POSITION INFORMATION ACQUIRING APPARATUS, POSITION INFORMATION ACQUIRING APPARATUS CONTROL METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM

• US 20120308081A1
• Filed: 05/24/2012
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Sato, Ryosuke
• Granted Patent: US 8,891,823 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00323 with a measuring, monitoring or signaling apparatus, e.g. for transmitting measured information to a central location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32122 in a separate device, e.g. in a memory or on a display separate from image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3253 Position information, e.g. geographical position at time of capture, GPS data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3274 Storage or retrieval of prestored additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3277 The additional information being stored in the same storage device as the image data

Abstract

A position information acquiring apparatus comprises: a first acquiring unit configured to acquire first position information of the position information acquiring apparatus upon image capturing; a first storage unit configured to store image data generated by the image capturing and the first position information in a memory in association with each other; a second acquiring unit configured to acquire second position information of the position information acquiring apparatus upon image capturing; and a second storage unit configured to store the second position information in the memory in association with the image data when the second position information higher in accuracy than the first position information is acquired after the first storage unit stores the image data and the first position information in association with each other.

Claims

1. A position information acquiring apparatus comprising:

a first acquiring unit configured to acquire first position information of the position information acquiring apparatus upon image capturing;

a first storage unit configured to store image data generated by the image capturing and the first position information in a memory in association with each other;

a second acquiring unit configured to acquire second position information of the position information acquiring apparatus upon image capturing; and

a second storage unit configured to store the second position information in the memory in association with the image data when the second position information higher in accuracy than the first position information is acquired after said first storage unit stores the image data and the first position information in association with each other.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second storage unit stores the second position information in the memory in association with the image data by overwriting the first position information which is stored in the memory by said first storage unit in association with the image data.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an image capturing unit configured to generate image data by image capturing,

wherein said first acquiring unit acquires the first position information upon image capturing by said image capturing unit, and

after said first acquiring unit acquires the first position information, said second acquiring unit acquires the second position information upon image capturing by said image capturing unit.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when said second acquiring unit acquires the second position information within a predetermined time after the image capturing, said second storage unit stores, in the memory, the second position information to be associated with the image data.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine an error range of the first position information,

wherein when a position indicated by the second position information falls within the error range determined by said determination unit, said second storage unit stores, in the memory, the second position information to be associated with the image data.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a detection unit configured to detect movement of the position information acquiring apparatus,

wherein when said detection unit has not detected movement of the position information acquiring apparatus after image capturing by an image capturing unit, said second storage unit stores, in the memory, the second position information to be associated with the image data.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a measurement unit configured to measure a moving amount by which an image capturing apparatus has moved; and

a correction unit configured to correct the second position information acquired by said second acquiring unit based on the moving amount measured by said measurement unit,

wherein said second storage unit stores, in the memory in association with the image data, the second position information corrected by said correction unit.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to operate as each unit of a position information acquiring apparatus defined in claim 1.

8. A method for controlling a position information acquiring apparatus, comprising:

acquiring first position information of the position information acquiring apparatus upon image capturing;

storing image data generated by the image capturing and the first position information in a memory in association with each other;

acquiring second position information of the position information acquiring apparatus upon image capturing; and

storing the second position information in the memory in association with the image data when the second position information higher in accuracy than the first position information is acquired after the image data and the first position information are stored in association with each other in the storing image data.