Imaging apparatus

• US 9,621,799 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2013
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Hirashima, Daisuke, Okamoto, Katsunori, Tanigawa, Tatsuya
• Primary Examiner(s): Elahi, Shan
• Application Number:
  US14/109,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20140104377A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,211 Days
• Field of Search: 348 36
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 17/20 visible in viewfinder
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 37/02 with scanning movement of lens or cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/635 Region indicators; Field of view indicators
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/681 Motion detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture

Abstract

An imaging apparatus includes a first detector configured to detect an elapsed time after starting to shoot an image in a specific shooting mode for shooting the image by moving the imaging apparatus in a predetermined shooting direction, a second detector configured to detect amount of movement of the imaging apparatus, and a controller configured to control display of a display unit to display, in the specific shooting mode, a first indicator fixedly positioned on the display unit and a second indicator movably positioned on the display unit. The controller decides a first amount of movement in the predetermined shooting direction according to the detected elapsed time and a second amount of movement in an opposite direction according to the detected amount of movement of the imaging apparatus, and controls a display position of the second indicator based on the first and second amounts of movement.

Claims

1. An imaging apparatus which has a panoramic shooting mode for shooting an image by moving the imaging apparatus in a predetermined shooting direction, the imaging apparatus comprising:

an imaging device including an image sensor configured to capture a subject image to generate image data;

a display device configured to display an image based on the generated image data;

a timer configured to detect an elapsed time after shooting of the image is started in the panoramic shooting mode;

a sensor configured to detect an amount of movement of the imaging apparatus in the predetermined shooting direction; and

a processor configured to control the display device to display in the panoramic shooting mode a first indicator fixedly positioned on the display device and a second indicator movably positioned on the display device, the second indicator indicating a target speed or a target amount of movement in the predetermined shooting direction, wherein;

the processor updates a display position of the second indicator comprising;

calculating a first amount of movement in the predetermined shooting direction according to the elapsed time and a predetermined amount of movement for a duration of time;

calculating a second amount of movement in a direction opposite to the predetermined shooting direction according to the amount of movement during the elapsed time as detected by the sensor, and

controlling the display position of the second indicator based on the difference between the first amount of movement and the second amount of movement.

2. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the panoramic shooting mode, the shooting of the image is started when the movement of the imaging apparatus is detected by the sensor.

3. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined shooting direction is decided based on the direction of movement of the imaging apparatus detected by the sensor.

4. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the panoramic shooting mode is a mode for generating a 3D image.

5. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the processor controls the display device to display an error indication when the display position of the difference between the first amount of movement and the second amount of movement is not within a predetermined region.

6. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a gyro sensor.