Image capturing system and image capturing method

• US 20060158534A1
• Filed: 12/22/2005
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Gotohda, Yukita
• Granted Patent: US 8,045,007 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/239
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/61 based on recognised objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/635 Region indicators; Field of view indicators
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet

Abstract

An image capturing system can provide an image having the desirable composition captured by an image capturing apparatus to the user is provided. The image capturing system includes: an image capturing unit; a composition storage section for storing a plurality of compositions of the image captured by the image capturing unit; plurality of position indication units for indicating a position at which a main subject should be located in order to capture an image having the composition stored in the composition storage section; and a composition presentation section for presenting the composition of the image captured by the image capturing unit for the plurality of position indication units when the main subject is located at the position indicated by the position indication unit. The image capturing unit is fixedly installed in a predetermined position. The plurality of position indication units have a plurality of position indication mark units drawn on the positions at which the main subject should be located in each of the plurality of compositions stored in the composition storage section.

Claims

1. An image capturing system comprising:

an image capturing unit;

a composition storage section for storing a plurality of composition of an image captured by the image capturing unit;

a plurality of position indication units for indicating positions at which a subject should be located in order to capture the image having the composition stored in the composition storage section; and

a composition presentation section for presenting the compositions of the image captured by the image capturing unit for each of the plurality of position indication units when the main subject is located at the position indicated by the position indication unit.

2. The image capturing system according to claim 1, wherein

the image capturing unit is fixedly installed in a predetermined position, and

the plurality of position indication units include a plurality of position indication mark units drawn on the positions at which the main subject should be located for each of the plurality of compositions stored in the composition storage section.

3. The image capturing system according to claim 2, wherein

the composition storage section stores the plurality of compositions depending on the number of the main subjects, and

the plurality of position indication mark units are drawn on the positions depending on the number of main subjects, respectively.

4. The image capturing system according to claim 2, wherein the position indication mark units indicate the position at which the main subject should be located and the direction of the image capturing unit.

5. The image capturing system according to claim 2, wherein

the composition presentation section includes a plurality of composition images drawn on near the plurality of position indication mark units, respectively in association with each of the plurality of position indication mark units.

6. The image capturing system according to claim 2, further comprising a portable unit held by the main subject, wherein the composition presentation section transmits the composition of the captured image stored in the composition storage section to the portable unit and causes the portable unit to display the same.

7. The image capturing system according to claim 6 further comprising:

a plurality of antenna units provided corresponding to each of the plurality of position indication mark units, for receiving a composition transmission request from the portable unit by a radio signal; and

a composition selection section, when the antenna unit receives the composition transmission request, for selecting the composition of the image captured by the image capturing unit among the plurality of compositions stored in the composition storage section provided that the main subject is located at the position on which the position indication mark unit corresponding to the antenna is drawn, wherein

the composition presentation section transmits the composition of the captured image selected by the composition selection section to the portable unit and causes the portable unit to display the same.

8. An image capturing system comprising:

an image capturing unit fixedly installed in a predetermined position; and

a position indication mark unit provided at the position within an image capturing region captured by the image capturing unit, for indicating the position at which a main subject should be located in order to acquire the captured image having a predetermined composition captured by the image capturing unit, wherein the position indication mark unit is not shown on the image captured by the image capturing unit when a main subject is located thereon.

9. The image capturing system according to claim 8 further comprising:

a facial image storage section for storing a facial image of a main subject;

a facial position storage section for storing a position at which the face of the main subject should be shown on the captured image;

an image comparison section for comparing the captured image with the facial image; and

a captured image acquiring section for acquiring the image captured by the image capturing unit when it is determined that the facial image is included in the captured image based on the result by the image comparison section.

10. The image capturing system according to claim 9 further comprising:

an image capturing control mark unit provided between the image capturing unit and the position indication mark units;

a mark shown on determination section for determining whether the image capturing control mark unit is shown on the captured image; and

a captured image acquiring section for acquiring the image captured by the image capturing unit when the mark shown on determination section determines that the image capturing control mark unit is shown on the captured image, and for not acquiring the image captured by the image capturing unit when the mark shown on determination section determines that the image capturing control mark unit is not shown on the captured image.

11. An image capturing system comprising;

an image capturing unit;

a composition determination section for determining a composition of an image to be captured by the image capturing unit;

a position identification section for identifying at least one of the position of the image capturing unit and the position of a main subject based on the composition determined by the composition determination section; and

a position presentation section for presenting at least one of the position of the image capturing unit and the position of the main subject which are identified by the position identification section.

12. The image capturing system according to claim 11 further comprising a composition storage section for storing a plurality of compositions which identify a background image and the position of the main subject in the background image, wherein the composition determination section selects the composition selected by a user among the plurality of compositions stored in the composition storage sections.

13. The image capturing system according to claim 12 further comprising:

an image capturing unit information storage section for storing information indicative of the type of the image capturing unit;

an image capturing condition determination section for determining a image capturing condition of the image capturing unit based on the composition determined by the composition determination section and the information indicative of the type of the image capturing unit stored in the image capturing unit information storage section; and

an image capturing condition presentation section for presenting the image capturing condition of the image capturing unit determined by the image capturing condition determination section.

