JP6197830B2 - Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a program, and more particularly, to a technique capable of intuitively and immediately grasping features of a subject.

Conventionally, when shooting a subject, in order to convey the actual size of the subject image to a viewer who appreciates the image of the shot subject, it is possible to shoot by placing an object serving as a size index in the vicinity of the subject. Has been done.
For example, when photographing a subject with a length of several centimeters, a coin with a known diameter (for example, a 10-yen coin with a diameter of 2.5 cm issued in Japan) is placed near the subject, and the digital camera Shoot with. As a result, an image in which coins are photographed together with the subject is obtained, and the viewer can recognize the actual size of the subject by comparing the coins in the image with the subject.

However, when a large object such as a building or a bridge is a subject, it is difficult to actually place an object serving as a size index in the vicinity of the subject.
Therefore, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for displaying a scale representing a numerical value having the same dimensions as a subject together with an image.

Japanese Patent No. 3059773

However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, the viewer tries to grasp the size of the subject from the displayed scale, but the scale has the same dimensions as the subject and has a simple length and the like. for those represented by the numerical expression, there is a problem that the it is difficult to intuitively grasp in real size of the object.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a program capable of intuitively and immediately grasping the characteristics of a subject.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that an acquisition unit for acquiring an image including a main subject, and a plurality of index images based on the main subject in the image acquired by the acquisition unit. Index image acquisition means for automatically acquiring a plurality of index images, which is an index for the characteristics of the main subject and is smaller than the total number stored in the storage means, from the stored storage means; Display control means for displaying the plurality of index images acquired by the index image acquisition means on the display means, and selection means for selecting a specific index image by a user operation from the plurality of index images displayed on the display means And a second display control means for causing the display means to display both the index image and the image selected by the selection means.

According to the present invention, it is possible to intuitively and immediately grasp the characteristics of a subject.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the hardware of the imaging device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows the functional structure for performing a scale display process among the functional structures of the imaging device of FIG. It is a figure which shows each image as a specific example of the result of a scale display process. It is the figure which represented the structure of the corresponding | compatible table typically. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of scale display processing executed by the imaging apparatus 1 of FIG. 1 having the functional configuration of FIG. 2.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an imaging apparatus 1 as an embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention. The imaging device 1 can be configured by a digital camera, for example.

  The imaging apparatus 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, an image processing unit 14, an image measurement unit 15, a bus 16, and an input / output. An interface 17, an imaging unit 18, an operation unit 19, a display unit 20, a storage unit 21, a communication unit 22, and a drive 23 are provided.

The CPU 11 executes various processes according to a program recorded in the ROM 12 or a program loaded from the storage unit 21 to the RAM 13.
The CPU 11 is provided with a display control unit 41, a main subject detection unit 42, and a storage control unit 43. Further details of the display control unit 41 to the storage control unit 43 will be described later with reference to FIG.
The RAM 13 appropriately stores data necessary for the CPU 11 to execute various processes.

The image processing unit 14 is configured by a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), a VRAM (Video Random Access Memory), and the like, and performs various image processing on image data in cooperation with the CPU 11.
For example, the image processing unit 14 performs image processing such as noise reduction, white balance, camera shake correction, and the like on captured image data output from the imaging unit 18 described later.
The image processing unit 14 includes an image acquisition unit 51, an index image acquisition processing unit 52, and an image composition unit 53. Further details of the image acquisition unit 51, the index image acquisition processing unit 52, and the image composition unit 53 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The image measurement unit 15 measures various physical quantities (for example, length) of a subject included in the image based on image data such as a captured image. Further details of the image measurement unit 15 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The CPU 11, ROM 12, RAM 13, image processing unit 14, and image measurement unit 15 are connected to each other via a bus 16. An input / output interface 17 is also connected to the bus 16. An imaging unit 18, an operation unit 19, a display unit 20, a storage unit 21, a communication unit 22, and a drive 23 are connected to the input / output interface 17.

  Although not shown, the imaging unit 18 includes an optical lens unit and an image sensor.

