Photometric device, photometric method, program, and capturing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10908478-B2
Application number	US-201816482599-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 11, 2018
Priority date	Feb 20, 2017
Publication date	Feb 2, 2021
Grant date	Feb 2, 2021

Abstract

A subject region discrimination unit 11 discriminates a desired subject region on the basis of ranging information. A subject photometric region setting unit 12 performs image signal processing of the desired subject region that is discriminated by the subject region discrimination unit 11, and sets a photometric region corresponding to the subject region after the processing as a subject photometric region. A photometric value calculation unit 13 calculates a photometric value of the desired subject region by using a photometric value of the subject photometric region that is set by the subject photometric region setting unit 12. For this reason, it is possible to accurately acquire the photometric value with respect to the desired subject region, and it is possible to perform optimal exposure control with respect to the desired subject region by using the photometric value that is calculated by the photometric value calculation unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A photometric device, comprising:
a memory storing program code, and
a processor configured to execute the program code to perform operations comprising:
subject region discrimination that including discriminating a subject region on a basis of ranging information;
subject photometric region setting that includes setting a subject photometric region by performing image signal processing of the subject region, the subject photometric region setting including identifying an initial subject region corresponding to a subject, the initial subject region being composed of image components determined to correspond to the subject, the subject photometric region setting further including a covering operation that alters the number of image components of the initial subject region in determining the desired subject region for the subject; and
photometric value calculation that includes calculating a photometric value of the desired subject region by using a photometric value of the subject photometric region set in the subject photometric region setting.

2. The photometric device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the subject photometric region setting includes performing closing processing as the image signal processing, and performing reduction processing after performing expansion processing to cover the desired subject region.

3. The photometric device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the subject photometric region setting includes performing replacement processing of setting a region having a number of regions of greater than or equal to a threshold value in which a peripheral region includes the desired subject region in a non-subject region not including the desired subject region, to the desired subject region as the image signal processing, and sets a photometric region corresponding to the desired subject region after the replacement processing to the subject photometric region.

4. The photometric device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the subject photometric region setting includes performing replacement processing of setting a non-subject region of less than or equal to a predetermined number of regions, the non-subject region being positioned between the subject regions in a predetermined direction and not including the desired subject region, to the desired subject region as the image signal processing, and sets a photometric region corresponding to the desired subject region after the replacement processing to the subject photometric region.

5. The photometric device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the subject photometric region setting includes setting the subject photometric region on a basis of a subject recognition result of a captured image including the subject and a discrimination result of the desired subject region.

6. The photometric device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the photometric value calculation includes weighting with respect to the photometric value of the subject photometric region according to a position in the subject photometric region, and calculates the photometric value of the desired subject region by using the photometric value after the weighting.

7. The photometric device according to claim 6 ,
wherein the photometric value calculation includes setting a weight of a photometric value of a photometric region in which all peripheral photometric regions include a photometric region of the subject photometric region to be higher than that of other photometric regions, as the weighting.

8. The photometric device according to claim 1 ,
wherein in a case where a ranging region set to be in a focusing state is designated, the photometric value calculation includes weighting of setting weight of a photometric value of a predetermined region range based on a photometric region corresponding to the designated ranging region, and calculates the photometric value of the desired subject region by using the photometric value after the weighting.

9. The photometric device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the photometric value calculation includes weighting of setting weight of a characteristic portion of the desired subject region to be high, with respect to the photometric value of the subject photometric region on a basis of a subject recognition result of a captured image including the desired subject region, and calculates the photometric value of the desired subject region by using the photometric value after the weighting.

10. The photometric device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the subject region discrimination includes discriminating a region in a focusing state as the subject region on a basis of the ranging information.

11. The photometric device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the subject region discrimination includes discriminating a face region in furthering the determination of the desired subject region.

12. A photometric method, comprising:
subject region discrimination processing that discriminates a subject region on a basis of ranging information;
subject photometric region setting processing that sets a subject photometric region by performing image signal processing of the subject region, the subject photometric region setting including identifying an initial subject region corresponding to a subject, the initial subject region being composed of image components determined to correspond to the subject, the subject photometric region setting further including a covering operation that alters the number of image components of the initial subject region in determining the desired subject region for the subject; and
photometric value calculation processing that calculates a photometric value of the desired subject region by using a photometric value of the subject photometric region set in the subject photometric region setting.

13. The photometric method according to claim 12 ,
wherein the subject photometric region setting processing includes performing closing processing as the image signal processing, and performing reduction processing after performing expansion processing to cover the desired subject region.

14. The photometric method according to claim 12 ,
wherein the subject photometric region setting includes performing replacement processing of setting a region having a number of regions of greater than or equal to a threshold value in which a peripheral region includes the desired subject region in a non-subject region not including the desired subject region, to the desired subject region as the image signal processing, and sets a photometric region corresponding to the desired subject region after the replacement processing to the subject photometric region.

15. The photometric method according to claim 12 ,
wherein the subject photometric region setting includes performing replacement processing of setting a non-subject region of less than or equal to a predetermined number of regions, the non-subject region being positioned between the subject regions in a predetermined direction and not including the desired subject region, to the desired subject region as the image signal processing, and sets a photometric region corresponding to the desired subject region after the replacement processing to the subject photometric region.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program code for calculating a photometric value, the program code being executable by a computer to performing operations comprising:
subject region discrimination processing that discriminates a subject region on a basis of ranging information;
subject photometric region setting processing that sets a subject photometric

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Yoshino Tetsuma
• Oda Katsunari
• Sakaguchi Shohei

Classifications

• G03B13/36 Primary

  Autofocus systems · CPC title

• H04N23/61

  based on recognised objects · CPC title

• H04N23/67

  Focus control based on electronic image sensor signals · CPC title

• H04N23/73

  by influencing the exposure time · CPC title

• H04N23/71

  Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation · CPC title