Image photographing apparatus and method of controlling the same

• US 8,532,191 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2010
• Issued: 09/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, In Ho
• Primary Examiner(s): Philippe, Gims
• Assistant Examiner(s): Aghevli, Reza
• Application Number:
  US12/760,697
• Publication Number:
  US 20100271485A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,244 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 375/240.16
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/24 Aligning, centring, orientation detection or correction of the image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/634 Warning indications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/635 Region indicators; Field of view indicators
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6811 based on the image signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/695 Control of camera direction for changing a field of view, e.g. pan, tilt or based on tracking of objects

Abstract

A method of controlling an image photographing apparatus to track a subject using a non-viewable pixel region of an image sensor includes detecting a motion vector of a subject when a moving image is photographed, determining whether a non-viewable pixel region of an image sensor is present in the direction of the detected motion vector of the subject, and moving a photographing region to the non-viewable pixel region so as to track the motion of the subject. Accordingly, the moving subject may be tracked within a range of a predetermined Field of View (FOV) of the image photographing apparatus without an additional hardware system.

Claims

1. A method of controlling an image photographing apparatus, the method comprising:

determining a motion vector of a subject in a photographing region of an image sensor of the image photographing apparatus when a moving image is photographed using the image sensor;

determining whether a non-viewable pixel region of the image sensor is present in the direction of the motion vector; and

moving the photographing region to the non-viewable pixel region within the entire region of the image sensor.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the photographing of the moving image includes photographing the moving image using a partial pixel region of an entire pixel region of the image sensor.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the size of the partial pixel region is manually or automatically set.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the subject is one or more objects of objects present in the moving image, and the one or more objects are manually or automatically set as the subject.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the determining of the motion vector of the subject includes detecting the motion vectors of the one or more objects and obtaining an average of the motion vectors such that the photographing region is adjusted to include at least a portion of the non-viewable pixel region according to the average of the motion vector when directions of the motion vectors have predetermined angles with respect to a reference.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining of the motion vector of the subject includes comparing a previous frame and a current frame of the moving image and determining the motion vector.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining of whether the non-viewable pixel region of the image sensor is present in the direction of the motion vector includes determining whether a pixel region, which is not used to photograph the moving image, in an entire pixel region of the image sensor is present in the direction of the motion vector.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the moving of the photographing region to the non-viewable pixel region includes moving the photographing region within the entire region of the image sensor according to the size and the direction of the motion vector of the subject.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the moving of the photographing region to the non-viewable pixel region includes adjusting a motion speed of the photographing region according to the size of the motion vector of the subject and moving the photographing region within the entire region of the image sensor.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the moving of the photographing region to the non-viewable pixel region includes moving the photographing region within an entire region of the image sensor in the direction of the motion vector of the subject.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the moving of the photographing region to the non-viewable pixel region includes setting the non-viewable pixel region as the photographing region.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the photographing region is set such that the subject is included in the photographing region.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the photographing region is set such that the subject is located at a central portion of the photographing region.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein, if it is determined that the non-viewable pixel region of the image sensor is not present in the direction of the motion vector, information indicating that the non-viewable pixel region is not present is displayed on a display.

15. A method of controlling an image photographing apparatus, the method comprising:

determining whether a subject tracking mode is entered when a moving image is photographed using an image sensor of the image photographing apparatus; and

setting a photographing region of the image sensor using a non-viewable pixel region of the image sensor if it is determined that the subject tracking mode is entered.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the subject tracking mode is automatically or manually set.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein a motion vector of a subject is determined in the photographed image if it is determined that the subject tracking mode is entered.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the determining of the motion vector of the subject includes detecting motion vectors of one or more objects of objects present in the photographed image and obtaining an average thereof such that the photographing region is adjusted within an entire region of the image sensor to include at least a portion of the non-viewable pixel region of the image sensor according to the average of the motion vector when directions of the motion vectors have predetermined angles with respect to a reference.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the determining of the motion vector of the subject includes comparing a previous frame and a current frame of the moving image and detecting the motion vector.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein, when the motion vector is determined, whether the non-viewable pixel region of the image sensor is present in the direction of the motion vector is determined.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the determining of whether the non-viewable pixel region of the image sensor is present in the direction of the motion vector includes determining whether a pixel region, which is not used to photograph the moving image, in an entire pixel region of the image sensor is present in the direction of the motion vector.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein the setting of the photographing region of the moving image using the non-viewable pixel region of the image sensor includes moving the photographing region within an entire pixel region of the image sensor according to the size and direction of the motion vector of the subject.

23. The method according to claim 20, wherein the setting of the photographing region of the moving image using the non-viewable pixel region of the image sensor includes adjusting a motion speed of the photographing region according to the size of the motion vector of the subject and moving the photographing region within an entire pixel region of the image sensor.

24. The method according to claim 20, wherein the setting of the photographing region of the moving image using the non-viewable pixel region of the image sensor includes moving the photographing region within an entire pixel region of the image sensor in the direction of the motion vector of the subject.

25. The method according to claim 15, wherein the photographing region is set such that the subject is included in the photographing region.

26. The method according to claim 15, wherein the photographing region is set such that the subject is located at a central portion of the photographing region.

27. A method of tracking an object in a video image, the method comprising:

determining a motion vector of the object in the video image; and

adjusting a location of a utilized portion of an image sensor to correspond to the motion vector of the object.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the utilized portion of the image sensor corresponds to a number of pixels less than a total number of pixels of the image sensor to generate an image having a smaller pixel area than an image generated by the total number of pixels.

29. The method according to claim 27, wherein adjusting the utilized portion of the image sensor includes moving the utilized portion from a first position corresponding to a first image frame to a second position corresponding to a second, subsequent image frame according to the motion vector of the object.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein moving the utilized portion to the second position includes moving the utilized portion into a portion of the image sensor having unused pixels when capturing the first image frame.

31. A method of tracking an object in a video image, the method comprising:

capturing an entire image with an image-capture device;

calculating a motion vector of the object in the video image; and

cropping the entire image to generate a cropped portion to correspond to the motion vector of the object.

32. The method according to claim 31, wherein calculating the motion vector of the object includes comparing a characteristic of the object in a first frame of the video image with the characteristic of the object in a subsequent frame of the video image.

33. The method according to claim 31, wherein cropping the image includes moving a location of the cropped portion of the image between a first frame and a subsequent frame to correspond to the calculated motion vector.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein moving the location of the cropped portion includes positioning the cropped portion of the second frame to correspond to a portion of the first frame that is outside the cropped portion.

35. The method according to claim 31, further comprising:

displaying the cropped portion.

36. The method according to claim 31, further comprising:

displaying a symbol corresponding to the motion vector of the object.

37. The method according to claim 31, further comprising:

displaying an alert when a portion of the tracked object is outside the entire image.

38. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having executable code stored thereon to cause an imaging device to perform a method, the method comprising:

determining a motion vector of an object in an image being photographed using an image sensor of the imaging device; and

adjusting a location of a utilized portion of an image sensor to correspond to the motion vector of the object.

39. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having executable code stored thereon to cause an image-capture device to perform a method, the method comprising:

capturing an entire image with an image sensor of the image-capture device;

calculating a motion vector of an object in the entire image of the image sensor; and

cropping the entire image to generate a cropped portion to correspond to the motion vector of the object.