The optical lens unit is configured by a lens that collects light, for example, a focus lens or a zoom lens, in order to photograph a subject.
The focus lens is a lens that forms a subject image on the light receiving surface of the image sensor. The zoom lens is a lens that freely changes the focal length within a certain range.
The optical lens unit is also provided with a peripheral circuit for adjusting setting parameters such as focus, exposure, and white balance as necessary.

The image sensor includes a photoelectric conversion element, AFE (Analog Front End), and the like.
The photoelectric conversion element is composed of, for example, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) type photoelectric conversion element or the like. A subject image is incident on the photoelectric conversion element from the optical lens unit. Therefore, the photoelectric conversion element photoelectrically converts (captures) the subject image, accumulates the image signal for a predetermined time, and sequentially supplies the accumulated image signal as an analog signal to the AFE.
The AFE performs various signal processing such as A / D (Analog / Digital) conversion processing on the analog image signal. Through various signal processing, a digital signal is generated and output as an output signal of the imaging unit 18.
Hereinafter, it is assumed that the output signal of the imaging unit 18 is “data of a captured image”. Accordingly, captured image data is output from the imaging unit 18 and is appropriately supplied to the CPU 11, the image processing unit 14, and the like.

The operation unit 19 includes various buttons and the like, and accepts user instruction operations.
The display unit 20 is composed of a liquid crystal display or the like, and displays various images (for example, a composite image described in detail later).

The storage unit 21 is composed of a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or the like, and stores image data output from the image processing unit 14 or the like. The storage unit 21 also stores various data necessary for processing by the image processing unit 14 and the like.
For example, the storage unit 21 is provided with an index image storage unit 61 and a correspondence table storage unit 62. Further details of the index image storage unit 61 and the correspondence table storage unit 62 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The communication unit 22 controls communication with other devices (not shown) via a network including the Internet.

  A removable medium 31 made of a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like is appropriately attached to the drive 23. The program read from the removable medium 31 by the drive 23 is installed in the storage unit 21 as necessary. The removable medium 31 can also store various data such as image data stored in the storage unit 21 in the same manner as the storage unit 21. In the present embodiment, the removable media 31 stores a composite image, which will be described later.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration for executing the scale display process among the functional configurations of the imaging apparatus 1 as described above.

  Scale display processing refers to acquiring an original image data such as a captured image, and an image (an index image described later) serving as an index for allowing a user to grasp a physical quantity such as the length of a subject included in the original image. It means a series of processing until it is displayed together with an image.

In FIG. 2, the CPU 11 constitutes a display control unit 41, a main subject detection unit 42, and a storage control unit 43.
In the present embodiment, the display control unit 41 to the storage control unit 43 are configured by a combination of the CPU 11 and a program executed by the CPU 11, that is, a combination of hardware and software. However, this is merely an example, and it is naturally possible to transfer at least part of the functions of the display control unit 41 to the storage control unit 43 to other components (such as the image processing unit 14) other than the CPU 11.

The image processing unit 14 constitutes an image acquisition unit 51, an index image acquisition processing unit 52, and an image composition unit 53.
Note that the image acquisition unit 51 to the image synthesis unit 53 are provided in the image processing unit 14 only as an example, and at least a part of the image acquisition unit 51 to the image synthesis unit 53 other than the image processing unit 14 is provided. Of course, it is also possible to transfer it to the constituent elements (CPU 11 or the like).

The storage unit 21 is provided with an index image storage unit 61 and a correspondence table storage unit 62 as one area.
Note that the index image storage unit 61 and the correspondence table storage unit 62 are provided as one area of the storage unit 21, and may be provided as one area of the removable media 31, for example.

The imaging unit 18 supplies captured image data to the image acquisition unit 51.
Here, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that meta information is added to captured image data. It is assumed that the meta information includes information on a zoom value, a focus value, a distance to a subject in the captured image, and the like as an imaging condition.

