JP2002111530A - Communications equipment and communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide communications equipment which can be connected easily to another communication equipment for radio communication and will not consume must electric power and with which the user can easily grasp the communicating state of the equipment. SOLUTION: This communications equipment is provided with a transmitting- receiving means 76, which can transmit and receive information to and from another communications equipment by radio, a displaying means 16 which displays the communicating state of the equipment with another communications equipment, and a control means (information-processing means 62) which changes the state of the displaying means 16 from a standby state to a utilized state, in which the means 16 is caused to display the communicating state, when the communication with another communications equipment is established. Consequently, the user of the communications equipment can easily grasp the communicating state, and at the same time, the power consumption of the communications equipment can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication device and a communication system, and more particularly to a communication device and a communication system capable of notifying a user of a communication status when transmitting and receiving information by wireless communication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, image information is transferred from a camera to a file device using a removable recording medium such as a memory card or a floppy (registered trademark) disk as a medium, and a user selects an image file to be updated in the file device. On top of that.

Conventionally, there has been known a mode in which an image file is transmitted by connecting a camera and a file device using a communication cable.

[0004]

However, in the method of transferring image information from a camera to a file device using a removable recording medium as a medium, the file device needs to include a recording medium mounting device such as a card slot or a floppy disk drive. At the same time, the operation is very complicated, for example, it is necessary to pay attention to the difference between the mounting of the recording medium and the recording format.

[0005] An image file is transmitted by connecting a camera and a file device using a communication cable.
First, it is necessary to connect cables to both devices, and it is also necessary to transmit image files while paying attention to cables and communication speeds that conform to various types of communication standards, which also burdens users. there were.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and allows a user to easily communicate with each other's communication devices by wireless communication, and allows a user to easily grasp the state of communication, thereby reducing power consumption. It is an object of the present invention to provide a small amount of communication equipment and communication system.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a communication means capable of transmitting and receiving information wirelessly to and from another communication device, and a communication status in which the communication means communicates with another communication device. , And control means for changing the display means from a standby state to a use state for displaying the communication status when communication with another communication device is established.

According to the present invention, communication means capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving information to and from other communication equipment, display means for displaying a communication status in which the communication means communicates with other communication equipment, and other communication equipment And control means for changing the display means from a standby state to a use state for displaying the communication state when communication is established, so that the user can easily grasp the communication state, It is possible to provide a communication device with low power consumption.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a communication device and a communication system according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an electronic camera which is an embodiment of a communication device provided with a wireless communication unit.

As shown in FIG. 1, an electronic camera 10 includes a photographing lens 12 for forming a subject image on an image pickup means, a display means 16 for displaying various information such as image data, a communication status, and a frame number display 14. A power switch 18 for inputting activation and deactivation of functions of the electronic camera 10, a release button 20 for a user to instruct shooting, a mode switching dial 22 for switching and setting various modes provided in the electronic camera 10, An erasing button 24 to be designated when erasing a desired item from the items displayed on the display means 16
A setting button 26 for registering a desired item or reading an image file from the items displayed on the display means 16, and an input button operated when incrementing the frame number and the like displayed on the display means 16. A decrement button 28 and a decrement button 3 operated when decrementing a frame number and the like displayed on the display means 16
0 is provided.

When transmitting and receiving information such as image data and audio data to and from an external device by wireless communication, an antenna 32 for transmitting and receiving a carrier wave and data, a communication connector 34 used for performing wired communication, A recording medium mounting section 38 used for exchanging information via a possible recording medium 36 and a speaker 40 for emitting a sound or a warning sound are provided.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display of various setting modes provided on the mode switching dial 22.

According to FIG. 1, a mode switching dial 22 includes a communication mode for performing wireless communication with another communication device (described as Wireless in FIG. 2) and a photographing mode for performing photographing (FIG. 2). Is described as Cam) and a reproduction mode for reproducing the recorded image (Pl in FIG. 2).
ay) and a setup mode for setting the date, shooting mode, number of shooting pixels, power-off time, volume of warning sound, standby state for reducing power consumption, and the like. The user can set each mode of the electronic camera 10 by switching the mode switching dial 22.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the electronic camera 10.

