JP2003131838A - Digital camera, driver storing method for printing control, storage medium, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily store control commands of a printer in a digital camera, and to drastically ease restrictions of varieties of cameras which can print by directly connecting the digital camera with the printer. SOLUTION: Printing control commands of various types of printers can be easily downloaded in the digital camera 1 by filming the printing control commands for controlling printing operation of a printer 5 by the digital camera 1 and by storing it in a storage medium of the digital camera, so that a driver for printing control used in a direct printing system, which directly connects the printer 5 with the digital camera 1 and prints picture images in the digital camera at the printer 5, is stored.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital camera, a print control driver storage method, a storage medium, and a computer program, and more particularly to a print control driver for an ink jet recording apparatus stored in a recording memory in the digital camera, It is suitable for use in a system in which a printing device and a digital camera are directly connected to print out.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to easily print out an image taken by a digital camera as a photograph, if the image is recorded in a built-in memory of the camera, the photograph is taken on a PC (personal computer) via a predetermined cable. I was trying to capture.

When an image is recorded on an external recording medium such as a PC card, a CF (Compact Flash (R)) card, an SM (Smart Media) card, etc., through each card slot, etc. The photographed image is once taken in on a PC (personal computer), the printing conditions of the inkjet recording apparatus are set on the personal computer (PC), and then the photographic image is printed out.

Further, even if the digital camera and the ink jet recording apparatus are directly connected to each other, even if the printer is not loaded into the PC (personal computer) as described above, the printer is limited to a model in the digital camera and is very limited. It was possible to connect only to them, and it was necessary to provide a dedicated intermediary device between the digital camera and the printer.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional example, when the image recorded by the digital camera is taken in on the PC (personal computer), the time taken to take in the PC (personal computer), the PC (personal computer), and the like. Since the printing conditions of the ink jet recording apparatus are set above, there is a problem that the photographed image cannot be directly printed out on the spot by directly connecting the digital camera and the ink jet recording apparatus.

Further, when various external recording devices are used, similarly, troublesome image capturing and print condition setting on a PC (personal computer) are required, so that the digital camera and the ink jet recording device are directly connected to print out. I couldn't.

Even when the digital camera and the printer can be directly connected, only a limited specific printer can be used, so that the printer model cannot be freely selected, and the versatility of the output device is poor. There was a problem.

Further, when a dedicated intermediary device is provided, there is a problem that the cost of the dedicated device increases significantly.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and the control command of the printing apparatus directly connected to the digital camera can be stored in the digital camera so that the control command can be easily stored in the digital camera. It is an object of the present invention to greatly reduce the restrictions on the types of printing devices that can be directly connected and output.

[0010]

According to a print control driver storing method of the present invention, a printing apparatus and a digital camera are directly connected to each other, and a photographic image in the digital camera is printed and output by the printing apparatus. A method of storing a print control command for controlling a printing operation of the printing device in a storage medium of the digital camera in a system, wherein the print control command is captured by the digital camera and printed by various printing devices. It is characterized in that the control command is stored in the storage medium of the digital camera. Another feature of the present invention is that the digital camera stores the print control command in a storage medium of the digital camera by photographing the print control command displayed on a monitor. I am trying. Another feature of the present invention is that the print control command displayed on the monitor screen is displayed in a black and white binary barcode data format, and the barcode data is provided by the manufacturer of each printing apparatus. It is characterized by being provided. Another feature of the present invention is that the digital camera captures the control command of the printing device, which is printed out on a sheet by the printing device, so that the printing control command is stored in the digital camera. It is characterized by being stored in a medium. Another feature of the present invention is that the print control command printed out on the paper by the printing device is a monochrome binary barcode data format, and the barcode data of each printing device is It is characterized by being provided by the manufacturer. Another feature of the present invention is that the print control command is stored in a storage medium provided inside the digital camera or an external storage medium that can be attached to and detached from the digital camera. It is characterized by being stored.

A digital camera of the present invention is a digital camera used in a printing system in which a printing device and a digital camera are directly connected to each other, and a photographic image in the digital camera is printed by the printing device and output. A photographing means for photographing the print control command of the printing device,
It is characterized in that a print control command for various printing apparatuses is generated from image data photographed by the photographing means and stored in a storage medium. Another feature of the present invention is that the photographing means stores the print control command in a storage medium of the digital camera by photographing the print control command displayed on a monitor. I am trying. Another feature of the present invention is that the print control command displayed on the monitor screen is displayed in a black and white binary barcode data format, and the barcode data is provided by the manufacturer of each printing apparatus. It is characterized by being provided. Another feature of the present invention is that the photographing means photographs the control command of the printing device printed out on the paper by the printing device to store the printing control command in the digital camera. It is characterized by being stored in a medium. Another feature of the present invention is that the print control command printed out on the paper by the printing device is a monochrome binary barcode data format, and the barcode data of each printing device is It is characterized by being provided by the manufacturer. Another feature of the present invention is that the print control command is stored in a storage medium provided inside the digital camera or an external storage medium that can be attached to and detached from the digital camera. It is characterized by being stored.

