JP2007233135A - Photographic device and method for setting operating buttons thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a photographic device capable of changing its operating buttons for giving photographing instructions in such a manner as to meet the photographer's desire, and a method for setting the operating buttons. <P>SOLUTION: An amount of a hand shake is obtained for each operation of a plurality of operating buttons, and the operating button of which amount of the hand movement is the least of them is set to the shutter button. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus capable of reducing blurring during photographing and an operation element setting method thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an imaging apparatus that includes a shutter button for giving a shooting instruction and has a camera shake warning function that detects a camera shake that occurs when the shutter button is operated and notifies a photographer (for example, Patent Document 1). ~ 3).
JP-A-5-313241 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-150309 JP 60-143330 A

However, in recent years, there are many people who are unfamiliar with the operation of the camera due to the spread of camera-equipped mobile phones and digital cameras, and the shutter button is difficult for the photographer to operate. Sometimes it was difficult to shoot.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an imaging device and an operator setting method capable of easily setting an operator for shooting instructions according to a photographer.

In order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention provides an imaging device that performs imaging based on a shooting instruction, a shake amount detection unit that detects a shake amount of the imaging unit, and an operation unit that includes a plurality of operators. Each time an operation of any two or more of the plurality of operators is performed, the amount of shake of the photographing unit is acquired by the amount of blur detection unit, and an operator having a small amount of shake is designated as an operator for instructing photographing. And an operator setting means for setting to the above.
According to the present invention, the amount of camera shake is acquired for each operation of any two or more of the plurality of operators, and the operator with the least amount of shake is set as the operator for shooting instructions. Therefore, it is possible to easily set an operator for shooting instruction that is optimal for the photographer.

In the above configuration, it is preferable that the operation element setting means includes a notification means for notifying the operation element when an operation element with a small amount of shake is specified. According to this configuration, since the operator with a small amount of shake is notified, the photographer can use the operator for shooting instructions.
Further, in the above configuration, it is preferable that the notification unit notifies an operator set as an operator for photographing instruction and pre-stored advice information for dealing with shaking. According to this configuration, the photographer can recognize the operator for photographing instruction, and can photograph an image with less blur by the advice information for dealing with blur.
In the above configuration, it is preferable that the notifying unit notifies the advice information according to the operator set as the imaging instruction operator as the information for dealing with the shake. According to this configuration, it is possible to notify the advice information according to the photographing instruction operator, and the photographer can photograph an image with less blur.

In addition, the present invention provides an operation unit setting method for an imaging apparatus including an imaging unit that performs imaging based on an imaging instruction, a shake detection unit that detects a blur amount of the imaging unit, and a plurality of operators. Each time two or more of the controls are operated, the shake detection unit acquires the shake amount of the imaging unit, and sets the operator with a small shake amount as an operator for shooting instruction. And
According to the present invention, for each operation of any two or more of the plurality of operators, the amount of shake of the photographing unit is acquired, and an operator having a small amount of shake is set as an operator for photographing instruction. Therefore, it is possible to easily set an operator for shooting instruction that is optimal for the photographer.

  According to the imaging apparatus and the operating element setting method thereof according to the present invention, the amount of shake is acquired for each operation of any two or more of the plurality of operating elements, and an imaging instruction for an operating element with a small amount of shaking is obtained. Therefore, it is possible to easily set an operator for photographing instruction that is optimal for the photographer.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portable telephone device according to an embodiment of the photographing apparatus of the present invention.
The portable telephone device 10 includes a device main body 11 and an opening / closing body 13 that is connected to the device main body 11 via a hinge 12 so as to be freely opened and closed. The device main body 11 has a structure as shown in FIGS. An operation unit 40 having a plurality of operation buttons 41 to 46, a microphone 15, and an antenna 16 are provided. On the front side of the opening / closing body 13, a first display unit 30A for displaying various information and a speaker 17 are provided. As shown in FIG. 2, a lens unit 20 </ b> A of the photographing unit 20 and a second display unit 30 </ b> B are provided on the back side of the opening / closing body 13.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the operation unit 40 includes a numeric keypad 41 for inputting a telephone number and characters, an operation button 42 arranged above the numeric keypad 41 for power on / off and call / incoming response. A cursor key 43 disposed above the button 42, an enter key 44, operation buttons 45a to 45d to which a macro operation such as an operation mode selection operation is assigned, and a side button 46 disposed on the side surface of the apparatus body 11. It has.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the portable telephone device 10.
The portable telephone device 10 includes an operation unit 40, a voice input unit 91, a voice output unit 92, a communication unit 90, a communication unit 90, a photographing unit 20, a display unit 30, an angular velocity detection unit 50, a control unit 60, an external recording / reproduction. And a removable memory 80 which is detachable.
The operation unit 40 notifies the operation of the plurality of operation buttons 41 to 46 to the control unit 60, and the voice input unit 91 performs analog-digital conversion or the like on the microphone 15 and the voice input via the microphone 15. The voice output unit 92 includes a circuit unit (not shown) that performs digital-analog conversion on the voice output from the control unit 60 and the voice that has passed through the circuit unit. And a sounding speaker 17.