The electronic camera 10 controls an image pickup means 60 composed of a solid-state image pickup device or the like for forming an image of a subject on a light receiving surface, photoelectrically converting the image, and outputting it as image data. An information processing means (CPU) 62 for controlling sampling timing of image data, recording and transmission control of image data, communication control, display control, change of standby state, etc., and change of image size, sharpness correction, gamma correction , An image processing unit 64 for performing processes such as contrast correction and white balance correction, and a frame memory 66 for temporarily storing image data.

The electronic camera 10 has an input means 68 provided with a release button, a communication button, a transmission button, a function switch, a cross key, a decision switch, a mode switching switch, and the like. Compression / decompression means 70 for performing compression control by a method typified by JPEG or Motion JPEG, or performing expansion / decompression control of compressed data, and data for recording / reading image data to / from the removable recording medium 36. And a recording medium interface 74 for converting the data. The recording medium 36 is a removable recording medium represented by a semiconductor such as a memory card or MO, magnetic recording, and optical recording.

The information processing means 62 is a ROM in which a unique number such as a model name and a serial number of the electronic camera 10, an operation program, and constants are stored, and a storage means serving as a work area when executing the program. A memory 72 constituted by a RAM is connected.

The wireless communication means of the electronic camera 10 used for transmitting and receiving image data and the like to and from an external device by communication includes transmitting / receiving means 76 for transmitting or receiving image data on a carrier wave according to a command from the information processing means 62. , And an antenna 32 for transmitting and receiving a carrier wave and data.

The electronic camera 10 has a D for displaying information on communication status and image data on the display means 16.
/ A converter 78, a character generator 80 for converting display information instructed by the information processing means 62 into data of characters and messages to be displayed, and a information processing means 62
And a sound generating means 82 for generating an audio signal generated for the speaker 40 in response to the instruction.

The display means 16 includes the information processing means 6
Control means for changing the display function between a standby state in which the display function of the display means 16 is limited in order to reduce power consumption based on the control instruction 2 and a use state in which the display function is not limited is provided.

The photographing process of the electronic camera 10 configured as described above will be described.

The image to be photographed is formed on the light receiving surface of the imaging means 60, and the formed subject image is subjected to photoelectric conversion and output to the image processing means 64. The image data thus obtained is subjected to amplification and noise reduction processing by the image processing means 64, and is temporarily stored in the frame memory 66. The information processing means 62 sequentially transmits the image data stored in the frame memory 66 to the D / A converter 78, and
6.

When a release button provided on the input means 68 is pressed, a mode for photographing a subject is entered. Then, the information processing means 62 transfers the image data stored in the frame memory 66 to the compression / decompression means 70, and outputs a command to execute the compression processing of the image data under predetermined conditions. Then, a process for sequentially recording the image data on the recording medium 36 is performed on the recording medium interface 74.

Next, communication processing of the electronic camera 10 will be described. When the electronic camera 10 establishes communication with another connection device and presses a transmission button provided on the input unit 68,
The information processing means 62 executes a process of sequentially reading the designated image data from the recording medium 36, converting the image data into a predetermined data format, and transmitting the data to another communication terminal via the transmission / reception means 76 and the antenna 32.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the electronic camera and the file device are executing wireless communication.

As shown in the figure, a file device 90, which is a form of communication equipment, can transmit and receive information by wireless communication with the electronic camera 10 via an antenna 92. The user brings the electronic camera 10, which is a form of portable communication device, and operates the input unit 104 provided in the file device 90 or the input unit 68 provided in the electronic camera 10, and Information such as images can be transmitted to the file device 90 and recorded.

The portable communication device is not limited to an electronic camera, but may be a portable personal computer, a portable telephone,
The object of the present invention can be achieved by a communication device including a wireless communication unit such as an audio device. Also,
The file device 90 is not limited to a dedicated file device, and the object of the present invention can be achieved even if a generally used personal computer is loaded with a program having a function as the file device 90. It becomes possible.

As described above, the file device 90 has an antenna 92 capable of wirelessly communicating with a communication device such as the electronic camera 10, and displays information such as a communication status and a recorded image to allow the user to display the information. , And input means 104 such as a keyboard and a mouse for inputting information when the user selects an instruction for executing communication or information such as a recorded image. .

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the information processing system of the file device 90.