The computer program of the present invention is characterized by causing the digital camera itself to execute any one of the methods described above.

The storage medium of the present invention is characterized by storing a computer program for causing the digital camera itself to execute any one of the methods described above.

[0014]

Since the present invention has the above technical means, when a digital camera and a printing device are directly connected to directly print an image taken by the digital camera, the present invention is limited to the model of the printing device. In addition, the print control driver of the printing apparatus can be stored inside the digital camera anytime and anywhere, and a direct printing system in which the digital camera and the printing apparatus are directly connected can be easily constructed. It will be possible.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, referring to the accompanying drawings, a digital camera of the present invention, a print control driver storing method,
Embodiments of a storage medium and a computer program will be described. 1 to 4 are diagrams according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and are block diagrams showing a schematic configuration of a direct printing system.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining the overall configuration according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 1, 1 is a digital camera, 2 is a monitor, 3 is a printer driver server of a printer maker, and 4 is a communication means. Reference numeral 5 denotes a printing device, for example, an inkjet recording device is used. Reference numeral 6 denotes an interface (I / F) between the digital camera 1 and the printing device 5.

The configuration and operation of the entire direct printing system according to this embodiment will be sequentially described below. Directly connect the digital camera 1 and the printing device 5 without using a personal computer or various intermediary devices (direct connection method is, for example, via USB or IrDA), and take a photograph taken by the digital camera 1. When the printer 5 prints out, a print control command (hereinafter, printer driver) corresponding to the printer 5 needs to be stored in the digital camera 1.

Therefore, in the direct printing system of the present embodiment, in order to store the printer driver of the printing device 5 to which the digital camera 1 is directly connected and wants to print out in the digital camera 1, the printer driver of each printing device 5 is stored. The printer driver corresponding to the type is directly stored in the digital camera 1 from the printer driver server 3 of each printer manufacturer through the Internet or the like.

That is, in this embodiment, the printer driver server 3 of each printer manufacturer displays the printer driver information on the monitor 2 installed in the user's operating environment. Communication means 4 between the printer driver server 3 and the monitor 2 of each printer manufacturer
May be a wired data communication method such as a telephone line or a wireless communication method such as a satellite.

Further, for example, a set top box may be built in the monitor 2 or a so-called Internet TV may be used. In this case, the monitor 2 and the personal computer (not shown) may or may not be connected.

Therefore, the first object of the present embodiment is to match the printer driver information from each printer manufacturer displayed on the screen of the monitor 2 with the digital camera 1 to match the printer device 5 desired to print out. The printer driver is stored inside the digital camera 1.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram for explaining the internal structure of the digital camera of this embodiment. In FIG. 2, 7 is an optical section of the digital camera, 8 is a CCD image recording section, 9 is an A / D conversion section of the digital camera, 10 is an internal memory of the digital camera, 11 is a D of the digital camera.
An A / A conversion unit 12 is an I / F unit.

An image entered into the digital camera 1 through the optical section 7 is photoelectrically converted in the CCD image recording section 8 of the digital camera 1. Then, the analog electric signal generated by the CCD image recording unit 8 is input from the CCD image recording unit 8 to the A / D conversion unit 9.

The analog electric signal input to the A / D conversion unit 9 is converted into digital electric signal data by the A / D conversion unit 9 and recorded in the memory unit 10 in the digital camera 1 as digital data. The memory unit 10 can store normally photographed image data and printer driver information in a mixed manner.

The data digitally output from the memory section 10 is converted into an analog electric signal by the D / A conversion section 11 and sent to the I / F section 12 of the digital camera as video recording data. The form of the printer driver information according to the present embodiment is a monochrome binary barcode data format.

