JP7313865B2 - Imaging device and control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus and a control method capable of setting whether or not to record posture information of the image pickup apparatus when an image is taken.

In the past, moving images were generally shot with a landscape angle of view and played back. In recent years, with the widespread use of mobile terminals having vertically long screens, such as smartphones, there are increasing cases of shooting and playing back videos with a vertically long angle of view. When shooting a moving image intended for playback on a mobile terminal having a vertically long screen, a conventional camera with a horizontally long angle of view can be held in the vertical position to shoot the moving image. At this time, if the orientation information indicating that the video was shot in the vertical position is not added to the video file, the video cannot be displayed in high resolution on the full screen when played back on a mobile terminal, or the vertical direction of the screen does not match the vertical direction of the video, and the video with a vertical angle of view is displayed horizontally. When an image shot as a still image is recorded in a still image file, it is common practice to add information about the orientation of the camera at the time of shooting to the still image file. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200001 also discloses a method of adding camera orientation information to a moving image file.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-123888

Reference 1 describes a method of adding orientation information indicating the rotational state (orientation) of a camera when shooting in a vertical or upside-down position to a moving image file. However, there is no disclosure of the relationship with the conventional method of adding posture information to a still image. If the setting of whether or not to add the orientation information of the camera detected by the camera to the image and record it is made common to the still image and the moving image, there is a problem that unintended orientation information may be added to each other.

In order to solve the above problems, the imaging device of the present invention includes:
an imaging device having an imaging unit, the detecting means for detecting the posture of the imaging device; the control means for controlling recording of a still image or moving image taken by the imaging unit on a recording medium;
a second setting means for setting, according to a user operation, whether or not to record posture information based on the posture detected by the detection means together with the moving image captured by the imaging unit;
and whether or not to record the orientation information together with the still image and whether to rotate and display the still image based on the orientation information when reproducing the still image can be set according to the user operation by the first setting means.

According to the present invention, recording of posture information can be individually set for a still image and a moving image, and recording of the posture information can be set for each of the still image and the moving image according to the purpose and environment at the time of reproduction.

1 is an external view of a camera as an example of an imaging device of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a camera 100; FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing vertical position information and an image display state in each device; 4 is a flow chart showing processing in a shooting mode; It is a display example of a menu screen for vertical position information addition setting. FIG. 11 is a modified example of display of a menu screen for vertical position information addition setting; FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing image display processing in playback mode;

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an external view of a camera 100 as an example of the imaging device of the present invention. The liquid crystal monitor 27 is a display unit that displays images and various information. A shutter button 61 is an operation unit for instructing still image shooting. A movie record button 65 is an operation unit for instructing the start and end of movie shooting. A mode changeover switch 60 is an operation unit for switching between various modes. An operation for switching between the still image mode and the moving image mode is also set by the mode switch 60 . The operation unit 70 is an operation unit including operation members such as various switches, buttons, and dials for receiving various operations from the user. The power switch 74 is a push button for switching between power on and power off. A recording medium 200 is a recording medium such as a memory card or a hard disk. The recording medium 200 can communicate with the camera 100 and can record and reproduce.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the camera 100 according to this embodiment.

In FIG. 2, a photographing lens 103 is a lens group including a zoom lens and a focus lens. A shutter 101 is a shutter having an aperture function. The imaging unit 22 is an imaging element configured by a CCD, CMOS element, or the like that converts an optical image into an electric signal. The A/D converter 23 converts analog signals into digital signals. The A/D converter 23 is used to convert the analog signal output from the imaging section 22 into a digital signal. The barrier 102 covers the imaging system including the imaging lens 103 of the camera 100 to prevent the imaging system including the imaging lens 103, the shutter 101, and the imaging unit 22 from being soiled or damaged.

The image processing unit 24 performs resizing processing such as predetermined pixel interpolation and reduction, and color conversion processing on the data from the A/D converter 23 or the data from the memory control unit 15 . Further, the image processing unit 24 performs predetermined arithmetic processing using captured image data, and the system control unit 50 performs exposure control and distance measurement control based on the obtained arithmetic results. As a result, TTL (through-the-lens) AF (autofocus) processing, AE (automatic exposure) processing, and EF (flash pre-emission) processing are performed. The image processing unit 24 further performs predetermined arithmetic processing using the captured image data, and also performs TTL AWB (Auto White Balance) processing based on the obtained arithmetic results.

Output data from the A/D converter 23 is directly written into the memory 32 via the image processing section 24 and the memory control section 15 or via the memory control section 15 . The memory 32 stores image data obtained by the imaging unit 22 and converted into digital data by the A/D converter 23 and image data to be displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 27 . The memory 32 has a storage capacity sufficient to store a predetermined number of still images, moving images for a predetermined period of time, and audio.

The memory 32 also serves as an image display memory (video memory). The D/A converter 13 converts image display data stored in the memory 32 into an analog signal and supplies the analog signal to the liquid crystal monitor 27 . Thus, the image data for display written in the memory 32 is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 27 via the D/A converter 13 . The liquid crystal monitor 27 performs display corresponding to the analog signal from the D/A converter 13 on a display such as an LCD. A digital signal that has been A/D converted by the A/D converter 23 and stored in the memory 32 is analog-converted by the D/A converter 13 and sequentially transferred to the liquid crystal monitor 27 for display, whereby through image display (live view display) can be performed.

The nonvolatile memory 56 is a memory as an electrically erasable/recordable recording medium, and for example, an EEPROM or the like is used. The nonvolatile memory 56 stores constants, programs, etc. for the operation of the system control unit 50 . The program here includes a computer program for executing various flowcharts described later in this embodiment. The processing of the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 7 is also realized by the system control unit 50 reading and executing the program recorded in the nonvolatile memory 56 .

A system control unit 50 controls the entire camera 100 and is composed of one or more processors. The system control unit 50 reads out the program recorded in the non-volatile memory 56 described above and executes the read program to control each block and realize each process of this embodiment described later. A RAM is used for the system memory 52 . In the system memory 52, constants and variables for operation of the system control unit 50, programs read from the nonvolatile memory 56, and the like are expanded. The system control unit 50 also performs display control by controlling the memory 32, the D/A converter 13, and the like.

