The present invention contains subject matter related to Japanese Patent Application JP 2007-302555 filed in the Japanese Patent Office on Nov. 22, 2007, the entire contents of which being incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording and reproducing apparatus that improves ease of operation in searching for an object image in a large number of images, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the capacity of a semiconductor memory is increasing more and more and prices thereof are lower and lower. Even portable appliances such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and a digital camera use a large capacity semiconductor memory. Thus, the number of images that can be recorded on a single recording medium continues to increase, and such an interface is demanded that finds an object image in a large number of images recorded on a recording medium with a simple operation for a short time.
Among this kind of interfaces, the most popular is a scheme in which a plurality of thumbnails are collectively displayed and these thumbnails are in turn advanced with a cross key, a jog dial or the like. However, the display area provided on a portable appliance is narrow because the area is proportional to the case size. As the result, when thumbnails are displayed, the total number of thumbnails displayed at one time becomes small, which causes a disadvantage that it is difficult to conduct a file search. In addition, it is necessary to mount a cross key or a jog dial on a portable appliance for operations, which also causes a problem that the case becomes larger correspondingly, or the display area becomes narrower.
As a means for solve the former problem, in recent years, such a scheme is proposed that thumbnails are arranged three-dimensionally to allow a user to easily confirm a large number of thumbnails even in a narrow display area of a small sized portable appliance for facilitating a file search as disclosed in Patent Reference 1 (JP-A-2000-105772).
In addition, in order to solve the latter problem, such a scheme is proposed that a touch panel is mounted to eliminate an input device such as a cross key or a jog dial for improving ease of use in searching for an object image in a large number of images as disclosed in Patent Reference 2 (JP-A-2006-40050)
However, in the scheme according to Patent Reference 1, the three-dimensional arrangement of thumbnails allows the improvement of visibility. However, because the scheme considers mounting a cross key, a jog dial, a touch panel, or the like as to ease of operation of an interface, there are no differences from existing portable appliances.
In addition, also in the scheme according to Patent Reference 2, the elimination of an input device such as a cross key or a jog dial provides the improvement of visibility as the display area is increased. However, because of mounting a touch panel, the touch panel according to the invention of Patent Reference 2 can provide only such input operations, “press”, “release” and a simple “rotation”. As the result, the functions of the cross key and the jog dial are merely reproduced on the touch panel, and as to ease of operation, there are no great improvements in ease of operation as compared with the cross key and the jog dial.
Heretofore, the portable appliance has small buttons, a small cross key or a small touch panel because of the smallness of its case. On this account, its ease of operation is not always excellent, and it is demanded to provide a user interface with excellent ease of operation instead of these small sized components. In addition, the interfaces before often ask users to read manuals for practices, and there is a problem that it is difficult for unskilled users to operate a portable appliance by intuition.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a recording and reproducing apparatus that has an intuitive interface function by which ease of operation is improved in searching for an object image in a large number of images even on a small sized appliance such as a portable appliance.
An embodiment of the invention is directed to a recording and reproducing apparatus including: a recording means for storing a plurality of images in groups; a display means for displaying images stored in the recording means; a detecting means for detecting a part of a human body or an object in a predetermined form; and a display switching means for switching images to be displayed on the display means in accordance with a form of a part of a human body or a form of an object detected by the detecting means.
In a recording and reproducing apparatus according to another embodiment of the invention, when a form of a part of a human body or a form of an object detected by the detecting means is a first form, the display switching means displays a first object that switches the displayed image so as to move the first object together with a motion of the part of the human body or the object in the first form.
In a recording and reproducing apparatus according to still another embodiment of the invention, when a form of a part of a human body or a form of an object detected by the detecting means is a second form, the display switching means displays a second object that switches the displayed image so as to move the second object together with a motion of the part of the human body or the object in the second form, and the display switching means moves the displayed image as the displayed image moving together with the motion of the part of the human body or the object for switching.
In a recording and reproducing apparatus according to still another embodiment of the invention, when a form of a part of a human body or a form of an object detected by the detecting means is a third form, the display switching means displays a third object that switches the displayed image so as to move the third object together with a motion of the part of the human body or the object in the third form, and the display switching means moves the displayed image as the displayed image moving together with the motion of the part of the human body or the object for switching.
In a recording and reproducing apparatus according to still another embodiment of the invention, when a rate of travel of the part of the human body or the object in the second form detected by the detecting means is a predetermined speed or above, the display switching means moves the image faster than an image travel rate when the rate of travel is a predetermined speed or below.
In a recording and reproducing apparatus according to still another embodiment of the invention, when a rate of travel of the part of the human body or the object in the third form detected by the detecting means is a predetermined speed or above, the display switching means moves the image faster than an image travel rate when the rate of travel is a predetermined speed or below.
In a recording and reproducing apparatus according to still another embodiment of the invention, the display means horizontally displays images in a main group at a center, and displays images in a group adjacent to the main group above and below the displayed images in the main group.