The image acquisition unit 51 acquires the captured image data supplied from the imaging unit 18 as original image data, and supplies it to the main subject detection unit 42.
The original image data is described as captured image data supplied by the imaging unit 18 in the example of FIG. 2, but is not particularly limited to the example of FIG. 2, and includes a subject having a predetermined physical quantity. The source of the image is not particularly limited. For example, the image acquisition unit 51 can also acquire image data supplied from the removable media 31 or the Internet via the communication unit 22 as original image data.

When the original image data is supplied, the main subject detection unit 42 detects the main subject included in the original image and supplies the original image data to the image measurement unit 15 together with the detection result.
The main subject detection method is not particularly limited. For example, in the present embodiment, a detection method is adopted in which a focus target is detected as a main subject based on a focus value included as meta information. .
Further, the number of main subjects detected by the main subject detection unit 42 is not limited to one and may be plural. In this case, a plurality of main subjects are presented to the user, and the user operates the operation unit 19 to select one to be displayed on the scale. The main subject detection unit 42 supplies one main subject selected in this way as a detection result to the image measurement unit 15 together with the original image data.

  The image measurement unit 15 measures the length of the main subject detected by the main subject detection unit 42, for example, the length in the longitudinal direction. Here, the length of the main subject means not the relative length of the main subject in the original image, but the absolute length (actual size) of the main subject that exists or exists in the real world.

  The method for measuring the length of the main subject by the image measurement unit 15 is not particularly limited. For example, in this embodiment, the length is measured based on the zoom value and the distance information to the subject, as in Patent Document 1. Such a measurement method is adopted.

In the present embodiment, the image measurement unit 15 measures the length of the main subject in the longitudinal direction as the length of the main subject. However, the length measurement target is not particularly limited to this, and a length in an arbitrary direction can be adopted. For example, the image measuring unit 15 can measure the lengths of two orthogonal sides of the main subject, thereby making it equivalent to measuring the area of the main subject.
The measurement target is not particularly limited to the length, and any number of arbitrary physical quantities of the main subject such as the volume and weight of the main subject may be employed. Alternatively, the actual physical quantity may be added to the image in advance, and an image serving as a corresponding index may be processed based on the actual physical quantity added to the meta information without performing measurement.

The index image acquisition processing unit 52 is an index image (hereinafter referred to as “index image”) for allowing a viewer of an image including the main subject to grasp the physical quantity of the main subject measured by the image measurement unit 15. Are acquired from an index image storage unit 61 to be described later.
In this case, the index image acquisition processing unit 52 may acquire index image data by autonomous determination based on the measurement result of the image measurement unit 15, that is, automatically, or the user may operate the operation unit 19. The index image data designated by operating may be acquired.
Then, the index image acquisition processing unit 52 processes the index image data so as to have an appropriate form for combining with the original image data.

For example, when the physical quantity of the main subject measured by the image measurement unit 15 is the length of the main subject, the index image data is acquired and processed as follows.
That is, the index image acquisition processing unit 52 acquires index image data indicating an index of the length of the main subject, such as a whale or a coin, from the index image storage unit 61.
Then, the index image acquisition processing unit 52 processes the index image data so that the index images are repeatedly arranged in the length direction of the main subject by the number corresponding to the length of the main subject. Generate image data.
Note that data obtained as a result of processing the index image data in this way, for example, in this example, data of an image in which a predetermined number of index images are continuously arranged in a predetermined direction will be referred to as “processing”. This is called “index image data”.

  The image composition unit 53 generates composite image data by combining the original image data acquired by the image acquisition unit 51 and the processing index image data generated by the index image acquisition processing unit 52.

  The display control unit 41 performs control for causing the display unit 20 to display the original image represented by the data acquired by the image acquisition unit 51 and the composite image represented by the data generated by the image composition unit 53.

  The storage control unit 43 executes control for storing the composite image data generated by the image composition unit 53 in the removable medium 31 as necessary.

Furthermore, hereinafter, each function of the display control unit 41 to the storage control unit 43 configured by the CPU 11 and the image acquisition unit 51 to the image synthesis unit 53 configured by the image processing unit 14, that is, an execution function of scale display processing. Will be specifically described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating each image as a specific example of the result of the scale display process.
FIG. 3A shows an original image 81 including a bridge 91 and a building 92 as subjects.
When the data of the original image 81 is acquired by the image acquisition unit 51, the main subject detection unit 42 detects the bridge 91 and the building 92 as the main subject.