A system timer 53 is a timer that measures the time used for various controls and the time of a built-in clock.

A mode changeover switch 60 , a shutter button 61 , a moving image recording button 65 , and an operation section 70 are operation means for inputting various operation instructions to the system control section 50 .

A mode switch 60 switches the operation mode of the system control unit 50 between a still image recording mode, a moving image shooting mode, and the like. Modes included in the still image recording mode include an auto shooting mode, an auto scene determination mode, a manual mode, various scene modes for shooting settings for each shooting scene, a program AE mode, a custom mode, and the like. Modes included in the moving image shooting mode include an auto shooting mode, a manual mode, a program AE mode, a custom mode, and the like. The first shutter switch 62 is turned on when the shutter button 61 provided on the camera 100 is pressed halfway (imaging preparation instruction), and generates a first shutter switch signal SW1. Operations such as AF (autofocus) processing, AE (automatic exposure) processing, AWB (automatic white balance) processing, and EF (flash pre-emission) processing are started by the first shutter switch signal SW1.

The second shutter switch 64 is turned ON when the operation of the shutter button 61 is completed, that is, when the shutter button 61 is fully pressed (imaging instruction), and generates a second shutter switch signal SW2. In response to the second shutter switch signal SW2, the system control unit 50 starts a series of photographing processing operations from reading out signals from the imaging unit 22 to writing image data in the recording medium 200. FIG.

Each operation member of the operation unit 70 is appropriately assigned a function for each scene by selecting and operating various function icons displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 27 or the like, and acts as various function buttons. The function buttons include, for example, up, down, left, and right four-direction buttons, a SET button, a controller wheel, a menu button, an electronic dial, an end button, a return button, an image forward button, a jump button, a narrow-down button, an attribute change button, and the like. For example, when the menu button is pressed, a menu screen allowing various settings is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 27 or the like. The user can intuitively perform various settings by using the menu screen displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 27 or the like, the up, down, left, and right four-direction buttons and the SET button.

The power control unit 80 is composed of a battery detection circuit, a DC-DC converter, a switch circuit for switching blocks to be energized, and the like, and detects whether or not a battery is installed, the type of battery, and the remaining amount of the battery. Also, the power supply control unit 80 controls the DC-DC converter based on the detection results and instructions from the system control unit 50, and supplies necessary voltage to each unit including the recording medium 200 for a necessary period.

The power supply unit 30 includes a primary battery such as an alkaline battery or a lithium battery, a secondary battery such as a NiCd battery, a NiMH battery, or a Li battery, an AC adapter, or the like. A recording medium I/F 18 is an interface with a recording medium 200 such as a memory card or hard disk. A recording medium 200 is a recording medium such as a memory card for recording captured images, and is composed of a semiconductor memory, an optical disk, a magnetic disk, or the like.

The communication unit 54 is connected wirelessly or by a wired cable, and transmits and receives video signals, audio signals, and the like. The communication unit 54 can be connected to a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet. The communication unit 54 can transmit images (including through images) captured by the imaging unit 22 and images recorded on the recording medium 200, and can receive image data and other various information from external devices.

The orientation detection unit 55 detects that the orientation of the camera 100 with respect to the direction of gravity is 0 degrees, 90 degrees, 180 degrees, or 270 degrees, and notifies the system control unit 50 of the detected orientation. Based on the posture detected by the posture detection unit 55, the system control unit 50 can determine whether the image captured by the imaging unit 22 is the image captured with the camera 100 held horizontally or the image captured with the camera 100 held vertically. The system control unit 50 can add orientation information (attitude information) corresponding to the orientation detected by the orientation detection unit 55 to the image file of the image captured by the imaging unit 22, rotate and record the image, and display orientation information corresponding to the detected orientation on the liquid crystal monitor 27. An acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, or the like can be used as the posture detection unit 55 .

When the mode switch 60 of the camera 100 is set to the still image shooting mode, the system control unit 50 executes a still image shooting operation. In the still image shooting mode, when the shutter button 61 is half-pressed, the first shutter switch signal SW1 is generated, and the system control unit 50 executes shooting preparation processing (AF processing, AE processing, AWB processing, EF processing, etc.). Then, when the shutter button 61 is fully pressed, a second shutter switch signal SW2 is generated, and the system control section 50 executes still image shooting processing. In the still image photographing process, the signal obtained by imaging by the imaging unit 22 is converted into digital data (image data) by the A/D converter 23, and the image processing unit 24 executes image processing for the still image and writes it to the memory 32. Then, the system control unit 50 generates an image file such as JPEG from the image data written in the memory, and records it on the recording medium 200 via the recording medium I/F 18 . When the shutter button 61 is fully pressed continuously, a continuous photographing mode is entered, and still image photographing processing is repeatedly executed until the shutter button 61 is fully pressed to continuously photograph and record a plurality of images (continuous images).

When the movie recording button 65 is operated and a movie shooting start instruction is input when the movie shooting mode is set, the system control unit 50 starts movie shooting processing. The moving image shooting process is continued until the moving image recording button 65 is operated again and a moving image shooting end instruction is input. Instead of the moving image recording button 65, other buttons may be used to input a moving image shooting start instruction and a moving image shooting end instruction. In the moving image capturing process, images are continuously captured at a frame rate set by the image capturing unit 22, and the signals obtained by the capturing are converted into digital data by the A/D converter 23 to acquire continuous images, that is, moving image data. The acquired moving image data is subjected to moving image processing by the image processing unit 24 and written in the memory 32 . Then, the system control unit 50 generates a moving image file such as MPEG from a plurality of continuous image data (moving image data) written in the memory, and performs recording control to record it on the recording medium 200 via the recording medium I/F 18 . In the recording processing of the moving image file, the moving image file is created without waiting for the completion of the shooting of the moving image or the completion of the moving image file, the moving image file is sequentially recorded from the moving image data for which the processing is completed, and after the recording of the moving image data is completed, the necessary information as the moving image file is recorded to complete the recording processing of the moving image file.

