JP2007034532A - Electronic notebook - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic notebook mounted with a compact camera for surely photographing a significant story by using the camera. <P>SOLUTION: This electronic equipment is formed in size to be put in a chest pocket, and provided with a hook to be hooked on the chest pocket. The hook is mounted with a camera and a microphone faced to the front. An electronic notebook is configured to constantly continue to photograph a video, and to automatically erase data after the lapse of a fixed time or more. When a user performs an operation to start photographing, data stored in the previous fixed time are not erased but left, and videos following the operation are continuously stored. Thus, it is possible to attain photographing since a fixed time before the point of time when the photographing start operation has been performed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic notebook.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-370644

  Conventionally, electronic notebooks having various functions have been developed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an electronic notebook provided with a scanner that sets a business card and reads information on the business card as image information, and means for searching and displaying the image information when a predetermined operation is performed. Is disclosed.

  Conventional electronic notebooks have mainly used functions for storing business card information as described above and storing information input separately from a keyboard. However, in recent years, it has become possible to take highly accurate moving picture images using a small CCD camera or the like, and there has been a demand for an electronic notebook that can also store the moving picture images. In particular, there are times when you take a video at the time of a meeting and later confirm the contents (who said what, what kind of material was issued, etc.). The other party may start an important story before setting up the video camera, and you may not be able to shoot that important part. Therefore, there has been a demand for an electronic notebook that is equipped with a small camera and that can reliably photograph important stories using the camera.

  On the other hand, a businessman who meets a large number of new customers at work may not be able to memorize his / her face with his / her name. In particular, when you meet a lot of new customers at once, there are many cases where photos are not shown on business cards, and you may forget the face of the other party. Therefore, an electronic notebook that can take a photo of the other person's face when meeting a new customer has been desired.

  The present invention has been made in the background as described above, and in particular, it is a first problem to provide an electronic notebook that is equipped with a small camera and that can reliably photograph important stories using the camera. And A second problem is to provide an electronic notebook that can capture and store a face photograph of a new customer.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

This invention
An electronic notebook formed in a size that can be stored in a user's breast pocket,
A hook that engages with an edge of the breast pocket when stored in the breast pocket;
A camera that is provided on the hook and outputs a video signal by projecting an image in front of the user from a position engaged with an edge of the breast pocket;
A microphone that receives sound around the user and outputs a sound signal;
Storage means for storing the moving image signal and the audio signal as moving image information with sound;
Information deleting means for deleting a portion of the video with audio information that has been stored for a certain period of time after being stored;
When the user performs an operation to start shooting, the deletion process by the information deletion unit is stopped, and the moving image signal and the audio signal input from the camera and the microphone after the shooting start operation are received. Photographing start means for continuously storing the audio-attached moving image information that has not been deleted from the storage means;
When the user performs an operation to stop shooting, shooting stopping means for stopping storage of the moving image information with sound;
Display means for reproducing and displaying the moving image information with sound by a predetermined operation;
It is an electronic notebook characterized by comprising.

  The electronic notebook of the present invention is sized to fit into a breast pocket, and is provided with a hook that hooks into the breast pocket like a ballpoint pen. A camera (for example, a small CCD camera) and a microphone are attached to the hook toward the front. Then, when the user performs an operation to start shooting, the shooting can be started retroactively for a predetermined time before the operation (for example, about 30 seconds before). This can be realized as follows. In other words, this electronic notebook always keeps taking pictures, and automatically erases data that has passed a certain time. This video information is digital information, and HD, flash memory, etc. are adopted as a storage medium. When the user performs an operation to start photographing, the data up to a predetermined time is not erased and the video after the operation is continuously stored. Thereby, for example, even after an important story is talked about in a meeting, if a shooting start operation is performed, moving picture information can be left from a certain time before the operation, and an important story can be prevented from being missed.

The present invention also provides:
A face recognizing unit that identifies a person's image from images in front of the user, recognizes the face of the person, and causes the camera to magnify the face;
Representative photo storage means for storing the enlarged still image of the face as a representative photo;
A data link means for storing the audio-attached moving image information in association with the representative photograph;
It is an electronic notebook provided with.