  In this case, the display control unit 41 causes the display unit 20 to display a symbol or the like that can identify the detected main subject superimposed on the original image 81. Specifically, in the example of FIG. 3A, for example, the double bracket character ("") symbol specifies that the bridge 91 is the main subject, and the double bracket character ("") symbol. Thus, it is specified that the building 92 is the main subject. In this case, the user can select the bridge 91 or the building 92 as a scale display target by operating the operation unit 19.

Here, for example, a case where the bridge 91 is selected as a scale display target will be described.
First, it is assumed that the image measurement unit 15 measures that the length of the main subject bridge 91 in the longitudinal direction (horizontal direction) is 90 m.
And the index image acquisition process part 52 shall acquire the data of the index image (index image 121 of FIG. 4 mentioned later) which shows the whale of 20 m in length, for example.
In this case, the index image acquisition processing unit 52 converts the four index images (20 m long whale × 4) and the index image half (part of a 10 m long whale) in the longitudinal direction of the bridge 91. Data of images arranged repeatedly in the horizontal direction is generated as data of the processing index image 101.

The image composition unit 53 generates data of the composite image 111 by combining the data of the original image 81 and the data of the processing index image 101. As a result, a composite image 111 as shown in FIG. 3B is displayed on the display unit 20.
In FIG. 3B, for the sake of convenience of explanation, a dotted line frame indicating the range of the processing index image 101 is shown. However, such display of the dotted line frame is not particularly essential and is actually omitted. It doesn't matter.

  The storage control unit 43 stores the data of the composite image 111 in the removable medium 31 as necessary.

On the other hand, for example, a case where the building 92 is selected as a scale display target will be described.
First, it is assumed that the image measurement unit 15 measures that the length (height) of the main subject building 92 in the longitudinal direction is 46 m.
Then, it is assumed that the index image acquisition processing unit 52 acquires data of an index image (an index image 121 in FIG. 4 to be described later) indicating a whale having a length of 20 m.
In this case, the index image acquisition processing unit 52 includes two index images (20 m long whale × 2) and an image (about a third of the 6 m long whale) obtained by reducing the index image to about (1/3). Data of an image arranged repeatedly in the longitudinal direction (vertical direction) of the building 92 is generated as data of the processing index image 102.

The image synthesis unit 53 generates data of the synthesized image 112 by synthesizing the data of the original image 81 and the data of the processing index image 102. As a result, a composite image 112 as shown in FIG. 3C is displayed on the display unit 20.
In FIG. 3C, for the convenience of explanation, a dotted line frame indicating the range of the processing index image 102 is shown. However, such display of the dotted line frame is not particularly essential and is actually omitted. It doesn't matter.

  The storage control unit 43 stores the data of the composite image 112 in the removable medium 31 as necessary.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the index image storage unit 61 stores data of a plurality of index images such as the index image indicating the whale described above. The form of the index image data is not particularly limited. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the index image data is a GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) image file.

  The index image data only needs to be stored in the index image storage unit 61 at the stage of being acquired by the index image acquisition processing unit 52. Therefore, the GIF file that is given by default at the time of shipment of the imaging apparatus 1 can be stored in advance in the index image storage unit 61 as index image data. In addition, after shipment, the GiF file obtained via the communication unit 22, the drive 23, or the like can be stored afterwards in the index image storage unit 61 as index image data. Furthermore, when the user operates the operation unit 19 to create a GIF file from captured image data, the GIF file can be stored in the index image storage unit 61 afterwards as index image data.

  The correspondence table storage unit 62 is a table in which a physical quantity (for example, length) of the index image is associated with each of a plurality of index image data stored in the index image storage unit 61 (hereinafter, “correspondence”). A table).

