Patent Grant
10257409
Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to a technique when an image or an item is displayed.
Description of the Related Art
When editing a moving image, a slide show, etc., a user combines a plurality of material images and/or material moving images to generate a user's unique combined moving image or the like. When generating such a combined moving image, the user generates one combined moving image by specifying a desired material that the user wants to contain in the combined moving image from a plurality of material images and/or material moving images. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-86218 discusses that, when moving images from among a plurality of moving images are combined with one another, a moving image picked by a mouse click is combined to a moving image located at a destination to which the moving image picked by the mouse click is moved with a drag operation. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-86218, the moving image picked by the mouse click is combined with the moving image located at the destination to which the moving image picked by the mouse click is moved so as to be in a position subsequent to the moving image located at the destination.
When generating a combined moving image, the user can find a position where the user wants to insert some materials in an already existing combined moving image before deciding materials to insert. For example, when the user attempts to make a combined moving image interesting by inserting a material having a different tone at a position where materials of similar scenery moving images are consecutively lined up in the combined moving image, in the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-86218, the user first selects moving images to be combined with one another even though the user has already decided a position to insert a moving image. More specifically, in the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-86218, the user cannot specify a position to insert a moving image until selecting moving images to be combined with one another, and therefore should again search for the position where the user has decided to insert the material and drag the selected material to the rediscovered position after selecting the material having a different tone. In this manner, even when the user finds a position where the user wants to insert some kind of material, the user cannot specify the position as a position to insert a material unless first selecting materials. The operational usability is therefore impaired. Further, in the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-86218, when already having in mind a position where the user wants to insert an item, such as a material, the user should remember materials between which the user has decided to insert the item while selecting the material to insert at the position.
The user can rearrange a plurality of items arranged in a row so as to line up them in an order desired by the user. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-266192 discusses that an icon in an icon row that is desired to be reordered is extracted from the icon row, and a position where the extracted icon is inserted is changed by a scroll of the icon row from which the extracted icon has been removed. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-88159 discusses that, when a swipe operation is performed starting from an image to be interchanged as a starting position among the images displayed in a manner arranged in one row, a display position of this image is interchanged with a display position of an image located at a position where the swipe operation is ended.
There is a demand for performing such an editing operation that an item, such as an image and an icon, is rearranged in the order desired by the user with use of a limited display area. With the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-266192, the user performs an operation for extracting an icon to reorder from the row, and changing an insertion position of the extracted icon. Therefore, this method requires provision of an area where the extracted icon is displayed separately from an area where the icon row is displayed. However, a display screen including a limited available display area may not be large enough to fully display the extracted icon in the display area. With the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-88159, it becomes difficult to recognize images in an image row between which an image to be interchanged will be inserted, i.e., it becomes difficult for the user to recognize a position where the image to be interchanged will be inserted while performing the interchange operation. There is therefore a possibility that the operational usability is impaired.
A plurality of images can be combined with one another to form a series of images. A display unit discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-98667 displays an area where thumbnails corresponding to moving images are displayed in a list, and a selected scenario display field where thumbnails of moving images to be played back as a scenario file are displayed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-98667 also discusses that dragging a thumbnail from the list of thumbnails to the selected scenario display field causes the dragged thumbnail to be added to the selected scenario display field, and a symbol to be added to the already-selected thumbnail in the list of thumbnails. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-98667 also discusses that dragging a thumbnail displayed in the selected scenario display field out of the selected scenario display field enables the thumbnail to be removed from the selected scenario display field.
The user can find an image that the user wants to remove from among listed images in an image list in the middle of an operation for selecting images. With the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-98667, even when finding a thumbnail that the user wants to remove in a list of thumbnails, the user should search for this thumbnail in the selected scenario display field to remove that. In other words, the user not only has to additionally perform an operation for searching for the image from the area where the selected images are displayed but also cannot remove the unnecessary image quickly in the middle of the selection operation. The operational usability for the user is therefore impaired.
There is known a technique for rearranging a plurality of items arranged in a row so as to line up them in the order desired by the user with a touch operation. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-88159 discusses that, when a swipe operation is performed starting from an image to be interchanged as the starting position among the images displayed in the manner arranged in one row, a display position of an image located at a position where the swipe operation is ended is interchanged with a display position of the image to be interchanged. There is also known a technique for, when an operation target is operated with a touch operation, displaying the operation target, such as an icon, at a position slightly shifted from a touched position so as to prevent the operation target from being hidden by a finger performing the touch operation. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-93043 discusses that an item displayed in a touched area is displayed at a position slightly shifted from the touched point.
On an apparatus equipped with only a small display, such as a compact electronic apparatus, even when rearranging a plurality of items, the user should rearrange them within the limited display area. With the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-88159, when an image to be interchanged in terms of the arrangement order is moved by a swipe operation, image visibility is reduced if an image arranged in one row and the image to be interchanged overlap each other. If an image to be interchanged is displayed at a position different from a touched position so as to be prevented from overlapping with other image, like the display method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-93043, the image to be interchanged may not be fully displayed because of the limited display area.
Aspects of the present invention are generally directed to, in consideration of the above-described issues, providing an image processing apparatus that enables, when a plurality of materials is combined with one another for generation of a series of images, a user to insert a specified material at an insertion position selected before specifying the material. Aspects of the present invention are also directed to providing an image processing apparatus that enables, while a user is a selecting material, the user to intuitively recognize materials between which the material to be selected will be inserted.
Aspects of the present invention are directed to, in consideration of the above-described issues, providing an electronic apparatus that enables a user to change an arrangement order of a plurality of items within a limited display area with improved operational usability.
Aspects of the present invention are directed to, in consideration of the above-described issues, providing a display processing apparatus that enables, when a plurality of images are combined with one another for generation of a series of images, a user to specify and remove an image with improved operational usability.
Aspects of the present invention are directed to, in consideration of the above-described issues, providing an electronic apparatus that prevents reduction in visibility of an item to be rearranged in a limited display area.
According to an aspect of the present invention, an image processing apparatus includes a selection unit configured to select any of a plurality of items arranged along a first direction in a first area of a display unit, a switching unit configured to switch a mode between at least a first mode, in which an item displayed in the first area is selectable, and a second mode, in which the image processing apparatus accepts an operation for an item line including a plurality of items arranged along the first direction in a second area of the display unit, and a control unit configured to perform control so as to display the item line in a manner that a boundary area between two items included in the item line is not located at a predetermined position in the second area in the second mode, and to display the item line in a manner that the boundary area is located at the predetermined position based on switching to the first mode.
Further features of aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
In the following description, representative exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The following exemplary embodiment is merely one example for implementing aspects of the present invention and can be appropriately modified or changed depending on individual constructions and various conditions of apparatuses to which the aspects of the present invention are applied. Thus, the aspects of the present invention are in no way limited to the following exemplary embodiment.
A four-way operational key 73 is an operation member equipped with up, down, left, and right keys and included in the operation unit 70, and enables the user to perform an operation in a direction according to a direction of each of the keys. When a left key 73a, a right key 73b, an up key 73c, and a down key 73d are pressed, a selected item, a cursor, a display position of the image, or the like are changed in the respective directions. For example, when the right key 73b is pressed, the selected item is switched to an item located to the right of the currently selected item.
A SET button 74 is a button for setting the selected item. A menu button 75 functions as a button for displaying a menu screen when a playback screen or an image capturing screen is displayed, as a return button when a screen where the item is set is displayed, and as a button for transitioning (and returning) to a screen for confirming an edited image when a screen where an editing operation is in progress is displayed. A scaling ratio switching bar 76 is a bar that enables the user to change a scaling ratio of a playback image when the playback image is displayed by operating the scaling ratio switching bar 76 so as to rotate it to the left or the right, and the user can reduce the image by rotating the scaling ratio switching bar 76 to the left and enlarge the image by rotating the scaling ratio switching bar 76 to the right.
