Digital photographing apparatus and control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9325895-B2
Application number	US-201213591405-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2012
Priority date	Nov 28, 2011
Publication date	Apr 26, 2016
Grant date	Apr 26, 2016

Abstract

A digital photographing apparatus that recommends a suitable auto focus (AF) candidate area to a user before photographing, allows a user to select an AF area or automatically selects the AF area, and allows a user to conveniently and accurately capture a desired image, and a method of controlling the digital photographing apparatus are disclosed. A method is provided that includes calculating information about a distance to an object existing in an image stereoscopically input through a first lens and a second lens; matching the information about the distance to red green blue (RGB) information of the image; displaying a plurality of AF candidate areas on the image based on the matched RGB information; and capturing an image centered on an AF candidate area having a first priority when a photographing button is pressed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a digital photographing apparatus, the method comprising:
calculating information about a distance to an object existing in an image stereoscopically input through a first lens and a second lens;
displaying the distance information by changing a color of the object existing in the image according to the distance information;
matching the information about the distance to red green blue (RGB) information of the image;
displaying a plurality of auto focus (AF) candidate areas on the image based on the matched RGB information; and
capturing an image focused on an AF candidate area having a first priority when a photographing button is pressed.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining the image by mixing first and second images input respectively through the first and second lenses.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displaying the distance information comprises displaying the distance information from a short distance to a long distance using gray levels 0 through 255.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the matching of the information about the distance to the RGB information of the image comprises:
dividing the image into a plurality of blocks;
calculating RGB average values of pixels existing in each of the plurality of blocks; and
including the information about the distance in the RGB average values of the pixels.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displaying of the plurality of AF candidate areas comprises displaying the plurality of AF candidate areas on the image obtained by mixing first and second images input respectively through the first and second lenses.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displaying of the plurality of AF candidate areas comprises generating the plurality of AF candidate areas based on sizes of objects and distances to the objects.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising assigning priorities in descending order from an AF candidate area including an object that has the largest size and to which a distance is shortest to an AF candidate area including an object that has the smallest size and to which a distance is longest.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein an AF candidate area having the first priority is displayed differently from the other AF candidate areas.

9. A method of controlling a digital photographing apparatus, the method comprising:
calculating information about a distance to an object existing in an image stereoscopically input through a first lens and a second lens;
displaying the distance information by changing a color of the object existing in the image according to the distance information;
matching the information about the distance to red green blue (RGB) information of the image;
displaying a plurality of auto focus (AF) candidate areas on the image based on the matched RGB information;
receiving a selection of any one of the displayed plurality of AF candidate areas; and
capturing an image focused on the selected AF candidate area when a photographing button is pressed.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising obtaining the image by mixing first and second images input respectively through the first and second lens.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the displaying the distance information comprises displaying the distance information from a short distance to a long distance using gray levels 0 through 255.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the displaying of the plurality of AF candidate areas comprises displaying the plurality of AF candidate areas on the image obtained by mixing first and second images respectively input through the first and second lenses.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the matching of the information about the distance to the RGB information of the image comprises:
dividing the image into a plurality of blocks;
calculating RGB average values of pixels existing in each of the plurality of blocks; and
including the information about the distance in the RGB average values of the pixels.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the displaying of the plurality of AF candidate areas comprises generating the plurality of AF candidate areas based on sizes of objects and distances to the objects.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising assigning priorities in descending order from an AF candidate area including an object that has the largest size and to which a distance is shortest to an AF candidate area including an object that has the smallest size and to which a distance is longest.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein an AF candidate area having the first priority is displayed differently from the other AF candidate areas.

17. A digital photographing apparatus comprising:
a distance calculator to calculate information about a distance to an object existing in an image stereoscopically input through a first lens and a second lens and display the distance information by changing a color of the object existing in the image according to the distance information;
a matching unit to match the information about the distance to red green blue (RGB) information of the image;
a generation unit to generate a plurality of auto focus (AF) candidate areas from the image based on the matched RGB information and then for displaying the plurality of AF candidate areas; and
a controller to capture an image focused on any one of the plurality of AF candidate areas when a photographing button is pressed.

18. The digital photographing apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the distance calculator displays the distance information from a short distance to a long distance using gray levels 0 through 255.

19. The digital photographing apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the generation unit generates the plurality of AF candidate areas based on sizes of objects and distances to the objects, and assigns priorities in descending order from an AF candidate area including an object that has the largest size and to which a distance is shortest to an AF candidate area including an object that has the smallest size and to which a distance is longest.

20. The digital photographing apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the controller captures an image focused on an AF candidate area having a first priority when a photographing button is pressed, or when the photographing button is pressed after any one of the displayed AF candidate areas is selected, the controller captures an image focused on the selected AF candidate area.

Assignees

• Kwon O-Hyun
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kwon O-Hyun

Classifications

• H04N23/635

  Region indicators; Field of view indicators · CPC title

• H04N13/239 Primary

  using two two-dimensional [2D] image sensors having a relative position equal to or related to the interocular distance (H04N13/243 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N23/67

  Focus control based on electronic image sensor signals · CPC title

• H04N23/63

  by using electronic viewfinders · CPC title

• H04N13/0296

  Electricity · mapped topic