This binary data is collectively processed by the digital camera 1.
However, since the CCD image recording unit 8 in the digital camera 1 processes the data over time, the printer driver information is sequentially recorded in the memory unit 10 in the digital camera. Therefore, the printer driver information according to the present embodiment is also characterized in that it can be stored in the memory unit 10 for recording a normal photograph in the digital camera 1.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a display form of monitor screen information taken by the digital camera 1 to download printer driver information. In FIG. 3, 13 is a monitor screen, 14 is printer driver information, and 15 is a screen width adjustment index.

As shown in FIG. 1, the printer driver information from the printer driver storage server 3 of each printer manufacturer is displayed as bar code type data information 14. One screen of the printer driver information 14 displayed on the screen of the monitor 2 is collectively shot by the digital camera.

In this case, the size of the monitor screen (15i
n, 17 in, etc.), the digital camera 1 adjusts the internal zoom and panorama functions and the shooting distance from the monitor 2 to the width of the screen of the monitor 2 by the user adjusting the screen width adjustment index 15. , Try to shoot one screen at a time.

Usually, the printer driver information memory unit 10
Has a data capacity of about 8 MB, and it is impossible to describe all the information on one page of the monitor screen. Therefore, in order to download the barcode data of a plurality of pages into the digital camera 1, the continuous shooting mode (not shown) of the digital camera 1 is used, and the monitor 2 is synchronized with the monitor 2 by wireless means (such as infrared rays). The printer driver information on the screen is continuously photographed. As mentioned above, by shooting continuously,
The printer driver information can be stored in the digital camera 1 at once.

FIG. 4 shows a detailed example of enlarged data of the printer driver information shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, 16
Is a partially enlarged view of printer driver information, 17 is binary data black for one pixel, 18 is white binary data for one pixel, 19
Is a level display of binarization processing, and 20 is a numerical data format.

The conversion process into numerical data will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is a partially enlarged view of the information obtained by enlarging a part of the printer driver information captured by the digital camera 1.

In FIG. 4, 17 is black of binary data for one pixel, and 18 is white of binary data for one pixel. The binary data is binarized as shown by reference numeral 19 such that black data is "0" and white data is "1", and finally "1" and "0" such as reference numeral 20 are obtained. The printer driver information configured digitally is stored in the memory unit 10 of the digital camera 1.

(Second Embodiment) In the above-described first embodiment, by photographing the screen of the monitor 2,
The embodiment in which the printer driver information is stored in the memory unit 10 of the digital camera 1 has been described. In the second embodiment, an example will be described in which the printer driver setting sheet output by the printing device 5 is photographed to store the printer driver information in the digital camera 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a printer driver setting sheet printed out by the printing apparatus. In FIG. 5, 21 is plain paper, and 22 is printer driver information printed on the plain paper 21.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below. The printing device (not shown) can be accessed via the device direct or computer, or directly on the Internet TV via WW
It is connected via W (World Wide Web) to a printer driver storage server that stores printer drivers of printer manufacturers.

The user can obtain the required printer driver information 2 from the printer driver storage server of the printer manufacturer.
2 is downloaded, and the printing device is used to output the barcode type data as shown in FIG.

In the second embodiment, this paper 21
Bar code type printer driver information 22 output to
Is captured by a digital camera (not shown) and stored in a photographing memory in the digital camera. In addition,
Since the data processing in the digital camera is the monochrome binary code data as shown in FIG. 5 as in the first embodiment, the binary data is digital numerical data of “0” and “1”. The printer driver information can be stored in the digital camera. Further, the internal structure of the digital camera is such that the printer driver information can be stored in the internal memory, as in the first embodiment described above.

(Third Embodiment) In the above-described first and second embodiments, an example in which the printer driver information is stored in the internal memory of the digital camera has been described. In the second embodiment, a digital camera in which printer driver information is stored in an external recording medium for storing photographic images of the digital camera will be described.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of a digital camera 60 having an external recording medium 23 that can be attached and detached. In the case of the digital camera 60 of the present embodiment, the recorded photographic image is not recorded in the internal recording memory, but is recorded in the recording medium 23 that can be attached to and detached from the digital camera 60.

As such an attachable / detachable recording medium 23, for example, a CF (Compact Flash (R)) memory, an SM (Smart Media) or the like has been put into practical use.

Therefore, in the case of the present embodiment, the memory for storing the printer driver information in the digital camera 60 is the external recording medium 23 which can be attached and detached, but the printer driver information is recorded in such an external recording medium. Even if it is stored in the medium 23, the purpose of use can be sufficiently achieved.

(Other Embodiments of the Present Invention) The same effects can be obtained by applying the present invention to a system including a plurality of devices or an apparatus including a single device. .