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the structure of the correspondence table.
In the present embodiment, since the correspondence table has a matrix structure, hereinafter, a collection of items in the horizontal direction in FIG. 4 is referred to as “row”, and a collection of items in the vertical direction in FIG. Call it.
One row of the correspondence table corresponds to data of one index image stored in the index image storage unit 61. That is, items of “data name”, “index image”, and “length” for the data of a predetermined index image are arranged in predetermined rows of the correspondence table, respectively.
In the item “data name” of a predetermined row, the name of the index image data corresponding to the row is stored.
In the “index image” item of a predetermined row, an image of the index image corresponding to the row is stored. However, the item “index image” is illustrated in FIG. 4 for easy understanding of the correspondence table, and is not included in the correspondence table actually stored in the correspondence table storage unit 62. .
In the item “length” of a predetermined row, the length in the longitudinal direction of the index image corresponding to the row is stored.

Specifically, for example, focusing on the first line, the index image represented by the GIF file named “whale.gif” is “whale image 121”, and its length in the longitudinal direction is “20 m”. It can be seen that it is.
Focusing on the second line, the index image represented by the GIF file named “10 yen.gif” is “an image 122 of coins (10 yen coins issued in Japan)” in the longitudinal direction. It can be seen that the length (here, the diameter of a 10-yen coin) is “2.5 cm”.
Focusing on the third line, it can be seen that the index image represented by the GIF file named “dinosaur.gif” is “dinosaur image 123”, and its length in the longitudinal direction is “25 m”.

The functional configuration of the imaging apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has been described above with reference to FIGS.
Next, among the processes executed by the imaging apparatus 1 having such a functional configuration, the flow of the scale display process will be described.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of the scale display process executed by the imaging apparatus 1 of FIG. 1 having the functional configuration of FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the scale display process is started when the imaging operation by the imaging unit 18 is performed after the user operates the operation unit 19 to instruct the scale display.

  In step S <b> 1, the image acquisition unit 51 acquires captured image data output from the imaging unit 18 as original image data. For example, in this example, it is assumed that the data of the original image 81 in FIG.

  In step S2, the main subject detection unit 42 detects the main subject in the original image based on the data of the original image acquired in the process of step S1. For example, in this example, it is assumed that the main subject detection unit 42 has detected a bridge 91 surrounded by double brackets (“”) as a main subject, as shown in FIG.

  In step S3, the image measurement unit 15 measures the length of the main subject detected in the process of step S2. For example, the image measurement unit 15 uses the length (actual size) of the longitudinal direction of the bridge 91 (the traveling direction of a car, a person, etc.) detected in the process of step S2 as a zoom value or a meta information of distance information to the main subject 91. Measure based on information. Specifically, for example, in this example, 90 m is measured in accordance with the above-described example.

In step S4, the display control unit 41 notifies the user to select an index image. That is, the display control unit 41 informs the display unit 20 to select an index image by causing the display unit 20 to display an image indicating a list of usable index images based on the measurement result of the image measurement unit 15.
For example, in this example, the length of the bridge 91 that is the main subject is measured to be 90 m. Therefore, according to the correspondence table of FIG. 4, as an index image having an appropriate length for allowing the user to grasp 90 m, a whale image 121 with a “length” of 20 m and a “length” of 25 m There is a dinosaur image 123. Therefore, in this example, a list image including the whale image 121 and the dinosaur image 123 is displayed on the display unit 20 to notify the user that the image 121 or the image 123 is selected as the index image.

  In step S5, the index image acquisition processing unit 52 determines whether an index image has been selected.

  When the index image is not selected, it is determined as NO in Step S5, and the process returns to Step S4. That is, until the index image is selected, the scale display process is in a standby state by repeatedly executing the loop processes of steps S4 and S5. Although not shown, the scale display process may be terminated when the index image is not yet selected even after a predetermined time has elapsed.

  Thereafter, when the index image is selected, it is determined as YES in Step S5, and the process proceeds to Step S6. In this example, the following description will be given on the assumption that the whale image 121 is selected as the index image.

