Coordinated Image and Focus Map Display for Depth of Field Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image capturing apparatuses fail to effectively display the distribution of focus and exposure information in conjunction with image magnification, making it difficult to confirm the depth of field and finish of recorded images.
Innovation Solution
An image processing apparatus with a processor and memory that acquires and coordinates the display of images and focus maps, allowing for synchronized output control of image and focus information based on user operations, enabling coordinated display of image and focus maps with adjustable magnification and view angles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If color information is discarded during monochrome conversion for focus highlighting, then focus area can be highlighted, but the finish of the recorded image cannot be confirmed
Solution Approach 1:
The display screen is segmented into multiple regions: a main display area showing the captured image and a sub-display area showing the focus map. This segmentation allows color information to be preserved in the main display while focus information is separately visualized in the sub-display, resolving the contradiction between highlighting focus and preserving color finish.
Solution Approach 2:
A focus map is introduced as an intermediary visualization that represents focus information separately from the color image. The focus map uses luminance or color variations to indicate focus status without interfering with the color information in the main image display, allowing both concerns to be addressed simultaneously.
2Measurement precision
If only the in-focus area is highlighted, then focus position can be identified, but the depth of field of the shooting scene cannot be confirmed
Solution Approach 1:
The focus information is transformed from a single-value metric to a two-dimensional spatial distribution map. The focus map displays focus status across different spatial locations, enabling users to see both the in-focus area and the depth of field extent simultaneously through spatial variation in the map.
3Productivity
If image and focus map are displayed independently without coordination, then both can be displayed, but the relation between objects and focus cannot be easily viewed
Solution Approach 1:
The image display and focus map display are merged into a coordinated dual-display system. The sub-display area is positioned to spatially correspond with the main display area, and both displays are synchronized in response to user operations such as magnification adjustments, allowing users to easily correlate objects in the image with their focus status in the focus map.
Data Source
AI summary
A control unit provided in a digital camera acquires an image and a focus map serving as distribution information of an evaluation value corresponding to the image, and outputs the acquired image or the acquired focus map. When an operation that providing instructions for the magnification of magnification display of the image or the focus map is performed, the control unit executes output control to coordinate the display of the image and the display of the focus map with each other, in response to the above operation.