JP2003099736A - Memory card - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To immediately provide the hard copy of a stored image data. SOLUTION: This memory card comprises a memory 11 for data, an interface 10 capable of writing and reading the image data in and from the memory 11 for data, and a connector 2 capable of transmitting and receiving the image data to and from the interface 10. The memory card comprises a video printer 3 capable of printing out the image data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a memory card capable of storing image data of a subject image taken by a video camera or a digital still camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a video camera, a digital still camera, or the like converts an optical object image into an electric image signal by a CCD image sensor, and further digitally converts the image data obtained by a memory including a semiconductor memory. I was able to remember it on the card.

By appropriately reading out the image data stored in such a memory card, a subject image is reproduced by using not only a liquid crystal (LCD) display panel incorporated in the camera body but also an external device such as a monitor or a personal computer. be able to.

In order to obtain a hard copy of the image data stored in this memory card, this memory card is attached to the slot of the video printer, or this memory card is connected to the video printer via a personal computer. . As this video printer, a thermal printer such as a thermal transfer printer or a thermal sublimation printer, or an inkjet printer is generally used.

[0005]

By the way, when a subject is photographed by a video camera or a digital still camera and a hard copy of image data stored in a memory card is desired immediately such as a print club, a relatively large video printer is carried. There was an inconvenience that had to be done.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to make it possible to immediately obtain a hard copy of stored image data.

[0007]

The memory card of the present invention has a data memory, an interface capable of writing and reading image data to and from the data memory, and an image data transmission / reception to / from the interface. And a video printer capable of printing out the image data.

According to the present invention, since the video printer capable of printing out the image data is provided, the image data stored in the memory card can be immediately printed out as needed to obtain a hard copy of the subject image. it can.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An example of an embodiment of a memory card of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a memory card body. The memory card body 1 is formed by injection molding a data memory 11 made of a semiconductor memory and a predetermined electronic circuit into a card shape made of a synthetic resin. It is housed in a formed housing, and on one side back surface of the memory card main body 1, image data when it is inserted into the slot of the digital still camera 40 or the video camera 50 from this one side as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. A connector 2 is provided so as to be able to send and receive the like.

In this example, the memory card body 1
On the other side, that is, on the side opposite to the side on which the connector 2 is provided, a rectangular parallelepiped video printer 3 capable of printing out image data is provided. In this case, the width and thickness of the memory card body 1 are made the same as those of commercially available memory cards, and the length of the memory card body 1 is made slightly longer than the length of commercially available memory cards. This prevents the video printer 3 from getting in the way when the card body 1 is inserted into the slot of the video camera 50 or the digital still camera 40.

As shown in FIG. 1, a paper 4 for printing out, for example, a sticker sticker with a release paper as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the paper insertion port 20 for the printout is provided on the other side of the housing of the video printer 3, for example, the lower side.
A paper discharge port 21 for discharging the sheet is provided.

Further, a print button 22 for instructing execution of printout is provided on the upper side of the housing of the video printer 3, and a paper warning lamp 23 for warning that there is no printout paper 4 and an ink ribbon 31 described later.
A ribbon warning lamp 24 is provided to warn that the paper has been used.

As is apparent from the opening of the opening / closing lid 25 provided on the side surface of the housing of the video printer 3, an L-shaped ink ribbon cartridge 30 for inserting the L-shaped ink ribbon cartridge 30 is inserted as shown in FIG. A cartridge insertion hole 26 is provided.

In this embodiment, an ink ribbon cartridge 30 as shown in FIG. 6 is inserted into the L-shaped cartridge insertion hole 26 of the housing of the video printer 3.
When the ink ribbon cartridge 30 is inserted into the cartridge insertion hole 26 of the video printer 3, a print head 32 composed of a heater is arranged inside the ink ribbon 31 as shown in FIGS. The print head 32 and the pressure roller 36 are arranged so as to face each other.