A dial 77 is a rotational member that enables the user to perform a scroll operation, such as moving the selected item and switching the displayed item by rotationally operating the dial 77. A power switch 72 is a pressing button for switching power-on and power-off. A recording medium 200 is a nonvolatile recoding medium, such as a memory card and a hard disk. A recording medium slot 201 is a slot for storing the recording medium 200. Storing the recording medium 200 into the recording medium slot 201 enables the recording medium 200 to communicate with the digital camera 100 and record and playback images therein.
A cover 202 is a cover of the recording medium slot 201.
The digital camera 100 includes the touch panel 70a that can detect the touch on the display unit 28 as one component of the operation unit 70. The touch panel 70a and the display unit 28 can be configured integrally with each other. For example, the touch panel 70a is configured in such a manner that an optical transmission ratio thereof does not disturb the display on the display unit 28, and is mounted on an upper layer of a display surface of the display unit 28. Then, an input coordinate on the touch panel 70a and a display coordinate on the display unit 28 are associated with each other. This configuration can construct a graphical user interface (GUI) that appears as if the user can directly operate a screen displayed on the display unit 28. A system control unit 50 can detect the following operations on or states of the touch panel 70a:
A finger or a pen that has not been touching the touch panel 70a touches the touch panel 70a. In other words, the touch is started (hereinafter referred to as a Touch-Down).
The touch panel 70a is in a state touched by a finger or a pen (hereinafter referred to as a Touch-On).
A finger or a pen is moved while maintaining contact (touch) with the touch panel 70a (hereinafter referred to as a Touch-Move).
A finger or a pen that has been touching the touch panel 70a is separated from the touch panel 70a. In other words, the touch is ended (hereinafter referred to as a Touch-Up).
The touch-panel 70a is in a state where it is not being touched (hereinafter referred to as a Touch-Off).
When the Touch-Down is detected, a start of the Touch-On is also detected at the same time. After the Touch-Down, the detection of the Touch-On normally continues unless the Touch-Up is detected. When the Touch-Move is detected, the Touch-On is also detected. When the Touch-On is detected, the Touch-Move is not detected unless the touched position is being moved. After detection of the Touch-Up of any and all fingers or pens that are touching the touch panel 70a, the touch panel 70a transitions to the Touch-Off. A term “tap” is used to refer to a series of operations of performing the Touch-Up without the Touch-Move immediately after the Touch-On. The system control unit 50 is notified of these operations/states and a coordinate of a position touched by the finger or the pen on the touch panel 70a via an internal bus, and determines what kind of operation is performed on the touch panel 70a based on the information that the system control unit 50 is provided. Regarding the Touch-Move, the system control unit 50 can also determine a movement direction of the finger or the pen being moved on the touch panel 70a based on a change in the coordinate of the position for each of a vertical component and a horizontal component on the touch panel 70a. Further, it is defined that a stroke is drawn when the Touch-Up is performed from the Touch-Down via the Touch-Move performed in a predetermined manner on the touch panel 70a. An operation of quickly drawing the stroke is referred to as a flick. The flick is an operation of rapidly moving the finger only by a certain distance while the finger keeps in contact (touch) with the touch panel 70a, and separating the finger from the touch panel 70a directly therefrom. In other words, the flick is an operation of rapidly sliding the finger on the touch panel 70a as if the finger flicks on the touch panel 70a. The system control unit 50 can determine that the flick is performed when detecting that the Touch-Move is performed for greater than or equal to a predetermined distance at a speed greater than or equal to a predetermined speed and detecting the Touch-Up directly therefrom. When the flick operation is valid on a thumbnail row (an item row) displayed in a specifying area or a rearrangement area, which will be described below, the execution of the flick operation to the left or the right causes the thumbnail row to be scrolled while the scrolling is slowing down even after the Touch-Up, and then stops thereafter. In other words, the issue of a scroll instruction with the flick operation enables the user to scroll the thumbnail row by a longer distance than an amount of the Touch-Move, and thereby to search for an image quickly with fewer operations. The scroll operation is an operation of performing the Touch-Move by a longer distance than the flick operation, and, inputs, for example, an instruction to move a touched target according to the operation distance. The flick operation, which performs the Touch-Move by a shorter distance than the scroll operation, inputs an instruction to move the touched target by a distance that increases as a movement speed of the finger in the flick operation increases (an amount of the instruction increases according to the speed). The system control unit 50 determines that a drag is performed when detecting that the Touch-Move is performed for greater than or equal to a predetermined distance at a speed less than a predetermined speed. The touch panel 70a can be embodied by employing any type of touch panel from among various types of touch panels, such as a resistive film touch panel, a capacitive touch panel, a surface acoustic wave touch panel, an infrared touch panel, an electromagnetic induction touch panel, a touch panel based on image recognition, a touch panel based on an optical sensor, etc. Employable detection methods include a method that detects that the touch is input when the touch panel 70a is touched and a method that detects that the touch is input even when a finger or a pen is in proximity to the touch panel 70a without actually touching the touch panel 70a. Depending on the specific type of the touch panel 70a, the touch panel 70a can implement one or more of the these methods.
In
An image processing unit 24 performs predetermined pixel interpolation, resizing processing such as a reduction, and color conversion processing on data output from the A/D converter 23 or data output from a memory control unit 15. The image processing unit 24 also performs predetermined calculation processing using captured image data. A system control unit 50 controls an exposure and ranging based on an acquired result of the calculation. Based on this control, the digital camera 100 performs automatic focus (AF) processing, automatic exposure (AE) processing, and electro focus (EF) (flash preliminary emission) processing of the Through-The-Lens (TTL) method. The image processing unit 24 also performs predetermined calculation processing using the captured image data. The digital camera 100 also performs automatic white balance (AWB) processing of the TTL method based on an acquired result of the calculation.
The output data from the A/D convertor 23 is written into a memory 32 via the image processing unit 24 and the memory control unit 15, or is directly written into the memory 32 via the memory control unit 15. The memory 32 stores image data acquired by the image capturing unit 22 and converted into the digital data by the A/D converter 23, and image data to be displayed on the display unit 28. The memory 32 includes a storage capacity sufficient to store a predetermined number of still images or a moving image and audio data lasting for a predetermined time period.
The memory 32 also serves as a memory for an image display (a video memory). A digital-to-analog (D/A) converter 13 converts data for the image display that is stored in the memory 32 into an analog signal, and supplies the converted data to the display unit 28. In this manner, the image data for the display written in the memory 32 is displayed by the display unit 28 via the D/A converter 13. The display unit 28 presents a display according to the analog signal supplied from the D/A converter 13 on a display device, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD). The digital camera 100 can function as an electronic viewfinder and realize a through-the-lens image display (a live view display) by converting, into the analog signal by the D/A converter 13, the digital signal first converted from the analog signal by the A/D converter 23 and then stored into the memory 23, and sequentially transferring this digital signal to the display unit 28 to display it thereon.
A nonvolatile memory 56 is a memory as an electrically erasable and recordable recording medium, and, for example, an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) is used as the nonvolatile memory 56. The nonvolatile memory 56 stores a constant, a program, and the like for an operation of the system control unit 50. The program described here refers to a computer program for performing various processing procedures associated with flowcharts of the present exemplary embodiment that will be described below.
The system control unit 50 controls the entire digital camera 100. The system control unit 50 realizes each processing procedure according to the present exemplary embodiment described below by executing the above-described program recorded in the nonvolatile memory 56. Further, the system control unit 50 also performs display control by controlling the memory 32, the D/A converter 13, the display unit 28, etc.