In step S6, the index image acquisition processing unit 52 acquires the data of the selected index image from the index image storage unit 61, and generates the processing index image data by performing the processing.
Specifically, for example, in this example, a GIF file “whale.gif” for the whale image 121 is acquired as index image data. According to the correspondence table of FIG. 4, the length of the whale indicated by the image 121 is 20 m. On the other hand, the length of the bridge 91 as a main subject is 90 m, which is 4.5 times the length of the whale. Therefore, in this example, 4.5 whale images 121, the data of the image repeatedly arranged continuously in the length direction (horizontal direction) of the bridge 91, that is, the processing index image shown in FIG. 101 data is generated.

In step S <b> 7, the image composition unit 53 generates composite image data by combining the original image data acquired in step S <b> 1 and the processing index image data generated in step S <b> 6. To do.
In this example, as shown in FIG. 3B, a composite image in which a processing index image 101 in which 4.5 whales are repeatedly arranged in the horizontal direction is superimposed above the bridge 91 of the original image 81 is superimposed. 111 data are generated.

In step S8, the display control unit 41 causes the display unit 20 to display the composite image generated as data in the process of step S27.
For example, in this example, a composite image 111 as shown in FIG. 3B is displayed on the display unit 20.

In step S9, the storage control unit 43 determines whether or not there is a save instruction.
In other words, the user can instruct to save whether or not to save the composite image data displayed on the display unit 20 by operating the operation unit 19.
If there is such a storage instruction, it is determined as YES in Step S9, and the process proceeds to Step S10.

In step S <b> 10, the storage control unit 43 saves (stores) the composite image data in the removable medium 31. As a result, the scale display process ends.
On the other hand, if there is no save instruction, it is determined as NO in step S9, and the process of step S10 is not executed, that is, the composite image data is not saved, and the scale display process is performed. End.

The imaging apparatus 1 configured as described above includes an index image storage unit 61, an image acquisition unit 51, an image measurement unit 15, and a display unit 20.
The index image storage unit 61 stores index image data serving as a length index.
The image acquisition unit 51 acquires image data including a subject as original image data.
The image measurement unit 15 measures the length of the main subject included in the original image based on the original image data.
The display unit 20 displays the index image together with the original image based on the length of the main subject.

Thus, the viewer can intuitively and immediately grasp the length of the main subject without requiring a special shooting operation.
Moreover, any image can be adopted as the index image displayed together with the original image as long as it is easy to recall the length. Therefore, an interesting image can be easily generated.

The image measurement unit 15 can also measure the lengths of two orthogonal sides of the main subject.
In other words, the image measurement unit 15 can calculate the area of the main subject 91 using the lengths of these two sides.
As a result, it is possible to generate an image that is intuitively and immediately comprehensible for the area of the subject and that is rich in interest.

Furthermore, the index image acquisition processing unit 52 can process index image data based on the length of the main subject 91.
The index image represented by the data processed in this way (the above-described processing index image) is displayed on the display unit 20 together with the original image.
As a result, it is possible to generate an image that makes it possible to grasp the size of the subject more intuitively and more immediately and that is more interesting.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, The deformation | transformation in the range which can achieve the objective of this invention, improvement, etc. are included in this invention.

For example, in FIG. 3B of the above embodiment, data of the composite image 111 in which 4.5 whales are repeatedly arranged in the horizontal direction above the bridge 91 of the original image 81 is generated. I made it. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, an aspect in which the whale moves as the index image in FIG. 4 is stored in the index image storage unit 61 as an animation GIF file, and the index image storage unit as the processing index image 101. One whale stored in 61 may be animated in a range of 4.5.
By displaying in this way, it is possible to express a moving scale.
Further, for example, in the above-described embodiment, the image data to which the meta information is added is used as the original image data. However, it is not particularly necessary that the meta information is added. Information that can measure the physical quantity of the subject (for example, zoom value or distance information to the subject) may be calculated or acquired separately from the meta information.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, an image including an object (such as a whale, a coin, or a dinosaur) serving as an index is employed as the index image, but the present invention is not particularly limited thereto. For example, each of the images (i = 1 to N, where i may be a decimal number or a fraction) in which i objects (whales, coins, dinosaurs, etc.) are repeatedly arranged consecutively. Can also be employed as an index image.

