Imaging system, camera control apparatus, panorama image generation method and program therefor

• US 9,609,205 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2012
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Morimoto, Shinichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Anderson, II, James M
• Application Number:
  US13/660,478
• Publication Number:
  US 20130050406A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,615 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/633 for displaying additional information relating to control or operation of the camera
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture

Abstract

Disclosed is an imaging system including a camera terminal apparatus capable of performing pan operation and/or tilt operation and a camera control apparatus for controlling the camera terminal apparatus. In the imaging system, the camera terminal apparatus includes a signal processor configured to generate a panorama image, a panorama image storing unit configured to store the generated panorama image, and an imaging direction controller configured to generate camera position information indicative of an imaging direction, and the camera control apparatus includes a position determination processor configured to determine a position of the imaging direction in the panorama image, based on the camera position information, and a panorama image processor configured to process the panorama image in such a way that the determined position becomes the center position of an image.

Claims

1. A signal processing apparatus comprising:

circuitry configured to

detect a position corresponding to a first image within a wide angle image;

process the wide angle image by changing a center of the wide angle image so that the center of the wide angle image coincides with the position corresponding to the first image; and

control a display to display the first image and the processed wide angle image, wherein

the wide angle image includes an area corresponding to the first image,

when an image direction corresponding to the first image is changed, the wide angle image is processed so that the changed first image corresponds to an area at the center of the processed wide angle image,

the wide angle image is a 360 degree image, and

a view angle of the wide angle image is not changed when the image direction corresponding to the first image is changed.

2. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

an image field-of-view angle of the wide angle image is larger than an image field-of-view angle of the first image.

3. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the position within the wide angle image corresponding to the first image is included in the image corresponding to the first image.

4. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wide angle image is a panoramic image.

5. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to control the display to display the first image and the processed wide angle image simultaneously in a display interface.

14. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first image and the wide angle image is received via a network.

17. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to process the wide angle image by generating a panoramic image based on the wide angle image.

18. The signal processing apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the circuitry is configured to generate the panoramic image such that a center frame of the panoramic image corresponds coincides with the position within the wide angle image corresponding to the first image.

6. An imaging system comprising:

circuitry configured to

detect a position corresponding to a first image within a wide angle image;

process the wide angle image by changing a center of the wide angle image so that the of the wide angle image coincides with the position corresponding to the first image; and

control a display to display the first image and the processed second image, wherein

the wide angle image includes an area corresponding to the first image, and

when an image direction corresponding to the first image is changed, the wide angle image is processed so that the changed first image corresponds to an area at the center of the processed wide angle image,

the wide angle image is a 360 degree image, and

a view angle of the wide angle image is not changed when the image direction corresponding to the first image is changed.

7. The imaging system according to claim 6, further comprising:

a camera configured to capture a plurality of images, wherein

the first image and the wide angle images are output by the camera and respectively received by the circuitry.

8. The imaging system according to claim 6, wherein:

an image field-of-view angle of the wide angle image is larger than an image field-of-view angle of the first image.

9. The imaging system according to claim 8, wherein the position within the wide angle image corresponding to the first image is included in the image corresponding to the first image.

10. The imaging system according to claim 6, wherein the wide angle image is a panoramic image.

11. The imaging system according to claim 6, wherein the circuitry is configured to control the display to display the first image and the processed wide angle image simultaneously in a display interface.

15. The imaging system according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the first image and the wide angle image is received via a network.

16. The imaging system according to claim 7, wherein the camera is connected to a network.

12. An imaging method comprising:

detecting a position corresponding to a first image within a wide angle image;

processing the wide angle image by changing a center of the wide angle image so that the center of the wide angle image coincides with the position corresponding to the first image; and

controlling a display to display the first image and the processed wide angle image, wherein

the wide angle image includes an area corresponding to the first image,

when an image direction corresponding to the first image is changed, the wide angle image is processed so that the changed first image corresponds to an area at the center of the processed wide angle image,

the wide angle image is a 360 degree image, and

a view angle of the wide angle image is not changed when the image direction corresponding to the first image is changed.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions, which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the imaging method according to claim 12.