Electronic camera capturing a group of a plurality of specific objects

An electronic camera provided with a processing unit to execute a computer program, which is supported by a supporting device having a pan/tilt rotation mechanism, comprising:

• an imager having an imaging surface capturing a scene, which repeatedly outputs an image representing the scene;
• a changer as a part of the computer program, which repeatedly changes a pan angle and/or a tilt angle by controlling said supporting device when a group photograph mode is selected;
• a detector as a part of the computer program, which detects a specific object image from the image outputted from said imager in association with the changing process of said changer;
• a decider as a part of the computer program, which decides a plurality of angles defining a range which contains a group of specific objects each of the specific objects is equivalent to the specific object image detected by said detector, based on a detection result of said detector;
• and
• a creator as a part of the computer program, which combines a plurality of images outputted from said imager so as to create a combined image corresponding to the range defined by the plurality of angles decided by said decider,
• wherein each of the plurality of images noticed by said creator has an overlapped image overlapped with another image, and said creator includes a decider which decides, as a combined portion, a portion different from the specific object image on the overlapped image, a cropper which crops a partial image outside of the combined portion decided by said decider, and a combiner which uses an image left after a cropping process of said cropper so as to create the combined image.

An electronic camera provided with a processing unit to execute a computer program, which is supported by a supporting device having a pan/tilt rotation mechanism, comprising:

• an imager having an imaging surface capturing a scene, which repeatedly outputs an image representing the scene;
• a changer as a part of the computer program, which repeatedly changes a pan angle and/or a tilt angle by controlling said supporting device when a group photograph mode is selected;
• a detector as a part of the computer program, which detects a specific object image from the image outputted from said imager in association with the changing process of said changer;
• a decider as a part of the computer program, which decides a plurality of angles defining a range which contains a group of specific objects each of the specific objects is equivalent to the specific object image detected by said detector, based on a detection result of said detector;
• and
• a creator as a part of the computer program, which combines a plurality of images outputted from said imager so as to create a combined image corresponding to the range defined by the plurality of angles decided by said decider, and said electronic camera further comprising:
• a first setter as a part of the computer program, which sets a resolution of the image outputted from said imager to a first resolution in association with the detection process of said detector;
• and
• a second setter as a part of the computer program, which sets a resolution of the image outputted from said imager to a second resolution higher than the first resolution in association with a creating process of said creator.

A computer program embodied in a non-transitory tangible medium, which is executed by a processor of an electronic camera provided with an imager having an imaging surface capturing a scene, which repeatedly outputs an image representing the scene, and supported by a supporting device having a pan/tilt rotation mechanism, said program, comprising:

• a changing step of repeatedly changing a pan angle and/or a tilt angle by controlling said supporting device when a group photograph mode is selected;
• a detecting step of detecting a specific object image from the object scene image outputted from said imager in association with the changing process of said changing step;
• a deciding step of deciding a plurality of angles defining a range which contains a group of specific objects each of the specific objects is equivalent to the specific object image detected by said detecting step, based on a detection result of said detecting step;
• and
• a creating step of combining a plurality of images outputted from said imager so as to create a combined image corresponding to the range defined by the plurality of angles decided by said deciding step, wherein said changing step includes a first changing step of changing the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a first designated direction and a second changing step of changing the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a second designated direction opposite to the first designated direction, and said deciding step includes a first deciding step of referring to a first specific object existing at an end in the first designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide one of the plurality of angles, and a second deciding step of referring to a second specific object existing at an end in the second designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide another of the plurality of angles.

An imaging control method executed by an electronic camera provided with an imager having an imaging surface capturing a scene, which repeatedly outputs an image representing the scene, and supported by a supporting device having a pan/tilt rotation mechanism, the imaging control method, comprising:

• a changing step of repeatedly changing a pan angle and/or a tilt angle by controlling said supporting device when a group photograph mode is selected;
• a detecting step of detecting a specific object image from the image outputted from said imager in association with the changing process of said changing step;
• a deciding step of deciding a plurality of angles defining a range which contains a group of specific objects each of the specific objects is equivalent to the specific object image detected by said detecting step, based on a detection result of said detecting step;
• and
• a creating step of combining a plurality of images outputted from said imager so as to create a combined image corresponding to the range defined by the plurality of angles decided by said deciding step, wherein said changing step includes a first changing step of changing the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a first designated direction and a second changing step of changing the pan angle and/or the tilt angle toward a second designated direction opposite to the first designated direction, and said deciding step includes a first deciding step of referring to a first specific object existing at an end in the first designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide one of the plurality of angles, and a second deciding step of referring to a second specific object existing at an end in the second designated direction out of the plurality of specific objects so as to decide another of the plurality of angles.