Image capturing apparatus that records captured image and location information in association with each other

• US 8,614,761 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2011
• Issued: 12/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Kawakami, Gou
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Nhan T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wang, Xi
• Application Number:
  US13/252,417
• Publication Number:
  US 20120081574A1
• Time in Patent Office: 812 Days
• Field of Search: 348/211.2, 348/231.2, 348/231.5, 348/241, 348/552, 348/598, 348/231.3, 348/242, 348/333.02, 348/207.2, 714/798, 707/736
• US Class Current: 348/333.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

An image capturing apparatus including a location information acquiring unit 31, an image capturing unit 13, a storage control unit 32, a predictable location calculation unit 37 that predicts, in a case of failure to acquire location information at a time of image capturing, a range of locations predictable at the time of image capturing based on the location information acquired earlier than the time of image capturing, a display control unit 33 that displays a predictable range of locations on a display unit based on the acquired earlier location information and the range of locations thus predicted, a designation reception unit 34 that receives a location designated by a user from within the predictable range of locations, and a captured location setting unit 38 that sets location information of the received location as the location information at the time of image capturing.

Claims

1. An image capturing apparatus, comprising:

a location information acquiring unit that measures a current location and acquires location information;

an image capturing unit that captures an image of a subject and outputs image data acquired as a result of the image capture;

a storage control unit that stores the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit at a time of image capturing by the image capturing unit in a predetermined storage area, in association with the image data outputted from the image capturing unit, if the location information is successfully acquired by the location information acquiring unit at the time of image capturing;

a display control unit that, in a case in which the location information acquiring unit fails to acquire the location information at the time of image capturing, automatically displays on a display unit a map with a map range determined based on location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit at a time earlier than the time of image capturing, wherein a map is not displayed on the display unit in a case in which the location information acquiring unit successfully acquires the location information at the time of image capturing;

a designation reception unit that receives a location designated by a user from within the map range of the map displayed on the display unit by the display control unit; and

a captured location setting unit that sets location information of the location received by the designation reception unit as the location information at the time of image capturing, in the case in which the location information acquiring unit fails to acquire the location information at the time of image capturing.

2. The image capturing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a location prediction unit that predicts, in the case in which the location information acquiring unit fails to acquire the location information at the time of image capturing, locations predictable at the time of image capturing based on the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit at the time earlier than the time of image capturing,

wherein the display control unit displays the map with the map range on the display unit determined based on the location information acquired at the time earlier than the time of image capturing and based on the locations at the time of image capturing predicted by the location prediction unit, and the display control unit sets a display scale so that the map with the map range including the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit at the time earlier than the time of image capturing by the image capturing unit, and the locations at the time of image capturing predicted by the location prediction unit, are displayed.

3. The image capturing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the display control unit changes a breadth of the map range in accordance with a continuous time duration in which the location information acquiring unit fails to acquire the location information, until the time of image capturing by the image capturing unit.

4. The image capturing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the display control unit changes a breadth of the map range in accordance with a moving speed calculated based on a plurality of items of location information acquired in a time series by the location information acquiring unit.

5. The image capturing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a location prediction unit that predicts, in the case in which the location information acquiring unit fails to acquire the location information at the time of image capturing by the image capturing unit, locations predictable at the time of image capturing based on the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit at the time earlier than the time of image capturing,

wherein the display control unit displays the map with the map range on the display unit determined based on the location information acquired at the time earlier than the time of image capturing and based on the locations at the time of image capturing predicted by the location prediction unit, and

wherein the location prediction unit predicts the locations in accordance with a moving orientation calculated based on a plurality of items of location information acquired in a time series by the location information acquiring unit.

6. The image capturing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a user state detection unit that detects a moving state of the user,

wherein the display control unit changes a breadth of the map range based on the user'"'"'s moving state detected by the user state detection unit.

7. The image capturing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a location prediction unit that predicts, in the case in which the location information acquiring unit fails to acquire the location information at the time of image capturing by the image capturing unit, locations predictable at the time of image capturing based on the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit at the time earlier than the time of image capturing,

wherein the display control unit displays the map with the map range on the display unit determined based on the location information acquired at the time earlier than the time of image capturing and based on the locations at the time of image capturing predicted by the location prediction unit, and

wherein the location prediction unit measures, in the case in which the location information acquiring unit fails to acquire the location information at the time of image capturing by the image capturing unit, a relative change in location by way of an autonomous navigation, and predicts a location based on the relative change in location and the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit at the time earlier than the time of image capturing.

8. An image capturing method carried out by an image capturing apparatus that includes a location information acquiring unit that measures a current location and acquires location information and an image capturing unit that captures an image of a subject and outputs image data acquired as a result of the image capture, the image capturing method comprising:

storing the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit at a time of image capturing by the image capturing unit in a predetermined storage area, in association with the image data outputted from the image capturing unit, if the location information is successfully acquired by the location information acquiring unit at the time of image capturing;

in a case in which the location information acquiring unit fails to acquire the location information at the time of image capturing, automatically displaying on a display unit a map with a map range which is determined based on location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit at a time earlier than the time of image capturing, wherein a map is not displayed on the display unit in a case in which the location information acquiring unit successfully acquires the location information at the time of image capturing;

receiving a location designated by a user from within the map range of the map displayed on the display unit; and

setting location information of the location designated by the user as the location information at the time of image capturing in the case in which the location information acquiring unit fails to acquire the location information at the time of image capturing.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a program causing a computer that controls an image capturing apparatus including a location information acquiring unit that acquires location information of a current location and an image capturing unit that captures an image of a subject and outputs image data acquired as a result of the image capture, to perform functions comprising:

storing the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit at a time of image capturing by the image capturing unit in a predetermined storage area, in association with the image data outputted from the image capturing unit, if the location information is successfully acquired by the location information acquiring unit at the time of image capturing;

in a case in which the location information acquiring unit fails to acquire the location information at the time of image capturing, automatically displaying on a display unit a map with a map range which is determined based on location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit at a time earlier than the time of image capturing, wherein a map is not displayed on the display unit in a case in which the location information acquiring unit successfully acquires the location information at the time of image capturing;

receiving a location designated by a user from within the map range of the map displayed on the display unit; and

setting location information of the location designated by the user as the location information at the time of image capturing in the case in which the location information acquiring unit fails to acquire the location information at the time of image capturing.