A random access memory (RAM) is used as a system memory 52. Constants, variables, programs read out from the non-volatile memory 56, and so forth, for operation of the system controller 50, are loaded to system memory 52, for which random access memory (RAM) or the like is used.
A system timer 53 is a timer that measures a time period, and can measure, for example, a time period for updating a display in an animation.
The mode selection switch 60, the shutter button 61, and the operation unit 70 are operation units for inputting various kinds of operation instructions to the system control unit 50. The mode selection switch 60 switches an operation mode of the system control unit 50 to any of a still image recording mode, a moving image capturing mode, a short clip mix, a playback mode, etc. The user can directly switch the operation mode to any of these modes contained in the menu screen using the mode selection switch 60. Alternatively, the user can switch the operation mode to any of these modes contained in the menu screen using another operation member after first switching the screen to the menu screen using the menu button 75. The captured image is recorded in the recording medium 200, and can be played back in the playback mode.
A first shutter switch 62 is switched “on” to generate a first shutter switch signal SW1 halfway through an operation of the shutter button 61 provided on the digital camera 100, i.e., upon the shutter button 61 being depressed half-way (“half-press”) (an instruction to prepare to capture the image). The first shutter switch signal SW1 triggers a start of an operation, such as the AF processing, the AE processing, the AWB processing, and the EF (flash preliminary emission) processing. A second shutter switch 64 is switched “on” to generate a second shutter switch signal SW2 upon completion of the operation of the shutter button 61, i.e., upon the shutter button 61 being fully depressed (“full-press”) (an instruction to capture the image). The second shutter switch signal SW2 causes the system control unit 50 to start a series of image capturing processing operations from reading out a signal from the image capturing unit 22 to writing image data into the recording medium 200.
The operation unit 70 includes at least the dial 77, the four-way operational key 73, the SET button 74, the touch panel 70a, and the menu button 75.
A power source control unit 80 includes a battery detection circuit, a direct-current-to-direct-current (DC-DC) converter, a switch circuit that switches a block to which power is supplied, etc. The power source control unit 80 detects whether a battery is mounted, a battery type, and a remaining battery level. The power source control unit 80 controls the DC-DC converter based on a result of the detection and an instruction from the system control unit 50, and supplies a required voltage to each of the units, including the recording medium 200, for a required time period. The power switch 72 requests the system control unit 50 to power on and off the digital camera 100 according to a user's operation of switching on and off the power switch 72.
A power source unit 30 includes a primary battery, such as an alkaline battery or a lithium battery, a secondary battery, such as a nickel-cadmium (NiCd) battery, a nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery, or a lithium (Li) battery, an alternating-current (AC) adapter, etc. A recording medium interface (I/F) 18 is an interface with the recording medium 200, such as a memory card or a hard disk. The recording medium 200 is a nonvolatile recording medium for recording the captured image, such as a memory card, and is constructed using a semiconductor memory, an optical disk, a magnetic disk, etc.
A short clip mix moving image, which will be described in the present exemplary embodiment, is a moving image lasting for two to five seconds that is captured in the short clip mix, which is one type of moving image capturing mode. An effect can be applied to the moving image to carry out slow playback, double speed playback, and repeat playback. An identification (ID) of the short clip mix moving image (an ID that makes this moving image distinguishable from a moving image captured in another mode) is assigned to the moving image captured in the short clip mix, and is recorded. The moving image can be edited and played back on a screen for editing the short clip mix, and a plurality of captured short clip mix moving images is connected (combined) to one another as moving image materials and is organized into a combined moving image on the editing screen so that one combined moving image set (a moving image file) is generated.
The screen for editing the short clip mix, where the user performs an operation for editing the short clip mix, will be described below with reference to
The processing for generating the combined moving image according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to
In step S301, the system control unit 50 determines whether the management file of a combined moving image in the process of generation is recorded in the recording medium 200. Regarding the short clip mix moving image, the management file of a combined moving image processed by the previous editing operation is stored regardless of whether moving image materials in this management file are combined (connected) to one another and stored as the combined moving image. If there is such a management file, the user can generate the combined moving image so as to resume the previous generation. If the system control unit 50 determines that there is already a management file in the process of generation (YES in step S301), the processing proceeds to step S302. If not (NO in step S301), the processing proceeds to step S305.
In step S302, the system control unit 50 determines whether to generate the rest of the combined moving image in the process of generation based on an instruction from the user (determines whether to overwrite the management file determined in step S301). If the system control unit 50 determines that there is the combined moving image in the process of generation in step S301 (YES in step S301), the digital camera 100 is configured to display options of whether to perform the editing operation so as to resume the previous generation or newly generate the combined moving image on the display unit 28, whereby the user can select any of them. If the system control unit 50 determines (is instructed) to generate the rest of the combined moving image in the process of generation (YES in step S302), the processing proceeds to step S304. If the system control unit 50 determines not to generate the rest of the combined moving image in the process of generation (NO in step S302), the processing proceeds to step S305.
In step S303, the system control unit 50 calls up (reads in) the management file in the process of generation.
In step S304, the system control unit 50 displays the thumbnails corresponding to the IDs of the moving image materials recorded in the management file read out in step S303 in the rearrangement area 702 on the display unit 28. In more detail, the system control unit 50 displays the read thumbnails so as to fill a left space, as illustrated in
In step S305, the system control unit 50 displays an initial screen. More specifically, the system control unit 50 brings the display unit 28 into a state where no thumbnail is displayed in the rearrangement area 702, as illustrated in
In step S306, the system control unit 50 displays the thumbnails in such a manner that the thumbnail is located at a horizontally central position of the specifying area 701 or the display unit 28 in the specifying area 701. More specifically, the system control unit 50 displays the thumbnails in such a manner that the thumbnail (thumbnail 8) is located at the center of the horizontal width of the display unit 28 and the specifying area 701, as indicated in the specifying area 701 illustrated in
In step S307, the system control unit 50 determines whether an instruction to end the processing for generating the combined moving image is issued. Examples include an operation for powering off the digital camera 100, and an operation for returning the operation mode to the playback mode by selecting the menu button 75 with no thumbnail displayed in the rearrangement area 702 (pressing the menu button 75 or performing the touch operation on a menu item 703 illustrated in
In step S308, the system control unit 50 determines whether a menu is selected when the thumbnail(s) is/are displayed in the rearrangement area 702. The system control unit 50 determines whether the menu is selected in step S308 based on whether the menu button 75 is pressed, or the touch operation is performed on a menu item 708 if the menu item 708 indicating the processing for combining is displayed. If the system control unit 50 determines that the menu is selected (YES in step S308), the processing proceeds to step S309. If not (NO in step S308), the processing proceeds to step S314. If a guide displayed together with a symbol representing the menu is not a guide indicating the processing for combining like the menu item 708 illustrated in
In step S309, the system control unit 50 displays a not-illustrated combination menu. Options, such as a preview, storage, a setting of background music (BGM), and a setting of a color effect, for performing combination processing are displayed on a combination menu screen. When the combination menu is displayed, the user can issue an instruction to return to the original screen for performing the processing for generating the combined moving image by pressing the menu button 75.
In step S310, the system control unit 50 determines whether the instruction to return from the combination menu screen to the screen for performing the processing for generating the combined moving image is issued (the menu button 75 is pressed). If the system control unit 50 determines that the return instruction is issued (YES in step S310), the processing proceeds to step S306. If not (NO in step S310), in step S311, the system control unit 50 performs the combination processing.
In step S311, the system control unit 50 performs processing according to an operation for selecting one of the options other than the storage that are displayed on the combination menu screen. This processing is processing, such as presenting the preview, setting the BGM, or setting the color effect, in the combination menu displayed in step S309. The user can confirm the combined moving image that is in the middle of being generated during the generation of the combined moving image by previewing the combined moving image. The user can select the BGM, the color effect, and the like to apply to the moving image material in the combined moving image, and therefore can generate the combined moving image that the user feels further interesting.