In a recording and reproducing apparatus according to still another embodiment of the invention, the display switching means moves the displayed image horizontally.
In a recording and reproducing apparatus according to a still another embodiment of the invention, the display switching means moves the displayed image vertically.
In a recording and reproducing apparatus according to still another embodiment of the invention, the detecting means has a CCD or a CMOS imager, and the display means has a liquid crystal panel.
In a recording and reproducing apparatus according to still another embodiment of the invention, the detecting means and display means are configured by a liquid crystal panel having an optical sensor incorporated therein.
In a recording and reproducing apparatus according to still another embodiment of the invention, the display means displays a group name of images in the main group simultaneously.
According to the embodiments of the invention, when a user is desired to find an object image in a large number of images recorded on a recording medium of the recording and reproducing apparatus, the user can operate the apparatus by intuition according to a part of a human body or an object in a predetermined form, a gesture of fingers, for example, without touching a product. Thus, the user can quickly find the object image in an excellent ease of operation with no influence of the size of the product. Particularly, in a small-sized appliance such as a digital camera and a PDA on which it is difficult to mount a button or a touch panel in the size of an excellent ease of operation, the embodiment of the invention is effective.
In addition, according to the embodiments of the invention, depending on a form of a part of a human body or a form of an object, that is, for example, gestures of fingers allow instructions of a plurality of different operations. Thus, it is unnecessary to provide buttons or the like corresponding to different operations as before, which eliminates providing extra buttons on the product or showing icons for operations on the screen, and allows the display screen to be extended by the widened space or the product to be made smaller. In addition, for the gestures of fingers, the motions to think of the operations that a user does in daily life are adapted. Thus, it is unnecessary for the user to do particular practices, and the user can operate an appliance by intuition.
In addition, according to the embodiments of the invention, the displayed image can be moved at high speed, and the object image can be found more quickly.
In addition, according to the embodiments of the invention, not only the images in the main group but also the images in the adjacent group can be visually seen for an easy image search.
In addition, according to the embodiments of the invention, the configuration of the apparatus can be simplified.
In addition, according to the embodiments of the invention, the group name of images in the main group can be easily recognized.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings, which are not limited to the following exemplary embodiments.
The recording part 28 may be a removable recording medium, or may be a built-in hard disk or a flash memory. A photographer can turn on and off a power supply and make imaging operations with a manipulating part 26 having a power supply switch, a shutter and the like.
The recording and reproducing apparatus 10 has a shooting mode and a browsing (reproducing) mode, in which in reproducing images, image data stored in the recording part 28 can be read and displayed at any time by a display part 27 (display means) having the image display devise 13.
24 depicts a rewritable flash memory on which setting values for the outline of image recognition, template images for comparison, predetermined parameters, programs and the like are recorded to be used for a form of a part of a human body or a form of an object, for example, a hand, which is detected by the optical part 20 and the imager 21 described below.
25 depicts a CPU (display switching means) that controls processing in the recording and reproducing apparatus 10, and that reads necessary data out of the flash memory 24 at any time, computes, writes data to the recording part 28 and the like. In addition, in
For example, the data structure in the recording part 28 is as shown in
Next, a display screen and an operating method of the browsing mode in the recording and reproducing apparatus 10 will be described with reference to
In addition, a group name 48 of the group 41 is displayed on the display screen 40 together with the created date and time and the number of images. In addition, a group 42 one group before the group 41 and a group 43 one group after the group 41 are radially displayed above and below the group 41, and groups 44 to 47 following the group 43 are also radially arranged outside the display area of the display screen 40. The user rotates all of the groups as windmill blades in accordance with the operations, described later, whereby the user can in turn change the group currently browsing.
Here, in Step S1 shown in
At this time, the lens inside the optical part 20 is fixed to the wide end. In addition, in the case in which the ambient light is too dark to take the user's hand, the lighting window 12 throws fill light for taking the user's hand lit by the light. Image signals taken through the window 11 are inputted to the CPU 25 to detect the position of the hand by using image recognition for the area currently taken. For example, as a scheme applicable to image recognition, such a scheme may be named that the skin tone distribution is detected based on color information about image signals, and the area including the contour of a hand is specified to compare the area with a plurality of templates of hand forms stored in the flash memory 24 in advance for determining whether there is a hand.
Here, as shown in
In this state, in Step S2-2 shown in
In addition, as shown in
In this state, in Step S3-2 shown in
In Step S3-4 shown in
In addition, in
As the characteristic in the scroll, in the case in which the speed of moving the user's hand 70 is a certain threshold or above, the group 41 keeps scrolling with inertia. When the hand 70 is moved in the opposite direction to scrolling, the scrolling can be stopped. In the case in which the speed of moving the user's hand 70 is a certain threshold or below, the group 41 scrolls by a certain amount depending on the travel of the hand 70. Although the threshold is set in advance, the threshold may be set by the user him/herself.