The ink ribbon 31 of the ink ribbon cartridge 30 is a thermal sublimation type ink ribbon in this example, and as is well known, the ink ribbon 31 uses yellow, red, blue or yellow, red, which uses three primary colors. Ink ribbons on the surfaces corresponding to the respective colors are made to correspond to one screen of the paper 4 on which blue and black are printed out.
It is configured to reciprocate or reciprocate four times, and a color (dye) is thermally sublimated for each color and printed out.

The ink ribbon 31 is used in the video printer 3
It is driven by a winding gear 33 and a feed gear 34 which are driven by. That is, as shown in FIG.
The ink ribbon 31 wound around the feed roll 34a provided with is wound up by the winding roll 33a provided with the winding gear 33 through the front of the print head 32 through the guide roll 35.

In this example, as shown in FIG. 7, when the print-out sheet 4 is inserted through the sheet insertion port 20, the issuing diode 37a sandwiching the sheet 4 is arranged.
The insertion of the paper 4 is detected by the paper sensor 37 including the photodiode 37b and the paper is fed and set by the feed rollers 38a and 38b to a predetermined position. When printing out, the print button 22 is operated thereafter.

As an example of the print-out paper 4, as shown in FIG. 9, two or three sticker sticker so-called "print club" stickers with release paper are combined into one. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 4a is a through hole for detection, and one end 4b of the sheet 4 is tapered so that the end 4b becomes clear.

The circuit configurations of the memory card body 1 and the video printer 3 are shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 3, reference numeral 10 in FIG. 3 denotes an interface adapted to send and receive image data to and from the connector 2. The interface 10 is a central control unit (CPU) 1
Data memory 1 consisting of semiconductor memory according to instruction 2
The image data from the video camera 50, the digital still camera 40, etc. is written (stored) in the memory 1 and is written (stored) in the data memory 11.
The image data is read out and sent to an external device such as a video printer, monitor, personal computer or the like.

The interface 10 is for adjusting transmission and reception of image data between the data memory 11 and external devices such as a video camera, a digital still camera, a video printer, a monitor and a personal computer. Converts image data formation and adjusts the timing when transmitting and receiving image data between the data memory 11 and an external device.

In FIG. 3, this video printer 3
Prints out the image data written (stored) in the data memory 11 according to an instruction from the CPU 12 according to the operation of the operation unit 13.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a control memory connected to the CPU 12, and the control memory 14 is used for printing out image data with the ROM 14a in which various programs such as printout of the video printer 3 are stored. It is composed of a work RAM 14b in which data generated in the processing is temporarily stored.

Therefore, the video printer 3 prints out the predetermined image data written in the data memory 11 designated by the operation of the operation unit 13 according to the procedure of the program stored in the ROM 14a of the control memory 14 according to the instruction of the CPU 12. Then, a hard copy of the subject image of this image data is obtained.

In this case, the CPU 12 detects the size of the hard copy paper 4 and whether the ink ribbon 31 has been used up, and prints out. At this time, it is stored in the control memory 14 in advance, Prepared picture,
Characters and the like may be printed out in addition to the image data written in the data memory 11 according to an instruction from the CPU 12.

Although not shown in FIG. 3, a power source is built in or power is supplied by a power adapter.
At this time, the printout can be performed in the state shown in FIGS. Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, power is supplied from the connector 2 of the memory card body 1 with the memory card body 1 inserted in the slot of the external device such as the digital still camera 40 and the video camera 50. In this way, the video printer 3 prints out.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the memory card body 1 of the memory card according to this embodiment is inserted into the memory card slot of the digital still camera 40. In this case, the image data of the subject image captured by the digital still camera 40 is written (stored) in the data memory 11 of the memory card body 1, so that the video printer 3 writes it in the data memory 11. The generated image data can be immediately printed out, and a hard copy of this subject image can be immediately obtained. At this time, the image data to be printed out can be viewed on the LCD monitor 41 of the digital still camera 40.