In step S312, the system control unit 50 determines whether the storage is selected from the combination menu displayed in step S309, and an instruction to store the generated combined moving image is issued by the user. If the system control unit 50 determines that the instruction to store the generated combined moving image is issued (YES in step S312), the processing proceeds to step S313. If not (NO in step S312), the processing returns to step S310.
In step S313, the system control unit 50 performs the combination processing for generating a single moving image (the combined moving image) by combining the plurality of moving image materials in the order recorded in the management file. The system control unit 50 newly assigns an ID to the generated combined moving image (the recording state of the edited management file) as the short clip combined moving image, and records (stores) this combined moving image into the recording medium 200. Upon an end of processing for recording the combined moving image, the system control unit 50 ends the processing for generating the combined moving image, and returns to the playback screen.
In step S314, the system control unit 50 determines whether a horizontal scroll instruction for the specifying area 701 is issued. The scroll instruction here is the scroll or the flick by the leftward/rightward Touch-Move in the specifying area 701, the pressing of the left/right key 73a or 73b of the four-way operational key 73 with some images selected in the specifying area 701, or the operation of rotating the dial 77. The system control unit 50 determines the direction of the scroll instruction based on the direction in which the thumbnails are arranged in the specifying area 701, and determines whether a vertical scroll instruction is issued if the thumbnails are arranged vertically. If the system control unit 50 determines that the scroll instruction is issued (YES in step S314), the processing proceeds to step S315. If not (NO in step S314), the processing proceeds to step S316. Each of the display screens illustrated in
In step S315, the system control unit 50 scrolls (moves) the thumbnails displayed in the specifying area 701.
In step S316, the system control unit 50 determines whether an instruction to play back the moving image material corresponding to the selected thumbnail is issued. As described above, the moving image material can be played back with the operation for enlarging the image as indicated by the enlargement mark 711 displayed in the manner superimposed on the thumbnail 8 illustrated in
In step S317, the system control unit 50 plays back the moving image material selected when the instruction to play back the moving image material has been issued in step S316. When the moving image material is played back, the screen is switched from the editing screen including the specifying area 701 and the rearrangement area 702 to the playback screen. Upon an end of the playback of the moving image material, the screen returns to the original editing screen displayed when the instruction to play back the moving image material has been issued. In this manner, the user can easily confirm the content of the moving image by playing back the moving image material in the middle of the operation for specifying the moving image material to rearrange. Therefore, the user can play back the moving image material by issuing the playback instruction on the specifying area 701 even without performing operations for switching the screen from the editing screen where the combined moving image is generated to the screen where the image is played back, and further selecting the image to play back. Since the screen returns to the original editing screen even without the user performing the operation after the end of the playback of the moving image material, the user can immediately perform the operation for specifying the moving image material, the operation for unspecifying the moving image material, and the operation for rearranging the moving image material on the moving image material with respect to which the user has confirmed the content of the moving image.
In step S318, the system control unit 50 determines whether an operation for applying SET to (specifying or unspecifying) the moving image material is performed. Types of the operation for applying SET to the moving image material include the operation for specifying the moving image material and the operation for unspecifying the moving image material, and this operation is input as the operation for unspecifying the moving image material if the moving image material targeted by the operation is already specified (already-specified or already-moved) while being input as the operation for specifying the moving image material if the moving image material targeted by the operation is not specified yet (non-specified), even though the same operation is performed between these cases. An item representing SET indicates the instruction to unspecify the moving image material if the selected moving image material is already-specified while an item representing SET indicates the instruction to specify the moving image material if the selected moving image material is non-specified, even though they are a same SET item (704 or 706). In other words, the operation for specifying the moving image material and the operation for unspecifying the moving image material can be performed with an operation of touching the item 704 illustrated in
In step S319, the system control unit 50 performs the processing for specifying/unspecifying the image. The processing for specifying/unspecifying the image will be described below with reference to
In step S320, the system control unit 50 determines whether the scroll instruction for the rearrangement area 702 is issued. The processing illustrated in
In step S321, the system control unit 50 displays an animation in which the thumbnail row displayed in the rearrangement area 702 is moved (presents a scroll display). For example, if the instruction to scroll the thumbnail row to the right by one thumbnail is issued when the thumbnails and 1 are positioned as illustrated in
In step S322, the system control unit 50 determines whether the rearrangement area 702 is selected. The rearrangement area 702 can be selected with the tap operation on the rearrangement area 702. Alternatively, the rearrangement area 702 can also be selected with the pressing of the down key 73d, or the touch operation on an item 707 indicating switching to a rearrangement mode illustrated in
In step S323, the system control unit 50 performs processing in the rearrangement mode. The processing in the rearrangement mode will be described with reference to
In the moving image specifying mode in the processing for generating the combined moving image, the user can switch the thumbnails of the moving image materials displayed on the display unit 28 by scrolling them in the specifying area 701 and the rearrangement area 702.
Next, the processing for specifying/unspecifying the image according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to
In step S401, the system control unit 50 refers to the management file, and determines whether the moving image material set in the selected state in the specifying area 701 in step S318 illustrated in
In step S402, the system control unit 50 displays an animation in such a manner that the moving image material specified (to which SET has been applied) in step S318 illustrated in
In step S403, the system control unit 50 records the ID of the specified moving image material at a specified position (a number of the specified moving image material in the playback order in the combined moving image) in the management file. As described above, the moving image material 3 and the moving image material 1 are recorded as the already-specified moving image materials in the management file illustrated in
In step S404, the system control unit 50 displays the moving image material specified (to which SET has been applied) in step S318 illustrated in
In step S405, the system control unit 50 changes the layout of the specified moving image materials in the rearrangement area 702 to the center division display. More specifically, from the state presenting the center focus display as illustrated in
Processing of steps S406 to S409 is not the processing for specifying the moving image material in steps S402 to S405 but is the processing for unspecifying the already-specified moving image material into the non-specified state.
In step S406, the system control unit 50 displays such an animation that the unspecified specified moving image material (the thumbnail) placed in the rearrangement area 702 is moved from the rearrangement area 702 into the specifying area 701.
In step S407, the system control unit 50 deletes (issues an instruction to delete) the ID of the unspecified specified moving image material from the management file.
In step S408, the system control unit 50 changes the display manner of the thumbnail corresponding to the unspecified moving image material displayed in the specifying area 701 to the display manner indicating the non-specified state (the original display manner before the moving image material is specified). The system control unit 50 switches the display manner of the thumbnail 6 in the specifying area 701 to the non-specified state so as to change the display manner of the thumbnail 6 from the display manner 709 of the thumbnail 6 in the specifying area 701 illustrated in
In step S409, the system control unit 50 displays an animation in which the thumbnails located in the rearrangement area 702 are moved so as to fill a width where the unspecified thumbnail used to be displayed. The thumbnails in the rearrangement area 702 are being gradually moved so as to fill a space emptied due to the removal of the display of the specified moving image material from the rearrangement area 702 in step S405 (there is a space as wide as one thumbnail between the thumbnail 3 and the thumbnail 7 in the rearrangement area 702 illustrated in
Since being able to specify and unspecify the moving image material in the moving image specifying mode (the specifying area 701) in this manner, the user can further easily search for the moving image material from the chronologically arranged thumbnails. Since being able to unspecify the moving image material, the user does not have to switch the operation mode to the rearrangement mode and search for the moving image material to unspecify from the rearrangement area 702, which contributes to the improvement of the operational usability.