As discussed above, the process that changes the speed of scrolling depending on the rate of travel of the user's hand 70 is executed along a flow chart shown in
In
If the moving direction of the hand 70 is right, in Step 30-3, the group 41 (thumbnails) on the display screen 40 is kept scrolling in the right direction with inertia. After that, if it is determined that the hand 70 is moved left in Step S30-4, the scrolling is stopped (Step S30-5).
If the moving direction of the hand is left, in Step 30-6, the group 41 (thumbnails) on the display screen 40 is kept scrolling in the left direction with inertia. After that, if it is determined that the hand 70 is moved right in Step S30-7, the scrolling is stopped (Step S30-5).
In Step S30-1, if the rate of travel of the user's hand 70 is not equal to or greater than the threshold, in Step S30-8, it is determined whether the moving direction of the hand is right.
Then, if the moving direction of the hand 70 is right, in Step S30-9, the thumbnails of the group 41 on the display screen 40 are scrolled in the right direction by the number of images proportional to the rate of travel of the hand 70, whereas if the moving direction of the hand 70 is left, in Step S30-10, the thumbnails of the group 41 on the display screen 40 are scrolled in the left direction by the number of images proportional to the rate of travel of the hand 70.
In addition, as shown in
If it is determined that it is the index finger extending laterally, in Step S4-1 shown in
In this state, in Step S4-2 shown in
In Step S4-4 shown in
According to the operations, the user can change the group currently browsing from the group 41 shown in
In addition, in
As the characteristics of the operations in switching the groups, in
As discussed above, the process that changes the rotation speed of each of the groups depending on the rate of travel of the user's hand 90 is executed along a flow chart shown in
In
If the moving direction of the hand 90 is downward, in Step 40-3, all of the groups on the display screen 40 are rotated downward with inertia. After that, if it is determined that the hand 90 is moved upward in Step S40-4, the rotation is stopped (Step S40-5).
If the moving direction of the hand is upward, in Step 40-6, all of the groups on the display screen 40 are kept rotating upward with inertia. After that, if it is determined that the hand 90 is moved downward in Step S40-7, the rotation is stopped (Step S40-5).
In Step S40-1, if the rate of travel of the user's hand 90 is not equal to or greater than the threshold, in Step S40-8, it is determined whether the moving direction of the hand is downward.
Then, if the moving direction of the hand 90 is downward, in Step S40-9, all of the groups on the display screen 40 are rotated downward by the angle proportional to the rate of travel of the hand 90, whereas if the moving direction of the hand 90 is upward, in Step S40-10, all of the groups on the display screen 40 are rotated upward by the angle proportional to the rate of travel of the hand 90.
In addition, if the user holds the hand in the form other than the open hand, the index finger (extending vertically) or the index finger (extending laterally), the window 11 provided on the recording and reproducing apparatus 10 captures this manner as an image (Step S1 shown in
In addition, in the embodiment, position information according to the GPS is used to group images. However, the scheme of grouping images is not limited thereto. For example, images may be grouped based on feature analysis according to position information according to dates and times or Wi-Fi (wireless LAN), face recognition of images or the like.
Next, a second embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to
As shown in
The internal configuration of the recording and reproducing apparatus 110 according to the embodiment is configured almost similar to that shown in
Here, as shown in
In addition, as shown in
In addition, as shown in
In addition, in the case in which the user holds the hand in the form other than the open hand, the index finger (extending vertically) or the index finger (extending laterally), the image display device 111 provided on the recording and reproducing apparatus 110 captures this manner as an image, and the CPU 25 recognizes this form other than the three forms to delete the hand icon on the display screen 40 (a flow chart shown in
In addition, switching images on the display screen 40 (scrolling the group and rotating all of the groups) is not limited to these three forms according to the hands 50, 70, and 90 of the user. The other forms, for example, a closed first or a closed hand with index and middle fingers extended may be used, or a plurality of objects in different forms may be used.
It should be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occur depending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they are within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
P2007-302555 | Nov 2007 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5594469 | Freeman et al. | Jan 1997 | A |
6191773 | Maruno et al. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6466237 | Miyao et al. | Oct 2002 | B1 |
6498628 | Iwamura | Dec 2002 | B2 |
20060022961 | Kaminaga | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060150215 | Wroblewski | Jul 2006 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
07-084714 | Mar 1995 | JP |
09-185456 | Jul 1997 | JP |
9-237151 | Sep 1997 | JP |
2000-105772 | Apr 2000 | JP |
2000-187554 | Jul 2000 | JP |
3122736 | Oct 2000 | JP |
2003-330611 | Nov 2003 | JP |
2004-104594 | Apr 2004 | JP |
2006-40050 | Feb 2006 | JP |
2006-323260 | Nov 2006 | JP |
2007-128497 | May 2007 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20090135135 A1 | May 2009 | US |