Electronic photographing device for panoramic photographing and editing

• US 6,661,455 B1
• Filed: 06/11/1998
• Issued: 12/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xacti Corporation (Office Support KK), Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamasaki, Masafumi, Toyofuku, Toshiyuki, Dotsubo, Nobuhide, Haruki, Toshinobu, Hayashi, Hideto
• Primary Examiner(s): Garber, Wendy R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Villecco, John M
• Application Number:
  US09/096,030
• Time in Patent Office: 2,007 Days
• Field of Search: 348/36, 348/37, 348/39, 348/218.1, 348/333.02, 348/333.04, 348/333.05, 348/239, 382/284, 346/231.6, 346/231.2, 346/231.3
• US Class Current: 348/231.6
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00127 Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
• 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 1/215 Recording a sequence of still pictures, e.g. burst mode
• 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 1/3876 Recombination of partial images to recreate the original image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3254 Orientation, e.g. landscape or portrait; Location or order of the image data, e.g. in memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3277 The additional information being stored in the same storage device as the image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8047 using transform coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

According to this invention, an electronic photographing device in which image information corresponding to one set of images photographed by panoramic photographing can be recorded on a recording medium includes: a rotation direction setting device for setting information corresponding to a rotating direction panoramic of the electronic photographing device in the panorama photographing; a rotating direction recording device for recording information corresponding to the rotation direction set by the rotation direction setting device on the recording medium; a control device for controlling an arrangement of the set of panoramic images on the basis of the information corresponding to the rotation direction recorded on the recording medium; a display device for displaying editing information for performing predetermined image editing to the panoramic images arranged by the control device; and a control device for performing a predetermined editing operation on the basis of the editing information displayed on the display device.

Claims

1. An electronic photographing device in which image information corresponding to a set of images photographed in panoramic photographing mode can be recorded on a recording medium in a fixed sequence and wherein each image in the set includes management information, said device comprising:

rotation direction setting means for setting information corresponding to a rotation direction of said electronic photographing device during the panoramic photographing of said set of images;

rotation direction recording means for recording information corresponding to the rotation direction set by the rotation direction setting means on said recording medium;

a first control means for controlling an arrangement of the set of panoramic images on the basis of the information corresponding to the rotation direction recorded on said recording medium;

display means for displaying the panoramic images arranged by said control means and for displaying editing information for editing the panoramic images; and

a second control means for performing an editing operation based upon the editing information displayed on said display means, wherein the editing operation includes

erasing a selected recorded image from the set of panoramic images,

separating the set of panoramic images into a plurality of panoramic image subsets determined according to a position of the erased image in the set, and

updating the management information of the remaining images which constitute the plurality of separated panoramic image subsets.

2. An electronic photographing device according to claim 1, wherein the device cancels a designation that an image in one of the plurality of image subsets is a panoramic image when said one of the plurality of image subsets contains only one image.

3. An electronic photographing device for recording on a recording medium a plurality of images including a set of images photographed in panoramic mode and for processing the plurality of recorded images, said device comprising:

a camera having a body and capable of photographing in at least a panoramic mode, the camera body including;

a display element including a display screen for displaying a recorded image and displaying at least one of a visual representation of an active photographing mode of the camera and an indication of at least one processing operation which may be performed on the displayed image;

a plurality of operation elements for selecting a processing operation to be performed on a selected recorded image in accordance with the processing operations displayed on the display screen; and

a control element for performing a processing operation selected with the operation elements;

wherein the control element includes a warning generator which generates a warning to be displayed on the display element when the selected operation is the erasing operation and the selected image to be erased is an image of the set of panoramic images.

4. An electronic photographing device according to claim 3, wherein the camera further comprises a mode selector for switching between the panoramic photographing mode and other operating modes.

5. An electronic photographing device according to claim 3, wherein the display element is capable of simultaneously displaying more than one of the plurality of recorded images.

6. An electronic photographing device according to claim 3, wherein the operation elements select an image from the plurality of recorded images on which a selected processing operation is to be performed.