When specifying the moving image material, the user can insert the moving image material to contain in the combined moving image at the user's desired position in the playback order. Therefore, the user can insert the moving image material at the desired position in the combined moving image with the operation for specifying the moving image material after specifying the position to insert the moving image material even without transitioning to the screen for rearranging the specified moving image material after specifying the moving image material, which contributes to the improvement of the operational usability of the operation for generating the combined moving image. Even when the size of the display area of the display unit is limited, like the digital camera 100, so that the display area is not large enough to fully display the moving image materials to be contained in the combined moving image, the user can change the position where the moving image material to be specified will be inserted with the scroll instruction for the rearrangement area 702.
According to the present exemplary embodiment, the display of the thumbnail corresponding to the unspecified moving image material is removed from the rearrangement area 702 when the moving image material is unspecified. Alternatively, the thumbnail can be gradually faded out or grayed out.
Next, the processing in the rearrangement mode according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to
In step S501, the system control unit 50 displays the thumbnails in the specifying area 701 in the center focus display, and displays the thumbnails in the rearrangement area 702 in the center focus display and displays a frame 901 around the thumbnail located at the center, as illustrated in
In step S502, the system control unit 50 determines whether the menu is selected (whether the menu button 75 is pressed, or whether the touch operation is performed on the menu item 708 if the menu item 708 indicating the processing for combining is displayed), similarly to step S308 illustrated in
In step S503, the system control unit 50 determines whether the specifying area 701 is selected (whether the operation mode is switched to the moving image specifying mode). The specifying area 701 can be selected with the tap operation on the specifying area 701 (provided that the rearrangement moving image material is not specified in the rearrangement area 702), or the pressing of the up key 73c of the four-way operational key 73. If the system control unit 50 determines that the specifying area 701 is selected (YES in step S503), the system control unit 50 ends the rearrangement mode, and the processing proceeds to step S306 illustrated in
In step S504, the system control unit 50 determines whether SET is applied to the rearrangement moving image material (whether the rearrangement moving image material is selected). SET can be applied to the moving image material (the moving image material can be selected) with the touch operation on an item 902 for selecting the moving image material to be rearranged (an item to be selected) illustrated in
In step S505, the system control unit 50 determines whether the instruction to play back the selected moving image material is issued, similarly to step S316 illustrated in
In step S506, the system control unit 50 plays back the moving image material selected when the instruction to play back the moving image material has been issued in step S505, similarly to step S317 illustrated in
In step S507, the system control unit 50 determines whether the horizontal scroll instruction for the rearrangement area 702 is issued. Since the thumbnails in the rearrangement area 702 are in the selected state when the processing proceeds to step S507, the scroll instruction for the rearrangement area 702 can also be issued with the operation on the dial 77 or the four-way operational key 73, unlike the scroll instruction at the time of step S320 illustrated in
In step S508, the system control unit 50 displays an animation in which the displayed thumbnail row in the rearrangement area 702 is moved (the scroll display).
In step S509, the system control unit 50 determines whether the upward flick operation (the operation for unspecifying the specified image) is performed on the thumbnail located at the center of the rearrangement area 702. In the case of
Processing of steps S510 to S512 is the processing for returning the thumbnail (the image) in the rearrangement area 702 to the specifying area 701 that is performed in steps S406 to S409 illustrated in
In step S510, the system control unit 50 displays an animation in which the specified moving image material (the thumbnail) located at the center of the rearrangement area 702 is moved from the rearrangement area 702 into the specifying area 701.
In step S511, the system control unit 50 deletes the ID of the unspecified specified moving image material from the management file.
In step S512, the system control unit 50 displays an animation in which the thumbnails located in the rearrangement area 702 are moved so as to fill a width where the unspecified thumbnail used to be displayed. As illustrated in
In step S513, the system control unit 50 determines whether the specifying area 701 is selected, similarly to step S503. If the system control unit 50 determines that the specifying area 701 is selected (YES in step S513), the processing proceeds to step S306 illustrated in
In step S514, the system control unit 50 sets (fixes) the moving image material to which SET has been applied in step S504 as the rearrangement moving image material, and displays a fixed frame such as a fixed frame 1101 illustrated in
In step S515, the system control unit 50 determines whether the horizontal scroll instruction (the operation for changing the number in the order in the item row) for the rearrangement area 702 is issued. Since the rearrangement moving image material is in the SET state when the processing proceeds to step S515, the scroll instruction can be issued with the drag operation by the horizontal Touch-Move in the rearrangement area 702, the pressing of the left/right key 73a or 73b, or the operation of rotating the dial 77. However, the scroll instruction cannot be issued with the flick operation on the rearrangement area 702. Since the scroll instruction in step S515 is the scroll instruction for changing the number of the moving image material in the order in the combined moving image, it is desirable to ensure that the scroll instruction can be stopped exactly at a position intended by the user. However, accepting the flick operation can result in overshoot of the scroll instruction beyond the desired position against the user's intention, as the flick operation is such an operation that the thumbnail is moved by the distance according to the operation speed that can be greater than the Touch-Move amount defined by performing the operation once. Therefore, prohibiting the acceptance of the flick operation when the moving image material is arranged enables the user to easily perform a further reliable rearrangement operation. If the system control unit 50 determines that the scroll instruction is issued (YES in step S515), the processing proceeds to step S516. If not (NO in step S515), the processing proceeds to step S518.
In step S516, the system control unit 50 fixes the thumbnail corresponding to the moving image material to which SET has been applied as the rearrangement moving image material in step S504 at the central position of the rearrangement area 702. In other words, the system control unit 50 presents the display in such a manner that the rearrangement moving image material is not moved even when the scroll instruction is issued, and the positions of the moving image materials that are not the rearrangement moving image material are changed. The scroll instruction is an instruction for changing the position of the rearrangement moving image material in the order in the item row, but the displayed position of the rearrangement moving image material to be repositioned is fixed. In other words, the moving image materials other than the rearrangement moving image material are moved in such a manner that the scroll instruction changes the position where the rearrangement moving image material will be inserted (the playback order) (between before and after the change in the order). A central coordinate among X coordinates of the thumbnail corresponding to the rearrangement moving image material is assumed to be Xp.
In step S517, the system control unit 50 displays a rearrangement animation according to the scroll instruction in step S515 with respect to the moving image materials other than the moving image material to which SET has been applied. The rearrangement animation will be described below with reference to
In step S518, the system control unit 50 determines whether an operation for determining the insertion position of the rearrangement moving image material to which SET has been applied is performed with the touch operation on an item 1003 illustrated in
In step S519, the system control unit 50 determines to set the insertion position of the rearrangement moving image material to which SET has been applied in step S504 to the position where the corresponding thumbnail has been displayed when the operation for determining the insertion position has been performed in step S518. The system control unit 50 changes the frame from the fixed frame 1101 to the frame 901. In
In step S520, the system control unit 50 rewrites the ID of the rearrangement moving image material in the management file at the insertion position when the operation for determining the insertion position has been performed in step S518.
In step S521, the system control unit 50 determines whether the operation for unspecifying the specified moving image material is performed. The operation for unspecifying the specified moving image material is any operation among the touch operation on an item 1001 indicating the unspecifying illustrated in
In this manner, in the rearrangement mode, the user can perform the operation for rearranging the specified moving image material (changing the order of being played back), the operation for switching the displayed thumbnails, and the operation for returning the specified moving image material from the rearrangement area 702 to the specifying area 701 (removing the moving image material from the combined moving image). The thumbnails displayed in the rearrangement area 702 are also switched with the operation for rearranging the moving image material, and the position where the specified moving image material will be inserted can be changed according to the scroll instruction. In this manner, the user can easily rearrange the moving image material in the combined moving image and remove (unspecify) the moving image material from the combined moving image within the same screen, and therefore can generate (edit) the combined moving image with the improved operational usability without switching the screen for removing the moving image material and the screen for rearranging the moving image material. For example, if applying SET to the rearrangement moving image material with an intension to change the insertion position but finding out that this moving image material is unnecessary as a result of the search for the insertion position, the user can immediately unspecify the moving image material.