The communication unit 90 performs two-way wireless communication with the mobile communication network via the antenna 16 according to the communication method defined in the portable telephone device 10, and includes an RF unit, a baseband processing unit, and the like. I have.
The imaging unit (imaging means) 20 includes an optical system 21, an image sensor 22, an analog front end (AFE) unit 23, an image processing unit 24, and a compression / decompression unit 25. The optical system 21 includes a plurality of lenses 21a, a diaphragm 21b, and the like. Under the control of the control unit 60, one of the lenses 21a and the diaphragm 21b is driven to form an object on the light receiving surface of the image sensor 22. . In the present embodiment, a case is described in which an imaging unit capable of optical zoom having substantially the same function as a so-called digital camera is provided, but a single-focus imaging unit may be provided.

  The image sensor 22 is an image pickup device including photoelectric conversion elements discretely arranged in a two-dimensional space and charge transfer elements such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), and so-called CCD image sensors, CMOS image sensors, and the like are applied. Has been. Under the control of the control unit 60, the image sensor 22 accumulates charges obtained by photoelectrically converting the subject image formed on the light receiving surface for each photoelectric conversion element for a certain period of time, and according to the amount of light received for each photoelectric conversion element. Output electrical signals. The exposure amount of the image sensor 22 is determined by the F value of the diaphragm 21b and the opening time of a mechanical shutter (not shown) provided between the optical system 21 and the image sensor 22, and the exposure amount at the time of shooting is determined by the control unit. 60 is determined based on the set shutter speed (exposure time) or the like. Further, the exposure time of the image sensor 22 may be adjusted by electrically controlling the charge accumulation time itself of the image sensor 22.

The AFE unit 23 quantizes the electrical signal output from the image sensor 22 into a digital signal by an AD converter and outputs RAW data, and the image processing unit 24 performs the three primary color (RGB) shading levels with respect to the RAW data. The image data is output after image forming processing for forming a color image having white balance, white balance correction, gamma correction, and the like.
The compression / decompression unit 25 compresses the image data output from the image processing unit 24, and decompresses the compressed image data. The compressed image data is output to the external recording / reproducing unit 70, The recording / reproducing unit 70 records the image data in the removable memory 80 under the control of the control unit 60. Further, the external recording / reproducing unit 70 reads the compressed image data recorded in the removable memory 80 and outputs the compressed image data to the compression / decompression unit 25 under the control of the control unit 60.

The display unit 30 includes a first display unit 30A and a second display unit 30B, which are constituted by a liquid crystal display device. The display unit 30 displays various information such as operation screens and captured images under the control of the control unit 60.
The angular velocity detection unit 50 functions as a shake amount detection means for detecting the shake amount of the mobile phone device 10, and as shown in FIG. 4, the vertical direction of the frame FL to be imaged (hereinafter defined as the X axis). An X-axis gyro sensor 51 that detects the angular velocity of the Y-axis and a Y-axis gyro sensor 52 that detects the angular velocity in the left-right direction (hereinafter referred to as the Y-axis). The angular velocity detection unit 50 outputs an angular velocity detection signal having a voltage value corresponding to each angular velocity of the X axis and the Y axis to the control unit 60 by the two gyro sensors 51 and 52.

  The control unit 60 functions as a computer that controls each unit of the mobile phone device 10, and as shown in FIG. 3, a CPU 61 that executes various programs and performs arithmetic processing, and a control program 100 that the CPU 61 executes. And a rewritable flash ROM (hereinafter simply referred to as “ROM”) 62 for storing various data and a RAM 63 functioning as a work area for temporarily storing the calculation results of the CPU 61 and various data. .

