherein the first detecting section detects the feature in the generated image using a predefined pattern, and

wherein the second detecting section detects the feature in the generated image by reference to the position specified for the interface section and color information of the generated image.