Fixing the rearrangement moving image material during the rearrangement operation can further improve the operational usability for the rearrangement. If there is only a limited display area available, like the digital camera 100, and the position of the moving image material to be rearranged is moved with the scroll operation or the like with the positions of the other moving image materials kept fixed, the insertion position can be limited to within the moving image materials displayed in the display area. However, presenting the display so as to move the insertion position while fixing the rearrangement moving image material in this manner enables the user to perform the rearrangement operation without the insertion position limited to the currently displayed range even when the rearrangement area 702 is not large enough to fully display the thumbnails contained in the combined moving image.
Fixing the rearrangement moving image material leads to a change in the insertion position according to the operation, together with a display of the rearrangement moving image material sandwiched between the thumbnails of the moving image materials respectively previous and subsequent to the position where the rearrangement moving image material will be inserted during the rearrangement operation. Therefore, the user can easily recognize the moving image material with respect to which the user intends to change the insertion position (the moving image material surrounded by the fixed frame 1101 at the central position of the rearrangement area 702), and therefore can insert the moving image material at the position further accurately matching his/her own intension.
Next, the rearrangement animation according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to
In step S601, the system control unit 50 determines whether the scroll instruction determined in step S515 illustrated in
In step S602, the system control unit 50 detects the movement speed of the touch of the scroll instruction determined in step S515 illustrated in
In step S603, the system control unit 50 calculates a movement distance d of the thumbnail for each predetermined time period (within the predetermined time period) from a product (=A×α) of the movement speed of the touch detected in step S602 and a predetermined time period α (s) prepared for updating the display, which will be described below, and records the calculated movement distance d into the system memory 52. Examples of the predetermined time period α include 1/100 seconds and 2/100 seconds.
In step S604, the system control unit 50 records the movement distance d of the thumbnail for each predetermined time period into the system memory 52 as D. The length of D is, for example, 4L/100, or 4L/200, assuming that 4L represents the width of the thumbnail. In other words, if being moved according to the operation on the four-way operational key 73, the thumbnail is moved by a length according to the number of times that the operation has been performed.
In step S605, the system control unit 50 sets an update time period T=0, and records the set update time period T into the system memory 52. The update time period T is a time period for determining whether a time period elapsed so far exceeds the predetermined time period α from a display update, i.e., the issue of the scroll instruction to a next display update. When the update time period T exceeds the predetermined time period α, the display is updated.
In step S606, the system control unit 50 acquires the X coordinates of the displayed thumbnails.
In step S607, the system control unit 50 starts to measure the update time period T with use of the system timer 53.
In step S608, the system control unit 50 determines whether the update time period T started to be measured in step S607 exceeds the predetermined time period α. If the system control unit 50 determines that the update time period T exceeds the predetermined time period α (YES in step S608), the processing proceeds to step S609. If not (NO in step S608), the system control unit 50 waits until the update time period T exceeds the predetermined time period α.
In step S609, the system control unit 50 determines whether a display area of one thumbnail set as a determination target among the thumbnails subject to the display update overlaps a display area of the thumbnail of the rearrangement moving image material (an area on the item row in
In step S610, the system control unit 50 records the thumbnail determined to overlap the rearrangement moving image material in step S609 into the system memory 52 as a thumbnail P.
In step S611, the system control unit 50 records the thumbnail determined not to overlap the rearrangement moving image material in step S609 into the system memory 52 as a thumbnail Q.
In step S612, the system control unit 50 determines whether the determination in step S609 has been made now with respect to all of the thumbnails subject to the display update. In the case of
In step S613, the system control unit 50 determines whether the scroll instruction determined in step S515 illustrated in
In step S614, the system control unit 50 sets the X coordinate of the thumbnail P to Xn=X(n−1)+2d, and the X coordinate of the thumbnail Q to Xn=X(n−1)+d. In other words, the system control unit 50 sets the X coordinates in such a manner that the thumbnail that overlaps the rearrangement moving image material is displayed at a position where the X coordinate advances by 2d, and the thumbnail that does not overlap the rearrangement moving image material is displayed at a position where the X coordinate advances by d.
In step S615, the system control unit 50 sets the X coordinate of the thumbnail P to Xn=X(n−1)−2d, and the X coordinate of the thumbnail Q to Xn=X(n−1)−d. In other words, the system control unit 50 sets the X coordinates in such a manner that the thumbnail that overlaps the rearrangement moving image material is displayed at a position where the X coordinate advances by 2d, and the thumbnail that does not overlap the rearrangement moving image material is displayed at a position where the X coordinate advances by d. The X coordinates set in step S615 are the positions of the X coordinates when the leftward scroll instruction has been issued, whereby the system control unit 50 sets the X coordinates in such a manner that the thumbnails are each displayed at a position where the X coordinate advances by the distance 2d or d in an opposite direction from the direction when the rightward scroll instruction has been issued.
In step S616, the system control unit 50 displays the thumbnails with them moved in such a manner that the central coordinate of each of the thumbnails is positioned at the X coordinate set in step S614 or S615 (the display update). Updating the display so as to change the display position of each of the thumbnails per predetermined time period in this manner makes the thumbnails appear as if each of them is being moved. As a shorter time period is employed as the predetermined time period α per which the display is updated, the thumbnails appear to be moved more smoothly.
Now, how the thumbnails are moved every time ((L/d)×α) has elapsed, i.e., how the thumbnails are laid out every time the display is updated by a distance L will be described.
In this manner, when displaying the animation in which the thumbnails are moved with the thumbnail corresponding to the rearrangement moving image material kept fixed, the display is performed in such a manner that the thumbnail passing through (overlapping) the rearrangement moving image material is moved by a longer movement distance than the other thumbnails, which enables the user to easily spot the thumbnail being moved. The position where the rearrangement moving image material will be inserted can be changed by moving the thumbnail to be reordered from the number subsequent to the rearrangement moving image material to the number previous to the rearrangement moving image material in the order, among the thumbnails located previously and subsequently to the rearrangement moving image material, by the distance as long as two thumbnails. In this process, since this thumbnail is moved by two thumbnails, for example, if the thumbnail is suddenly jumped instead of being gradually moved from the right side to the left side of the thumbnail 6, the user can lose track of the thumbnail 7. Then, if the thumbnail is displayed so as to be moved by the same distance as the other thumbnails when being gradually moved, this display also reduces the visibility because leading to an increase in a time period for which the thumbnail is displayed in a manner overlapping the rearrangement moving image material. Therefore, according to the present exemplary embodiment, the display is performed in such a manner that the thumbnail is moved (the display position thereof is changed) at the movement speed twice as fast as the other thumbnails, which enables the user to confirm how the rearrangement progresses with the high visibility maintained, and thereby to easily insert the rearrangement moving image material at the desired position.
In step S617, the system control unit 50 determines whether the scroll instruction determined in step S515 illustrated in
In step S618, the system control unit 50 determines whether the touch operation determined to be the scroll instruction in step S515 illustrated in
In step S619, the system control unit 50 determines whether the thumbnails are moved by a distance as long as the number of thumbnail(s) according to the movement distance of the touch operation determined to be the scroll instruction in step S515 illustrated in
In step S620, the system control unit 50 determines whether the thumbnails are moved by one thumbnail (4L), since the thumbnails are moved by the operation on the four-way operational key 73, unlike step S619. If the system control unit 50 determines that the thumbnails are moved by one thumbnail (YES in step S620), the system control unit 50 ends the rearrangement animation. If not (NO in step S620), the processing proceeds to step S605. In this manner, the system control unit 50 continues the animation until the thumbnails are moved by the distance according to the scroll instruction. In
In this manner, the present digital camera 100 fixes the rearrangement moving image material when displaying the animation, which prevents the user from losing track of the rearrangement moving image material due to a shift of the position thereof, thereby enabling the user to further easily confirm the position to insert the rearrangement moving image material. Even when the rearrangement operation is performed with the touch operation, the rearrangement instruction is not issued with the scroll instruction for the rearrangement moving image material but the instruction for the rearrangement operation is issued with the scroll instruction for the other thumbnails or the rearrangement area 702, which prevents the rearrangement moving image material from being hidden by the finger performing the operation. Moving the position of the rearrangement moving image material with the touch operation causes the finger to constantly hide the rearrangement moving image material, resulting in the reduction in the visibility of the moving image material (the image of the thumbnail) being rearranged. However, according to the present exemplary embodiment, the moving image materials other than the rearrangement moving image material are moved, whereby the visibility is improved even during the animation.