As shown in the figure, the information processing system of the file device 90, which is an embodiment of the communication device according to the present invention, includes information processing means for controlling the entire file device 90 and controlling the change of the standby state. ROM storing a program for operating the information processing means 120 and various constants, etc.
And a RAM 122 serving as a work area when the information processing means 120 executes processing, a display means 102 for displaying information to a user, and an input means for the user to input various information 104 and recording means 12 such as a hard disk for recording a large amount of acquired images and character information.
8 are provided.

The image signal processing system of the file device 90 includes:
A frame memory 132 for temporarily storing information to be displayed on the display means 102 and a display controller 134 are provided. Since the display controller 134 sequentially converts the video signal into a video signal having a predetermined frame rate and transmits the video signal to the display means 102, a predetermined image or character is displayed on the display means 102.

The display means 102 has a standby state in which the display function of the display means 102 is restricted to reduce power consumption based on a control instruction of the information processing means 120, and a use state in which the display function is not restricted. Control means for changing the display function is provided.

The communication means of the file device 90 used for transmitting / receiving image data and the like to / from an external device through communication includes a transmitting / receiving means 136 for transmitting or receiving image data according to a command from the information processing means 120, and a carrier wave and data. And an antenna 92 for transmitting and receiving.

Information processing means 120 in file device 90
And peripheral circuits including a memory 122, a display controller 134, an input unit 104, a recording unit 128, a frame memory 132, and a transmission / reception unit 136 are connected by a bus 124, and the information processing unit 120 controls each peripheral circuit. It is possible to do.

The communication means for performing wireless communication between the electronic camera 10 and the file device 90 is a communication means using radio waves, ultrasonic waves, infrared rays or the like as carrier waves. In the case of using infrared rays as the communication means, operability is improved by using communication means using diffused light capable of performing a wide range of communication.

When the user transmits a photographed image from the electronic camera 10 to the file device 90, the user sets the communication of the file device 90 to the standby state and operates the input means 68 of the electronic camera 10 to operate the input device 68. Set the processing mode to communication mode. Thereafter, the communication is automatically established between the electronic camera 10 and the file device 90. The display unit 16 of the electronic camera 10 or the display unit 102 of the file device 90 indicates that the communication connection with the file device 90 has been made. And display to the user about the communication status, and notify the user.

FIG. 6 shows a flow of communication performed by the electronic camera and the file device.

As shown in the table of FIG. 6, when the power of the file device 90 is turned on in the first step "file device standby" and the standby state is established, the transmission / reception means of the file device 90 serving as the master device of the communication. 136
Starts a search for a wireless communication connection partner by polling or the like. If a communication means capable of wireless communication with a plurality of communication devices is used, the polling of the connection partner may be performed at all times.

Wireless communication has the advantage that it is possible to connect to unspecified communication equipment if the communication protocol matches. However, if a problem occurs when the file device 90 performs communication with an unspecified communication device, the model code, the serial number, and the address of the communication device with which communication is to be performed are stored in advance in the recording unit 128 of the file device 90. Record the information for pairing such as
When the communication is started, the above-mentioned information for pairing may be received from the communication partner and collated, and the subsequent communication may be continued only with the communication device whose pairing information matches.

When the user wants to transmit an image from the electronic camera 10, the electronic camera 10 is set to the communication standby state in the step of "electronic camera standby". To set the communication standby state, for example, the power of the electronic camera 10 is turned on, and the mode switching dial 22 is turned on.
Is a communication mode for performing wireless communication with other communication devices (see FIG. 2).
Mode described as “Wireless” shown in FIG. Further, the electronic camera 10 in the standby state may be changed to the use state by the information processing unit 62 based on the communication information from the wireless communication unit, and the electronic camera 10 may be set to the communication mode in which the wireless communication can be freely performed. .

Electronic camera 10 (slave side communication device)
Are controlled to synchronize with a signal (for example, a frequency hopping pattern and a time slot in short-range wireless communication) generated by the file device 90 (master-side communication device), and when the devices establish communication, the next “communication establishment” Go to step.

The file device 90 shifts to a state in which data communication is possible based on a response from the camera. When the filing device 90 is ready to transmit and receive information to and from the electronic camera 10 in this manner, the process proceeds to the next “electronic camera display” step.