  According to the electronic notebook of the present invention, after photographing is started, the face portion of the person of the other party is recognized and zoomed, and the best composition can be selected from the moving image information and saved as a representative photograph. The above-mentioned moving image information with sound is stored in association with the representative photo. For example, a folder for storing representative photographs is formed, and moving image information with audio is stored in the folder. These representative photos and moving image information with sound can be displayed or reproduced by performing a predetermined operation.

The present invention can employ the following configurations. That is,
A scanner for scanning a business card and capturing the business card as image information is provided on the back side of the surface provided with the display means,
The electronic notebook stores the image information of the scanned business card in association with the representative photo.

  According to the present invention, the scanner is provided on the back surface of the surface provided with the display means, and it can be read by rolling on a business card like a handy scanner and captured as image information (image file). The captured image information can be stored in association with the representative photograph by placing it in the above-mentioned folder, for example. That is, according to the above invention, since the scanner and the electronic notebook are integrated, it is convenient to connect to the electronic notebook when using the scanner.

The present invention also provides:
Character recognition means for recognizing the image information of the business card as character information,
The recognized character information is an electronic notebook stored in association with the representative photograph.
In this way, the name of the other party is recognized as character information, and it is made into a database with 50 sounds, dates, names, etc., and image information and representative photographs of business cards can be managed.

Furthermore, the present invention may be as follows. That is,
When the electronic notebook is present at a position where the face of a person located in front of the user can be recognized, and an operation for displaying information about the person is performed by the user,
The face recognition means recognizes the face of a person located in front of the user based on the video signal input from the camera,
Search for a representative photo that is the same as or similar to the face recognized by the face recognition unit from among the plurality of representative photos stored in the representative photo storage unit,
An electronic notebook for displaying the retrieved representative photograph or information associated therewith on the display means.
In this way, when a certain operation is performed on the electronic notebook when a partner is accidentally encountered, the face is recognized from the face of the person photographed on the camera, and the business card information of the partner, the date of the last meeting, etc. are displayed. . The user can remember the name of the other party by looking at the display screen.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic notebook 1 according to the present invention in an opened state, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view in a closed state. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the state of use. Thus, the electronic notebook 1 is formed in a size that can be stored in the breast pocket 6 of the user 5, and the hook 2 that engages with the edge 6 </ b> E of the breast pocket 6 is provided. The hook 2 receives a camera 3 (particularly a CCD camera) that outputs a video signal by projecting an image in front of the user 5 from a position engaged with the edge 6E of the breast pocket 6 and surrounding audio. Thus, a microphone 4 for outputting an audio signal is provided. Furthermore, a display means 8 composed of, for example, a liquid crystal panel and a keyboard 9 for inputting character information are provided. Further, as shown in the rear view of FIG. 2, a scanner 11 for scanning a business card and an encoder roller 10 for detecting a movement amount at the time of scanning are provided on the rear surface. A side button (FIG. 1) is provided with a start button 7 for starting a business card scan.

  Next, FIG. 4A shows a block diagram of the electronic notebook 1. As described above, the electronic notebook 1 is controlled by the microcomputer 12, and the camera 3, the microphone 4, the scanner 11, the keyboard 9, the display unit 8, and the speaker 13 are connected to the microcomputer 12. Further, a storage means 14 for storing still images and moving images (HD or flash memory or the like is adopted), a remote control terminal 16 and a remote control receiving unit 15 for operating the electronic notebook 1 with a trousers bocket, etc. An external interface 17 for transmitting / receiving data to / from a personal computer is connected.

  On the other hand, the microcomputer 12 includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, an I / O, and a bus 18 for connecting them. As shown in FIG. 4B, the ROM includes an information deletion program P1, a shooting start program P2, a face recognition program P3, a shooting stop program P4, a data link program P5, a representative photo search program P6, a scan start program P7, and character recognition. Various programs such as the program P8 are stored. The CPU reads and executes these programs, whereby various controls in the present invention are performed. That is, the microcomputer 12 serves as information deletion means, photographing start means, photographing stop means, face recognition means, data link means, and character recognition means of the present invention.