Having described the exemplary embodiment of the rearrangement processing, this exemplary embodiment has been described mainly focusing on specifying the image in the specifying area 701, unspecifying the specified image in the specifying area 701, fixing the rearrangement image in the rearrangement area 702, and the rearrangement animation. Now, each of these processing procedures will be summarized.
<Specifying Image in Specifying Area>
According to the above-described exemplary embodiment, when inserting the moving image material to contain in the combined moving image at the position desired by the user in the playback order, the user can insert the moving image material at the desired position with the operation for specifying the moving image material. In other words, when feeling like inserting some moving image material before specifying the moving image material, the user can select the moving image material after first deciding the position to insert the moving image material. Therefore, when performing the operation for searching for the moving image material, the user does not have to remember the position where the user has decided to insert the moving image material. Upon finding the moving image material that the user wants to insert, the user only has to perform the selection operation and does not have to perform the operation for displacing the moving image material to the insertion position.
When the user finds the position where the user wants to insert some moving image material from the thumbnail row displayed in the rearrangement area 702, the thumbnails are moved in the rearrangement area 702 in such a manner that the user can easily spot the position where the moving image material to be selected from now will be inserted. The moving image material that is the candidate for the selection (the thumbnail located at the center of the specifying area 701) is positioned horizontally between the moving image material and the moving image material between which the moving image material will be inserted if being selected in the rearrangement area 702, as illustrated in
The user can specify the moving image material and insert the moving image material at the desired position with fewer operations without switching the screen, such as the operation causing the screen to transit to the screen for rearranging the specified (selected) moving image material and performing the operation for determining the insertion position after specifying the moving image material. In other words, the user can insert the moving image material at the desired position by performing the operation for specifying the moving image material with the insertion position already determined. According to the present exemplary embodiment, in the display area, there are provided the area prepared mainly for specifying the moving image material (the specifying area 701) and the area prepared mainly for rearranging the moving image material in the image file (the rearrangement area 702), which enables the user to perform the operation for specifying the image and the operation for rearranging the image even without performing the operation for switching the screen. The user can also perform the operation for specifying the image while confirming the images in the rearrangement area 702, and perform the operation for rearranging the image while viewing the images in the specifying area 701. Even when the display unit 28 has a display area of a limited size and is not large enough to fully display the moving image materials to be contained in the combined moving image, like the digital camera 100, the user can change the position where the moving image material to be specified will be inserted with the scroll instruction for the rearrangement area 702. Similarly, even when there is only a limited display area available, like the digital camera 100, the user can switch the moving image materials displayed in the specifying area 701 with the scroll instruction for the specifying area 701. Therefore, even when the display area is not large enough to fully display the thumbnails as many as all of the moving image materials on one screen, the user can specify the desired moving image material without switching the screen.
<Unspecifying Specified Image in Specifying Area>
According to the above-described exemplary embodiment, the user can unspecify the moving image material in the specifying area 701 even without performing the operation for unspecifying the moving image material in the rearrangement area 702 in the middle of performing the operation for specifying the image (the moving image material). Therefore, the user can perform the operation for unspecifying the moving image material with a smaller number of operations, because being able to perform the operation for unspecifying the moving image material in the area where the user is currently operating even without interrupting the operation for specifying the moving image material, searching for the moving image material from the rearrangement area 702, and performing the operation for unspecifying the moving image material, to unspecify the moving image material. After removing the moving image material, the user can also immediately resume the operation for specifying the moving image material, and therefore can smoothly perform the operation for specifying the moving image material and the operation for removing the moving image material. Since being able to specify and unspecify the moving image material in the moving image specifying mode (in the specifying area 701), the user can further easily search for the moving image material while viewing the thumbnails chronologically arranged in the specifying area 701.
<Fixing Rearrangement Image in Rearrangement Area>
According to the above-described exemplary embodiment, fixing the rearrangement moving image material enables the user to rearrange the moving image material with the improved operational usability even within the limited area. The moving image material to be rearranged is displayed at the fixed position, and the displayed moving image materials are moved so as to sandwich the fixed position therebetween when the rearrangement operation is performed, so that the user can easily understand the arrangement order among the moving image materials. According to the present exemplary embodiment, the display is performed in such a manner that the moving image material to be rearranged is fixed and the other moving image materials are moved, which enables the user to insert the moving image material even at a position other than the displayed positions with the rearrangement operation (the operation for switching the displayed moving image materials) even within the limited area. Even when the rearrangement area 702 is not large enough to fully display the thumbnails of the already-specified moving image materials within the rearrangement area 702 on one screen, the user can change the insertion position with the scroll instruction. The user can perform the operation for rearranging the moving image material and issue the instruction to scroll the thumbnails in the rearrangement area 702 with the same operation, i.e., the operation for switching the displayed thumbnails, and therefore can perform each of the operations with the improved operational usability even when there is only a limited display area available. Fixing the rearrangement moving image material causes the insertion position to be changed according to the operation and the rearrangement moving image material to be displayed in a manner sandwiched between the thumbnails of the moving image materials respectively previous and subsequent to the position where the rearrangement moving image material will be inserted during the rearrangement operation, thereby enabling the user to easily understand the arrangement order in the combined moving image and thus further reliably decide the rearrangement position.
According to the present exemplary embodiment, the rearrangement moving image material is fixed when the animation is displayed, whereby the user is prevented from losing track of the rearrangement moving image material due to a shift of the position thereof. The user therefore can further easily confirm the position to insert the rearrangement moving image material. The instruction for the rearrangement operation is issued with the touch operation on the thumbnails that are not the rearrangement moving image material, or the rearrangement area 702, which prevents the rearrangement moving image material from being hidden by the finger performing the operation, whereby the visibility of the rearrangement moving image material (the image of the thumbnail) is improved even during the animation.
<Rearrangement Animation>
According to the above-described exemplary embodiment, the display is performed in such a manner that the thumbnail that overlaps the rearrangement moving image material is moved by the longer movement distance than the other thumbnails, and therefore can reduce a time period for which the rearrangement moving image material and the thumbnail overlap each other, and an area over which the thumbnails overlap each other. In other words, the item that overlaps the rearrangement moving image material (that will be interchanged with the rearrangement moving image in terms of the arrangement order) appears as if being moved faster than the moving image materials that do not overlap the rearrangement moving image, so that the time period for which the thumbnails overlap each other can be reduced. Therefore, the visibility of the thumbnail being moved is maintained, and the recognition of the thumbnail that is in the middle of being moved is facilitated.
Exemplary modifications of the above-described exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to
In
Having described the exemplary modifications of the exemplary embodiment, according to the above-described exemplary modifications, the user can not only recognize whether the moving image material is the already-specified moving image material, but also understand the position in the rearrangement area 702 and the position in specifying area 701 in association with each other. Therefore, when searching for the desired thumbnail by switching the thumbnails displayed in the display area (the scroll instruction) with the display area not large enough to fully display the thumbnails, the user can be aware of in which direction the position of the thumbnail is located.