  Furthermore, instead of displaying the object (such as a whale, a coin, and a dinosaur) as an image together with the original image, the imaging apparatus 1 may display, for example, “an object (such as a whale, a coin, and a dinosaur) serving as an index. A message image such as “K pieces (K is a positive value and may be a decimal or a fraction)” may be adopted as the index image.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the physical quantity of the main subject expressed by the index image is the length, but is not particularly limited thereto, and for example, the diameter, weight, position, altitude, etc. may be adopted. it can. Further, the feature of the main subject expressed by the index image is not particularly limited to the physical quantity, and any feature that can be detected is sufficient, and for example, color, weather, and the like can be adopted.

Regarding the diameter, for example, the image measurement unit 15 may measure the diameter of the main subject. In this case, an intuitive and interesting image can be generated by adopting an image that easily recalls the size of the diameter of a tire, a stump, or the like as the index image.
Regarding the weight, for example, the image measurement unit 15 may predefine the weight corresponding to the type of the main subject, and determine the weight of the main subject based on the prescription. In this case, an intuitive and interesting image can be generated as the index image by adopting an image in which weights and elephants reminiscent of the weight are stacked on the scale.
Regarding the position, for example, the image measurement unit 15 may acquire the coordinates of the imaging point by GPS or the like. In this case, an intuitive and interesting image can be generated by displaying an abbreviated map as the index image and adopting an image displayed by pointing a position corresponding to the coordinates on the map. .
Regarding the altitude, for example, the image measurement unit 15 may acquire the coordinates of the imaging point by GPS or the like and acquire the altitude corresponding to the coordinates. In this case, as the index image, for example, an image in which a series of seas and mountains with reference to 0 m above sea level is displayed, and an image displayed by pointing to a position corresponding to the current altitude is displayed. It is possible to generate an image that is personal and interesting.
Regarding the weather, for example, the image measurement unit 15 may acquire the coordinates of the shooting location at the time of shooting and acquire the weather at the coordinates. In this case, an intuitive and interesting image can be generated by adopting a symbol image indicating the weather as the index image.
Regarding the color, for example, the image measurement unit 15 may analyze the color of the image of the main subject. In this case, an intuitive and interesting image can be generated as the index image by adopting an image that easily recalls a specific color such as apple if red.

  In the above-described embodiment, the electronic apparatus to which the present invention is applied has been described by taking the imaging apparatus 1 such as a digital camera as an example, but is not particularly limited thereto. The present invention can be applied to general electronic devices capable of executing the scale display process described above. Specifically, for example, the present invention can be applied to a notebook personal computer, a video camera, a portable navigation device, a mobile phone device, a portable game machine, and the like.

  The series of processes described above can be executed by hardware or can be executed by software. For example, the series of processes described above can be executed by hardware or can be executed by software. In other words, the functional configuration of FIG. 2 is merely an example and is not particularly limited. That is, it is sufficient that the imaging apparatus 1 has a function capable of executing the above-described series of processing as a whole, and what functional blocks are used to realize this function is not particularly limited to the example of FIG. In addition, one functional block may be constituted by hardware alone, software alone, or a combination thereof.

  When a series of processing is executed by software, a program constituting the software is installed on a computer or the like from a network or a recording medium. The computer may be a computer incorporated in dedicated hardware. The computer may be a computer capable of executing various functions by installing various programs, for example, a general-purpose personal computer.

  The recording medium including such a program is not only constituted by the external memory 26 of FIG. 1 distributed separately from the apparatus main body in order to provide the program to the user, but also in a state of being incorporated in the apparatus main body in advance. It is comprised with the recording medium etc. which are provided in this. The external memory 26 is configured by, for example, a magnetic disk (including a floppy disk), an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like. The optical disk is composed of, for example, a CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), or the like. The magneto-optical disk is configured by an MD (Mini-Disk) or the like. In addition, the recording medium provided to the user in a state of being preinstalled in the apparatus main body includes, for example, the ROM 12 in FIG. 1 in which the program is recorded, the hard disk included in the storage unit 21 in FIG.