The control program 100 can be recorded and distributed on a computer-readable recording medium 110 such as a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, or a semiconductor recording medium, or can be downloaded from a distribution server on a communication network. Further, the personal computer and the portable telephone device 10 are communicably connected by a cable or the like, and the control program 100 of the recording medium 110 read by the personal computer is output to the portable telephone device 10 to store the ROM (memory). Means) 62 can store the control program 100.
By executing the control program, the control unit 60 shifts to a telephone mode for receiving and responding to calls, a mail mode for creating and sending / receiving e-mails, and a shooting mode for shooting according to user operations. To do. In the case of the shooting mode, the control unit 60 performs processing such as auto focus adjustment (automatic focus adjustment) and automatic exposure (AE) calculation to acquire a shot image, and displays the image being shot on the display unit 30. . In this case, it becomes possible for the user (photographer) to determine the composition of the shooting or to determine the photo opportunity by looking at the preview image, and obtain the shot image based on the shooting instruction from the user and record it in the removable memory 80. To do.

In the present embodiment, the control program 100 includes a control program for setting a shooting instruction operator (hereinafter referred to as a shutter button). When the user performs a predetermined operation, the control program To move to the shutter button determination mode and execute the following processing.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation in the shutter button determination mode.
In this mode (step S1: YES), the control unit 60 first determines whether or not the shake amount acquisition processing has been executed for all of the preset operation buttons 41 to 46 (step S2). On the other hand, if the process is not executed, the process for prompting the shooting operation is executed according to how many times the shooting operation corresponding to the operation of the operation button is performed (step S3 and subsequent steps).

Specifically, if the shooting operation is the first time (step S3: YES), a message or an image is displayed on the display unit 30 so as to perform shooting by operating the operation button 45a (see FIG. 1). A photographing operation by the operation button 45a is prompted (step S4). In this case, the control unit 60 drives the angular velocity detection unit 50 to start taking in the angular velocity detection signal, waits for the operation button 45a to be operated, and when the operation button 45a is operated (step S5), The amount of camera shake (hereinafter referred to as “camera shake amount”) for each of the X-axis and Y-axis is calculated from the angular velocity detection signal (step S6). After the camera shake amount is stored in the RAM 63 (step S8), the process proceeds to step S1.
Thus, the amount of camera shake when the operation button 45a is regarded as a shutter button is detected and stored in the RAM 63. Note that the amount of camera shake to be stored may be the amount of camera shake for each of the X axis and the Y axis, or may be the average value of the amount of camera shake for the X axis and the Y axis.

  If the shooting operation is the second time (step S9: YES), the control unit 60 displays a message or an image on the display unit 30 so as to perform shooting by operating the operation button 45b (see FIG. 1). The user is prompted to perform a shooting operation using an operation button different from the first operation (step S10). In this case, when the designated operation button 45b is operated, the control unit 60 detects the amount of camera shake from the angular velocity detection signal at the operation timing and operates the amount of camera shake when the operation button 45b is operated, as described above. (Steps S5 to S8).

If the shooting operation is the third time (step S11: YES), the control unit 60 displays a message or an image on the display unit 30 so as to perform shooting by operating the enter key 44 (see FIG. 1). The user is prompted to perform a shooting operation using an operation button different from the first and second operations (step S12). In this case, when the designated enter key 44 is operated, the control unit 60 detects the amount of camera shake when the enter key 44 is operated and stores it in the RAM 63 (steps S5 to S8).
In this manner, the control unit 60 prompts the user to perform a shooting operation using the operation buttons until the camera shake amount is acquired after the operation of all the operation buttons 41 to 46 set in advance. The amount of camera shake for each operation of ˜46 is detected and stored in the RAM 63.

And if the amount of camera shake is acquired for every operation of all the operation buttons 41-46, since judgment of Step S2 will be judged as an affirmative result (YES), control part 60 will shift to processing of Step S20 and acquired. An operation button with the smallest amount of camera shake is identified from the amount of camera shake (step S20), a process for notifying the user of the operation button (step S21), and a process for setting the operation button as a shutter button (step S22). And execute.
Specifically, as the notification processing in step S21, for example, if the determination key 44 is the one with the smallest amount of camera shake, the message “Set determination key to shutter button” and the location of the determination key are displayed. An image to be notified is displayed, and as the setting process in step S22, a key setting process for setting an operation button for photographing instruction as a determination key is executed on table data for specifying an operation button to be assigned to various instructions. Thereby, in the shooting mode, the determination key functions as a shutter button, and the user can perform shooting by operating the determination key with the smallest amount of camera shake.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the amount of camera shake is acquired for each operation of the plurality of operation buttons 41 to 46, and the operation button with the smallest amount of camera shake is set as the shutter button. The optimal shutter button can be easily set according to the photographer. Thus, for example, an operation button at a position that can be easily operated according to the size of the user's hand can be easily set as a shutter button, and an image with less blur can be taken.
For this reason, even if there is a customization function that can assign a shutter button to an arbitrary operation button, it may be difficult for the user to specify an operation button with less blurring, and the customization operation may be difficult. However, it is difficult to set an appropriate shutter button, and with this configuration, even this person can easily set an appropriate shutter button. As a result, regardless of the skill and knowledge of the photographer, any photographer can easily shoot an image with less blur.