In FIG. 4, 42 is a shutter, and 43 is
Is a finder, 44 is a lens, and 45 is a mode selection dial. The digital still camera 40 is constructed in a conventionally known manner.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the memory card body 1 of the memory card according to this embodiment is inserted into the memory card slot of the video camera 50. In this case, since the image data of the subject image captured by the video camera 50 is written (stored) in the data memory 11 of the memory card body 1, the image data written in the data memory 11 by the video printer 3 is written. Can be immediately printed out, and a hard copy of this subject image can be immediately obtained.

In this case, the image data written in the data memory 11 to be printed out can be read and viewed on the LCD monitor 51 of the video camera 50. Further, image data to be printed out is processed by the character inserting function such as superimpose, the chroma key function, and the image quality adjusting function of the video camera 50, and a title is put in a hard copy of the subject image as shown in FIG. be able to.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 52 is a viewfinder, 53 is a lens, and the video camera 50 is constructed as conventionally known.

FIG. 10 shows another example of the embodiment of the present invention. In the above example, the video printer 3 is integrally provided on the other side of the memory card body 1.
In the 0th example, the memory card body 1 and the video printer 3 are provided separately and can be attached and detached.

That is, the video printer 3 is provided with a predetermined connector pin 3a and a lock pin 3b, and the other end face of the memory card body 1 is provided with a predetermined connector hole 1a and a predetermined lock hole 1b. The connector pin 3a and the lock pin 3b of the video printer 3 are inserted into the connector hole 1a and the lock hole 1b on the other end surface of the main body 1. In FIG. 10, reference numeral 27 is a lock release button for releasing the lock. In addition, the example of FIG. 10 is configured similarly to the example of FIGS.

In the example of FIG. 10, the same effects as those of the examples of FIGS. 1 to 8 can be obtained, and since the memory card body 1 and the video printer 3 can be attached and detached, the video printer 3 can be detached when not in use, which is convenient for carrying. Is.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned examples, and it goes without saying that various other configurations can be adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0036]

According to the present invention, since the video printer capable of printing out the image data is provided, the image data stored (written) in the data memory of this memory card can be immediately printed if necessary. You can get out and get a hard copy of the subject image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an embodiment of a memory card of the present invention viewed from the front side.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the example of FIG. 1 viewed from the back side.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the example of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a usage example of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of use of the present invention.

6 is a cutaway perspective view showing an example of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a main part of the example in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view for explaining an example of a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an example of paper.

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing another example of the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... memory card body, 2 ... connector, 3 ... video printer, 4 ... paper, 4a ... detection through hole, 10
Interface 11 Data memory 12
... CPU, 13 ... operating section, 14 ... control memory,
20 ... Paper insertion port, 21 ... Paper ejection port, 30 ... Ink ribbon cartridge, 31 ... Ink ribbon, 32
... print head, 37 ... paper sensor

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 5/76 G06K 19/00 Z 5C052 5/907 Q B41J 29/00 AC F term (reference) 2C055 CC00 CC03 2C061 AP06 AQ04 CG02 CG12 5B035 BB09 BC00 CA29 5B058 CA13 KA05 KA12 YA18 5C022 AA00 AA13 AC00 5C052 AA11 AA17 DD02 EE03 EE08 FA02 FA03 FE01 FE07 FE08 GA02 GA03 GA05 GE08

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A memory card having a data memory, an interface capable of writing and reading image data to and from the data memory, and a connector capable of transmitting and receiving image data to and from the interface, A memory card comprising a video printer capable of printing out the image data. 2. The memory card according to claim 1, wherein the video printer is arranged on the side opposite to the connector. 3. The memory card according to claim 1, wherein the video printer is capable of printing out on a paper having a different number of screens. 4. The memory card according to claim 3, wherein the video printer is provided with detection means for detecting the paper. 5. The memory card according to claim 4, wherein the detection means detects a through hole formed in the paper.