7. An electronic photographing device according to claim 3, wherein when the selected image on which the selected process is to be performed is an image of the set of panoramic images, the control element performs the selected process on all the images in the set.

8. An electronic photographing device according to claim 3, wherein:

the at least one processing operation which may be performed on a selected image includes at least one of an erasing operation, an image protect operation, a protect cancel operation, a download operation, and a print operation,

the image protect operation inhibits the reading or alteration of the selected image,

the download operation downloads the selected image from the recording medium to an external storage device, and

the print operation causes the selected image to be printed on an external printer.

9. An electronic photographing device for recording on a recording medium a plurality of images including a set of images photographed in panoramic mode and for processing the plurality of recorded images, said device comprising:

a camera having a body and capable of photographing in at least a panoramic mode, the camera body including;

a display element including a display screen for displaying a recorded image and displaying on the displayed image at least one of a visual representation of an active photographing mode of the camera and an indication of at least one processing operation which may be performed on the displayed image;

a plurality of operation elements for selecting a processing operation to be performed on a selected recorded image in accordance with the processing operations displayed on the display screen; and

a control element for performing a processing operation selected with the operation elements, wherein;

the at least one processing operation which may be performed on a selected image includes at least one of an erasing operation, an image protect operation, a protect cancel operation, a download operation, and a print operation,

the image protect operation inhibits the reading or alteration of the selected image,

the download operation downloads the selected image from the recording medium to an external storage device, and

the print operation causes the selected image to be printed on an external printer, and when the selected operation is the erasing operation and the selected image to be erased is an image of the set of panoramic images, the control element provides information to the recording medium which divides the set of panoramic images into two subsets of panoramic images, the two subsets containing the remaining images in the set after erasure of the selected image.

10. An electronic photographing device according to claim 9, wherein when one of the two subsets contains only one image, the information provided to the recording medium from the control element includes information that the one image in the one subset is no longer a panoramic image.

11. An electronic photographing device in which image information corresponding to a set of images photographed in panoramic photographing mode can be recorded on a recording medium in a fixed sequence and wherein each image in the set includes management information, said device comprising:

a direction setting unit for setting information corresponding to a rotation direction of said electronic photographing device during the panoramic photographing of said set of images;

a recording unit for recording information corresponding to the rotation direction set by the direction setting unit on said recording medium;

a first controller for controlling an arrangement of the set of panoramic images on the basis of the information corresponding to the rotation direction recorded on said recording medium;

a display for displaying the panoramic images arranged by said controller and for displaying editing information for editing the panoramic images; and

a second controller for performing an editing operation based upon the editing information displayed on said display, wherein the editing operation includes;

erasing a selected recorded image from the set of panoramic images,

separating the set of panoramic images into a plurality of panoramic image subsets determined according to a position of the erased image in the set, and

updating the management information of the remaining images which constitute the plurality of separated panoramic image subsets.

12. An electronic photographing device in which image information corresponding to a set of images photographed in panoramic photographing mode can be recorded on a recording medium in a fixed sequence and wherein each image in the set includes management information, said device comprising:

a rotation direction setting system for setting information corresponding to a rotation direction of said electronic photographing device during the panoramic photographing of said set of images;

a rotation direction recording system for recording information corresponding to the rotation direction set by the rotation direction setting system on said recording medium;

a first control system for controlling an arrangement of the set of panoramic images on the basis of the information corresponding to the rotation direction recorded on said recording medium;

a display system for displaying the panoramic images arranged by said control system and for displaying editing information for editing the panoramic images; and

a second control system for performing an editing operation based upon the editing information displayed on said display system, wherein the editing operation includes

erasing a selected recorded image from the set of panoramic images,

separating the set of panoramic images into a plurality of panoramic image subsets determined according to a position of the erased image in the set, and

updating the management information of the remaining images which constitute the plurality of separated panoramic image subsets.

13. An electronic photographing device according to claim 12, wherein the device cancels a designation that an image in one of the plurality of image subsets is a panoramic image when said one of the plurality of image subsets contains only one image.