  In the present specification, the step of describing the program recorded on the recording medium is not limited to the processing performed in time series along the order, but is not necessarily performed in time series, either in parallel or individually. The process to be executed is also included.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Imaging device, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... ROM, 13 ... RAM, 14 ... Image processing part, 15 ... Image measurement part, 16 ... Bus, 17 ... Input / output interface, 18 ... imaging unit, 19 ... operation unit, 20 ... display unit, 21 ... storage unit, 22 ... communication unit, 23 ... drive, 31 ... Removable media, 41... Display control unit, 42... Main subject detection unit, 43... Storage control unit, 51... Image acquisition unit, 52. Image composition unit, 61 ... index image storage unit, 62 ... correspondence table storage unit

Claims (12)

Obtaining means for obtaining an image including a main subject;
Based on the main subject in the image acquired by the acquisition unit, the total number stored in the storage unit as an index for the characteristics of the main subject from the storage unit storing a plurality of index images Index image acquisition means for automatically acquiring a plurality of index images of a smaller number,
Display control means for causing the display means to display the plurality of index images acquired by the index image acquisition means;
A selection unit that selects a specific index image by a user operation from the plurality of index images displayed on the display unit;
Second display control means for causing the display means to display both the index image and the image selected by the selection means;
An image processing apparatus comprising: The characteristics of the subject include characteristics related to size,
The index image acquisition means acquires a plurality of index images from the storage means based on the size of the main subject.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. Further comprising processing means for processing the index image based on the characteristics of the main subject.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus is an image processing apparatus. Combining means for combining the index image selected by the selecting means and the image;
Further comprising
The synthesizing unit synthesizes the index image and the image processed by the processing unit;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 3. When the size of the main subject is larger than the index image, the processing unit replicates the index image so as to match the size of the main subject, and the second display control unit is configured to copy the index Displaying the image together with the image on the display means;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image processing apparatus is an image processing apparatus. If the size of the main subject is larger than the index image, the processing unit further includes a generation unit that generates animation data of the index image that matches the size of the main subject, and the display control unit includes: Displaying both the image acquired by the acquisition unit and the animation data generated by the generation unit;
The image processing device according to claim 3 in any one of the 5, characterized in that. The second display control means causes the display means to display the image combined with the combining means and the index image.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 4 . The synthesizing unit synthesizes the index image in the vicinity of the subject;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the image processing apparatus is an image processing apparatus. Detecting means for detecting the main subject from the image acquired by the acquiring means;
Further comprising
The second display control means emphasizes the main subject detected by the detection means and causes the display means to display the highlight object;
The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that. Obtaining means for obtaining an image including a main subject;
Index image acquisition means for acquiring an animation image as an index for the size of the main subject based on the main subject in the image acquired by the acquisition means;
Display control means for causing the display means to display both the index image and the image acquired by the index image acquisition means;
An image processing apparatus comprising: In an image processing method executed by an image processing apparatus including a display unit that displays an image, an acquisition step of acquiring an image including a main subject;
Based on the main subject in the image acquired by the acquisition step, the total number stored in the storage unit is an index for the feature of the main subject from the storage unit storing a plurality of index images. An index image acquisition step for automatically acquiring a smaller number of index images,
A display control step of causing the display means to display the plurality of index images acquired by the index image acquisition step;
A selection step of selecting a specific index image by a user operation from the plurality of index images displayed on the display means;
A second display control step for causing the display means to display the specific index image and the image selected in the selection step;
It is characterized by including. Display means,
A computer of an image processing apparatus comprising:
An acquisition means for acquiring an image including a main subject;
Based on the main subject in the image acquired by the acquisition unit, the total number stored in the storage unit as an index for the characteristics of the main subject from the storage unit storing a plurality of index images Index image acquisition means for automatically acquiring a plurality of index images of a smaller number,
Display control means for causing the display means to display the plurality of index images acquired by the index image acquisition means;
A selection unit that selects a specific index image by a user operation from the plurality of index images displayed on the display unit;
Second display control means for causing the display means to display both the specific index image selected by the selection means and the image;
A program characterized by functioning as

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