The information processing means 62 of the electronic camera 10 outputs to the display means 16 an instruction to change the display function from a standby state in which the display function of the display means 16 is restricted to a use state in which the display function is not restricted. As a result, the backlight of the display means 16 is turned on, power is supplied to the processing blocks related to the display, and the information indicating the communication status is displayed. Then, the display unit 16 can perform display for notifying the user that the communication with the file device 90 has been established.

The user confirms that the communication has been established, displays a list of images to be transmitted on the display means 16 of the electronic camera 10, and selects an image to be transmitted. And
For example, the setting button 26 is pressed to instruct transmission of the selected image. Then, the electronic camera 10 transmits file information such as the file name of the image file to be transmitted recorded on the recording medium or the like to the file device 90. At this time, the remaining battery capacity of the electronic camera 10 is determined by the information processing means 6.
2, when it is determined that the remaining battery power is low and all information cannot be transmitted, information indicating that all information cannot be transmitted is displayed on the display unit 16,
A process for stopping the transfer of information may be performed.

In the next step of “instructing the electronic camera to read a file”, the information processing means 120 (including the function of the collating means) receives the file information (file name, recording date and time, recording position information, unique information) received from the electronic camera 10. And the attribute of the image file recorded in the large-capacity recording means 128, and if the image file to be transmitted has already been saved (received), do not transmit. Is transmitted to the electronic camera 10. Therefore, an instruction to read from the recording medium 36 of the electronic camera 10 and to transmit to the file device 90 only for a new image file not recorded in the recording unit 128 is transmitted to the electronic camera 10.

Further, instead of performing the above-mentioned collation processing by the information processing means 120 of the file device 90, the electronic camera 1
No. 0 information processing means 62 (including the function of the matching means) obtains the recorded image information from the file device 90, checks the information to be transmitted from now on with the already transmitted information, and The same information as described above may not be transmitted thereafter.

In the next "file device display" step, the display function of the display means 102 is limited in order to display information related to file transmission on the display means 102 of the file device 90 and notify the user of the communication status. Transition from the standby state to the use state where the display function is not restricted. As a result, the backlight of the display unit 102 is turned on, power is supplied to the processing blocks related to the display, and information indicating the communication status is displayed.

FIG. 7 shows information displayed on the display means 102.

FIG. 5 shows file name information 152, 152..., Folder name information 156 of the image to be received, and model information 15 of the electronic camera 10 which is the source of the image file.
8. A communication state such as a notice display 160 for prohibiting large movement of the electronic camera 10 due to short-range wireless communication is displayed. In addition to the above communication status display, a display indicating that communication has been established, a display indicating that information is being transmitted or being received, directory name information, image file capacity information, and image file transfer. Communication status such as elapsed time, information indicating information transmission speed in wireless communication, and accuracy information of information transmission in wireless communication (information indicating reliability of information transmission) may be displayed. Note that a display similar to the display shown in FIG. 7 may be displayed on the display unit 16 of the electronic camera 10.

In the next step “thumbnail transmission”, the electronic camera 10 starts transmission from a thumbnail image which is a reduced image of the image to be transmitted, which is instructed from the file device 90. Then, the main image is also sequentially transmitted.

In the next step, "main image recording", the file device 90 records the main image file in a predetermined area of the large-capacity recording means 128 every time the main image file is received, as shown in FIG. The display indicating that the thumbnail image has been received and the information indicating that the main image has been received are displayed.

FIG. 8 shows image information displayed on the display means 102.

In FIG. 7, in addition to the information shown in FIG.
The received thumbnail image is displayed. When the frame for displaying the thumbnail image is the thin line frame 162, it indicates that the reception and recording of the thumbnail image have been completed,
When the thick line frame 164 is displayed, it indicates that the reception and recording of the main image have been completed in addition to the recording of the thumbnail image.