Further, since the program code itself of the software realizes the function of the above-mentioned embodiment, it is constituted by the device storing the program code. As a storage medium for storing the program code, for example, an FD, a hard disk, an optical disk,
A magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a non-volatile memory card, a ROM, etc. can be used.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, the print control command for controlling the printing operation of the printing device is photographed by the digital camera, and the control driver of the printing device is set by the digital camera. Since it is stored in the storage medium, it is possible to easily store the control command of the printing apparatus in the digital camera. As a result, the model limitation of the printing device that can be directly connected to the digital camera to print out can be greatly relaxed. Further, according to another feature of the present invention, since it can be realized only by using a recording memory that is necessarily provided in the digital camera, the configuration is simple and the print control driver can be securely stored. can do. Also,
According to another feature of the present invention, it is not necessary to make a difficult line connection with another peripheral device, and the print control command can be stored only by photographing the monitor screen or the recording paper. Easy and convenient. With these, it is possible to easily realize a system in which the digital camera and various printing devices are directly connected to each other for printing without using any intermediary device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention and is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an imaging system.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing an example of an internal structure of a digital camera.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of monitor screen information taken by a digital camera for downloading a printer driver.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a detailed example of printer driver information shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printer driver setting sheet printed out by a printing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of the internal structure of the digital camera according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Digital Camera 2 Monitor 3 Printer Driver Server of Printer Maker 4 Communication Means 5 Printing Device 6 Interface between Digital Camera and Printing Device (I
/ F) 7 Optical section of digital camera 8 CCD image recording section 9 A / D conversion section of digital camera 10 Internal memory of digital camera 11 D / A conversion section of digital camera 12 I / F section

Front page continued (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 5/76 H04N 5/76 E 5C052 // H04N 101: 00 101: 00 F term (reference) 2C061 AP10 HN09 HS07 HX10 2C187 AD13 AE01 AE07 BF60 CD17 FA06 FA07 FA09 5B021 BB01 BB04 BB08 CC05 5B072 BB00 CC24 5C022 AA13 AC69 5C052 FA02 FA03 FA07 FB05 FC08 FE01

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A printing system in which a printing device and a digital camera are directly connected to each other, and a photographic image in the digital camera is printed and output by the printing device, and printing for controlling a printing operation of the printing device. A method of storing a control command in a storage medium of the digital camera, wherein the print control command is photographed by the digital camera, and print control commands of various printing devices are stored in the storage medium of the digital camera. A print control driver storing method characterized by the above. 2. The digital camera stores the print control command in a storage medium of the digital camera by photographing the print control command displayed on a monitor. Print control driver storage method. 3. The print control command displayed on the monitor screen is displayed in a black and white binary barcode data format, and the barcode data is provided from the manufacturer of each printing apparatus. The print control driver storage method according to claim 2. 4. The digital camera stores the print control command in a storage medium of the digital camera by photographing a control command of the printing device which is printed out on a sheet by the printing device. The method for storing a print control driver according to claim 1. 5. The print control command printed out on a sheet by the printing device is a monochrome binary data format, and the barcode data is provided from a manufacturer of each printing device. The method for storing a print control driver according to claim 4. 6. The print control command is stored in either a storage medium provided inside the digital camera or an external storage medium that can be attached to and detached from the digital camera. The print control driver storage method according to claim 1. 7. A digital camera for use in a printing system in which a printing device and a digital camera are directly connected and a photographic image in the digital camera is printed and output by the printing device, the printing of the printing device. A digital camera having a photographing means for photographing a control command, wherein a print control command for various printing devices is generated from image data photographed by the photographing means and stored in a storage medium. 8. The photographing means stores the print control command in a storage medium of the digital camera by photographing the print control command displayed on a monitor. Digital camera. 9. The print control command displayed on the monitor screen is displayed in a monochrome binary barcode data format, and the barcode data is provided from a manufacturer of each printing apparatus. The digital camera according to claim 8. 10. The photographing means stores the print control command in a storage medium of the digital camera by photographing a control command of the printing device printed out on a sheet by the printing device. The digital camera according to claim 7. 11. A print control command printed out on a sheet by the printing device is a monochrome binary data format, and the barcode data is provided from a manufacturer of each printing device. Claim 1
The digital camera described in 0. 12. The print control command is stored in either a storage medium provided inside the digital camera or an external storage medium that can be attached to and detached from the digital camera. Claims 7 to 1
1. The digital camera according to any one of 1. 13. A computer program for causing a digital camera itself to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6. 14. A storage medium storing a computer program for causing a digital camera itself to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.