Since the camera 100 of the present embodiment has a moving image recording button 65 in addition to the shutter button 61, it is possible to shoot moving images by operating the moving image recording button 65 even when the still image shooting mode is set. On the other hand, when the moving image shooting mode is set, still image shooting is impossible, and even if the shutter button 61 is pressed, still image shooting is not performed. Alternatively, moving images may be captured in response to pressing of the shutter button 61 .

Still image shooting processing may be performed when the shutter button 61 is operated, and moving image shooting processing may be performed when the moving image recording button 65 is operated, regardless of the setting of the shooting mode.

Next, the display state of an image on each device will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 shows the display state of an image when it is captured by the camera 100 having a landscape display screen, when it is played back on a mobile terminal with a landscape display screen, and when it is played back on a personal computer screen with a landscape display screen. Image display processing during playback in the camera 100 of this embodiment will be described later with reference to FIG. Regardless of whether the vertical position information can be added or not, the camera 100 records the captured image as a horizontally long image. When the vertical position information is set to be addable, the horizontal position information is added when the image is taken without rotating the camera, and the vertical position information is added when the image is taken with the camera 100 rotated by 90 degrees or 270 degrees. Also, in the case of setting not to add vertical position information, horizontal position information is added regardless of the orientation of the camera 100 .

First, the case where an image captured with the camera 100 in the horizontal position without adding the vertical position information to the image, that is, with the rotation angle of 0 degrees without rotating the camera 100 (301) is played back on the mobile terminal or on the PC screen will be described. In this case, lateral position information is recorded in the image. When played back with the mobile terminal held vertically, the image is displayed in the normal orientation (302). However, since a horizontally long image is displayed so that the entire image fits on a vertically long screen, blank areas are provided at the top and bottom, the display area of the image is reduced, and the display resolution of the image is lowered. On the other hand, when the mobile terminal is placed horizontally and played back, the image is rotated 90 degrees from the state 302 and displayed (303) because the orientation of the display screen has changed. In this state, the vertical direction of the image matches that of the portable terminal, and the display screen is horizontally long. Therefore, the image is displayed on the entire display screen with high resolution (303). Since the screen of a personal computer is usually fixed in landscape orientation, the display area of the image becomes the entire personal computer screen as if the portable terminal is laid horizontally, and the image is displayed at a high display resolution (304).

A case will be described in which an image captured with the camera 100 in the vertical position, that is, with the camera 100 rotated by 90 degrees or 270 degrees (305) is played back without adding vertical position information to the image. Lateral position information is recorded in the image, and the attitude information of the image and the orientation of the image are different. When the mobile terminal is set vertically and reproduced, the image is displayed in the same state as 302 because the vertical position information is not added but the horizontal position information is added, and the image is displayed in a state in which the top and bottom of the image and the top and bottom of the mobile terminal do not match each other (306). Even when the mobile terminal is turned horizontally and reproduced, the image is displayed in the same state as 303 because the vertical position information is not added but the horizontal position information is added, and the image is displayed in a state in which the top and bottom of the image and the top and bottom of the mobile terminal do not match each other (307). When reproduced on the personal computer screen, the vertical position information is not added but the horizontal position information is added, so the image is displayed in the same state as 304, and is displayed in a state where the top and bottom of the image and the top and bottom of the personal computer screen do not match each other (308). When the vertical position information is not added to the image and the horizontal position information is added to the image when the vertical position information is not added to the image, it is impossible to distinguish the image from the horizontal position on a reproducing device such as a mobile terminal or a personal computer screen, and the image is displayed in a state in which the vertical position does not match. Therefore, it becomes difficult to browse and view images.

A case will be described where vertical position information can be added and an image captured with the camera 100 in the horizontal position, that is, with the rotation angle of 0 degrees (309) without rotating the camera 100 is reproduced. In this case, lateral position information is added to the image. When the mobile terminal is set vertically and reproduced, the image is displayed in the same state as 302 because the image is taken without rotating the camera 100 and the horizontal position information is recorded, and the image is displayed in a state in which the top and bottom of the image match the top and bottom of the mobile terminal (310). When the mobile terminal is laid down and played back, the image is taken without rotating the camera 100 and the horizontal position information is recorded, so the image is displayed in the same state as 303, and the image is displayed in a state in which the top and bottom of the image match the top and bottom of the mobile terminal (311). When the image is reproduced on the personal computer screen, the image is photographed without rotating the camera 100 and the horizontal position information is recorded, so the image is displayed in the same state as 304, and the image is displayed in the same state as the personal computer screen (312).

A case will be described in which the addition of vertical position information is enabled, the camera 100 is set to the vertical position, that is, the camera 100 is rotated by 90 degrees or 270 degrees (313), and the image to which the vertical position information is added is reproduced. In this case, vertical position information is added to the image. When the portable terminal is set vertically and reproduced, the image is recorded with the vertical position information added thereto, so that the image is rotated and displayed according to the vertical position information in order to match the vertical direction of the image with that of the portable terminal (314). By rotating the image, not only the orientation of the image matches that of the mobile terminal, but also the display screen and the image after rotation become vertically long, so the image is displayed on the full display screen with high resolution. When the mobile terminal is placed horizontally and played back, the image and the mobile terminal are displayed in the same orientation (315). In this case, since the long side direction of the display screen and the image are different, the resolution is displayed low. On the personal computer screen, the image is rotated according to the vertical position information and displayed (316). Although the top and bottom directions of the image and the computer screen are the same, the image and the computer screen are displayed in a lower resolution because the long side direction of the image and the computer screen are different.

The display method described here is just an example, and the operation may differ depending on the specifications of the image reproduction software and the hardware specifications of the reproduction apparatus. In the case indicated by 307, if the attitude detection of the mobile terminal can be disabled, by rotating the terminal itself, an image can be viewed in the positive direction with high resolution as indicated by 314. FIG. However, orientation detection of a mobile terminal is normally enabled, and it is troublesome to disable orientation detection each time an image is reproduced.

Still image playback software often rotates and displays images according to the vertical and horizontal information of the image, but video playback players do not support vertically long images, and the need to add vertical position information to images varies depending on the environment of the user's playback device. Furthermore, there are cases in which it is easier to process still images if they are not rotated, such as when capturing still images into a computer and executing image processing all at once. Note that if the vertical position information can be rewritten for each file at the time of image reproduction, it is possible to cope with the case where the use of the photographed image changes.

As described above, each user has a different image reproduction purpose and environment. Therefore, it is desirable to be able to set vertical position information separately for still image files and moving image files.

Therefore, in the camera 100 of the present embodiment, it is possible to individually set whether to add the vertical position information (orientation information) detected by the camera 100 to the image and record the still image and the moving image.

The setting of whether to add vertical position information (orientation information) will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a display example of the setting screen.

When the system control unit 50 determines that the user has pressed the menu button of the operation unit 70, the system control unit 50 displays the top screen of the menu in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5(1), on the menu top screen, a setting item for adding still image vertical position information and a setting item for adding moving image vertical position information can be selected. On the menu top screen, the selection of the setting item can be changed by operating the up and down buttons, and the selection of the setting item can be determined by operating the set button. Normally, other camera setting items can also be set, but in this embodiment, items irrelevant to the explanation of vertical position information addition processing are omitted.

When the setting item for addition of still image vertical position information is selected and determined on the menu top screen, the system control unit 50 displays the still image vertical position information addition setting screen of FIG. On the still image vertical position information addition setting screen, it is possible to set whether or not vertical position information can be added to a still image as a still image orientation information recording setting. At the same time, it is also possible to set a rotation display setting as to whether or not to rotate and display an image to which vertical position information is added when the image is reproduced by the camera. As for the rotation display setting, it is preferable that the rotation display can be set only when vertical position information can be added in the still image orientation information addition setting. The settings of the still image orientation information recording setting and the rotation display setting set on the still image vertical position information addition setting screen are stored in the nonvolatile memory 56 .

When the setting item for addition of moving image vertical position information is selected and determined on the menu top screen, the system control unit 50 displays the moving image vertical position information addition setting screen of FIG. On the moving image vertical position information addition setting screen, it is possible to set whether vertical position information can be added to moving images or not as a moving image orientation information recording setting. The setting of the moving image orientation information recording setting set on the moving image vertical position information addition setting screen is stored in the nonvolatile memory 56 .

As described above, in the camera 100 of the present embodiment, when the camera 100 is in the vertical position when taking an image, the setting as to whether or not to record the orientation information indicating the vertical position together with the image can be individually set for each of the still image and the moving image.

FIGS. 5(2) and 5(3) are examples of setting screens for setting still image orientation information recording settings and moving image orientation information recording settings, and are not limited to these as long as it is possible to individually set whether or not vertical position information can be recorded as orientation information for each of a still image and a moving image.

A modification of the setting screen for the still image orientation information recording setting and the moving image orientation information recording setting will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 6(1) shows a menu screen displayed on the liquid crystal monitor by the system control unit 50 in response to the operation of the menu button. The menu screen displays a setting tab 601 related to shooting, a setting tab 602 related to playback, and a setting tab 603 related to camera functions. When the cross key of the operation unit 70 is operated to select tabs 601 to 603, setting items corresponding to the respective tabs are displayed. FIG. 6(1) shows a state in which a setting tab 603 related to camera functions is selected. In settings related to camera functions, in addition to setting item 601 for still image orientation information recording setting and setting item 602 for moving image orientation information recording setting, other setting items such as setting item 1 to setting item 3 (603 to 605) can also be set. A cursor 600 indicates the currently selected setting item. In FIG. 6(1), setting item 2 (604) is selected. When the up and down buttons are operated, the system control unit 50 moves and displays the cursor 600, and when the SET button is operated, the system control unit 50 displays a screen for setting the currently selected setting item. A setting item 601 for still image orientation information recording setting displays a character string "vertical position image rotation display", and a setting item 60 for moving image orientation information recording setting displays a character string "addition of vertical position information" and an icon indicating a moving image.

When the set button is pressed while the setting item 601 for still image orientation information recording setting is selected, the system control unit 50 displays a still image vertical position information setting screen as shown in FIG. 6B. Further, when the set button is pressed with the setting item 602 for moving image orientation information recording setting selected, the system control unit 50 displays a moving image vertical position information setting screen as shown in FIG. 6(3).

On the still image vertical position information setting screen, three options are displayed as an option group, as shown in FIG. 6(2). In addition, on the still image vertical position information setting screen, not only the still image orientation information recording setting indicating whether or not to record the orientation information detected at the time of photographing of the still image but also the rotation display setting indicating whether or not to rotate and display the image based on the orientation information when the image is reproduced by the camera 100 are set. Here, the setting of recording the orientation information detected at the time of photographing in the still image is a setting that enables the addition of vertical position information since the orientation of the camera at the time of photographing is recorded. Also, the setting of not recording the orientation information detected at the time of shooting means that the orientation information indicating the horizontal position is recorded regardless of the orientation of the camera, and thus the vertical position information is not added.

The first option 611 is an option for setting to rotate and display an image during playback as a rotation display setting, and to set recording of posture information detected at the time of shooting as a still image posture information recording setting. The option 611 displays a character string “Yes” indicating rotation display, an icon indicating a camera, and an icon indicating a PC. In this embodiment, the icon indicates a PC, but an icon indicating a playback device other than a camera may be used. By performing such a display, it can be understood that the orientation information is recorded so that the rotation display based on the orientation information is performed in the camera 100 and the rotation display based on the orientation information is performed in other playback devices.

A second option 612 is an option for setting not to rotate and display an image during playback as a rotation display setting, and for setting recording of posture information detected at the time of shooting as a still image posture information recording setting. As with the option 611, the option 612 displays the character string "do" and the icon of the PC, but does not display the icon of the camera. By performing such a display, it can be understood that the camera 100 does not rotate display based on the orientation information during playback, and that the rotation display based on the orientation information is performed on a PC or the like, that is, the orientation information itself detected at the time of shooting is recorded together with the image.

