JP2000041208A - Image display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide on image display device that is convenient in the case of desiring confirmation of a past image or looking back on the image historically. SOLUTION: The display device is provided with an image display section 6 that displays an image recorded on recording media 8, 14 with a date and a date recognition means 16 that recognizes a current date. At application of power an image with a same date in a different year or with a data within a prescribed period close to the date is detected based on the data of the image recorded in the recording media 8, 14 and the current date recognized by the date recognition means 16 and the detected image are displayed on an image display section 6 as an initial image. The operation to display the image at application of power is not required.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image display device for displaying an image recorded on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image captured by a digital camera or the like is recorded on a recording medium such as a memory card, and the image recorded on the memory card is transferred and recorded on a large-capacity magneto-optical disk or the like to create an image database. In addition, there is known a search system for searching a recorded image for a desired image and displaying the image on a display device. As this type of system, there is a system in which shooting date information is added to image data of an image file, and a target image is extracted by inputting a date when searching.

[0003]

Incidentally, in the above system, there are cases where it is desired to confirm the contents of the image recorded on the recording medium. There is also a case where it is desired to look back and look at an image taken by a digital camera or the like in a history.

In such a case, conventionally, even if the power is turned on, the image is not displayed unless the operator performs an operation for displaying the image. For this reason, the operator has to perform an initial operation such as displaying an image by inputting an appropriate date or displaying the latest image or the oldest image in order to sequentially reproduce images, which is troublesome. In particular, since a large-capacity recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk can record several hundred images, images over a plurality of years are often recorded on one recording medium, and are often used for image confirmation. Operation was more troublesome.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as an object to provide an image display device which is convenient when it is desired to confirm the contents of an image or when it is desired to look back in a history. I do.

[0006]

An object of the present invention is to provide an image display unit capable of displaying an image recorded with a date on a recording medium,
Date recognition means for recognizing the current date
From the date of the image recorded on the recording medium and the current date recognized by the date recognizing means, an image of the same date in a different year or a date within a predetermined period close to this date is detected, and this image is The image display apparatus is provided with control means for displaying an initial image on an image display unit.

According to this image display device, when the power is turned on, an image of the same date of a different year or a date within a predetermined period close to this date is automatically displayed on the image display unit as an initial image. Therefore, when confirming a past image or looking back at a photographed image instead of a diary, an initial operation for displaying an image after turning on the power becomes unnecessary.

[0008] In particular, when images over a plurality of years are recorded on a single recording medium, more images having the same date in a different year or a date within a predetermined period close to this date are displayed more efficiently. Image confirmation or the like can be performed.

When a selection means for selecting whether or not to display an initial image is provided, a normal usage without displaying the initial image can be performed, and the degree of freedom of usage is increased.

When an image on the date is not detected, the latest image is displayed as an initial image so that the contents of the latest image can be confirmed. It can be indirectly known that there is no image of a date within a predetermined period close to.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a state in which a magneto-optical disk drive 13 is connected to an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an image retrieval system including the image display device of FIG. FIG.

In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of an image display device, and a memory card slot 9 is provided on a side surface portion of the main body 1 of the image display device. A photograph is taken in the memory card slot 9 by a digital camera or the like. A memory card 8 as a recording medium on which an image is recorded is detachably mounted. Further, two USB (Universal) are further provided on the side surface of the image display device main body 1.
Serial Bus) ports 10 are provided, and printers 11 and personal computers 15 are connected to these ports.
Is connected.

A magneto-optical disk drive 13 for driving a magneto-optical disk 14 as a recording medium is directly connected to the image display device main body 1 via a magneto-optical disk interface 12. A magneto-optical disk 14 is detachably mounted on the drive 13.

On the front face of the image display device main body 1, there is provided a liquid crystal display section 6 for displaying an image recorded with the date on the memory card 8 or the magneto-optical disk 14, and an operation section comprising operation switches. 7 are provided. The operation unit 7 includes a push button type power switch 71 provided on the upper side of the liquid crystal display unit 6 and a liquid crystal display device 6.
And push-button access switches 72 to 75 for frame advance when reproducing a recorded image, a mode changeover switch 76 provided beside the switch, and an enter key 77 below the switch.

[0015] Of the access switches 72 to 75,
The access switches 72 and 73 are used to feed the recorded image in the direction in which the frame number is increased (the direction of the photographing order) (Up switch). The switch 72 is a switch 73 for feeding the image one by one. Is a switch for fast-forwarding. On the other hand, the access switches 74 and 75 are used to advance the recorded image by a frame in a direction in which the frame number decreases (Down switch).
The switch 75 for feeding one sheet at a time is a switch for fast-forwarding.

The mode changeover switch 76 switches between an initial screen mode and a normal mode. The mode changeover switch 76 is a slide switch. When the switch is slid to the right, the mode is the initial screen mode. When the switch is slid to the left, the mode is the normal mode. The initial screen mode means that when the power switch 71 is turned on, an image of the same date as or close to the current date (different year) is searched from the magneto-optical disk 14 and displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 6 as an initial screen. This is the mode for displaying. On the other hand, the normal mode is a mode in which the image is not displayed when the power switch 71 is turned on, and will be described later.

The memory card 8 and the magneto-optical disk 14
Are displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 6 by operating various switches included in the operation unit 7.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the electric system of the system shown in FIG.

The control of the image display apparatus main body 1 is as follows. The CPU in the data processing unit 4 reads out a program stored in the ROM 2 and reads the program stored in the memory card slot 9 and the USB port 1.
0, magneto-optical disk interface 12, graphic controller and VRAM 5, liquid crystal display 6, operation unit 7
Is performed by controlling. The data processing unit 4 includes:
A clock circuit (shown as RTC (Real Time Clock) in FIG. 3) 16 driven by a backup battery 17 is connected, and the clock circuit 16 can recognize the current date. Also, the flash memory 18
Records the result of the transfer to the magneto-optical disk.

