JP2007066156A - Image object management method and image supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To support DPOF (digital print order format) online printing including an image with a file path not supported by default in a print system in which a DSC (digital steel camera) capable of transferring data with a storage medium is connected to a printer so as to be directly communicable. <P>SOLUTION: The DSC 20 issues a start command of a print job while designating a DPOF file to the printer 10, and the printer issues a file acquisition command while designating a file ID to the DSC. The DSC transfers print instruction information of the file content to the printer, and the printer analyzes the print instruction information, extracts the file path of an image object to be printed, and issues a command for acquiring a file ID for this file path. When a file ID corresponding to the file path is not mapped, the DSC generates and maps an index from the job ID of the print job and the image object information as the file ID, and returns it to the printer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image object management method in a direct print system in which an image supply device capable of transferring data to and from an image recording medium such as an SD (Secure Digital) memory card is connected to a printer so as to be capable of direct communication, and The present invention relates to an image supply apparatus. Here, the image supply device is, for example, a digital still camera (DSC) which is an imaging device compatible with PictBridge. For example, a DSC incorporates a print control device compatible with PictBridge, and an image object management method in direct communication between the print control device and a printer is an object of the present invention.

  With the evolution of digital home appliance technology, it has become possible to easily print images taken by individuals using a digital still camera (DSC), a printer, and a personal computer (PC).

  In particular, a user who does not have a PC is a device that directly connects a DSC and a printer via an interface such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) (see Non-Patent Document 1) and supports a direct print function for executing printing. Since printing becomes possible, personal photo printing is becoming more familiar.

  There are several methods for the direct print function. A typical example is Pictbridge (see Non-Patent Document 2) standardized by the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA).

Whereas the PictBridge standard directly connects a DSC and a printer via USB to execute printing, the DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) standard that prescribes a method for printing offline via a memory card (non-patented) There is also reference 3). There are many devices that support both the Pictbridge standard and the DPOF standard. DPOF is a technique for designating an image object to be printed among a plurality of image objects stored in a recording medium and designating the number of prints of the designated image object.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-70611 (page 9-11, FIG. 7-10) `` Universal Serial Bus Specification Revision 2.0 '' Compaq / Hewlett-Packard / Intel / Microsoft / Philips April 27,2000 "White Paper of CIPA-DC-001-2003 Digital Photo Solutions for Imaging Devices" Camera & Imaging Products Association, February 3, 2003 "DPOF Ver 1.10 Reference Materials" Canon Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. July 17, 2000

  The PictBridge standard defines a DPOF online printing specification for executing DPOF automatic printing on-line for online processing. In the DPOF online printing specification, when the DSC side designates a DPOF automatic print file as an object to be printed and issues a print job, the printer reads and analyzes the DPOF automatic print file, and follows the contents described in the DPOF automatic print file. A necessary image file is read from the DSC and DPOF automatic printing is executed.

  In DPOF automatic printing, any image file whose relative path from the directory (¥ MISC) in which the automatic print file (AUTPRINT.MRK) exists can be designated as a valid image file.

  On the other hand, the PictBridge standard defines that an image object is represented by a 32-bit file ID, and this file ID needs to correspond one-to-one with an image object on the storage.

  Representing all image objects that can be described in a DPOF automatic print file with a file ID is difficult to realize in an embedded device due to memory size limitations. For this reason, in the existing DSC, supported image objects are limited to those conforming to the DCF (Design Rule for Camera File system) standard. DPOF automatic printing cannot be set for files that do not conform to the DCF standard. When a non-DCF image is described in the DPOF automatic print file, there are some that realize DPOF online printing by responding to an error in the file ID acquisition command from the printer.

  In this method, for example, when index printing of a plurality of images including a non-DCF image object is described in the automatic print file, the printer cannot acquire the non-DCF image object, and a print result different from the user setting is output. The Some printers may not be able to print.

  In order to solve the above problems, an image object management method according to the present invention is configured as follows. In a direct print system in which an image supply device such as a DSC (digital still camera) that can transfer data to and from an image recording medium is connected to a printer so that it can communicate directly with the printer, the image supply device defaults to image recording. For example, a 32-bit fixed-length file ID corresponding to a fixed-length handle is assigned to a specific image file and print instruction information file on the medium. In the image supply apparatus, the user selects and designates an image object to be printed from among a plurality of image objects in the image recording medium, sets the number of prints, and thus issues a print instruction information file (for example, DPOF automatic) Print file) is generated and stored in the image recording medium. Here, it is assumed that the selected and specified image object includes a non-DCF image object to which a fixed-length file ID is not mapped by default.