A third option 613 is an option for setting not to rotate and display an image during playback as a rotation display setting, and to set not to record orientation information detected at the time of shooting as a still image orientation information recording setting. An option 613 displays a character string "no" indicating that rotation display based on orientation information is not performed during playback. This makes it possible to know that the camera 100 does not rotate display based on the orientation information during playback, and that the PC or the like does not perform rotation display based on the orientation information, that is, does not record the orientation information at the time of shooting.

By displaying the option group in this way, it is possible to set two setting values of rotation display setting and still image attitude information recording setting with one option, and to display what kind of setting value is set by each option in an easy-to-understand manner without using a large display area.

A cursor 614 indicates the currently selected option. The system control unit 50 moves the cursor 614 according to the operation of the up and down buttons. When the set button is operated, the system control unit 50 stores the still image orientation information recording setting and rotation display setting corresponding to the currently selected option in the nonvolatile memory 56, and terminates the still image vertical position information setting screen.

On the video vertical position information setting screen, two options are displayed as an option group, as shown in FIG. 6(3). On the moving image vertical position information setting screen, a moving image orientation information recording setting is set as to whether or not to record the orientation information detected at the time of shooting the moving image. In other words, the rotation display setting is not set on the video vertical position information setting screen. Here, the setting for recording the orientation information detected at the time of shooting in the moving image is a setting that enables the addition of vertical position information because the orientation of the camera at the time of shooting is recorded. Also, the setting of not recording orientation information detected at the time of shooting a moving image is a setting that does not add vertical position information because orientation information indicating the horizontal position is recorded regardless of the orientation of the camera.

The first option 621 is an option for setting recording of the orientation information of the camera 100 detected during shooting of the moving image, and displays a character string "Yes" indicating that the orientation information is to be recorded.

The second option 622 is an option for setting not to record the orientation information of the camera 100 detected during shooting of the moving image, and displays a character string "not" indicating that the orientation information is not to be recorded.

A cursor 623 indicates the currently selected option. The system control unit 50 moves the cursor 623 according to the operation of the up and down buttons. When the set button is operated, the system control unit 50 stores the moving image orientation information recording setting corresponding to the currently selected option in the nonvolatile memory 56, and exits the moving image vertical position information setting screen.

The modified examples of the vertical position information setting screen for still images and the vertical position information setting screen for moving images have been described above with reference to FIG. In the above modified example, the setting items for the still image orientation information recording setting and the setting items for the moving image orientation information recording setting are displayed when the setting tab 603 regarding the camera function on the menu screen is selected, but they may be displayed when the setting tab 601 regarding shooting is selected. When displaying by selecting the setting tab 601 related to shooting, whether or not to display setting items for still image orientation information recording settings and setting items for moving image orientation information recording settings may be switched according to the shooting mode of the camera. For example, in the case of the still image shooting mode, the setting items of the still image orientation information recording setting may be displayed and the setting items of the moving image orientation information recording setting may be hidden, and in the case of the moving image shooting mode, the setting items of the moving image orientation information recording setting may be displayed and the setting items of the still image orientation information recording setting may be hidden. Alternatively, if moving image shooting is possible with the moving image shooting button 65 even in the still image shooting mode, both setting items for still image attitude information recording setting and moving image attitude information recording setting are displayed in the still image shooting mode. In the case of the moving image shooting mode, the setting items for the moving image orientation information recording setting may be displayed, and the setting items for the still image orientation information recording setting may not be displayed.

Next, processing in the shooting mode of the camera 100 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The processing of the flowchart of FIG. 4 is executed by the system control unit 50 reading out a program recorded in the nonvolatile memory 56 and controlling each unit and performing arithmetic processing based on the program.

First, in S<b>401 , the system control unit 50 acquires the output result of the orientation detection unit 55 , that is, the orientation of the camera 100 detected by the orientation detection unit 55 .

Next, in S402, the system control unit 50 determines whether or not the user has pressed the shutter button 61 for still image shooting. If it is determined that the shutter button has been pressed, the process advances to S403, and if the shutter button has not been operated, the process advances to S407.

In S403, the system control unit 50 executes still image shooting processing. In the still image photographing process, the signal obtained by imaging by the imaging unit 22 is converted into digital data (image data) by the A/D converter 23, and the image processing unit 24 executes image processing for the still image and writes it to the memory 32. Then, the system control unit 50 generates an image file such as JPEG from the image data written in the memory.

Next, in S<b>404 , the system control unit 50 reads the setting value of the still image orientation information recording setting stored in the nonvolatile memory 56 . This setting value is the setting value set by the user on the setting screen, as described above. If the recording of the orientation information of the camera detected at the time of shooting is set as the still image orientation information recording setting, that is, if it is set that vertical position information can be added to the still image, the process advances to step S405. If it is set not to record the orientation information of the camera detected at the time of shooting, that is, if it is set not to add vertical position information, the process advances to step S406.

In S405, the system control unit 50 adds posture information indicating the angle (one of 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees) detected by the posture detection unit 55 in S401 as metadata of the still image file. Then, the still image file to which the posture information is added is recorded on the recording medium 200 . Note that the orientation information added to the still image file in S405 is detected by the orientation detection unit 55 immediately before the still image is captured, so it is the orientation of the camera 100 when the still image was captured. The orientation of the camera 100 may be detected by the orientation detection unit 55 immediately after the instruction to shoot a still image, and the orientation information may be recorded. In the present embodiment, information indicating any one of 0 degrees, 90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees is recorded as the posture information. In this way, in S405, the vertical position information indicating that the camera 100 is rotated by 90 degrees or 270 degrees can be added to the still image file and recorded. Then, the process proceeds to S418.

