Imaging device and storage medium

• US 8,723,976 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2008
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Imamura, Keiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Sinh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peterson, Christopher K
• Application Number:
  US12/341,376
• Publication Number:
  US 20090167877A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,968 Days
• Field of Search: 348/229.1, 348362-368
• US Class Current: 348/222.1
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 7/00 Control of exposure by setting shutters, diaphragms or filters, separately or conjointly control of exposure in television cameras by means of circuitry influencing the optical part of the camera H04N23/75
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/64 Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/73 by influencing the exposure time
• 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 9/8042 involving data reduction

Abstract

A digital camera comprises a CCD, a flash memory for storing images captured by the CCD, setting unit configured to set a recording condition, an auto shutter condition table for storing auto recording conditions for each of the auto shutter mode which are set by detecting an input from a key input device during auto shutter mode setting, and a CPU for determining whether the captured image satisfies the set recording condition and for recording the captured image to the flash memory it is determined that the image satisfies the recording condition.

Claims

1. An imaging device comprising:

an imaging unit configured to periodically capture an image;

an image recording unit configured to record the image captured by the imaging unit;

a mode display unit configured to display a plurality of selectable image capture modes and to display a respective explanation of a designated one of the image capture modes, wherein each of the image capture modes has a corresponding level of sensitivity of the image recording unit;

a selection unit configured to select one of the image capture modes;

a setting unit configured to set the level of sensitivity of the image recording unit corresponding to the selected image capture mode;

a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the image captured by the imaging unit satisfies the level of sensitivity set by the setting unit;

a time determination unit configured to, when the determination unit determines that the image satisfies the level of sensitivity, determine whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since a previous autofocus processing;

a recording control unit configured to, when the time determination unit determines that the predetermined time has elapsed, control the image recording unit to record an image captured by the imaging unit after performing the autofocus processing again; and

a display unit configured to display;

(i) the image captured by the imaging unit, (ii) the level of sensitivity set by the setting unit, and (iii) a degree of coincidence between the captured image and the level of sensitivity set by the setting unit.

2. The imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the mode display unit is configured to display the levels of sensitivity corresponding to the image capture modes.

3. The imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising a shutter speed calculation unit configured to calculate a shutter speed based on the image captured by the imaging unit,

wherein in one of the image capture modes, the level of sensitivity set by the setting unit comprises a threshold value based shutter speed at which image blurring does not occur in recording, and the determination unit is configured to determine whether or not the image satisfies the level of sensitivity by comparing the shutter speed calculated by the shutter speed calculation unit and the threshold value based shutter speed.

4. The imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising a focal distance obtaining unit configured to obtain a focal distance based on the image captured by the imaging unit,

wherein in one of the image capture modes, the level of sensitivity set by the setting unit comprises a threshold value based focal distance at which image blurring does not occur in recording, and the determination unit is configured to determine whether or not the image satisfies the level of sensitivity by comparing the focal distance obtained by the focal distance obtaining unit and the threshold value based focal distance.

5. The imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising a moving amount detection unit configured to detect a moving amount of the image captured by the imaging unit,

wherein in one of the image capture modes, the level of sensitivity set by the setting unit comprises a threshold value based moving amount at which image blurring does not occur in recording, and the determination unit is configured to determine whether or not the image satisfies the level of sensitivity by comparing the moving amount detected by the moving amount detection unit and the threshold value based moving amount.

6. The imaging device according to claim 5, wherein the moving amount detection unit is configured to detect the moving amount for each pixel region in the image captured by the imaging unit,

wherein the imaging device further comprises:

a moving direction detection unit configured to detect a moving direction of each pixel region in the image captured by the imaging unit; and

a specifying unit configured to specify a main subject region based on the moving amount for each pixel region detected by the moving amount detection unit and the moving direction of each pixel region detected by the moving direction detection unit, and

wherein in said one of the image capture modes, the level of sensitivity set by the setting unit comprises a moving amount at which image blurring of the main subject region in the image does not occur in recording.

7. The imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising a facial image detection unit configured detect a facial image from the image captured by the imaging unit, and

wherein in one of the image capture modes, the level of sensitivity set by the setting unit comprises a threshold value based smiling state, and the determination unit is configured to determine whether or not the image satisfies the level of sensitivity by comparing a smiling state of the facial image detected by the facial image detection unit and the threshold value based smiling state.

8. The imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising a facial image number detection unit configured to detect a number of facial images from the image captured by the imaging unit,

wherein in one of the image capture modes, the level of sensitivity set by the setting unit comprises a threshold value based ratio of a number of smiling facial images to a total number of facial images in the image, and the determination unit is configured to determine whether or not the image satisfies the level of sensitivity by comparing a ratio of the number of smiling facial images in the image to the number of facial images detected by the facial image number detection unit and the threshold value based ratio.

10. The imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising a sensitivity level changing unit which is operable to change the level of sensitivity corresponding to the designated one of the image capture modes.

11. The imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit which is operable to change the designated one of the image capture modes to designate a different one of the image capture modes.

12. The imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the image capture modes comprise plurality of automatic image capture modes, and the respective explanation of each of the automatic image capture modes explains a condition according to which automatic image capturing will be performed.

13. The imaging device according to claim 12, wherein the mode display unit displays an additional selectable image capture mode in which automatic image capturing is turned off, and which does not have a level of sensitivity corresponding thereto.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon that is executed by a computer of an image capture apparatus to control the image capture apparatus to perform functions comprising:

displaying a plurality of selectable image capture modes, and displaying a respective explanation of a designated one of the image capture modes, wherein each of the image capture modes has a corresponding level of sensitivity;

selecting one of the image capture modes;

setting the level of sensitivity corresponding to the selected image capture modes;

determining whether or not a captured image satisfies the set level of sensitivity;

determining, when it is determined that the captured image satisfies the set level of sensitivity, whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since a previous autofocus processing;

recording, when it is determined that the predetermined time has elapsed since the previous autofocus processing, an image captured after performing the autofocus processing again; and

displaying;

(i) the captured image, (ii) the set level of sensitivity, and (iii) a degree of coincidence between the captured image and the set level of sensitivity.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the functions further comprise changing the level of sensitivity corresponding to the designated one of the image capture modes.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the functions further comprise changing the designated one of the image capture modes to designate a different one of the image capture modes in response to a user input.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the image capture modes include a plurality of automatic image capture modes, and the respective explanation of each of the automatic image capture modes explains a condition according to which automatic image capturing will be performed.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the functions further comprise displaying an additional selectable image capture mode in which automatic image capturing is turned off, and which does not have a level of sensitivity corresponding thereto.