  Using an USB cable or the like, the image supply device and the printer are brought into a state where direct communication is possible. Based on the user's printing operation, the image supply device issues a print job start command by designating the print instruction information file with a fixed-length file ID. The printer that has received this start command issues a file acquisition command by specifying a fixed-length file ID for the print instruction information file in order to acquire print instruction information that is the contents of the print instruction information file. Upon receiving this file acquisition command, the image supply apparatus transfers the print instruction information to the printer. The printer analyzes the received print instruction information, extracts a file path of an image object related to the print instruction, and issues a command for acquiring a file ID for the file path. The image supply apparatus that has received the file ID acquisition command checks whether an image object is described in a file path that is not supported by default. That is, it is checked whether or not a non-DCF image object exists. The file ID corresponding to the file path may be mapped, but if the file ID is not mapped for a non-DCF image object, the printer cannot acquire the file ID. Therefore, the image supply device generates an index for the image object according to a predetermined conversion rule from the job ID of the print job in the print instruction information file and the image object information, and maps the generated index as a file ID. The mapped file ID is returned to the printer.

An image supply apparatus according to the present invention is an image supply apparatus that is capable of transferring data to and from an image recording medium and that is connected to a printer so as to be capable of direct communication.
Means for assigning a fixed-length file ID to each of the specific image file and the print instruction information file in the image recording medium;
Means for issuing an online print job start command to the printer by designating the print instruction information file recorded on the image recording medium by the fixed-length file ID;
The contents of the print instruction information file when the printer that has received the print job start command receives a file acquisition command issued by designating the fixed-length file ID of the print instruction information file. Means for transferring the print instruction information to the printer;
When a file ID acquisition command issued by the printer is received for a file path of an image object related to a print instruction in the print instruction information, if the file ID corresponding to the file path is not mapped, Means for generating an index for the image object from the job ID of the print job in the print instruction information file and the image object information, and mapping the generated index as a file ID;
Means for returning the mapped file ID to the printer.

  As described above, according to the present invention, even when a print instruction information file such as a DPOF automatic print file describes an image object such as a non-DCF that exists in a file path that is not supported by default, the job ID of the print job. Since the index is generated from the image object information and assigned as the file ID, it is possible to respond normally to the file ID acquisition command from the printer.

  In the above, it is preferable that the index has a bit for identifying that the index is generated from a job ID of the print job and image object information. This makes it possible to reliably recognize that the image object is not supported by default such as non-DCF.

  In the above, the image supply apparatus prohibits updating the contents of the print instruction information file while mapping the generated index as a file ID and communicating with the printer to manage the image object. It is preferable. This is for surely preventing trouble caused by the file content update in the middle.

  In the above, the print instruction information file is a DPOF format automatic print file as a representative example. However, a markup language type such as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) or XML (eXtensible Markup Language) may be used.

  In the above description, it is assumed that the interface between the image supply device and the printer is USB and communicates using a PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) layer. However, the physical interface may be, for example, IEEE 1394, infrared communication, or Bluetooth specifications, and the transport layer may be, for example, MTP (Media Transfer Protocol).

  Further, in the above, the image supply device is generally configured as a digital still camera provided with an optical image capturing unit, but it is not necessarily limited to this and a wide variety of arbitrary forms are possible. It can be applied to other equipment and devices.

  According to the present invention, there is an advantage that printing that faithfully reflects user settings can be executed in DPOF online printing including an image object that exists in a file path that is not supported by default without increasing the memory size used. is there.

  Embodiments of an image object management method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of an image object management method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, 10 is a printer as a Pictobridge host having DPOF online printing specifications, 20 is an image supply device such as a digital still camera (DSC) as a Pictobridge device, and 11 is a USB connecting the printer 10 and the image supply device 20. It is a bus.