In S406, the system control unit 50 does not record the orientation information detected at the time of shooting as the still image orientation information recording setting, so the orientation information of the orientation detected in S401 is not added to the metadata of the still image file. Instead, regardless of the orientation detected in S401, information indicating 0 degrees (horizontal position information) is added to the still image file. Then, the still image file is recorded on the recording medium 200 . In other words, vertical position information indicating that the camera is in the vertical position is not added to the still image file. After that, the process proceeds to S418.

In S407, the system control unit 50 determines whether the moving image recording button 65 has been pressed, that is, whether or not a moving image recording start instruction has been input. If the moving image recording start button has been pressed, the process proceeds to S408, and if the moving image recording start button has not been pressed, the process proceeds to S418.

In S408, the system control unit 50 reads the setting value of the moving image orientation information recording setting stored in the nonvolatile memory 56, and determines whether or not the setting to record the orientation information detected at the time of shooting is set as the moving image orientation information recording setting. If orientation information detected at the time of shooting is recorded, that is, if vertical position information can be added, the process advances to step S409. Then, if it is set not to record the orientation information detected at the time of shooting, that is, if it is set not to add vertical position information, the process advances to step S411.

In S409, the system control unit 50 determines whether the current moving image shooting mode/recording mode is a mode for recording a moving image as a moving image file with chapter information. If it is determined to record a moving image with chapter information, the process advances to S410, and if it is determined to record a moving image without chapter information, the process advances to S411.

In S410, the system control unit 50 sets the orientation of the camera 100 detected by the orientation detection unit 55 in S401 (one of 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees) as orientation information for a moving image to be shot and recorded, and records it in the memory 32. The orientation detected in S401 is the orientation of the camera 100 immediately before moving image shooting, and thus is the orientation of camera 100 at the start of moving image shooting (at the start of recording moving image data). The posture of the camera 100 may be detected by the posture detection unit 55 immediately after the instruction to start moving image shooting, and the posture information may be set.

In S<b>411 , the system control unit sets posture information indicating a rotation angle of 0 degrees as posture information of a moving image to be shot and recorded from now on, and records it in the memory 32 . In S411, orientation information corresponding to the detected orientation of the camera is not recorded, that is, in order not to record vertical position information, orientation information (horizontal position information) indicating 0 degrees is set regardless of the orientation of the camera 100 detected by the orientation detection unit 55 in S401.

Here, a moving image having chapter information is a moving image that is recorded for the purpose of continuously playing back a plurality of different moving images shot by a plurality of shooting start instructions, and the plurality of moving image files have mutual related information. Each moving image file is related, and the moving image data of each moving image file is configured as a series of chapters of moving images. In the present embodiment, moving images having chapter information include a snapshot moving image mode in which a short moving image of about 4 seconds is shot, and a moving image shot in a shooting mode in which a short moving image is recorded while shooting a still image. Since these videos are assumed to be played continuously, if the orientation information of the videos differs for each chapter, the aspect ratio will change during playback of the videos, making it difficult to watch. In order to avoid this difficulty in viewing, in the present embodiment, posture information corresponding to the detected camera posture is not recorded in a moving image file having chapter information. In other words, even if the orientation of the camera 100 is vertical at the time of moving image shooting, the orientation information indicating the horizontal orientation is added instead of the orientation information indicating the vertical orientation.

In S412, the system control unit 50 controls to execute the moving image recording process. In the moving image recording process, images are continuously captured at a frame rate set by the imaging unit 22, and the signals obtained by the imaging are converted into digital data by the A/D converter 23 to acquire continuous images, that is, moving image data. The image processing unit 24 performs image processing for moving images and compression encoding processing on the acquired moving image data, and writes a plurality of continuous image data (moving image data) in the memory 32 . Then, the system control unit 50 performs recording control to record the plurality of continuous image data (moving image data) written in the memory 32 as a moving image file such as MPEG in the recording medium 200 via the recording medium I/F 18 .

In S413, the system control unit determines whether the moving image recording button 65 has been operated by the user again to input a moving image recording end instruction. If it is determined that the moving image recording end instruction has been input, the process proceeds to S414, and if the moving image recording end instruction has not been input, the process proceeds to S415.

In S414, the system control unit stops the moving image recording process, completes the recording of the moving image data written in the memory 32 to the recording medium 200, and records the moving image data obtained by shooting from the moving image recording start instruction to the moving image recording end instruction on the recording medium 200 as a moving image file. Then, in S414, the orientation information set in the memory 32 is read, and the orientation information read out from the memory 32 is recorded as metadata of the moving image file. That is, the orientation information set in S410 or S411, or the orientation information set in S417 when file division processing is performed, is added to the metadata of the movie file, and the movie file is recorded on the recording medium 200. If the orientation information is set in S410, the orientation information of the camera detected at the start of moving image shooting is added to the moving image file, so vertical position information can be added. If the orientation information is set in S411, regardless of the orientation of the camera, the horizontal position information of 0 degrees indicating no rotation is recorded as the orientation information of the moving image file, so the vertical position information is not recorded. The orientation information set in S417 will be described later.

In S415, it is determined whether or not the file division condition is satisfied during the moving image recording process and the file division process occurs. The upper limit of the size of one file may be determined depending on the restrictions of the file format. Therefore, when the file size reaches the upper limit during moving image recording, file division processing is performed, and file division processing is performed to continue recording subsequent moving image data in another new moving image file. If the file splitting process is to be performed, the process proceeds to S416, and if the file splitting process is not to be performed, the process returns to S412 to continue the moving image recording process.

In S416, the system control unit 50 executes file division processing, records the moving image data recorded in the memory 32 so far as a moving image file, and closes the moving image file. At this time, the system control unit 50 reads the orientation information set in the memory 32 and records the orientation information read from the memory 32 as metadata of the moving image file, as in S414. That is, as the metadata of the moving image file, the orientation information set in S410 or S411, or if the file division processing has already been performed, the orientation information set when the file division processing was performed in S417 is recorded. By the file splitting process, posture information is recorded in the moving image file before file splitting (that is, the moving image file containing the moving image data at the start of shooting) in the same way as when the file is not split normally.