(Application examples)
In the above-described embodiment, the case where only the operation button with a small amount of shake is notified has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and in addition to the above notification, pre-stored advice information for dealing with shake may be notified. In this case, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 6A, by displaying an image (posture advice) of a shooting style suitable for reducing camera shake, it is possible to notify the optimal shooting style and further reduce blur. Can be taken.
Further, as the advice information, an image of a suitable shooting style with the portable telephone device 10 illustrated in FIG. 6A opened, and a state in which the portable telephone device 10 illustrated in FIG. 6B is closed. When an operation button excluding the side button 46 is set as a shutter button among the operation buttons 41 to 46, an advice image shown in FIG. If the side button 46 is set as a shutter button, an advice image shown in FIG. 6B may be displayed.
Thus, it is possible to notify more appropriate advice information by notifying advice information according to the operation button set to the shutter button. Further, the advice information is not limited to an image, and may be notified by text information or voice information such as “lightly tighten the armpit and open the foot to the shoulder width”.

Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where the camera-shake amount was detected for every operation of all the operation buttons 41-46 set beforehand, it is not restricted to this but camera-shake amount only about any two or more operation elements. An operator with a small amount of camera shake may be set as a shutter button. In this case, for example, a camera shake threshold that can capture an image with less blur is set in advance, and if an operation button that falls below this threshold can be identified, the camera shake amount acquisition process for each operation of the other operation buttons is interrupted there, The operation button may be set as a shutter button.
Alternatively, the user may operate an arbitrary operation button, detect the amount of camera shake for each operation, and set an operation button with less camera shake as the shutter button.
In the above-described embodiment, the case of detecting the shake in the vertical direction (X-axis) and the horizontal direction (Y-axis) with the gyro sensor is not limited to this, and further, the shake in the depth direction (Z-axis). May be detected, or camera shake in any one of the above directions may be detected. In addition to the gyro sensor, other shake amount detection means such as an acceleration sensor may be applied.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the camera-equipped mobile phone device is illustrated. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be widely applied to imaging devices in which blurring is a problem. For example, the present invention can be applied to a digital camera, a silver salt camera, a PDA with a camera or an external camera, and a notebook computer.

It is a perspective view of the portable telephone apparatus which concerns on embodiment of the imaging device of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the state which folded the portable telephone apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a portable telephone apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship between a flame | frame and the axis | shaft of blurring. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of shutter button determination mode. a is a diagram showing a preferred shooting style with the portable telephone device open, and b is a diagram showing a preferred shooting style with the portable phone device 10 closed.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Portable telephone apparatus (imaging apparatus), 11 ... Apparatus main body, 13 ... Opening / closing body, 20 ... Imaging | photography part (imaging means), 30 ... Display part (notification means), 40 ... Operation part (operation means), 41- 46 ... Operation buttons (operators), 50 ... Angular velocity detection unit (blur detection means), 51, 52 ... Gyro sensor, 60 ... Control unit (operator setting means), 80 ... Removable memory, 100 ... Control program, 110 ... recoding media.

Claims (5)

Photographing means for photographing based on the photographing instruction;
A blur amount detecting means for detecting the blur amount of the photographing means;
Operating means having a plurality of operating elements;
Each time an operation of any two or more of the plurality of operators is performed, the amount of shake of the photographing unit is acquired by the amount of blur detection unit, and an operator having a small amount of shake is designated as an operator for instructing photographing. An imaging device comprising: an operator setting means for setting to a camera.   The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operator setting unit includes a notification unit that notifies an operator when an operator having a small amount of shake is specified.   3. The photographing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the notifying unit notifies an operator set as an operator for photographing instruction and advice information for dealing with blur stored in advance.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the notifying unit notifies advice information according to an operator set as an operator for imaging instruction as advice information for dealing with blur. In an operation unit setting method of an imaging apparatus including an imaging unit that performs imaging based on an imaging instruction, a blur detection unit that detects a blur amount of the imaging unit, and a plurality of operators.
Each time an operation of any two or more of the plurality of operators is performed, the amount of shake of the photographing unit is acquired by the shake detection unit, and an operator having a small amount of shake is used as an operator for photographing instructions. How to set the controls of the shooting device to be set

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