  The image supply apparatus 20 includes a USB B receptacle 21, a USB device controller 22, a PictBridge protocol engine 23, a CPU bus 24, an SD card controller 25, an SD bus 26, a CPU 28, and a system controller 27 including a memory 29.

  The image supply device 20 communicates with the printer 10 via the USB bus 11 using the USB B receptacle 21 as an I / F terminal. The USB protocol is controlled by the USB device controller 22. The PTP and Pictbridge protocol function as an upper protocol of the USB protocol, and the PTP / Pictbridge protocol engine 23 controls the PTP and Pictbridge protocol. In the image supply device 20, the image data is stored in an SD memory card 30 that is an image recording medium. The SD memory card 30 communicates with the SD card controller 25 via the SD bus 26. The system controller 27 controls the entire system. The system controller 27 and each control device are connected via a CPU bus 24.

  Assume that communication using the PictBridge protocol is established between the image supply device 20 and the printer 10.

  The directory structure of the SD memory card 30 at this time is shown in FIG. In order to support DCF file printing and DPOF online printing, the image supply device 20 searches only the directories and files existing in the broken line in FIG. 2 by default, and sequentially assigns a 32-bit file ID from 0x00000001 to each. Map. The root directory is assigned a fixed value 0xFFFFFFFF as a special ID indicating the root directory. “0x” represents a hexadecimal number. “00000001” is 32 bits in hexadecimal notation.

  In FIG. 2, the file ID = 0x00000001 is assigned to the MISC, and the DPOF automatic print file AUTPRINT. The file ID = 0x00000002 is assigned to the MRK, the file ID = 0x00000003 is assigned to the DCIM, the file ID = 0x00000004 is assigned to the 100 AAAA that is the DCF directory, and the ABCD0001. The file ID = 0x00000005 in the JPG is ABCD0002. The file ID = 0x00000006 in the JPG is ABCD0003. A file ID = 0x00000007 is assigned to each JPG.

  FIG. 3 shows a DPOF automatic print file AUTPRINT. This is the description content of MRK. Two types of print jobs (print job with PRT PID = 001 and print job with PRT PID = 002) are described as print jobs to be executed. Here, PID is a job ID that defines a job in the DPOF standard.

  This AUTPRINT. In MRK, “IMAGE1.JPG”, “IMAGE2.JPG”, and “IMAGE3.JPG” of image objects existing in the file path (JPEG / IMAGE) surrounded by a chain line in FIG. 2 which are not supported by default are described.

  Consider a case where DPOF online printing is executed from the image supply device 20 to the printer 10 under the above preconditions.

  First, the image supply apparatus 20 uses DPOF as the file type and AUTPRINT. A print job start command is issued by designating an MRK file ID (= 0x00000002).

  Upon receiving the print job start command, the printer 10 receives the AUTPRINT. In order to acquire the MRK entity, a file acquisition command is issued with file ID = 0x00000002, and AUTPRINT. Obtain MRK and analyze DPOF automatic print file.

The printer 10 uses AUTPRINT. As a result of MRK analysis, six print files, that is, relative paths from / MISC,
. . / DCIM / 100AAAAA / ABCD0001. JPG
. . / DCIM / 100AAAAA / ABCD0002. JPG
. . / DCIM / 100AAAAAA / ABCD0003. JPG
. . / JPEG / IMAGE1. JPG
. . / JPEG / IMAGE2. JPG
. . / JPEG / IMAGE3. JPG
It is necessary to acquire the file ID of each file, and attempts to acquire each file ID using the relative path as a parameter.

  Here, in the image supply device 20, the image file under the DCIM directory (DCF image file) is included in the default file ID mapping range, but the image file under the JPEG directory has a file ID mapped by default. Since it is not done, the file ID cannot be acquired. On the other hand, these file paths are effective file paths for the DPOF specification.

  At this time, the image supply device 20 recognizes that the DPOF automatic print file describes an image object that exists in a file path that is not supported by default, and converts it into a file ID using the following conversion rule: All file IDs are returned to the printer 10.