  The electronic notebook 1 of the present invention continuously captures an image in front of the user 5 (for example, FIG. 5A), a moving image signal is output from the camera 3, and an audio signal is output from the microphone 4. These moving image signals and audio signals are stored in the storage unit 14 as moving image information with audio 20. The conceptual diagram is shown in FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 6A, the storage means 14 always stores the moving image information with audio 20, and a portion of the moving image information with audio 20 that has passed for a certain time (for example, 30 seconds) is an information deleting means (microcomputer). 12 control) is automatically deleted. The reason for deleting the portion that has passed for a certain time is to prevent the storage unit 14 from running out of free space.

  Next, when the user 5 performs an operation to start shooting using the remote control terminal 16 or the like, the moving image information with audio 20 is not deleted and the moving image signal newly input from the camera 3 is deleted as shown in FIG. 6B. And the audio signal input from the microphone 4 are stored so as to follow the moving image information with audio 20 remaining in the storage unit 14. Such control is performed by the photographing start means of the present invention.

  On the other hand, when the user 5 performs an operation to stop shooting, the storage of the moving image information with sound 20 is stopped as shown in FIG. 6C. As a result, the moving image information with sound 20 from a certain time before the time when the storage start operation is performed to the time when the shooting stop operation is performed is stored. By doing as described above, it is possible to leave an image from a predetermined time before the shooting start operation. Even after the photographing stop operation is performed, a moving image signal and an audio signal are newly input from the camera 3 and the microphone 4, and data after a predetermined time is deleted. Thereby, when the user 5 performs the photographing start process later, it becomes possible to save another moving image information with sound.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5A, the camera 3 captures a video in front of the user 5, identifies a person M from the video, further recognizes the face portion, and performs enlarged shooting. Then, the best composition is selected from the continuous shooting and stored in the representative photo storage means as the representative photo 21. These controls are performed by the face recognition means (the microcomputer 12). Further, the above-mentioned storage means 14 also serves as the representative photograph storage means.

  In addition, after the meeting is over, the user can go home and capture image information of the received business card into the electronic notebook 1. That is, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the information on the business card 19 is scanned by pressing the start button 7 provided on the side of the electronic notebook 1 and sliding the business card 19 like a handy scanner. 11 can be incorporated. At this time, since the encoder roller 10 described above functions to detect the movement amount of the electronic notebook 1, information on the business card can be scanned accurately regardless of the movement speed of the electronic notebook 1.

  The electronic notebook according to the present invention includes character recognition means (controlled by the microcomputer 12), and can recognize image information of a business card as character information. In addition, other data can be input from a personal computer (not shown) via the external interface 17 (FIG. 4).

  FIG. 9 shows an example of a data storage method. In this embodiment, a hierarchical structure with the representative photo 21 as higher information is formed, and as subordinate information of the hierarchical structure, audio-added moving picture information 20, business card image information 22, business card character information 23, other information 24, and the like. Remembered. As a result, each piece of information 20, 22 to 24 is associated with the representative photograph 21. Then, as shown in FIG. 9B, the representative photo 21 can be displayed on the display means 8, and the character information 23 of the business card can be displayed at the top. In this way, even if a large number of new customers are met at the time of the meeting, the representative photo 21 is stored in the electronic notebook 1, and the business card text information 23 and the representative photo 21 are displayed after the meeting is over, Slowly learn the customer's face and name. On the other hand, moving image information, business card information, and the like are displayed as buttons B at the bottom of the display means 8. The display means 8 is a touch panel, and by touching these buttons B, each information can be reproduced and displayed.

  In FIG. 9, a hierarchical structure is created and the information 20, 22 to 24 is stored under the representative photograph 21, but another method can be used. For example, a folder is created, and one representative photo 21 and information 20 and 22 to 24 related thereto are stored in one folder. Another folder may be formed in the folder, and the information 20, 22 to 24 may be stored therein. The OS of the electronic notebook 1 can display folders and information as icons, and can manage (delete or copy) each information.

