Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7646409?dq=7,134,016
Timestamp: 2017-08-21 07:32:32
Document Index: 535127778

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 11', 'art 12', 'art 13', 'art 11', 'art 12', 'art 14', 'art 13', 'arts 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 12', 'art 16', 'art 17', 'art 18', 'art 13', 'art 14', 'art 18', 'art 13', 'art 14', 'art 18', 'art 13', 'art 14', 'arts 10', 'arts 10']

Patent US7646409 - Image pickup apparatus and subject ID adding method - Google Patents
An image pickup apparatus includes an image data acquisition part that acquires image data obtained by photographing a subject, a subject ID acquisition part that acquires, on the basis of a signal obtained from the subject, a subject ID to identify the subject, and a memory that stores the image data...http://www.google.com/patents/US7646409?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7646409 - Image pickup apparatus and subject ID adding method
Publication number US7646409 B2
Application number US 11/074,846
Also published as US20060038896
Publication number 074846, 11074846, US 7646409 B2, US 7646409B2, US-B2-7646409, US7646409 B2, US7646409B2
Inventors Yu Tsuda, Masayuki Kurimoto, Koichiro Shinohara
US 7646409 B2
The present invention relates to a technique to record information into additional information added to an image such as a photograph, and particularly to a technique to record information (hereinafter referred to as a “subject ID”) to identify a subject into additional information.
The image data acquisition part 11 is a functional portion to acquire image data as a digital signal delivered from the A/D conversion circuit 10 d, and the subject ID acquisition part 12 is a functional portion to acquire a subject ID to be added to the image data. The image file creation part 13 is a functional portion to create an image file by combining the image data delivered from the image data acquisition part 11 and additional information including the subject ID acquired by the subject ID acquisition part 12. The image file storage part 14 is a functional portion to store the image file created by the image file creation part 13 into the built-in memory 10 g.
The operation of the controller 10 a having the functional structure as stated above will be described with reference to FIG. 4.
However, in this case, there is a possibility that an equipment ID received from a person positioned behind a subject as a photographing object is erroneously recognized as the subject ID. Then, on the basis of a distance from a digital camera to a subject (hereinafter referred to as a “subject distance”) and radio field intensity at the time when the equipment ID is received, the equipment ID transmitted from the equipment held by the subject as the photographing object is selected, and the selected equipment ID is made the subject ID.
In this embodiment, as described above, the digital camera 10 provided with the plural reception parts 10 j is used. FIG. 5B shows the outer appearance. In the case where the camera is held in the state shown in FIG. 5B and photographing is performed (in the case where the camera is held in the horizontal direction and photographing is performed), a reception part 10 j L and a reception part 10 j R receive a signal transmitted from an equipment. On the other hand, in the case where the camera is held in a state where it is rotated by 90° from the state shown in FIG. 5B and photographing is performed (in the case where the camera is held in the vertical direction and photographing is performed), a reception part 10 j U and a reception part 10 j D receive a signal transmitted from an equipment. Incidentally, it is possible to judge by a well-known posture detector whether the camera is held in the vertical direction or the horizontal direction. Incidentally, in the following description, the “reception part 10j” indicates one of the reception part 10 j L, the reception part 10 j R, the reception part 10 j U and the reception part 10 j D.
FIG. 5C shows a state in which the digital camera 10 performs information communication with equipments 30 l to 30 N such as IC tags. Incidentally, in the following description, when an explanation is made while one equipment of the plural equipments is used as a representative, it is called also the “equipment 30”.
FIG. 7 is a view shown from above and showing a state in which persons A to C among persons A to H are the subjects and are photographed by the digital camera 10. Each of the persons A to H has the equipment 30 such as the IC tag. Incidentally, here, since it is assumed that the digital camera 10 is held in the horizontal direction, only the reception part 10 j L and the reception part 10 j R are illustrated as the reception part 10 j.
In FIG. 7, the distance from the digital camera 10 to the point where the persons A to C are positioned is the subject distance. Accordingly, since the distances from the digital camera 10 to the persons D, E and F are different from the subject distance, it is judged that they are not the subjects. Although the distances from the digital camera 10 to the persons G and H are almost equal to the subject distance, since a time difference of a given time or more occurs between the reception of the equipment ID by the reception part 10 j L and the reception of the equipment ID by the reception part 10 j R, it is judged that they are not the subjects.