The image display apparatus main body 1 is supplied with electric power by a battery of a power supply section 19, and can also be supplied with electric power by an AC adapter (not shown).

The data arrangement in the memory card 8 will be described with reference to FIG. An image recorded by a digital camera is composed of 40 frames indicated by 81 to 85. Each frame includes a tag (heading) information portion and a JPEG (Joint P).
High-resolution image data (640 x 480 pixels) and image data for reduced display (80 x 60 pixels) (thumbnail image data) are recorded in the form of a hotographic expert group. For each frame, for example, E
It can be handled as an image file in the XIF format. The tag stores shooting date, flash ON / OFF data at the time of shooting, and the like.

The data arrangement in the magneto-optical disk 14 will be described with reference to FIG. Image data and tag information of the memory card 8 can be transferred and recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14. No.1, No. in the recording order
2, No. 3,..., Non, No. 3000 image file numbers are assigned. Each file records high-resolution image data, low-resolution image data for thumbnail display (thumbnail image data), and tag information, similarly to the memory card 8. There is also a file management unit for managing each image file, in which a table for associating the entire directory structure, file numbers and file names, and files and directories is recorded.

The initial operation (initial screen processing) when the power switch 71 is turned on in the image display device shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the power switch 71 is turned on in step (hereinafter, step is referred to as S) 1 (YES), in S2,
It is determined whether or not the mode switch 72 is in the initial screen mode. If the switch 72 is in the normal mode (NO in S2), the process proceeds to the normal reproduction process in S11. In the normal reproduction process, an image recorded on the memory card 8 is transferred to an access switch (U
p / Down switch) 72 to 75 to sequentially reproduce,
This is a process of transferring data to the magneto-optical disk 13.

In the initial screen mode (YE in S2)
In steps S) and S3, after the data processing unit 4 recognizes the current date by the clock circuit 16, the data processing unit 4 sequentially accesses the image file of the magneto-optical disk 14 in step S4, and in step S5, the image recorded as tag information. Is compared with the current date, and if there is a matching image (YES in S5),
In S12, the image is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 6. This operation is performed until all files have been searched.

If there is no match even if all files are accessed (YES in S6), the image files on the magneto-optical disk 13 are sequentially accessed again in S7. Then, in S8, an image having a date corresponding to one week before and after the current date is searched, and if there is a corresponding image (S8).
YES), the image is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 6 in S12. This operation is performed until all files have been searched.

If there is still no corresponding image (YES in S9), the latest image (the newest date) is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 6 in S10.

FIG. 6 shows a display example of the image searched in the liquid crystal display unit 6. Date of the current year 1998 4
The first day of the month. FIG. 4A shows an example in which one image 100 of the same date of different years is reproduced and displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 6, and FIG. 4B shows a plurality of images 100 of the same date of different years recorded. FIG. 14C is a display example of the case, in which a plurality of images 100 having dates corresponding to one week before and after the same date of the different year are displayed on a multi-screen.

As described above, when the power switch 71 is turned on, an image having the same date of another year or one week before or after the same date is automatically displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 6 as an initial image. The user can perform operations such as reproducing the next image by referring to these images, which makes the operation easier.

The recording medium to be searched for is not limited to the magneto-optical disk 14, but may be the memory card 8. Further, in the case where there is no image with the same date of the same year, the image of the date corresponding to one week before and after the same date of the different year is displayed. May be displayed as an initial screen. The period can be set arbitrarily, not one week before and after.

The image display may be performed by an external display device such as a personal computer 15 or a television. In this case, the display unit of the personal computer or the television functions as the image display unit in the present invention.

[0032]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the power is turned on, an image of the same date of another year or a date within a predetermined period close to this date is automatically displayed on the image display unit as an initial image. Therefore, when a past image is checked or a photographed image is looked back historically instead of a diary, an initial operation such as inputting an appropriate date when the power is turned on is unnecessary, which is very convenient.

In particular, when images over a plurality of years are recorded on a single recording medium, more images with the same date in a different year or a date within a predetermined period close to this date are displayed more frequently. Image confirmation and the like can be performed more efficiently.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above-described effects, a selection means for selecting whether or not to display the initial image is provided. Can be increased.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the contents of the latest image can be confirmed, and it is possible to indirectly know that there is no image of the same date in a different year or within a predetermined period close to this date. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an image search system using the image display device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electric system of the image display device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a data array in a memory card, and FIG. 4B is a diagram showing a data array in a magneto-optical disk.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an initial screen process when the power is turned on in the image display device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 illustrates a display example of an image displayed on an image display unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display apparatus main body 4 Data processing part 6 Liquid crystal display part (image display part) 7 Operation part 8 Memory card (recording medium) 16 Clock circuit (date recognition means) 14 Magneto-optical disk (recording medium) 71 Power switch 76 Mode switch (Selection means) 100 images

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image display unit capable of displaying an image recorded with a date on a recording medium, date recognizing means for recognizing a current date, and, when power is turned on, a date of the image recorded on the recording medium. Control means for detecting, from the current date recognized by the date recognition means, an image of the same date of the different year or a date within a predetermined period close to this date, and displaying the image as an initial image on the image display unit; An image display device comprising: 2. The image display device according to claim 1, further comprising a selection unit for selecting whether or not to display the initial image. 3. If no image on the date is detected, the latest image is displayed as an initial image.
An image display device according to claim 1.