DISPLAY IMAGE SWITCHING DEVICE AND DISPLAY METHOD

• US 20120206607A1
• Filed: 10/21/2010
• Published: 08/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: I-Pro Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Morioka, Mikio
• Granted Patent: US 10,264,220 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/159
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

Disclosed is a display image switching device wherein the burden imposed upon an operator, when selecting a particular camera from among a plurality of cameras accompanying movement, can be lightened by providing an intuitive and easy to understand selecting method. When the operator selects a object from an image picked-up and displayed on a display unit (111) by a camera (101) selected from among a plurality of cameras (101) by a camera selecting unit (105), a camera extracting unit (108) extracts all other cameras (101) picking-up the selected object. A camera icon arrangement unit (110) arranges camera icons at positions on an image where the extracted cameras (101) are located. When a camera icon displayed on the display unit (111) is selected, an image picked-up by the camera (101) at the position of the selected camera icon is displayed on the display unit (111).

Claims

1. A display image switching apparatus comprising:

an image selection section that displays an image picked up by a first camera among a plurality of cameras;

a object selection section that selects a object in the displayed image;

a camera extraction section that extracts a camera that photographs the object selected by the object selection section from among the plurality of cameras as a second camera;

a camera position calculation section that calculates a position on the displayed image of the second camera; and

a camera position image information generation section that generates selectable camera position image information which indicates the position of the second camera, wherein;

the camera position image information generation section displays the camera position image information in association with the image selected by the image selection section, and

the image selection section displays, when the camera position image information is selected, the image photographed by the second camera.

2. The display image switching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the camera extraction section calculates the position of the selected object in the real space and extracts a camera in which the position and optical axis direction of the camera in the real space among the plurality of cameras satisfy a predetermined relationship with the position of the object in the real space as the second camera.

3. The display image switching apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the camera extraction section extracts, as the second camera, a camera corresponding to an angle formed by the camera and the object with respect to the optical axis direction of each camera, which falls within a predetermined angle set to a value less than an angle of view of the camera among the plurality of cameras.

4. The display image switching apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the camera extraction section extracts a camera whose distance from the object is within a predetermined distance as the second camera among the plurality of cameras.

5. The display image switching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the camera extraction section calculates a characteristic value within the selected image of the object and extracts a camera picking up the image including the calculated characteristic value of the object as the second camera.

6. The display image switching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the camera position image information generation section changes, when the second camera is located outside a photographed image of the first camera, the type of the camera position image information.

7. The display image switching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the camera position image information generation section changes the size of the camera position image information indicating the second camera according to the distance between the second camera and the first camera.

8. The display image switching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the camera position image information generation section changes the type of the camera position image information according to the photographing direction of the second camera viewed from the first camera.

9. The display image switching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first camera is a moving camera.

10. The display image switching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second camera is a moving camera.

11. The display image switching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the camera position image information generation section changes the display mode of the camera position image information depending on whether the second camera is a moving camera or stationary camera.

12. A display image switching method comprising:

an image selecting step of displaying an image picked up by a first camera among a plurality of cameras;

a object selecting step of selecting a object in the displayed image;

a camera extracting step of extracting a camera photographing the object selected from among the plurality of cameras as a second camera;

a camera position calculating step of calculating a position of the second camera; and

a camera position image information generating step of generating selectable camera position image information which indicates the position of the second camera, wherein;

in the camera position image information generating step, the camera position image information is displayed in association with the image selected in the image selecting step, and

in the image selecting step, when the camera position image information is selected, the image photographed by the second camera is displayed.

13. A display image switching program for causing a computer to execute:

an image selecting step of displaying an image picked up by a first camera among a plurality of cameras;

a object selecting step of selecting a object in the displayed image;

a camera extracting step of extracting a camera photographing the object selected from among the plurality of cameras as a second camera;

a camera position calculating step of calculating a position of the second camera; and

a camera position image information generating step of generating selectable camera position image information which indicates the position of the second camera, wherein;

in the camera position image information generating step, the camera position image information is displayed in association with the image selected in the image selecting step, and

in the image selecting step, when the camera position image information is selected, the image photographed by the second camera is displayed.