Image synthesization method

• US 7,085,435 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2003
• Issued: 08/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Takahashi, Fumiaki, Yano, Kotaro, Hatori, Kenji, Katayama, Tatsushi, Takiguchi, Hideo, Hatanaka, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahmed, Samir
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kassa, Yosef
• Application Number:
  US10/347,317
• Publication Number:
  US 20030107586A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,288 Days
• Field of Search: 382/284, 382/287, 382/293, 382/294, 382/295, 382/306, 358/540, 358/450, 358/452, 348/36, 348/39, 352/69, 352/70
• US Class Current: 382/294
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4038 Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3876 Recombination of partial images to recreate the original image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture

Abstract

An image synthesization method, whereby a plurality of images, each of which has a partially overlapping image area, are synthesized to create a single synthetic image, comprises a determination step of inputting a plurality of image data sets that correspond to the plurality of images that are input, and of determining whether or not an image in the partially overlapping image area of each of images that are indicated by the plurality of image data sets includes mainly characters an image processing step of performing, for the plurality of image data sets that are input, image processing in consonance with a result of a determination performed at the determination step and an image synthesization step of synthesizing images that are indicated by the resultant plurality of image data, for which the image processing has been performed at the image processing step. With this arrangement, a plurality of images can be easily and effectively synthesized.

Claims

1. An image administration apparatus which stores and administrates image data together with attribute information of the image data, comprising:

attribute information generation means for automatically generating and giving, to a panoramic synthesized image obtained by panoramically synthesizing plural images as the image data, the attribute information of the panoramic synthesized image,

wherein said attribute information generation means gives, as the attribute information, information concerning shooting time of the plural image data to the panoramic synthesized image.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said attribute information generation means gives, as the attribute information, a shooting date of the earliest time in the shooting time of the plural image data to the panoramic synthesized image.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said attribute information generation means gives, as the attribute information, a shooting date of the latest time in the shooting time of the plural image data to the panoramic synthesized image.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said attribute information generation means gives, as the attribute information, a shooting date obtained by averaging shooting dates of the plural image data to the panoramic synthesized image.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information obtaining by merging the attribute information of the plural images is set as the attribute information to be given to the panoramic synthesized image.

6. An image administration apparatus which stores and administrates image data together with voice data obtained at the time of shooting and acting as attribute information of the image data, comprising:

attribute information generation means for automatically generating and giving, to a panoramic synthesized image obtained by panoramically synthesizing plural images as the image data, the attribute information of the panoramic synthesized image,

wherein said attribute information generation means gives, as the attribute information, the voice data linked in the order of shooting dates of the plural image data to the panoramic synthesized image.

7. An image administration apparatus which stores and administrates image data together with memo data externally input as attribute information of the image data, comprising:

attribute information generation means for automatically generating and giving, to a panoramic synthesized image obtained by panoramically synthesizing plural images as the image data, the attribute information of the panoramic synthesized image,

wherein said attribute information generation means gives, as the attribute information, data obtained by linking the memo data of the plural image data to the panoramic synthesized image.

8. An image administration apparatus which stores and administrates image data together with a keyword list listing plural keywords for retrieving respective image data as attribute information of the image data, comprising:

attribute information generation means for automatically generating and giving, to a panoramic synthesized image obtained by panoramically synthesizing plural images as the image data, the attribute information of the panoramic synthesized image,

wherein said attribute information generation means extracts a keyword obtained by merging the keyword lists of the plural image data, and gives, as the attribute information a keyword list listing the extracted keywords to the panoramic synthesized image.

9. An image administration apparatus which stores and administrates image data together with a keyword list listing plural keywords for retrieving respective image data as attribute information of the image data, comprising:

attribute information generation means for automatically generating and giving, to a panoramic synthesized image obtained by panoramically synthesizing plural images as the image data, the attribute information of the panoramic synthesized image,

wherein said attribute information generation means extracts a keyword common to the keyword lists of the plural image data, and gives, as the attribute information, a keyword list listing the extracted keywords to the panoramic synthesized image.

10. A control method of an image administration apparatus which stores and administrates image data together with attribute information of the image data, the image administration apparatus comprising an attribute information generation means for automatically generating and giving, to a panoramic synthesized image obtained by panoramically synthesizing plural images as the image data, the attribute information of the panoramic synthesized image, wherein

information concerning shooting time of the plural image data is given to the panoramic synthesized image as the attribute information by using the attribute information generation means.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein a shooting date of earliest time in the shooting time of the plural image data is given to the panoramic synthesized image as the attribute information by using the attribute information generation means.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein a shooting date of latest time in the shooting time of the plural image data is given to the panoramic synthesized image as the attribute information by using the attribute information generation means.

13. A method according to claim 10, wherein a shooting date obtained by averaging shooting dates of the plural image data is given to the panoramic synthesized image as the attribute information by using the attribute information generation means.

14. A method according to claim 10, wherein information obtaining by merging the attribute information of the plural images is set as the attribute information to be given to the panoramic synthesized image.

15. A control method of an image administration apparatus which stores and administrates image data together with voice data obtained at the time of shooting and acting as attribute information of the image data, the image administration apparatus comprising an attribute information generation means for automatically generating and giving, to a panoramic synthesized image obtained by panoramically synthesizing plural images as the image data, the attribute information of the panoramic synthesized image, wherein

the voice data linked in the order of shooting dates of the plural image data is given to the panoramic synthesized image as the attribute information by using the attribute information generation means.

16. A control method of an image administration apparatus which stores and administrates image data together with memo data externally input as attribute information of the image data, the image administration apparatus comprising an attribute information generation means for automatically generating and giving, to a panoramic synthesized image obtained by panoramically synthesizing plural images as the image data, the attribute information of the panoramic synthesized image, wherein

data obtained by linking the memo data of the plural image data is given to the panoramic synthesized image as the attribute information by using the attribute information generation means.

17. A control method of an image administration apparatus which stores and administrates image data together with a keyword list listing plural keywords for retrieving respective image data as attribute information of the image data, the image administration apparatus comprising an attribute information generation means for automatically generating and giving, to a panoramic synthesized image obtained by panoramically synthesizing plural images as the image data, the attribute information of the panoramic synthesized image, comprising the steps of:

extracting a keyword obtained by merging the keyword lists of the plural image data by using the attribute information generation means; and

giving, as the attribute information, a keyword list listing the keywords extracted in said extracting step to the panoramic synthesized image by using the attribute information generation means.

18. A control method of an image administration apparatus which stores and administrates image data together with a keyword list listing plural keywords for retrieving respective image data as attribute information of the image data, the image administration apparatus comprising an attribute information generation means for automatically generating and giving, to a panoramic synthesized image obtained by panoramically synthesizing plural images as the image data, the attribute information of the panoramic synthesized image, comprising the steps of:

extracting a keyword common to the keyword lists of the plural image data by using the attribute information generation means; and

giving, as the attribute information, a keyword list listing the keywords extracted in said extracting step to the panoramic synthesized image by using the attribute information generation means.