14. The image capturing system according to claim 12, wherein

the image capturing unit is fixedly installed in a predetermined position;

the composition storage section stores a plurality of composition in which the position or size of the subject in each image captured by the image capturing unit are different, respectively;

the position identification section identifies the position of the main subject based on the position or size of the main subject in the composition determined by the composition determination section; and

the position presentation section presents the position of the main subject identified by the position identification section.

15. The image capturing system according to claim 14 further comprising:

a position storage section for storing the position of the main subject in association with the plurality of compositions stored in the composition storage section; and

a mark unit for provided at the position of the main subject stored in the position storage section, wherein

the position identification section selects the position of the main subject stored in the position storage section in association with the composition determined by the composition determination section, and

the position presentation section identifies the mark unit provided at the main subject selected by the position identification section.

16. The image capturing system according to claim 15 further comprising:

a portable unit held by the main subject; and

a portable unit detection section being capable of receiving within a predetermined region including the mark unit, for receiving a radio signal outputted from the portable unit and detecting that the portable unit is located in the predetermined region, wherein

the position presentation section presents information for identifying the mark unit provided at the position of the main subject selected by the position identification section when the portable unit detection section detects that the portable unit is located in the predetermined region.

17. The image capturing system according to claim 16, wherein

the mark unit is drawn on the position of the main subject selected by the position identification section along with information for identifying the mark unit, and

the position presentation section transmits the information for identifying the mark unit provided at the position of the main subject selected by the position identification section to the portable unit and causes the portable unit to display the same.

18. The image capturing system according to claim 16, wherein

the mark unit has a light emitting section for emitting light, and

the position presentation section causes the mark unit provided at the position of the main subject selected by the position identification section to light.

19. The image capturing system according to claim 11 further comprising a map image storage section for storing a three-dimensional map image, wherein

the composition determination section determines a composition including a background image of the main subject, and

the position identification section compares the background image of the main subject included in the composition determined by the composition determination section with the three-dimensional map image stored in the map image storage section to identify the position of the image capturing unit.

20. The image capturing system according to claim 11 further comprising:

a position acquiring section for acquiring one of the position to which the image capturing unit is fixed and the position to which the main subject is fixed near the position presented by the position presentation section;

a map image storage section for storing a three-dimensional map image; and

a composition redetermination section for determining again a composition of the image to be captured by the image capturing unit based on the composition determined by the composition acquiring section, the three-dimensional map image stored in the map image storage section and the position acquired by the position acquiring section, wherein the position identification unit identifies the other of the position of the image capturing unit and the position of the main subject based on the composition determined by the composition redetermination section.

21. The image capturing system according to claim 20, wherein

the position acquiring section acquires the position to which the image capturing unit is fixed near the position presented by the position presentation section,

the composition redetermination section determines the composition which allow the image capturing unit to capture the main subject and the other subjects in the positional relationship approximately same as the positional relationship between the main subject and the other subjects in the composition determined by the composition determination section based on the composition determined by the composition determination section, the three-dimensional map image stored in the map image storage section and the position of the image capturing unit acquired by the position acquiring section, and

the position identification section identifies the position of the main subject based on the composition determined by the composition redetermination section.

22. The image capturing system according to claim 20, wherein

the position acquiring section acquires the position to which the main subject is fixed near the position presented by the position presentation section,

the composition redetermination section determines the composition allows the image capturing unit to capture the main subject and the other subjects in the positional relationship approximately same as the positional relationship between the main subject and the other subjects in the composition determined by the composition determination section based on the composition determined by the composition determination section, the three-dimensional map image stored in the map image storage section and the position of the main subject acquired by the position acquiring section, and

the position identification section identifies the position of the image capturing unit based on the composition determined by the composition redetermination section.

23. An image capturing method comprising:

capturing using an image capturing unit;

storing a plurality of compositions of an image captured by the image capturing unit;

indicating a position at which a main subject should be located in order to capture an image having the composition stored in the storing of the compositions by a plurality of position indication units; and

presenting a composition of the image captured by the image capturing unit for each of the plurality of position indication units when the main subject is located at the position indicated by the position indication unit.

24. An image capturing method comprising:

capturing using an image capturing unit;

determining a composition of an image to be captured by the image capturing unit;

identifying at least one of the position of the image capturing unit and the position of the main subject based on the composition determined in the determining of the composition; and

presenting at least one of the position of the image capturing unit and the position of the main subject identified in the identifying of the position.

25. An image capturing method comprising:

capturing by an image capturing unit fixedly installed in a predetermined position;

indicating a position at which a main subject should be located in order to capture an image having a predetermined composition captured by the image capturing unit using a position indication mark unit provided within an image capturing region by the image capturing unit, wherein the position indication mark unit is not shown on the image captured by the image capturing unit when the main subject is located thereon.