Patent ID: 8274572
Filing Date: 2012-09-25
Classification: G06K,G06T,H04N

Abstract:
1. An electronic camera provided with a processing unit to execute a computer program, which is supported by a supporting device having a pan/tilt rotation mechanism, comprising: an imager having an imaging surface capturing a scene, which repeatedly outputs an image representing the scene; a changer as a part of the computer program, which repeatedly changes a pan angle and/or a tilt angle by controlling said supporting device when a group photograph mode is selected; a detector as a part of the computer program, which detects a specific object image from the image outputted from said imager in association with the changing process of said changer; a decider as a part of the computer program, which decides a plurality of angles defining a range which contains a group of specific objects each of the specific objects is equivalent to the specific object image detected by said detector, based on a detection result of said detector; and a creator as a part of the computer program, which combines a plurality of images outputted from said imager so as to create a combined image corresponding to the range defined by the plurality of angles decided by said decider, wherein said changer includes a first changing processor which changes the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a first designated direction and a second change processor which changes the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a second designated direction opposite to the first designated direction, and said decider includes a first deciding processor which refers to a first specific object existing at an end in the first designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide one of the plurality of angles, and a second deciding processor which refers to a second specific object existing at an end in the second designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide another of the plurality of angles.