  On the other hand, when you encounter a partner by chance, you may not be able to remember your name. Even in that case, you can use the electronic notebook 1 to display the name of the other party, the date you met the last time, and so on. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 10, when an information display operation is performed by the user 5 (step S1), the face portion of the other party is recognized based on the moving image signal input from the camera 3 (step 2). . Thereafter, a representative photo 21 that is the same as or similar to the recognized face is searched from among a plurality of representative photos stored in the storage means 14 (step S3). When the representative photo 21 is hit, the representative photo 21, the image information 22 of the business card associated therewith, the character information 23, etc. are displayed (steps S4 and S5). If there is no hit, a message to that effect is displayed (steps S4 and S6). Thereby, the user 5 can casually look at the displayed information of the other party and can remember the name of the other party, the date of the last meeting, and the like.

  If there is a second or later meeting with the other person, the moving image information with audio 20 recorded at the time of the meeting is automatically saved under the representative photograph 21 already stored (FIG. 10A). If the representative photo 21 is put in the folder, a folder with a new date is automatically created in the folder, and the moving image information with audio 20 is stored there.

1A is a perspective view in an open state of an electronic notebook 1 according to the present invention. FIG. 2B is a perspective view in a closed state. The figure which looked at electronic notebook 1 from the back side Usage state explanatory diagram of the electronic notebook 1 (A) Block diagram of electronic notebook 1 (B) Contents of data in ROM (A) Whole image of person M (B) Face portion recognized by face recognition means The figure showing the memory space of the memory | storage means 14 How to use when scanning business card 19 Example of business card 19 (A) Diagram showing hierarchical structure of representative photograph 21, moving image information with audio 20, etc. (B) Display example on display means 8 Flow chart when searching for representative photo 21

Explanation of symbols

1 Electronic notebook
2 Hook 3 Camera 4 Microphone 5 User 6 Chest pocket 6E Edge of chest pocket 8 Display means 9 Keyboard 11 Scanner 12 Microcomputer 14 Storage means 19 Business card 20 Movie information with sound 21 Representative photo 22 Image information of business card 23 Character information of business card

Claims (5)

An electronic notebook formed in a size that can be stored in a user's breast pocket,
A hook that engages with an edge of the breast pocket when stored in the breast pocket;
A camera that is provided on the hook and outputs a video signal by projecting an image in front of the user from a position engaged with an edge of the breast pocket;
A microphone that receives sound around the user and outputs a sound signal;
Storage means for storing the moving image signal and the audio signal as moving image information with sound;
Information deleting means for deleting a portion of the video with audio information that has been stored for a certain period of time after being stored;
When the user performs an operation to start shooting, the deletion process by the information deletion unit is stopped, and the moving image signal and the audio signal input from the camera and the microphone after the shooting start operation are received. Photographing start means for continuously storing the audio-attached moving image information that has not been deleted from the storage means;
When the user performs an operation to stop shooting, shooting stopping means for stopping storage of the moving image information with sound;
Display means for reproducing and displaying the moving image information with sound by a predetermined operation;
An electronic notebook characterized by comprising. A face recognizing unit that identifies a person's image from images in front of the user, recognizes the face of the person, and causes the camera to magnify the face;
Representative photo storage means for storing the enlarged still image of the face as a representative photo;
A data link means for storing the audio-attached moving image information in association with the representative photograph;
An electronic notebook according to claim 1. A scanner for scanning a business card and capturing the business card as image information is provided on the back side of the surface provided with the display means,
The electronic notebook according to claim 1 or 2, wherein image information of the scanned business card is stored in association with the representative photograph. Character recognition means for recognizing the image information of the business card as character information,
4. The electronic notebook according to claim 3, wherein the recognized character information is stored in association with the representative photograph. When the electronic notebook is present at a position where the face of a person located in front of the user can be recognized, and an operation for displaying information about the person is performed by the user,
The face recognition means recognizes the face of a person located in front of the user based on the video signal input from the camera,
Search for a representative photo that is the same as or similar to the face recognized by the face recognition unit from among the plurality of representative photos stored in the representative photo storage unit,
5. The electronic notebook according to claim 1, wherein the retrieved representative photograph or information associated therewith is displayed on the display means.

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