In S417, the system control unit 50 generates another new moving image file by file division processing, and thereafter, in the moving image recording processing of S412, moving image data is recorded in the newly generated divided moving image file. Then, the moving image file after division is set to record the same posture information as that of the moving image file before division. Since the posture information set in the memory 32 is recorded in the moving picture file before division, the same posture information is recorded even when the recording of the next moving picture file is finished without changing the setting of the posture information in the memory 32.例文帳に追加Then, the process advances to S412 to execute moving image recording processing to the newly created divided moving image file.

In this way, when recording a moving image file, the recording method of the attitude information is switched according to the moving image attitude information recording setting, whether or not the recording is for a moving image with chapter information, and whether or not file division processing is to be performed.

If the orientation information detected by the camera is set to be recorded in the movie orientation information recording settings, the orientation information detected during movie shooting is recorded in the movie file. However, in the case of a moving image file with chapter information, since the purpose is to continuously reproduce a plurality of moving image files, specific attitude information indicating that the camera is not rotated (in this embodiment, information indicating 0 degrees) is recorded instead of the detected attitude information. Ordinarily, the posture information of the camera detected when the moving image data recorded in the moving image file is started is recorded. However, when file division processing is performed to generate a new moving image file as a divided moving image file, and the continuation moving image data is recorded, the same attitude information as that recorded in the moving image file before division is recorded in the divided moving image file. That is, the second and subsequent moving image files generated by the file division process take over and record the same posture information as the first file. This is also to avoid switching the aspect ratio during playback of a plurality of divided moving image files.

In S418, the system control unit 50 determines whether or not the operation unit 70 has been operated to end the shooting mode. The system control unit 50 terminates this process if there is an operation to end the shooting mode, and returns to S401 and repeats the process if there is no operation to end the shooting mode.

The above is the processing in the shooting mode.

Next, image display processing in the playback mode in camera 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing image display processing in playback mode. The processing of this flowchart is executed by the system control unit 50 reading out a program recorded in the nonvolatile memory 56 and controlling each unit and performing arithmetic processing based on the program.

First, in S<b>701 , the system control unit 50 reads an image file to be displayed from the recording medium 200 . Image files to be read as display targets are read one by one from the newest image file.

Next, in S702, the system control unit 50 determines whether the image file to be displayed read in S701 is a still image file or a moving image file. The system control unit 50 determines whether the image file to be displayed is a still image file or a moving image file from the extension and metadata of the image file. If it is determined to be a still image file, the process advances to S703, and if it is not a still image file but a moving image file, the process advances to S706.

In S703, the system control unit 50 reads from the non-volatile memory 56 a setting value for rotating display that indicates whether or not to rotate and display during playback, and proceeds to S704 if rotating display is set, and proceeds to S706 if not rotating display is set.

Next, in S704, the system control unit 50 reads posture information (vertical position information) from the metadata of the still image file to be displayed read in S701, and determines whether the read posture information is 0 degrees. If the orientation information is not 0 degrees, the process advances to S705, and if the orientation information is 0 degrees or the orientation information is not recorded, the process advances to S706.

In S705, the system control unit rotates the image data of the image file read out in S701 according to the angle recorded in the orientation information of the metadata of the image file and displays it on the liquid crystal monitor 27. FIG. When the image is rotated and displayed, it is displayed so that the entire rotated image fits within the display screen. That is, the image is displayed with blank areas added to the left and right of the image. The blank area may be displayed in black, white, or a color determined according to the image. Then, the process proceeds to S707.

In S706, the system control unit 50 displays the image data of the image file read out in S701 on the liquid crystal monitor 27 without rotation. Then, the process proceeds to S707.

In S707, the system control unit 50 determines whether or not the user has operated the left/right button to instruct image forwarding (returning). When the system control unit 50 receives an image forwarding (returning) instruction, the system control unit 50 returns to S701 in order to perform display processing for the next image file. In the case of an image forwarding instruction, the processing after S701 is performed for the next image file, and in the case of the image returning instruction, the processing after S701 is performed for the previous image file.

In S708, the system control unit 50 determines whether an instruction to end the image display process including an instruction to end the reproduction mode, an instruction to perform other processing, or the like has been issued by the user's operation. The system control unit 50 returns to S707 if there is no instruction to end the image display process, and ends this process if there is an instruction to end the image display process.

As described above, in the camera 100 of the present embodiment, when the image file is a moving image file, the moving image data is displayed without being rotated regardless of the image rotation display setting set on the setting screen and the orientation information of the image file. On the other hand, when the image file is a still image file, the image data is rotated and displayed according to the image rotation display (reproduced by rotation) setting on the setting screen and the attitude information of the image file.

In the camera 100 of this embodiment, moving image data is displayed without being rotated. If an image is rotated and displayed, the image will be displayed in a smaller size, and the processing load of the rotation process will increase. In the case of moving images, since the vertical and horizontal positions of the images remain the same during the reproduction of one moving image, the images can be viewed by changing the orientation of the camera 100 . On the other hand, when still images are reproduced sequentially, posture information differs depending on the still images. It is troublesome to change the orientation of the camera 100 for each image according to the orientation of the image. Therefore, in the camera 100 of the present embodiment, it is possible to rotate and display images according to the orientation information so that the images can be easily confirmed even when the still images are sequentially reproduced, according to the rotation display setting.

[Other embodiments]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the method for adding vertical position information of the camera has been described. The control by the system control unit 50 may be performed by one piece of hardware (a processor such as a CPU), or may be performed by a plurality of pieces of hardware sharing the processing to control the entire apparatus. In addition, although the present invention has been described in detail based on its preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments, and various forms that do not depart from the gist of the present invention are also included in the present invention. Furthermore, each embodiment described above merely shows one embodiment of the present invention, and it is also possible to combine each embodiment as appropriate.

The present invention also includes the case where a software program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied directly from a recording medium or via wired/wireless communication to a system or apparatus having a computer capable of executing the program, and the program is executed.

