Patent ID: 8379054
Filing Date: 2013-02-19
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. An image synthesis apparatus comprising: an image input unit configured to input a plurality of images; an extracting unit configured to extract a plurality of corresponding points within an overlapping area of adjacent images input by said image inputting unit; a parameter generating unit configured to generate a coordinate-space parameter indicating a positional relationship between adjacent images input by said image input unit on the basis of the extracted corresponding point; a storing unit configured to store the coordinate-space parameter generated by said parameter generating unit in a memory; a selecting unit configured to select a mapping mode from among a plurality of mapping modes in response to a user instruction; an image synthesizing unit configured to synthesize the plurality of images into a synthetic image using a coordinate transformation equation corresponding to the mapping mode selected by said selecting unit and the coordinate-space parameter previously stored in the memory and read out from the memory; a recording unit configured to record the synthetic image synthesized by said image synthesizing unit in a recording medium; a displaying unit configured to display the synthetic image recorded in the recording medium and read out from the recording medium on a display; a first changing unit configured to change the mapping mode to be used by said image synthesizing unit in response to a user instruction after the synthetic image is recorded in the recording medium and displayed on the display; and a second changing unit configured to change the coordinate transformation equation used for synthesizing the plurality of images into another synthetic image in accordance with the mapping mode changed by said first changing unit, wherein, when said second changing unit changes the coordinate transformation equation, said image synthesizing unit synthesizes the plurality of images into another synthetic image using the coordinate-space parameter read out from the memory and the coordinate transformation equation changed by said second changing unit without the regeneration of the coordinate-space parameter by said parameter generating unit.