Method of controlling image capturing based on a distance to an object

• US 8,810,683 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2012
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kotani, Takuya
• Primary Examiner(s): Moe, Aung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): COWAN, EUEL K
• Application Number:
  US13/470,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20120307092A1
• Time in Patent Office: 827 Days
• Field of Search: 348/208.12, 348/208.14, 348/211.11, 348/220.1, 348/230.1, 348/241, 348/243, 348/281, 348/333.11, 250/208.1, 250/208.4
• US Class Current: 348/230.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/632 for displaying or modifying preview images prior to image capturing, e.g. variety of image resolutions or capturing parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/651 for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• 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 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/73 by influencing the exposure time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/40 Extracting pixel data from image sensors by controlling scanning circuits, e.g. by modifying the number of pixels sampled or to be sampled
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2226 Determination of depth image, e.g. for foreground/background separation determining depth by image analysis in general G06T7/50; segmentation by image analysis in general G06T7/10

Abstract

An image capturing apparatus and a control method thereof relate to an image capturing apparatus such as a camera array. The image capturing apparatus comprises a plurality of image capturing units. An image capturing unit to be activated out of a plurality of image capturing units is decided based on the capturing distance of an object included in a captured scene. Electricity is supplied to the image capturing unit decided to be activated.

Claims

1. An image capturing apparatus comprising:

a plurality of image capturing units;

a supply unit configured to supply electricity to each image capturing unit;

a determination unit configured to determine a capturing mode and an operation state of the image capturing apparatus;

a decision unit configured to decide an image capturing unit to be activated out of the plurality of image capturing units based on the capturing mode, the operation state, and a capturing distance of an object included in a captured scene;

an estimation unit configured to estimate the capturing distance of the object from image data captured by an activated image capturing unit; and

a control unit configured to, in a case where the operation state transitions from a capturing preparation state to a still image capturing state, control the supply unit to activate the image capturing unit decided to be activated,

wherein the decision unit decides one of the plurality of image capturing units as the image capturing unit to be activated in a case where the operation state is a framing state, and decides the image capturing unit to be activated for capturing the captured scene based on a minimum capturing distance estimated by the estimation unit, and

wherein, in long-term exposure capturing, the activated image capturing unit is not adjacent to other activated image capturing units.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supply unit supplies no electricity to the image capturing units other than the image capturing unit to be activated, or suppresses the electricity supplied to the image capturing units other than the image capturing unit to be activated to a minimum.

3. An image capturing apparatus comprising:

a plurality of image capturing units;

a supply unit which supplies electricity to each image capturing unit;

a temperature sensor which acquires a temperature of the image capturing apparatus;

a determination unit configured to determine a capturing mode and an operation state of the image capturing apparatus;

a decision unit configured to decide an image capturing unit to be activated out of the plurality of image capturing units based on the capturing mode and the operation state; and

a control unit configured to, in a case where the operation state transitions from a live view state to a moving image capturing state, control the supply unit to activate the image capturing unit decided to be activated,

wherein the decision unit decides one of the plurality of image capturing units as the image capturing unit to be activated in a case where the operation state is the live view state, and decides the image capturing unit to be activated in moving image capturing based on the temperature of the image capturing apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an acquisition unit configured to acquire a focal length of the plurality of image capturing units,

wherein the decision unit decides the image capturing unit to be activated in the moving image capturing based on the temperature of the image capturing apparatus and the focal length.

5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the decision unit decides the image capturing unit to be activated in the moving image capturing based on the temperature of the image capturing apparatus and a set state of electronic vibration isolation processing of the image capturing apparatus.

6. A control method of an image capturing apparatus having a plurality of image capturing units and a supply unit which supplies electricity to each image capturing unit, the method comprising:

using a processor to perform the steps of;

determining a capturing mode and an operation state of the image capturing apparatus;

deciding an image capturing unit to be activated out of the plurality of image capturing units based on the capturing mode, the operation state, and a capturing distance of an object included in a captured scene;

estimating the capturing distance of the object from image data captured by an activated image capturing unit; and

controlling, in a case where the operation state transitions from a capturing preparation state to a still image capturing state, the supply unit to activate the image capturing unit decided to be activated,

wherein, in the deciding step, one of the plurality of image capturing units is decided as the image capturing unit to be activated in a case where the operation state is a framing state, and the image capturing unit to be activated in capturing the captured scene is decided based on a minimum capturing distance estimated in the estimating step, and

wherein, in long-term exposure capturing, the activated image capturing unit is not adjacent to other activated image capturing units.

7. A control method of an image capturing apparatus having a plurality of image capturing units, a supply unit which supplies electricity to each image capturing unit, and a temperature sensor which acquires a temperature of the image capturing apparatus, the method comprising the steps of:

using a processor to perform the steps of;

determining a capturing mode and an operation state of the image capturing apparatus;

deciding an image capturing unit to be activated out of the plurality of image capturing units based on the capturing mode and the operation state; and

controlling, in a case where the operation state transitions from a live view state to a moving image capturing state, the supply unit to activate the image capturing unit decided to be activated,

wherein, in the deciding step, one of the plurality of image capturing units as the image capturing unit to be activated in a case where the operation state is the live view state, and the image capturing unit to be activated in moving image capturing is decided based on the temperature of the image capturing apparatus.