Therefore, in order to implement the functional processing of the present invention in a computer, the program code itself supplied and installed in the computer also implements the present invention. In other words, the present invention also includes the computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.

The recording medium for supplying the program may be, for example, a magnetic recording medium such as a hard disk, an optical/magneto-optical storage medium, or a nonvolatile semiconductor memory.

Claims (17)

An imaging device having an imaging unit,
detection means for detecting the attitude of the imaging device;
a control means for controlling to record a still image or a moving image captured by the imaging unit on a recording medium;
a first setting means for setting , according to a user operation , whether or not to record posture information based on the posture detected by the detection means together with the still image captured by the imaging unit;
a second setting means for setting , according to a user operation , whether or not to record posture information based on the posture detected by the detection means together with the moving image captured by the imaging unit;
has
Whether or not the orientation information is recorded together with the still image, and whether or not the still image is rotated and displayed based on the orientation information when the still image is played back can be set by the first setting means according to the user's operation.
Whether or not to record the posture information together with the moving image can be set according to the user operation by the second setting means, but it is not possible to set according to the user operation whether or not to rotate and display the moving image based on the posture information when reproducing the moving image.
An imaging device characterized by: 2. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when recording a still image, said control means controls whether or not to record together with the still image the attitude information indicating the attitude detected by said detecting means based on the setting by said first setting means, and when recording a moving image, controls whether or not to record together with the moving image the attitude information indicating the attitude detected by said detecting means based on the setting made by said second setting means. 3. The imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein, when the orientation information based on the orientation detected by the detection unit is set not to be recorded , the control unit performs control to record the orientation information indicating that the imaging apparatus is in a predetermined orientation in which the imaging apparatus is not rotated, together with the photographed still image or moving image. a reproducing means for reproducing the image recorded on the recording medium;
4. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when reproducing a still image, the reproducing unit rotates and reproduces the still image based on the orientation information according to the setting of whether or not to rotate and display the still image based on the orientation information set by the first setting unit, and reproduces the moving image without rotating based on the orientation information when reproducing the moving image . 2. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display control means for controlling display of the setting screen. When a first setting item for setting vertical position information for a still image is selected on the setting screen, the display control means controls to display on the setting screen a first option group for setting whether or not to record the orientation information together with the still image and whether or not to rotate and display the still image based on the orientation information when reproducing the still image, and the first setting means controls whether or not to record the orientation information along with the still image according to the selection of any one option from the first option group. and whether or not to rotate and display a still image based on the orientation information when reproducing the still image, and when the second setting item for moving image vertical position information setting is selected on the setting screen
The display control means controls to display on the setting screen a second option group for setting whether or not to record the posture information together with the moving image, and the second setting means sets whether or not to record the posture information together with the moving image according to selection of one of the options in the second option group.
6. The imaging device according to claim 5, characterized in that: 7. The imaging apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said display control means simultaneously displays said first setting item and said second setting item on said setting screen. The display control means is
As a first option group for settings related to still images by the first setting means ,
a first option for setting to rotate and reproduce an image based on the orientation information and to record the orientation information based on the orientation detected by the detection means together with the still image;
a second option for setting to reproduce the image based on the orientation information without rotation and to record the orientation information based on the orientation detected by the detection means together with the still image;
a third option for setting to reproduce an image without rotation based on the orientation information and not to record the orientation information based on the orientation detected by the detection means together with the still image;
to be displayed on the setting screen,
As a second option group for settings related to moving images by the first setting means,
a fourth option for recording orientation information based on the orientation detected by the detection means together with the moving image;
a fifth option for setting not to record the orientation information based on the orientation detected by the detection means together with the moving image;
to be displayed on the setting screen,
8. The imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized by: The display control means displays, as the first option, a first character string indicating that the image is to be rotated and reproduced based on the orientation information, a first icon indicating an imaging device, and a second icon indicating a playback device other than the imaging device, as the second option, the first icon is not displayed, and the first character string and the second icon are displayed. Control to display 3 character strings,
9. The imaging apparatus according to claim 8 , characterized by: 7. The imaging apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the first setting item is displayed as a character string, and the second setting item is displayed as a character string and an icon related to moving images. 11. The imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10 , wherein, in the case of a moving image having chapter information or a moving image in which a plurality of moving images shot by a plurality of shooting instructions are recorded as one moving image, the control means controls not to record posture information based on the posture detected by the detecting means together with the moving image regardless of the setting by the second setting means. further comprising recording control means for performing control to divide and record the moving image being recorded into a plurality of files when a predetermined condition is satisfied during recording of the moving image;
12. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls whether or not to record the orientation information based on the orientation detected by the detection unit according to the setting by the second setting unit at the start of shooting a moving image, and controls to record the orientation information based on the orientation detected at the start of shooting the moving image when recording the moving image in a new moving image file in order to divide and record the moving image into a plurality of moving image files in accordance with the satisfaction of the predetermined condition. 13. The imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12 , wherein, when the orientation information based on the orientation detected by the detection unit is recorded along with the moving image, the control unit performs control to record the orientation information based on the orientation detected by the detection unit when shooting of the moving image is started. display control means for controlling a display unit to display a first setting item set by the first setting means and a second setting item set by the second setting means;
5. The imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein said display control means controls not to display said second setting item according to an operation mode of said imaging apparatus. a control step of controlling to record a still image or moving image captured by an imaging device on a recording medium;
a first setting step for setting , according to a user operation, whether or not to record posture information indicating the posture of the imaging device when the still image was captured together with the still image captured by the imaging device;
a second setting step for setting, according to a user operation , whether or not to record, together with a moving image captured by the imaging device, orientation information indicating the attitude of the imaging device when the moving image was shot;
has
Whether or not to record orientation information together with a still image, and whether or not to rotate and display a still image based on the orientation information when reproducing the still image can be set according to the user operation in the first setting step.
Whether or not to record the orientation information together with the moving image can be set according to the user operation in the second setting step.
A control method characterized by: A program for causing a computer to function as each means of the imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 14 . A program for causing a computer to execute the control method according to claim 15 .

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