[Conversion rules]
(Identification bit outside default mapping) | (PID of JOB) | ((In JOB) nth IMG SRC)
Applying this transformation rule,
(1). . / JPEG / IMAGE1. JPG file ID
= (1 << 31) | (1 << 16) | 3
= 0x80010003
(2). . / JPEG / IMAGE2. JPG file ID
= (1 << 31) | (1 << 16) | 4
= 0x80010004
(3). . / JPEG / IMAGE3. JPG file ID
= (1 << 31) | (1 << 16) | 5
= 0x80010005
It becomes. The most significant bit (bit 32) corresponds to an identification bit outside default mapping, and bits 31 to 17 correspond to PID of JOB.

  Since the file ID is mapped in this way, the image supply apparatus 20 uses the AUTPRINT. Including the non-DCF image object of FIG. It is possible to fully support DPOF online printing for MRK.

  In addition, during DPOF online printing, AUTPRINT. In order to prevent the MRK file from being updated, while the PictBridge protocol communication is established, AUTPRINT. It is prohibited to update the MRK file.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to realize high-level support for DPOF online printing while saving memory usage and implementing with a simple configuration.

  Since the image object management method of the present invention generates an index from the job ID of the print job and the image object information and assigns it as a file ID, it can be used in a PC-less environment such as an embedded device where the usable memory capacity is limited. It can be widely applied to applications that require high compatibility with respect to the direct printing function.

Schematic configuration diagram showing an example of an image object management method according to an embodiment of the present invention Directory structure diagram of SD memory card in the embodiment of the present invention In the embodiment of the present invention, the DPOF automatic print file AUTPRINT. Development view of MRK description

Explanation of symbols

10: Printer (Pictbridge host)
11: USB bus 20: Image supply device (DSC: PictBridge device)
21: USB B receptacle 22: USB device controller 23: PTP / Pictobridge protocol engine 24: CPU bus 25: SD card controller 26: SD bus 27: System controller 28: CPU
29: Memory 30: SD memory card (image recording medium)

Claims (8)

In a direct printing system in which an image supply device capable of transferring data to and from an image recording medium is connected to a printer so as to be able to communicate directly,
The image supply device assigns a fixed-length file ID to each of at least a specific image file and a print instruction information file on the image recording medium,
The image supply device issues an online print job start command to the printer by designating the print instruction information file recorded on the image recording medium with the fixed-length file ID,
The printer that has received the print job start command issues a file acquisition command to the image supply device by specifying the fixed-length file ID of the print instruction information file,
The image supply device that has received the file acquisition command transfers the print instruction information, which is the content of the print instruction information file, to the printer,
The printer analyzes the received print instruction information, extracts a file path of an image object related to the print instruction, issues a command for acquiring a file ID for the file path to the image supply apparatus,
When the file ID corresponding to the file path of the received file ID acquisition command is not mapped, the image supply device, for the image object, the job ID and image object of the print job in the print instruction information file An image object management method configured to generate an index from information, map the generated index as a file ID, and send it back to the printer.   The image object management method according to claim 1, wherein the index includes a bit for identifying that the index is generated from a job ID of the print job and image object information.   3. The image object management method according to claim 1, wherein the print instruction information file is a DPOF format automatic print file.   The image object management method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an interface between the image supply device and the printer is a USB and communicates using a PTP protocol layer.   The image object management method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the image supply device is configured as a digital still camera including an optical image capturing unit.   The image supply apparatus prohibits updating of the contents of the print instruction information file while mapping the generated index as a file ID and communicating with the printer to manage an image object. Item 6. The image object management method according to any one of Items 5 to 5. An image supply device capable of transferring data to and from an image recording medium and connected to a printer so as to be capable of direct communication,
Means for assigning a fixed-length file ID to each of the specific image file and the print instruction information file in the image recording medium;
Means for issuing an online print job start command to the printer by designating the print instruction information file recorded on the image recording medium by the fixed-length file ID;
The contents of the print instruction information file when the printer that has received the print job start command receives a file acquisition command issued by designating the fixed-length file ID of the print instruction information file. Means for transferring the print instruction information to the printer;
When a file ID acquisition command issued by the printer is received for a file path of an image object related to a print instruction in the print instruction information, if the file ID corresponding to the file path is not mapped, Means for generating an index for the image object from the job ID of the print job in the print instruction information file and the image object information, and mapping the generated index as a file ID;
An image supply apparatus comprising: means for returning the mapped file ID to the printer.   The image supply device according to claim 7, further comprising an optical image capturing unit and configured as a digital still camera.

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