Having described the exemplary modification of the exemplary embodiment, according to the above-described exemplary modification, when inserting one kind of moving image material at a plurality of positions in the combined moving image, the user can easily perform the operation for unspecifying the specified moving image material at some position among them. The user can confirm at which positions the selected moving image material is arranged in the combined moving image and thus can spot the positions of the moving image material even when the moving image material is inserted at the plurality of positions in the combined moving image, and therefore can easily search for the moving image material.
In the above description, the rearrangement moving image material is fixed at the center of the rearrangement area 702 when the moving image material is rearranged, but is not limited thereto and the rearrangement moving image material can be fixed at a position according to the scroll direction. More specifically, the rearrangement moving image material can be fixed at a position close to a right end of the display unit 28 when the rightward scroll instruction is issued, and the rearrangement moving image material can be fixed at a position close to a left end of the display unit 28 when the leftward scroll instruction is issued. Fixing the rearrangement moving image material at the position according to the scroll direction in this manner enables the user to confirm more thumbnails newly displayed in the rearrangement area 702 due to the scroll instruction. More specifically, in the case where the rearrangement moving image material is displayed at the center, the thumbnails are displayed in the equally sized areas on the left side and the right side of the rearrangement moving image material. However, fixing the rearrangement moving image material at the position close to the end in the scroll direction enables the user to confirm more thumbnails that will be interchanged with the rearrangement moving image material in terms of the order from now than thumbnails that have been already interchanged with the rearrangement moving image material in terms of the order. Therefore, when wanting to insert the rearrangement moving image material at a further previous or subsequent position while viewing the thumbnails of the moving image materials that will be interchanged with the rearrangement moving image material in terms of the order from now, the user does not have to issue the scroll instruction carefully so as not to overshoot the desired position. The user can confirm the desired position ahead of time, and therefore can decide the insertion position further reliably and quickly. It is desirable that the position where the rearrangement moving image material is fixed is a position that is located close to the end in the scroll direction but is not an endmost position among the displayed thumbnails, because this positioning enables the user to confirm the moving image material previous to and subsequent to the rearrangement moving image material.
Next, the exemplary modification of the rearrangement animation illustrated in
In
Having described the exemplary modification of the exemplary embodiment, according to the above-described exemplary modification, in the rearrangement animation indicating how the moving image material is interchanged with the rearrangement moving image material in terms of the order in the combined moving image, the adjacent state between the thumbnails can be maintained by expressing this interchange by the extension and the compression of the thumbnail. Therefore, the user can easily confirm the current number of the moving image material in the order. The display manner of the thumbnail 7 is changed by being extended and compressed, so that the user can immediately recognize that the thumbnail 7 is the thumbnail to be interchanged with the rearrangement moving image material in terms of the order.
In
Having described the exemplary modification of the exemplary embodiment, according to the above-described exemplary modification, in the rearrangement animation indicating how the moving image material is interchanged with the rearrangement moving image material in terms of the order in the combined moving image, the adjacent state between the thumbnails can be maintained by expressing this interchange while moving a part of the thumbnail. Therefore, the user can easily confirm the current number of the moving image material in the order. Although the thumbnail 7 is displayed with the area thereof divided, a whole portion of the thumbnail 7 is constantly visibly displayed, which prevents the reduction in the visibility, whereby the recognition of the content of the thumbnail being interchanged with the rearrangement moving image material is facilitated in terms of the order.
In the above-described exemplary embodiment, the display is performed in such a manner that the thumbnail passing through the fixed thumbnail is moved by the movement distance twice as long as the movement distance of the other thumbnails since the fixed thumbnail and the thumbnail to be moved are the same in width, but is not limited thereto. In another exemplary embodiment, the width of the fixed thumbnail is 8L compared to the thumbnail to be moved, thus, moving the thumbnail by a triple movement distance can improve the visibility of the rearrangement animation.
The thumbnail that overlaps the thumbnail of the rearrangement moving image material has been described as becoming partially invisible at the portion thereof that overlaps the rearrangement moving image material while being moved. However, the thumbnail does not necessarily have to completely overlap the thumbnail of the rearrangement moving image material, and can be partially visible by changing transparency of the display.
In the present exemplary embodiment, the specified moving image materials as a single combined moving image is recorded. Alternately, only the management file in which the IDs of the moving image materials can be recorded. More specifically, the digital camera 100 can be configured to read out the IDs of the moving image materials that are recorded in the recorded management file, and play back the moving images in the recorded order among the moving image materials, at the time of the playback.
In the above-described exemplary embodiment, even after the operation for specifying the moving image material is performed in the specifying area 701 or the operation for unspecifying the moving image material is performed in the rearrangement area 702, the operated thumbnail is displayed at the center while the operated thumbnail is kept in the selected state. However, the displayed thumbnails can be moved by one thumbnail in such a manner that the selected thumbnail shifts to a next thumbnail (adjacent on the right) after the operation for specifying or unspecifying the moving image material is performed. More specifically, the display is performed in such a manner that, after the operation for specifying the moving image material is performed with the thumbnail 6 selected in
In the present exemplary embodiment, the selected moving image material is played back when playing back of the moving image material is performed, but is not limited thereto, and can be configured to play back the moving image materials, including the moving image materials respectively previous and subsequent to the selected moving image material. In the present exemplary embodiment, the combined moving image is generated from the plurality of moving image materials by way of example, but aspects of the present invention can also be applied to generation of a slide show from still images. A still image can be contained in the combined moving image, and the file to be generated does not have to be the combined moving image and can be a layout of images for printing, generation of a music file, etc. Aspects of the present invention are also effective when the specifying operation and the rearrangement operation are targeted at not only the thumbnail or the image, but also an icon, an item, a display material, etc.
A single hardware device can control the electronic apparatus, or a plurality of hardware devices can control the entire apparatus by dividing the processing among them.
While aspects of the present invention have been described in detail based on the representative exemplary embodiments thereof, the aspects of the present invention are not limited to these specific exemplary embodiments, and also cover various embodiments within a range that does not depart from the spirit of the aspects of the present invention. Each of the above-described exemplary embodiments merely indicates one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and the individual exemplary embodiments can also be arbitrarily combined.
Aspects of the present invention can also be realized by performing the following processing. That is, the aspects of the present invention can also be realized by processing that supplies software (a program) that realizes the functions of the above-described exemplary embodiments to a system or an apparatus via a network or various kinds of recording media, and causes a computer (or a central processing unit (CPU), a micro processing unit (MPU), or the like) of this system or apparatus to read out and execute the program. In this case, this program, and the recording medium storing this program constitute aspects of the present invention.
In the above-described exemplary embodiments, aspects of the present invention have been described referring to the example in which the aspects of the present invention are applied to the digital camera 100, but is not limited to this example and can also be applied to the following apparatuses. The example described with reference to
Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.
According to aspects of the present invention, an icon and a material can be displayed in an arranged manner with improved operational usability.
While aspects of the present invention have been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the aspects of the invention are not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-198831, filed Oct. 6, 2015, No. 2015-198832, filed Oct. 6, 2015, No. 2015-198833, filed Oct. 6, 2015, and No. 2015-198834, filed Oct. 6, 2015, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-198831 | Oct 2015 | JP | national |
| 2015-198832 | Oct 2015 | JP | national |
| 2015-198833 | Oct 2015 | JP | national |
| 2015-198834 | Oct 2015 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20050157183 | Iijima | Jul 2005 | A1 |
| 20120017152 | Matsuda | Jan 2012 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 10-98667 | Apr 1998 | JP |
| 2005-86218 | Mar 2005 | JP |
| 2009-266192 | Nov 2009 | JP |
| 2013-93043 | May 2013 | JP |
| 2015-88159 | May 2015 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170099431 A1 | Apr 2017 | US |
