IMAGE COMBINING APPARATUS, IMAGE COMBINING METHOD AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR STORING IMAGE COMBINING PROGRAM

• US 20160063746A1
• Filed: 07/13/2015
• Published: 03/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: FURUYA, HIROYUKI
• Granted Patent: US 9,786,076 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4053 based on super-resolution, i.e. the output image resolution being higher than the sensor resolution

Abstract

A template image is found and a target image is combined with a combining area of the found template image. The template image found has first template image analysis information, which is of a type identical with that of first target image analysis information in target image analysis information consisting of the brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, color balance and spatial frequency of the target image, and for which the degree of resemblance is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, and moreover has second template image analysis information, which is of a type identical with that of second target image analysis information in target image analysis information, and for which the degree of resemblance is less than a second threshold value.

Claims

1. An image combining apparatus, comprising:

a target image analysis information acquisition device for acquiring target image analysis information which includes at least two items from among brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, color balance and spatial frequency of a target image to be combined with a template image;

a template image detection device for finding a template image for which a first degree of resemblance is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, wherein the first degree of resemblance is resemblance between first target image analysis information in the target image analysis information acquired by said target image analysis information acquisition device and first template image analysis information, which is of a type identical with that of the first target image analysis information, in template image analysis information consisting of brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, color balance and spatial frequency of the template image, and moreover for which a second degree of resemblance is less than a second threshold value, wherein the second degree of resemblance is resemblance between second target image analysis information in the target image analysis information acquired by said target image analysis information acquisition device and second template image analysis information, which is of a type identical with that of the second target image analysis information, in the template image analysis information; and

a combining device for combining the target image with the template image found by said template image detection device.

2. The image combining apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first target image impression determination device for determining one or multiple impressions given by the target image based upon the target image analysis information acquired by said target image analysis information acquisition device;

wherein said template image detection device finds a template image for which the first degree of resemblance is equal to or greater than the first threshold value, the second degree of resemblance is less than the second threshold value and, moreover, which gives the impression determined by said first target image impression determination device.

3. The image combining apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an image-capture information acquisition device for acquiring image-capture information which is at least one of image-capture time or image-capture place of the target image; and

a second target image impression determination device for determining one or multiple impressions given by the target image, based upon the image-capture information acquired by said image-capture information acquisition device;

wherein said template image detection device finds a template image for which the first degree of resemblance is equal to or greater than the first threshold value, the second degree of resemblance is less than the second threshold value and, moreover, which gives the impression determined by the second target image impression determination device.

4. The image combining apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an image-capture information acquisition device for acquiring image-capture information which is at least one of image-capture time or image-capture place of the target image;

an image-capture scene determination device for determining an image-capture scene based upon the image-capture information acquired by said image-capture information acquisition device; and

a third target image impression determination device for determining one or multiple impressions given by the target image, based upon the image-capture scene determined by said image-capture scene determination device;

wherein said template image detection device finds a template image for which the first degree of resemblance is equal to or greater than the first threshold value, the second degree of resemblance is less than the second threshold value and, moreover, which gives the impression determined by said third target image impression determination device.

5. The image combining apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a target image correction device for subjecting the target image to a correction that causes the target image to approximate the impression of the template image detected by said template image detection device.

6. The image combining apparatus according to claim 5, wherein

a correction method is decided beforehand in conformity with the impression given by the template image detected by said template image detection device;

and

said target image correction device subjects the target image to a correction by the correction method decided beforehand in conformity with the template image detected by said template image detection device.

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

a principal subject image information acquisition device for acquiring information representing position of a principal subject in the target image; and

an aspect ratio calculation device for calculating aspect ratio of a combining area of the template image from the position of the principal subject represented by the principal subject image position information acquired by said principal subject image information acquisition device;

wherein said template image detection device finds a template image for which the first degree of resemblance is equal to or greater than the first threshold value, the second degree of resemblance is less than the second threshold value and, moreover, which has a combining area having the aspect ratio calculated by said aspect ratio calculation device.

8. The image combining apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a trimming device for trimming the target image to the aspect ratio calculated by said aspect ratio calculation device;

wherein said combining device combines the target image, which has been trimmed by said trimming device, with the combining area of the template image found by said template image detection device.

9. The image combining apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said template image detection device finds a template image from among template images in which a combining area with which the target image is to be combined has been formed within a single frame or from among template images in which at least a portion of the periphery of a combining area with which the target image is to be combined is open.

10. An image combining method, comprising steps of:

acquiring target image analysis information which includes at least two items from among brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, color balance and spatial frequency of a target image to be combined with a template image;

finding a template image for which a first degree of resemblance is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, wherein the first degree of resemblance is resemblance between first target image analysis information in the acquired target image analysis information and first template image analysis information, which is of a type identical with that of the first target image analysis information, in template image analysis information consisting of brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, color balance and spatial frequency of the template image, and moreover for which a second degree of resemblance is less than a second threshold value, wherein the second degree of resemblance is resemblance between second target image analysis information in the acquired target image analysis information and second template image analysis information, which is of a type identical with that of the second target image analysis information, in the template image analysis information; and

combining the target image with the template image found.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer-readable program capable of controlling a computer of an image combining apparatus, said computer-readable program controlling the computer of the image combining apparatus so as to:

acquire target image analysis information which includes at least two items from among brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, color balance and spatial frequency of a target image to be combined with a template image;

find a template image for which a first degree of resemblance is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, wherein the first degree of resemblance is resemblance between first target image analysis information in the acquired target image analysis information and first template image analysis information, which is of a type identical with that of the first target image analysis information, in template image analysis information consisting of brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, color balance and spatial frequency of the template image, and moreover for which a second degree of resemblance is less than a second threshold value, wherein the second degree of resemblance is resemblance between second target image analysis information in the acquired target image analysis information and second template image analysis information, which is of a type identical with that of the second target image analysis information, in the template image analysis information; and

combine the target image with the template image found.