Next, the subject ID acquisition part 12 pays attention to one equipment 30 held by one person (step 203). It is judged whether the radio field intensity acquired by the equipment distance acquisition part 16 is almost equal to a theoretical value S of the radio field intensity determined according to the subject distance acquired by the subject distance acquisition part 17 (step 204). As a result, in the case where it is judged that the radio field intensity is almost equal to the theoretical value S, there is a high possibility that the person is the subject, and accordingly, the procedure proceeds to step 205. Incidentally, here, whether “they are almost equal” can be judged by, for example, checking whether a difference between the acquired radio field intensity and the theoretical value S is a given threshold value or less.
First, in the case where “TR−TL” is a threshold value “Th2” or more, the position specifying part 18 recognizes that the position of the subject in the composition is in the “left”. The image file creation part 13 creates an image file by adding additional information including the equipment ID and the position information “left” to the image data, and the image file storage part 14 stores the created image file into the built-in memory 10 g (step 207).
In the case where “TR−TL” is larger than the threshold value “−Th2” and smaller than “Th2”, the position specifying part 18 recognizes that the position of the subject in the composition is in the “center”. The image file creation part 13 creates an image file by adding additional information including the equipment ID and the position information “center” to the image data, and the image file storage part 14 stores the created image file into the built-in memory 10 g (step 208).
Further, in the case where “TR−TL” is a threshold value “−Th2” or less, the position specifying part 18 recognizes that the position of the subject in the composition is in the “right”. The image file creation part 13 creates an image file by adding additional information including the equipment ID and the position information “right” to the image data, and the image file storage part 14 stores the created image file into the built-in memory 10 g (step 209).
Besides, although the direction of the equipment 30 viewed from the digital camera 10 is estimated based on the time difference between the arrival times of the signals by using the plural reception parts 10 j, it may be estimated based on any difference in reception states of the plural reception parts 10 j.
Further, the method in this embodiment for specifying the signal received from the equipment 30 held by the subject among the signals received from the plural equipments 30 can also be applied to the first embodiment.
FIG. 9 is a view showing the whole structure of a system in the third embodiment. This system includes a digital camera 10, equipments 30 1 to 30 N, transmitter-receivers 40 1 to 40 3, receivers 50 1 to 50 3, and a server computer (hereinafter referred to as a “server”) 60.
The transmitter-receivers 40 1 to 40 3 receive information of a photographing direction and a subject distance from the digital camera 10, measure distances to the digital camera 10 on the basis of, for example, the radio field intensity at the time of reception, and transmit the obtained information to the server 60. Besides, the transmitter-receivers have a function to transmit information sent from the server 60 to the digital camera 10. Incidentally, in the following description, when the description is made while one transmitter-receiver is used as a representative of the plural transmitter-receivers, it is called the “transmitter-receiver 40”.
The receivers 50 1 to 50 3 receive equipment IDs from the respective equipments 30, measure distances to the respective equipments 30 on the basis of, for example, the radio field intensity at the time of reception, and transmit the obtained information to the server 60. Incidentally, in the following description, when the description is made while one receiver is used as a representative of the plural receivers, it is called the “receiver 50”.
In FIG. 11, the position where the persons P to R exist is the position where the subject exists (hereinafter referred to as the “subject position”). Accordingly, since the positions where the persons S to Z exist are different from the subject position, it is judged that they are not the subjects.
First, with respect to an image file with an image ID “01”, the processing of the steps 501 to 503 is performed, and the count of subject IDs “01” and “03” become “1”. Next, with respect to an image file with an image ID “02”, the processing of the steps 501 to 503 is performed, and the count of subject IDs “02”, “04” and “05” become “1”. Further, with respect to an image file with an image ID “03”, the processing of the steps 501 to 503 is performed, and the count of the subject ID “01” becomes “2”. Hereinafter, similarly, the processing of the steps 501 to 503 is performed also with respect to image files with image IDs “04” to “10”, and the counting result of the number of image files is obtained as shown in FIG. 18B.
JP2000216989A Title not available
JP2000299838A * Title not available
U.S. Classification 348/231.3, 396/310
International Classification H04N5/76, G03B17/24
Cooperative Classification H04N1/32128, H04N2201/3205, H04N2201/3277
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:TSUDA, YU;KURIMOTO, MASAYUKI;SHINOHARA, KOICHIRO;REEL/FRAME:016381/0769;SIGNING DATES FROM 20050120 TO 20050131