When the electronic camera is moved during the communication and is out of a good communication area for performing the short-range wireless communication, the information transmission speed is reduced or the communication is not performed. Or it becomes difficult to continue. In that case, the process proceeds to the next step of “(1) Out of communication range during transmission”. In this step, the file device 90 changes the image file transfer processing routine, such as transmitting only the thumbnail image first if the communication error correction processing occurs frequently and the actual communication speed is reduced. Instruct 10

In the next "file device warning display" step, if the communication cannot be resumed even after a predetermined time has elapsed due to the deterioration of the wireless communication condition, the file device 90 or the electronic camera 10 displays or sounds. Is issued to notify the user of the status of wireless short-range communication. Further, when the wireless communication is disconnected for a long time, the wireless communication is stopped, and after displaying a warning or notifying the user of a warning by issuing a sound, the display unit 102 is set to a standby state. Is performed.

If all the image transmissions have been completed normally, the process proceeds to the step "(2) When transmission has been completed normally", indicating that the file device 90 has finished receiving and recording the image file. The display is performed on the display unit 102, and the information processing unit 120 performs a process of returning the display unit 102 to the standby state.

The information processing means 62 of the electronic camera 10
Also outputs an instruction to the display means 16 to return to the standby state.

[0059]

As described above, according to the communication device and the communication system of the present invention, a communication means capable of transmitting and receiving information to and from another communication device by radio, and the communication means communicating with another communication device. Display means for displaying a communication state to be performed, and control means for changing the display means from a standby state to a use state for displaying the communication state when communication with another communication device is established. Can be easily grasped, and a communication device with low power consumption can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an electronic camera provided with a wireless communication unit.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display of various setting modes provided on a mode switching dial.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an electronic camera.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which an electronic camera and a file device are performing wireless communication.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an information processing system of the file device.

FIG. 6 is a chart showing a flow of communication performed by the electronic camera and the file device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing information displayed on a display unit of the file device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing image information displayed on a display unit of the file device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Electronic camera, 16 ... Display means, 22 ... Mode switching dial, 26 ... Setting button, 32 ... Antenna, 36 ...
Recording medium, 40 ... speaker, 62 ... information processing means, 68
... input means, 76 ... transmission / reception means, 82 ... sound generation means, 90
... File device, 92 ... Antenna, 102 ... Display means,
104 input means, 120 information processing means, 122 memory, 128 recording means, 134 display controller,
136: transmission / reception means, 152: file name information, 156
... Folder name information, 158 ... Model information, 160 ... Caution display, 162 ... Thin line frame, 164 ... Thick line frame

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) // H04N 5/225 H04N 5/225 F H04N 101: 00 H04N 101: 00 H04B 7/26 109T (72) Inventor Masahiro Terada 3-11-46 Izumi, Asaka-shi, Saitama F-term in Fujisha Shin Film Co., Ltd. (reference) 5K067 AA34 AA43 BB04 DD25 DD27 DD28 DD30 DD52 EE02 EE25 FF05 FF17 FF19 FF23 FF26 FF27 GG01 GG11 GG21 HH22 HH23 KK15 5K101 KK20 LL12 NN02 NN12 NN17 PP00

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. Communication means capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving information to and from another communication device; display means for displaying a communication status in which the communication means communicates with another communication device; and communication with the other communication device. Control means for changing the display means from a standby state to a use state for displaying the communication status when the communication means is established. 2. The communication status to be displayed is a communication status indicating that image information is being transmitted or being received, information transmission accuracy information in wireless communication, or a communication status such as an information transmission speed in wireless communication. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. When the wireless communication is interrupted due to the deterioration of the communication condition of the wireless communication, information indicating the interruption of the wireless communication is displayed on the display means, or a means for notifying by sounding is provided. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the information to be transmitted is an image, and the display unit displays an image for which transmission or reception has been completed. 5. The information to be transmitted or the information to be received,
Collating means for collating with already transmitted or received information, wherein the communication means does not transmit or receive the same information as the already transmitted or received information as a result of the collation. The communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: 6. The control device according to claim 1, wherein, when communication with another communication device is completed, the control unit changes the display unit from a use state in which the communication status is displayed to a standby state. A communication device according to any one of the preceding claims. 7. A first communication device including a first communication unit capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving information to and from another communication device, and a second communication device capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving information from the first communication device. Communication means, display means for displaying a communication status in which the second communication means communicates with another communication device, and when communication with the first communication device is established, the display means is changed from a standby state to the communication status state. And a control unit for changing to a use state in which is displayed. 2. A communication system comprising: