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US 7,027,171 B1Granted
Digital camera and document photographing and transmitting method of the same
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorYoshikazu Watanabe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image processing section provided in a digital camera converts the image photographed in a document photographing mode to any data format that a destination (a facsimile or a personal computer) selected by a user requires.
Claims61
A digital camera having a normal photographing mode and a document photographing mode, said digital camera comprising:
- an image pickup unit which captures an image of a subject and converts the image to image data;
- an angle of photography detection unit which detects an angle of photography with respect to a surface of a document as the subject in the document photographing mode and prevents capturing the image until a suitable angle of photography is detected in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the document;
- a compression unit which compresses the image data and generates a compressed image data;
- a storage unit which stores the compressed image data;
- an expansion unit which expands the compressed image data;
- a selection unit with which any of the normal photographing mode and the document photographing mode can be selected, and with which a destination to receive the image data can be selected;
- and
- an image processing unit which subjects the image data to image processing depending on the selected photographing mode,
- wherein said expansion unit expands the compressed image data acquired in the document photographing mode and stored in said storage unit, and then said image processing unit subjects this data to an image processing that a selected destination requires, prior to providing the image data to the destination.
6 more elements
A digital camera having a normal photographing mode and a document photographing mode, said digital camera comprising:
- an image pickup unit which captures an image of a subject and converts the image to image data;
- an angle of photography detection unit which detects an angle of photography with respect to a surface of a document as the subject in the document photographing mode and prevents capturing the image until a suitable angle of photography is detected in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the document;
- a selection unit with which any of the normal photographing mode and the document photographing mode can be selected, and with which a destination to receive the image data can be selected;
- an image processing unit which subjects the image data acquired in the document photographing mode to an image processing that a selected destination requires, prior to providing the image data to the destination.
1 more element
A digital camera having a normal photographing mode and a document photographing mode, said digital camera comprising:
- an image pickup unit which captures an image of a subject and converts the image to image data;
- an angle of photography detection unit which detects an angle of photography with respect to a surface of a document as the subject in the document photographing mode and prevents capturing the image until a suitable angle of photography is detected in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the document;
- a compression unit which compresses the image data and generates a compressed image data;
- a storage unit which stores the compressed image data;
- an expansion unit which expands the compressed image data;
- a selection unit with which any of the normal photographing mode and the document photographing mode can be selected, and with which a destination to receive the image data can be selected;
- and
- an image processing unit which subjects the expanded image data to image processing depending on the selected photographing mode,
- wherein, based on a selected destination, said expansion unit expands the compressed image data acquired in the document photographing mode and stored in said storage unit, and then said image processing unit subjects the data to the processing for clipping, conversion to a smaller number of gray levels in achromatic color, and resolution conversion, and once more compresses the data, prior to providing the image data to the destination.
6 more elements
A digital camera having a normal photographing mode and a document photographing mode, said digital camera comprising:
- an image pickup unit which captures an image of a subject and converts the image to image data;
- an angle of photography detection unit which detects an angle of photography with respect to a surface of a document as the subject in the document photographing mode and prevents capturing the image until a suitable angle of photography is detected in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the document;
- a selection unit with which any of the normal photographing mode and the document photographing mode can be selected, and with which a destination to receive the image data can be selected;
- and
- an image processing unit which, based on the selected destination, subjects the image data acquired in the document photographing mode to the processing for clipping, conversion to a smaller number of gray levels in achromatic color, and resolution conversion, and once more compresses the data, prior to providing the image data to the destination.
2 more elements
A digital camera having a normal photographing mode and a document photographing mode, said digital camera comprising:
- an image pickup unit which captures an image of a subject and converts the image to image data;
- an angle of photography detection unit which detects an angle of photography with respect to a surface of a document as the subject in the document photographing mode and prevents capturing the image until a suitable angle of photography is detected in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the document;
- a compression unit which compresses the image data and generates a compressed image data a storage unit which stores the compressed image data;
- an expansion unit which expands the compressed image data;
- a selection unit with which any of the normal photographing mode and the document photographing mode can be selected, and with which a destination to receive the image data can be selected;
- and
- an image processing unit which subjects the image data to image processing depending on the selected photographing mode,
- wherein, based on the selected destination, said expansion unit expands the compressed image data acquired in the document photographing mode and stored in said storage unit, and then said image processing unit subjects this data to the processing for clipping, conversion to a smaller number of gray levels in achromatic color, and once more compresses the data, prior to providing the image data to the destination.
5 more elements
A digital camera having a normal photographing mode and a document photographing mode, said digital camera comprising:
- an image pickup unit which captures an image of a subject and converts the image to image data;
- an angle of photography detection unit which detects an angle of photography with respect to a surface of a document as the subject in the document photographing mode and prevents capturing the image until a suitable angle of photography is detected in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the document;
- a selection unit with which any of the normal photographing mode and the document photographing mode can be selected, and with which a destination to receive the image data can be selected;
- and
- an image processing unit which, based on the selected destination, subjects the image data acquired in the document photographing mode to the processing for clipping, conversion to a smaller number of gray levels in achromatic color, and character recognition, prior to providing the image data to the destination.
2 more elements
A digital camera having a normal photographing mode and a document photographing mode, said digital camera comprising:
- an image pickup unit which captures an image of a subject and converts the image to image data;
- an angle of photography detection unit which detects an angle of photography with respect to a surface of a document as the subject in the document photographing mode and prevents capturing the image until a suitable angle of photography is detected in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the document;
- a compression unit which compresses the image data and generates a compressed image data;
- a storage unit which stores the compressed image data;
- a selection unit with which any of the normal photographing mode and the document photographing mode can be selected, and with which a destination to receive the image data can be selected;
- a display unit which displays the image of the subject on a monitor before the image is photographed;
- and
- an image processing unit which subjects the image data to image processing depending on the selected photography mode and to image processing that a selected destination requires, prior to providing the image data to the destination;
- wherein, in the document photographing mode, said display unit displays guidance to notify a user of the conditions during photography when the image of the subject is being displayed on the monitor.
6 more elements
A digital camera having a normal photographing mode and a document photographing mode, said digital camera comprising:
- an image pickup unit which captures an image of a subject and converts the image to image data;
- an angle of photography detection unit which detects an angle of photography with respect to a surface of a document as the subject in the document photographing mode and prevents capturing the image until a suitable angle of photography is detected in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the document;
- a selection unit with which any of the normal photographing mode and the document photographing mode can be selected, and with which a destination to receive the image data can be selected;
- a display unit which displays the image of the subject on a monitor before the image is photographed;
- and
- an image processing unit which subjects the image data to image processing depending on the selected photography mode and to image processing that a selected destination requires, prior to providing the image data to the destination;
- wherein, in the document photographing mode, said display unit displays guidance to notify a user of the conditions during photography when the image of the subject is being displayed on the monitor.
4 more elements
A digital camera having a normal photographing mode and a document photographing mode, said digital camera comprising:
- an image pickup unit which captures an image of a subject and converts the image to image data;
- a compression unit which compresses the image data and generates a compressed image data;
- a storage unit which stores the compressed image data;
- a selection unit with which any of the normal photographing mode and the document photographing mode can be selected, and with which a destination to receive the image data can be selected;
- and
- an angle of photography detection unit which detects an angle of photography with respect to a surface of the subject,
- wherein, in the document photographing mode, photography is started only when the angle of photography is substantially vertical in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the subject.
4 more elements
A digital camera having a normal photographing mode and a document photographing mode, said digital camera comprising:
- an image pickup unit which captures an image of a subject and converts the image to image data;
- a selection unit with which any of the normal photographing mode and the document photographing mode can be selected, and with which a destination to receive the image data can be selected;
- an angle of photography detection unit which detects an angle of photography with respect to the surface of a subject;
- and
- an image processing unit which subjects the image data to image processing depending on the selected photography mode and to image processing that a selected destination requires, prior to providing the image data to the destination;
- wherein, in the document photographing mode, photography is started only when the angle of photography is substantially vertical in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the subject.
3 more elements
A document photographing and transmitting method of a digital camera, said method comprising:
- monitoring a subject on a display unit in response to instructions for monitoring;
- displaying guidance on said display unit when the monitoring is performed;
- capturing an image, converting the image to image data, and compressing the image data in response to instructions for photographing;
- detecting an angle of photography before capturing the image and permitting image capture of a document only if the angle of photography has a predetermined value in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the document;
- storing the compressed image data in a storage unit;
- selecting a destination to receive the image data;
- reading the compressed image data stored in the storage unit and expanding the data in response to instructions for transmission;
- subjecting the expanded image data to an image processing that the selected destination requires, prior to providing the image data to the destination;
- and
- transmitting the image data, that has been subjected to image processing, to the selected destination.
7 more elements
A document photographing and transmitting method of a digital camera, said method comprising:
- monitoring a subject on a display unit in response to instructions for monitoring;
- displaying guidance on said display unit when the monitoring is performed;
- capturing an image and converting the image to image data in response to instructions for photographing;
- detecting an angle of photography before capturing the image and permitting image capture of a document only if the angle of photography has a predetermined value in order to minimize distortions in the image captured of the document;
- selecting a destination to receive the image data;
- subjecting the image data to an image processing that the selected destination requires, prior to providing the image data to the destination;
- and
- transmitting the image data, that has been subjected to image processing, to the selected destination.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.